Psa. 68 reveals God’s victory in Christ as the center, typified by the Ark, and in the first part we see that we as His believers, the women staying at home, enjoy the spoil and preach the glad tidings, which is the Triune God with all His accomplishments.
What is the connection between Psa. 68 and the book of Numbers, and why do we speak of Psa. 68 in our study of Numbers? Well, Psa. 68 is an exposition of Num. 10:35-36, revealing Christ as the center of God’s move on the earth.
In Num. 10:35-36 we see how, when the Ark was lifted up to go, Moses said, Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered, and let those who hate Him flee before Him; then, when the ark stopped, he said, Return o Jehovah to Your people.
In other words, Moses realised that God’s presence, His very being with His people, was in the Ark, so when the Ark moved, God moved, and when the Ark stopped God wanted His people to stop.
The Ark in the Old Testament was where God’s presence was, for it was on the lid of the Ark, under the cherubim of glory, that God met with His people and spoke to them, as the blood was sprinkled on the golden lid of the Ark.
In the New Testament the Ark is Christ, the embodiment of God; Christ is the reality of the Ark, for He came to embody God, bring God to man, and make God contactable, entrable, and real to man.
In Num. 10:35-36 Moses prophesied concerning Christ when he said those words concerning the Ark, for in His first coming Christ was God rising up and defeating, scattering, and destroying all of God’s enemies, and in His second coming, Christ will return to His people.
What we see with the Ark in particular is the move of God on the earth; the Ark was the movable, mobile, God on the earth. The move of God on earth is centered on Christ, and where Christ is, that’s where God’s move is.
Where is Christ today? Where is the move of God on earth today? Today Christ is in us, the believers in Christ, and the move of God is in man. God’s move today is in man, and the center of God’s move is Christ.
God moves in man to make man the same as Christ so that He may have a corporate expression on the earth; it is through this corporate expression that He can freely move, for the church is Christ, and Christ is the center of God’s move. Hallelujah!
Wherever Christ as the Reality of the Ark is, the Enemy Flees and we Divide the Spoil
When we read Psa. 68:1 we cannot but agree and say Amen to the word of the psalmist who says, Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered, and let those who hate Him flee before Him!
Amen, let God arise! Amen, let His enemies be scattered! Hallelujah, may those who hate Him flee before Him!
Christ is the reality of the Ark, and wherever Christ goes, the victory is won! Whenever Christ is enjoyed by us, lived out in us, and moves in us, the enemy flies, and all those who hate Him flee before Him.
However, as seen in the example in 1 Samuel, God will not back us up if we are corrupt and lived in a compromising situation. The sons of Eli the priest were corrupt and evil, so when they tried to bring the Ark to the battlefield to help the children of Israel win the war, God did not help His people but even allowed the Ark to be captured.
However, there’s no need to worry about the Ark, for the Ark can take care of itself; when the Philistines put the Ark in the house of their god Dagon, the next day their god was prostrated before the Ark, and the day after his head and hands were cut before the Ark.
Furthermore, there were some boils that broke out on the population of that land…so eventually they sent the Ark back to the children of Israel.
Hallelujah, let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered! The kings of the armies flee – they flee (Psa. 68:12)! These kings, who were defeated and scattered, typify Satan and the rulers, the rebellious angels (Eph. 6:12).
When Christ came as God arising on earth, the enemy tried to put Him down, hinder Him, and even kill Him.
When Satan with his rulers and evil angels and principalities thought they had Jesus crucified and thus they terminated Him, He simply rose up from the dead in victory, and the enemy with his armies were fleeing!
Hallelujah for our Christ, the reality of the Ark, the One who won the victory and has defeated the enemy!
As such a victorious One, the Lord gives the command, and we as the women bearing the glad tiding are a great host (Psa. 68:11).
These women of Israel signify the weak ones who publish the gospel. To abide at home signifies not going out to battle; we didn’t go out to battle to fight the enemy – Christ did, and He has won the victory; now He gives the command, we enjoy His victory, we divide the spoil, and we publish the glad tidings, the good news of His victory!
Amen, we divide the spoil, which signifies all the gains of the accomplishment, consummation, attainment, and obtainment of Christ as the reapings of the victory of His death, resurrection, and ascension.
This spoil is actually the riches of the processed and consummated Triune God as the portion for us, His elect, to enjoy and partake of, and to publish and share as glad tiding!
Hallelujah, Christ came as the embodiment of God, and when God arose, His enemies were scattered and those who hated Him were fleeing before Him! Praise You Lord for Your victory in Your incarnation. Praise You for defeating Satan, his rulers, and all the rebellious angels on the cross. Amen, Lord, You give the command, and we as the women who bear the glad tidings are a great host to publish the gospel! We did not fight the battle but we stayed in You, at home, and You have won the victory; now we enjoy all the spoil and preach the gospel as the glad tidings to all men! Hallelujah!
Enjoying and Announcing the Glad Tidings of the Triune God with all His Accomplishments
In v. 12 of Psa. 68 we see that she who abides at home divides the spoil, even though she lies among the sheepfolds (v. 13), and then in v. 13 we see what this spoil is.
Lying among the sheepfolds signifies resting in God’s provision and care for His elect; as we rest in God’s provision and care, we enjoy and divide the spoil of Christ’s victory.
The spoil is in v. 13: “there are dove wings covered with silver, and its pinions, with greenish-yellow gold”.
This is so wonderful, for it reveals four items among the spoil: the dove wings signify the moving power of the Spirit, silver signifies Christ in His redemption for our justification, pinions signify the flying and soaring power of the Spirit, and the greenish-yellow, glittering gold signifies God’s nature glittering in the divine life and glory. Wow!
This verse, v. 13 in Psa. 68, is the center of the first section of this psalm, and it tells us what is the spoil that we enjoy as believers in Christ, and what is the contents of the glad tidings we announce.
The dove wings signify the moving power of the Spirit; the wings of a dove are for moving and flying, and in our spirit we have the moving and flying power of the Spirit.
Silver signifies Christ in His redemption for our justification, indicated by the color white, the color of approval.
Pinions, which are the feathers at the end of a bird’s wings giving it the strength to fly and soar, signify the flying and soaring power of the Spirit (see Isa. 40:31).
We have the moving power of the Spirit in our spirit, and when we really touch our mingled spirit, we enjoy the moving of the Spirit, the flying power of the Spirit, and the soaring power of the Spirit.
The greenish-yellow, glittering gold with which the pinions are covered signifies God’s nature glittering in the divine life and glory (see 2 Pet. 1:4, cf. John 4:24, 1 John 4:8, 1:5).
Green signifies the divine life, yellow signifies the divine glory, and greenish-yellow glittering gold signifies God’s nature glittering in the divine life and glory. Wow – this is awesome!
And this is the spoils that we are enjoying day by day! Oh, blessed be the Lord who day by day loads us with good!
Day by day God loads us with Himself as the spoils, the good! Yellow signifies the divine nature; the divine nature is what God is in His nature.
God is Spirit (John 4:24), and we need to worship Him in spirit by exercising our spirit to enjoy the nature of God’s person, which is spirit. God is love (1 John 4:8); love is the nature of God’s essence. God is light (1 John 1:5); light is the nature of God’s expression.
And all these we enjoy by the fellowship, the flow of the divine life; when we are in the flowing of the divine life, we enjoy God as love, light, and Spirit.
When we exercise our spirit, we partake of the divine nature, which is in our spirit. The contents of the above four items, as Christ’s spoil in His victory for the enjoyment of God’s elect, are actually the Triune God with all the items of His complete, full, and all-inclusive salvation (cf. Rom. 5:10, 17, 21).
What we have here is God’s judicial redemption (signified by silver) and His organic salvation (signified by the dove wings with pinions at the end, the flying and soaring power).
The spoils that we enjoy is God’s judicial redemption and His organic salvation; in His organic salvation we are regenerated, sanctified, renewed, transformed, conformed, and glorified until we are saved in our spirit, soul, and body to be exactly the same as God in life and nature but not in the Godhead.
Hallelujah, we as God’s elect enjoy all these items of the Triune God with His accomplishments, and we announce them to others as the glad tidings (Psa. 68:11).
While we are preaching the glad tidings, we are enjoying the Triune God as the spoiled gained for us in Christ.
What we have as the spoil – after the battle Christ won all by Himself – is the Triune God – the Spirit, Christ, and God – with all His accomplishments for us to enjoy! The dove symbolizes the Spirit of God, silver signifies Christ as the Redeemer, and gold signifies God in his nature. Hallelujah!
Thank You Lord Jesus for winning the victory and sharing the spoils with us! We come to You to enjoy the Triune God with all His accomplishments and attainments. Thank You Lord for Your judicial redemption and organic salvation for us to be made the same as Christ in life, nature, and expression. Thank You for giving us a rich portion of enjoyment in the Spirit with our spirit. We exercise our spirit to enjoy the Triune God with all the items of His complete, full, and all-inclusive salvation. Amen, Lord, we want to publish these good news to all men and preach the glad tidings of the Triune God with all His riches and attainments!
Read this article / blog post in Romanian – puteți citi acest articol și în limba română la următorul link – Să savurăm și să anunțăm vestea bună a Dumnezeului Triunic împreună cu toate realizările Sale.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of the Psalms, msg. 27 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallisation-Study of Numbers (1), week 12, Christ as the Center of God’s Move on the Earth from His Incarnation through His Ascension to His Second Coming.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Now the Lord in mighty triumph / Sends the news of victory; / We the “women” spread the tidings— / “Kings of armies flee, they flee!” / No more sweat and dreary toil; / We at home divide the spoil! / Hallelujah, hallelujah, / Hallelujah, Amen! (Hymns #1100)
# We praise Thee, O God, / For Thy Spirit of light, / Who has shown us our Savior, / And scattered our night. / All glory and praise / To Thee, Father of love, / For through Jesus’ redemption / Thy heart we may prove. (Hymns #40)
# For us He was crucified, / Hallelujah! / For the many, one Man died, / Glory to God! / One grain fell into the earth, / Many grains to bring to birth. / He arose in victory, / Hallelujah! / From the grave, triumphantly, / Glory to God! / Now in resurrection He / As the Spirit lives in me. / Call on Him from deep within, / Hallelujah! / Just by calling, He comes in, / Glory to God! / Once you call upon His name, / Nevermore you’ll be the same. (Song on, Praise the Lord, God sent His Son)
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