One of the most fascinating aspects to ancient history and the study of it and the archaeological discoveries of it is that ancient peoples told stories through murals. You see this from time to time in writings discovered in different places. A&E scholars might discover pictures etched into stone. They might discover a series of images painted on a wall inside a cave. And the images are quite varied. They could be images of chariots and weapons. You might see etched into stone what looks like a couple getting married. You might see a king stepping with his foot on the necks of his enemies. or various animals like bulls or horses or birds. The images etched in stone or painted on walls are many. You can see how ancient people would even record key events through the order of images. So just imagine seeing an etched city, some sort of wall, and then a dove of peace, which might convey the idea of a city at rest. But then, further along the wall, you see wild predators beginning to appear, and then images of weapons and fire, and then what looks like an adversary conquering a region. And before you know it, you can zoom out and realize what I'm seeing here, and in this order, they're actually pictures telling a story. That's what I'm seeing. They're not isolated or unconnected pictures. Instead, we see that images in a certain order tell a story. One reason Psalm 68 is powerful is because the writer is bringing pictures to our mind, and the pictures are coming in a certain order, and the order of the pictures coming to our imagination through the psalm's lyrics are meant to rehearse a story of the Israelites. were to remember the procession of Yahweh. David is the psalmist. We see that in the superscription at the beginning of the psalm. And he's helping the readers to understand and to sing and to internalize what has happened in the history of God's people. Last week, we were trying to emphasize the point that Psalm 68 brings to mind the procession of the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was part of a series of sacred furniture pieces crafted and built at the bottom of Mount Sinai when Moses and the Israelites were at Sinai for several months. Slightly less than a year at Sinai, they then began to process or depart from Sinai toward the Promised Land. The Ark goes with them. There were battles along the way, provisions along the way. Ultimately, under Joshua, the Ark would cross with the Israelites. across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land. And there would be a conquest of the land and ultimately the Ark under King David would come to rest in Jerusalem. The sanctuary would be built there by Solomon, David's son, the temple to house the Ark. And we can imagine the procession of the Ark leading to this place of enthronement. In ancient ideas and modern ones of a king's authority symbolized by his throne, it is common for a king to process to that place. Some kind of celebration or attention being given, maybe chants or songs, the king is processing to his throne. And then one step after another, the king ascends and the seating of the king or the resting of the king is for his reign. The procession is for ascension. The movement of the ark was to symbolize the reign of God over his people. The first 18 verses of the Psalm are those picture scenes, where Israel moves from Sinai with that ark and through the wilderness and across the Jordan and into the land, and God gives them victory. And then under David, the ark will be welcomed into the city of Jerusalem. Psalm 68 verses 1 to 18 paint those story scenes for us with the words of the Psalm. But what about the second half of the psalm? The second half of the psalm is, of course, building on what we studied together last week. In the second half of Psalm 68, there is a great emphasis on what happens when the righteous and the wicked encounter the rule of God. What should the righteous experience? What should the wicked dread? The wicked are laid low and overcome. The righteous rejoice and are vindicated. In God's procession and ascension, His rule, His reign, His salvation and judgment are on display, and all for the glory of His worthy name. We also find out in the second half of Psalm 68 that the ascension of Yahweh was not just to communicate that God reigns over the land of Canaan. Instead, we should see that the rule of Yahweh to be confessed and rejoiced in by the Israelites was a rule and a reign far exceeding the boundaries of the promised land. Yahweh is supreme over all. He reigns over all things. He is God of gods and king of kings. And therefore, when God's reign is confessed and sung and celebrated by the people of God, the nations should come to Him in praise. And the psalm therefore is very concerned with how we respond to the news of the procession and ascension of the King. In verses 19 to 23, we see in the first part of our sections this morning, verses 19 to 23, divine deliverance and judgment. Divine deliverance and judgment. Attention first given to the good news of God's covenant love with his people. Blessed be the Lord, the psalmist says, who daily bears us up. God is our salvation. Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death. The word salvation is associated not with something that God merely does, but with something that God himself is for his people. God is our salvation. There is no deliverance outside of God. So urging people to go to God, urging the nations to submit to God, is calling them to be saved by God. Because salvation from God and refuge in God are not separate ideas. So God, not only is he our salvation, Look in verse 19 in that first line where it says, he daily bears us up. It's imagery of being secured and held to bear up something with strength so that there's something to be carried, something to be moved along with. Now, the irony is the Ark of the Covenant is carried by the people of God in procession, but lest they be mistaken throughout the wilderness, it is not they who carry God, but it is God who carries them. They might look at this ark, but they should not look at the ark being carried and assume something great of their own strength. It is God who daily bears them up. And that has not changed. That has not changed. It is gloriously true that the God who saves us daily bears us up. We have this news today and promise for tomorrow. that God shall bear me up. He shall hold me, secure me. His strength is mighty. He shall uphold his people. David celebrates this because the procession and ascension of the ark is here is God as king over his people. And one of the things that is good news then with the kingship of God is his covenant strength for his own. He daily bears us up. Not only is he a God of salvation in verse 20, it says that to the Lord belong deliverances from death. The Israelites were people under threat, and not just from time to time. It seems that wherever they would go, people were opposing them with hostility, a desire to not just overcome, but even demolish them. And so these deliverances from death, at the very least, would mean military deliverances. God has spared them, and he has processed with them, and he has defended them, and he has brought victory to them. And yet we know that more than military deliverances are recorded in the scriptures. God's might and his saving arm is demonstrated in a variety of ways. To God belong deliverances from death, such as Noah and his family through the mighty flood. Lot from Sodom and Gomorrah. Isaac from the altar of sacrifice. Joseph from the pit and from the prison. Moses from death in the Nile River. The Israelites from slavery in Egypt. The covenant people in the wilderness delivered from their hunger and their thirst and various armies. Think of Rahab saved in the conquest of Jericho. David delivered from the persecution by Saul. Three Hebrews spared in the fiery furnace. Daniel preserved through a night in a den with hungry lions. To God belong deliverances from death, which means as the people of God celebrate His power, it is a power that is of heaven. It is heavenly power and divine deliverance, and they are the recipients of it. They celebrate this news. Not so for the enemies of Yahweh. God, in verse 21, will strike the heads of His enemies, the hairy crown of Him who walks in His guilty ways, The hairy crown, likely meaning the youthfulness and the vigor of the young warriors out to perpetuate wickedness and in their unrighteousness, subdue the people of God. But even they, in their youthful strength and vigor and the hairy crown of their head, so to speak, God will strike their heads. These who walk in their guilty ways. It's not just that they are sinners and the Israelites aren't. Image bearers are corrupted by sin, and inside and outward we experience the effects of what it is to be corrupted by the presence and power of sin in this world. Walking in guilty ways is a way not of saying someone is merely a sinner, but someone who is living in outright rebellion against God. The Israelites should pursue Yahweh because those who walk in their guilty ways, this path charted out of rebellion against God, they're not repenting of their guilty ways, they want to walk in their guilty ways. That's the path they want. What happens to the path of folly and unrighteousness? Judgment. The imagery of judgment there is head crushing. God will strike the heads of his enemies. I think this is rooted ultimately in the promise of Genesis 315, when God promises the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. And so the enemies of Yahweh are being painted in a serpentine way. The enemies of Yahweh get heads crushed, just like the serpent will be crushed by the heel of the Messiah. God will crush the heads of his enemies because they have aligned themselves with the evil one, and they will receive the penalty of judgment due to him. God will strike their heads. They can't flee from him because he says in verses 22 to 23, I will bring them back from wherever they are. Maybe the wicked would say, well, we will go to the mountains of Bashan, all of the beautiful and mountainous region there, we are safe. Or maybe somebody might imagine that even in death, in the very depths of the sea, they will be delivered from God's wrath. But he says, I will bring them back from Bashan, I will bring them back from the depth of the sea, that you may strike your feet in their blood, and that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe." Graphic imagery of total defeat. The wicked do not have a chance to execute all their various plots and schemes against the Lord to succeed. He will overcome them, and it's not even close. It's not even close. The wicked, in their folly, raise their hand in a high-handed way to God, and they cannot flee from His judgment. Wherever they go, and even to the depths of the sea, they will be brought to account. This is good news for the people of God. Because we know that in this life we see injustices. And we can rest assured that the wicked will be brought to account, and there is nowhere they might flee. And even beyond their earthly death, they might think, I've gotten away with it. They shall not. In fact, the righteous will be vindicated. Just as God strikes the heads of his enemies in verse 21, there's an image of our feet seeming to trample upon the wicked. So just as the wicked received the judgment the serpent has from Genesis 3.15, the king secures a victory that we then share as the people of God triumphing over the wicked. Verses 20 through 23 then depict not only that to God belong deliverances from death, but to God belong righteous judgment of the ungodly. These are not just things experienced in this life. What will we see as the ultimate demonstration of to God belong deliverances from death? Our bodies shall be raised. Do we recognize that, like in 1 Corinthians 15 that we heard earlier this morning, that when God causes the perishable to put on the imperishable, these are deliverances from death? The very hope of life after death, this resurrection glory for which we will be raised, this is a great and ultimate demonstration that to God belong deliverances from death. And while the wicked may face some amount of accounting in this life, when he says that he will even bring them back from the depths of the sea, I think that is a promise that even beyond death, the wicked should expect a judgment, because the Bible teaches in the Old and New Testaments, that God will raise both the godly and the ungodly, the resurrection of the just and the unjust, and the righteous will be raised to life, and the wicked will be raised for judgment. Perhaps this language in verses 20 to 23 is actually teasing out here in imagery what can be most clearly stated in the Old and New Testaments as bodily deliverance, either unto life or unto everlasting condemnation. In verses 24 to 27, we move from divine deliverance and judgment to a celebration of God's procession. In verses 24 to 27, this procession is not a solo procession. We wouldn't expect it to be. The procession is something that people of God are enjoying and acclaiming. We can imagine a kind of installment even in the life of Jesus where he is going to Jerusalem on the first day of Passion Week riding on a donkey. And he is surrounded by people proclaiming, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna to the son of David. They're proclaiming that he's the promised Messiah, the king. and they're laying down branches and they're laying down cloaks and all of this pomp and circumstance is so unusual for somebody traveling for the Passover. This kind of focus and that kind of acclaim is treating him as royalty and proclaiming it, not subtly, but boldly. Now, ultimately, the procession and ascension of Christ is not on the first day of Passion Week. But after he has died on the cross, risen from the dead and ascended on high, the king shall ascend with all authority in heaven and earth. But even something like the journey to Jesus on the donkey to Jerusalem gives us a glimpse of what is to come. Here's the king processing to Zion, ready to reign. How will he be exalted on a cross? Irony of ironies. looking like upon a cross this would be a sure defeat and a rejection of a king and yet upon the title and placard above his head on the cross is this announcement that he is the king. Here is the king lifted high and exalted in the city of Zion. Here, in the days of David, is this remembrance of the Ark's arrival and all of the joy that surrounds it. What's pictured here in verses 24 and 25 is a series of folks. Verse 25, the singers in front. Musicians last. Between them, virgins playing tambourines. So you've got people singing and you've got people celebrating with words and with music. This is God going to the sanctuary, the procession of the Ark. And we're told in verse 26, perhaps what they actually say in their words during the procession, bless God and the great congregation. The Lord, oh you who are of Israel's fountain. Israel, there may be a reference to Jacob who was named Israel and all the people that would flow from him like a fountain. The Israelites, all their many tribes and descendants have flowed from the earlier patriarch. So Israel's fountain may be a way of talking about the descendants of Israel or Jacob himself. Ultimately, the Israelites exist not because of Jacob, but because the Lord, perhaps God himself, is the fountain of Israel, bringing the people from Egypt, prospering their covenant life and blessing them. The response for the people is clear, nevertheless. Bless God. It's a call to praise Him. It's a call that in our orientation of heart and in our words and our intentions, we're praising God on purpose. We're thinking about God. We're celebrating all that He is, and we are declaring His worth in song. And when they do so, they do so in the great congregation because the emphasis in the Old and New Testament is not merely an individual life of following and worshiping the Lord, but a corporate collective life of gathering together for the praise and honor and instruction of God. And here they gather to bless God in the great congregation. Who is gathered there? Well, among the congregation in verse 27, you've got people who are mentioned in the southern part of the land and people who are mentioned in the northern part of the land. I think it's the reason these particular tribes are isolated. There is Benjamin, the least of them in the lead, the princess of Judah in their throng. If you looked at a Bible map of the tribes and their allotments, Benjamin and Judah are in the southern part of the land. The others mentioned here, the princes of Zebulun and the princes of Naphtali, Zebulun and Naphtali are northern territories. I think that those are named then in order to make them as touch points for the end points of the land. So that from the south to the north and from the north to the south, everybody in between, they're the great congregation. So what's being selected here is a way to emphasize an all-encompassing congregational praise. Let everybody do it. If you're in the South or you're in the North, gather together and bless the Lord. The worshipers and the wicked are given some attention in verses 28 to 31. The worshipers and the wicked. And they seem to alternate. The worshipers are in view in verse 28. Summon your power, O God, the power, O God, by which you have worked for us. And the us there referring to God's covenant people. How has he worked his power for them? Well, he has worked his power for them because he has delivered them from captivity. He has brought them deliverances from death over and over again. He has sustained them through their weariness in many wilderness years. He has provided for them and he has ensured the conquest of the land, giving them the inheritance so promised. So that power, which he has worked for them, he says, Lord, we need you to summon it. Summon that power, the power, your great power, which we have already seen on display. We've got stories. We've seen what you can do. So summon your power, O God, the power by which you work for us. Now, if the people of God and their deliverances and being brought along by that power are in view, what do they want his power for? In verses 29 and following, we see that there is a mixture of both worshipers and the wicked. The people of God and those who seek to repent of their sin and trust in Yahweh as their refuge, they should leave their path of folly and they should count God as their refuge and strength. They should worship him truly, they should seek to live in light of his word. I think this is in view in verse 29 when he says, because of your temple in Jerusalem, kings shall bear gifts to you. A promise taken up by later prophets. that these gifts are to symbolize not just the tribute itself in a material way, some gift or tribute brought to God, but their devotion. Fast forward and think about Magi bringing three gifts to Jesus who has been born in Matthew 2. So when they show up with their gifts, they come to bow before the one they have confessed to be the promised king. And they come with their gifts, this tribute, this gold and frankincense and myrrh. But these gifts, the emphasis is not just in their material content. It symbolizes the devotion of the Magi. If we see in verse 29 of our psalm that because of your temple kings are going to bear gifts to you, this is likely talking about from the nations, people are going to come to worship and be devoted to Yahweh. The prophets speak this way. One of the best places to find this as an example is Isaiah 60. In Isaiah 60 verse 3, the promise is that nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around and see. They all gather together. They come to you. Your sons shall come from afar and your daughters be carried on the hip. Then you shall see and be radiant. Your heart shall thrill and exult because of the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you. The wealth of the nations shall come to you. And then in Isaiah 60, verse six, the multitude of camels shall cover you. The young camels of Midian and Ephah, all those from Sheba shall come and they shall bring gold and frankincense and they bring good news, the praises of the Lord. These nations pictured here are not reluctant nations externally bringing gifts, inwardly despising God. These are examples of even rulers and heads of locations, regions, nations, cities coming to worship Yahweh. And of course, in the days of the tabernacle and in the temple, where you went for worship is wherever the tabernacle is. Now in the fulfillment of the various buildings, both the tabernacle and the temple, we see in the New Testament, Christ is the new and greater tabernacle and true temple for us. And so as we plead for people to turn to Christ, they are fulfilling the promises of Isaiah 60. They are people coming to Christ with their devotion and in their worship. This is not even lost on the book of Psalms, because in Psalm chapter two, The psalmist says, therefore, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice with trembling. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Psalm 2 says that. And in Psalm 2, the point is God's appointed king receiving worship from the nations. And Psalm 68 is just echoing that. Psalm 68 is telling you it's happening and will happen. There is an expectation here. We see that not only is there a worshipful response, the power of God is being prayed for so that in verse 30, those who despise the Lord and who reject God's covenant and his provision of salvation, they receive his judgment. In Psalm 68, 30, they say, rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds. I don't think literal animals are meant. the herd of bulls with the calves of the people. I don't think we're rebuking actual bulls and actual calves. Instead, what you see is a poetic image often used associated with nations. Nations have a beastly quality to it. This is even true for the vision of the prophet Daniel in Daniel chapter seven, where a series of beasts come out of the sea and they represent nations. They're not actual animals. The same thing is true here. The beasts among the reeds could be even that background of Egypt itself along the reeds of the Nile. Rebuking the beasts that dwell among the reeds, the herd of bulls and the calves of the people. I think we're talking about kings and leaders and nations who hate God. So we see a contrast. Verse 29, here are people coming to God in worship. In verse 30, here are people being subdued because they hate God and they want nothing but their sin. They love the darkness and therefore they will be destroyed in their folly. Trample underfoot, he says, those who lust after tribute. Scatter the peoples who delight in war. This is language of judgment. If you go to the book of Revelation in chapter 21, there's this line in chapter 21, 24 about the new creation. And it says, by its light will the nations walk and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. A promise, I think, that what was true here in Psalm 68 or Isaiah chapter 60 is even picked up in the New Testament, that people will come to Christ and the new creation will be populated by those who come to God with their devotion and their gifts that's being pictured from Old Testament imagery. In verse 31, we see in our psalm, Noble shall come from Egypt. Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God. Egypt, that territory that we're familiar with, Cush is south of Egypt. So something that's both familiar and also close by Egypt. Egypt and Cush, the names here. Nobles shall come. Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands. How does a region stretch out hands? Well, it's picturing with the language of the area, it's picturing the people from the area, isn't it? The people from the area are rushing to stretch out their hands. To stretch out your hands, there's a common posture of worship. Prayer, deference to a greater or superior individual. So if Cush and nobles from Egypt are coming, and Cush is hastening to stretch out her hands to God, I think this is once again an image of devotion and worship. From the nations shall be people who worship the Lord, and He will receive them. They will be saved. They shall dwell in the new creation, praise the Lord. There will be people from the nations who hate God, and in their hatred of God, and in their despising of His name, and in the self-exaltation they have lived for, the glory of their earthly kingdoms in name, they will be destroyed and condemned. Now, the latter part of the Psalm, in verses 32 to 35, is a call for the nations to worship the Lord. It's a fitting end to this Psalm, actually. in verses 32 to 35, because we've just seen these images of people coming to worship God. Earlier in our psalm, in chapter 68, in verse 22, I'm sorry, not verse 22, in verse 27, different tribes are named of the Israelites, Benjamin and Judah and Zebulun and Naphtali. And it's to represent the whole, that from the promised land are gonna come people who worship God. But the rest of the psalm is also appealing to a truth that outside the promised land are going to come people who worship God. Egypt and Cush seem to represent those outside the land. And who might have even lived as enemies of Yahweh, but they're gonna put down their arms, they're going to confess Yahweh as king, they're going to outstretch their hands hastily and boldly in unashamed worship along with those who come to Yahweh as their refuge. So I think Augustine is right when he says that Egypt and Cush are a part to represent the whole, the faith of the Gentiles. And we see an outpouring of the Spirit of God upon the Gentiles in the book of Acts onward, don't we? We see an incredible in-gathering of the nations through the ministries of the apostles, in particular Paul and others, where the nations are hearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus. And that is the heartbeat of God for the nations to this day, that we as the churches of Jesus Christ would long for the nations to come and know him, to have the scriptures in their languages, to praise him with their tongues. Here, these named in verse 31 represent the nations coming to God. And so therefore, it is fitting that those images end with a call for praise. In verses 32 to 35, a call for the nations to worship the Lord. Oh, kingdoms of the earth, sing to God. You don't get any broader than that. It's everywhere, everyone on earth. And so wherever they are, they're being addressed. All the kingdoms of the earth sing to God, sing praises to the Lord. If they're gonna direct their praise to God, the implication of the Psalm, as we would see from other instruction elsewhere, is that praise to God is being turned from their worship of idols and the devotion to the gods that are no gods. They're to praise Yahweh, worship Him, because He, in verse 33, rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens. Writing is an image of procession. So let's think about how earlier in Psalm 68, Yahweh is pictured as passing through the desert, going through those wilderness areas from Sinai all the way into the promised land. The Israelites would be wrong to assume that wherever that ark is, that's the scope of Yahweh's rule. It is a image, a reflection of a larger truth that they must never forget. Though he is crossing with this ark, symbolizing his presence there through the wilderness, Yahweh rides over the heavens. It is a picture of his transcendent majesty, his glory over all things. And so in verse 33, he rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice. And therefore his reign and his ascension are total over all. He doesn't go to Zion to merely rule over the promised land. In other words, He reigns and ascends that He might be Lord of all, confessed by all, worshipped throughout the kingdoms of the earth. So He says in verses 34 to 35, ascribe power to God. They believe He has power. In verse 28, summon your power, O God. So by praying what they do and by confessing what they do, they are acknowledging that power belongs to God. How else would deliverances from death happen? If to God belong deliverances from death, it must be because he has power. A scribe then power to God. I think it's an image of his sovereignty, his greatness, his majesty is over Israel and whose power is in the skies. That's above and beyond Israel. Riding through the heavens, power over the skies. Awesome is God from His sanctuary in verse 35. The God of Israel. He is the one, the psalmist says, who gives power and strength to His people. What a promise, what a promise. It's a promise we need every single day. He daily bears us up. We haven't heard better news than this today. This is great. How gloriously wonderful it is that God is great in power, reigns over the heavens, the ancient heavens, and with His mighty voice sustains and bears us up. He has power and it's never depleted. He upholds and is never weakened. We come to Him and we never find Him distracted. but always ready and able and wise and loving and steadfast. Awesome is the Lord. He gives power and strength to his people. We come to him to sing and to pray and to learn from his word because he has power and strength, two things we need. And he is the one who gives it. The psalmist says, blessed be God. This is the exact right response. It's a proclamation of worship that he should be worshiped and he should be esteemed and he should be exalted and not just among his covenant people, but throughout the kingdoms of the earth. They need to hear this news so that they too will come to the king. so that they too will worship the Lord Jesus Christ, so that they will come like those magi with their hearts of devotion to the one who has been born for us and who has lived in perfect moral purity, keeping the law, and then dying under the curse of the law in our place, a substitutionary atonement, followed on the third day by a triumphant resurrection, an ascension thereafter, weeks later, that he might reign at the right hand of the Father. So we say, blessed be God. Praise be to his son for this truth and others. Christ is the world's king and the world needs to know. Christ is the Lord of lords and the world must know. Our need is to confess His Lordship and surrender to Him and flee to Him as our refuge because we realize every other refuge fails. Every promise of sin is bankrupt. And it is God and His faithfulness and in His mercy and in His slow to anger abounding in love character that is such a draw and an allurement by the Spirit for our hearts. We should turn from false gods and love the living God who has come to us through Christ alone. Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but by me. We should exult in this truth, rejoice that he upholds and bears us up even this very day and join the kingdoms of the earth as the message of the gospel goes to them. And as they come to the king with worship and praise, looking not only to a life where they seek to live for the glory of Christ now, for the consummation of all things at the mighty return of the Lord, which we pray is soon. Let's pray together.