Jesus in the Psalms: Triumph We are back in our series: Jesus in the Old Testament. There is nothing too mysterious in that title; it is just that. We are working through several of the ancient passages in the Old Testament that promised the Messiah; we’re finding Jesus in these ancient pages… our Old Testament, the Bible that Jesus read.

We are also finding encouragement and principles and promises and such for our days. These texts are ancient, around 3,000 years old for today’s text, but they are also alive and relevant. God’s Holy Spirit speaks to us in powerful, meaningful, relevant truths for today.

These are uncertain days, right? Days filled with uncertainty… we know it to be true because so many advertisers remind us.

I guess these are unprecedented times of uncertainty.

I’m amused by how all the ads seem the same these days, but these kinds of things don’t come out of a vacuum; they come out of research. Advertisers spend a lot of money to get a handle on what our culture is thinking. So, if you want a cheap way to know what people are thinking and how we are all feeling (in general), look at the ads from the companies who are spending the most to figure that out, and reverse engineer them.

These advertisers appear to know that lots of us are feeling uncertain.

Laurie and I are amused by how all the ads these days seem the same. I found that compilation video, assembled by someone in the marketing business, that cut several of these ads together (it is pretty amusing… but I won’t take the time to play it all). Ads look the same, and they sound the same too. Usually beginning with an ominous, simple solo piano.

Throw in some golden hour pictures of outside (because we long to be free outside), a few expansive drone shots, and maybe some images of front-line workers… and they reel us in.

It is easy fishing, since we are all at home.

While it might not be as easy for us to consume their products while we are at home… they will keep us wanting to get that stuff, so when we are finally free we’ll storm the markets.

In these uncertain times… I get it; there is uncertainty. But I think there is way more certainty than uncertainty. We can trust our friends and families, our networks and systems, our ingenuity and grit… and over all of that, of course, we can be certain in God.

If we limit our focus to just today and what is immediately in front of us, yes… things can seem really uncertain; there is cause for anxiety.

But if we’ll broaden our view, if we can look over the long range of history, and expand our scope so that we can see God over it all and in control. Then there is certainty… far more certainty than these mere moments of uncertainty.

I do not belittle all that we are going through these days; in fact, I take it all very seriously, having been up-close-and-personal with COVID. But as serious as all of this is, as big as it is, there is a God who is so much bigger.

We can be confident that God will triumph.

God promised that His Messiah would triumph, and that is our focus today in Psalms 68 and 72.

Psalm 68 is credited to King David, Psalm 72 to King Solomon, David’s son and heir to his throne. Both appear to draw from their perspectives and experience, yet both speak of an everlasting, triumphant King that far surpasses their reigns, and anything imaginable from a mere human king. These Psalms speak of the Promised Messiah.

Psalm 68 begins with a refrain repeated often in the Old Testament:

May God arise, may his enemies be scattered; may his foes flee before him. 1

1 The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 68:1). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

In David’s time, these would be the words proclaimed as priests hoisted the Ark of the Covenant to their shoulders, carrying this representation of God’s presence and blessing into conquest.

It wasn’t as if the Ark was magic, something they could use to conjure up victory. There are several examples in the Old Testament when folk made that mistake, and they suffered for it.

Rather, this is an indication that God offers His presence and power to His People when His People are walking according to His purpose and direction.

That is a lesson for us in these days, a reminder that we can be confident in God’s triumph in our days, in our work, in our efforts when we go out in the Name of the Lord.

Psalm 68 begins, also, by looking back at how God showed up in their history. While both Psalms look ahead, into eternity, Psalm 68 starts by looking back.

When we feel anxious and uncertain, it is always good to broaden our time horizons. When there is trouble right now, look back and see how God has faithfully provided. And, when there is trouble right now, we can look ahead to His promises… promises that are reliable, precisely because of the way God has faithfully provided in the past.

When today seems shaky, look back and look ahead.

Verse 4 bids us to: 4 Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,

extol him who rides on the clouds x; rejoice before him—his name is the LORD. 2

There is something about singing that is directly tied to joining God in His triumph.

2 The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 68:4–6). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

During these home-to-home, can’t-be-together days, one of the more difficult aspects of our online services is the singing. It isn’t just the work of recording and editing and such… it is also in the joining-in as a congregation. For most it is just harder to get into it when we are in our small places with our small screens; we miss the big sound and togetherness of it all.

But it remains vital to sing praise to God, to rejoice with our music (or even noise, whatever the case may be).

Notice in these few verses how the People of God and the rebellious are compared. It concludes by reading that “the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.” Here’s the thing: I don’t think that is a matter of geography. I’m pretty sure that, in this case, the rebellious and the People of God live in the same country (geographically)… but the ones who have God as “father to the fatherless” the ones who are set in God’s family, the prisoners who are free… these are the ones who are singing. Living in “a sun-scorched land” must be more of a mindset than a physical place… and so is not living in “a sun-scorched land.”

It isn’t merely the power of positive thinking. It is a matter of God responding to the worship and gratitude; worship is the environment in which God does the miraculous. And sometimes the biggest miracle is changing our hearts and minds.

So, what about us as we live in a pandemic-scorched land. Where do we live? Do we fill the air with complaints and whining? Or do we fill the air with the sounds of praise to Our God?

I’ll admit it… from time to time I find myself living in the sun-scorched (pandemic-scorched) land. I was pretty bummed out when it became clear that there would not be any church gatherings in May, but more like the last half of June. But who wants to live in the pandemic-scorched land (at least not for long)? Praise changes our mind, our attitude, our heart. Gratitude changes things. Thanksgiving puts me back in a place of triumph.

Hear verse 7:

When you, God, went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, h

8 the earth shook... 3

Our triumphant Christ went out before us. He led by serving. We remembered it today at His Table. We triumph only because He triumphed first; through His humble sacrifice He triumphed first, so we could triumph.

Let’s jump to verse 18; scholars seem to agree that this is the Messianic hinge in the Psalm; where the ancient king acknowledges, unquestionably, that this is about the Everlasting King to come.

When you ascended on high, you took many captives; you received gifts from people,

even from the rebellious— that you, LORD God, might dwell there. 4

This King takes captives. Normally we would not want to be anyone’s captives, but this King is different. We want to be His captives. For those who believe, and lovingly welcome such captivity, there is peace and rejoicing. For those who reject His captivity; there is only misery. Nevertheless, all will be this King’s captive.

It puts me in mind of Philippians 2 again. I read it in the midst of our singing earlier, allow me to repeat:

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,5

Being triumphant, in His Kingdom now and in eternity, means being a willing, believing captive today.

3 The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 68:7–10). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 4 The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 68:18). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 5 The New International Version. (2011). (Php 2:10–11). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.

20 Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from

death...6

He is a God who saves. He conquered death and offers eternal life. Praise the Lord.

Before we run out of time, let’s look at Psalm 72, another Messianic Psalm of Triumph, for a few minutes.

The entire Psalm is forward looking, prophesying about a King to come, God’s Messiah who will rule wonderfully, with justice and prosperity, forever.

It begins with justice:

Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness.

2 May he judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. 7

From justice the Psalm moves to prosperity and provision, this section ends with verse 7:

In his days may the righteous flourish and prosperity abound till the moon is no

more.8

That is a poetic way of saying forever (not a prophecy that the moon will disappear).

The next section is about the comprehensive extent of His rule and reign:

6 The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 68:19–21). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 7 The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 72:1–2). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 8 The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 72:7). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

May he rule from sea to sea and from the River y to the ends of the earth.9

This is far beyond the borders of Solomon, David, or any earthly King; this is the Christ ruling “to the ends of the earth.”

May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him. 10

It then moves to His care for the poor and afflicted; this is the heart of God expressed through His caring Christ:

12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help.

13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death.

14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence,

for precious is their blood in his sight. 11

I know I’m really flying through Psalm 72, but I want to get to the last section, starting with verse 17:

17 May his name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun.

Then all nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.

All nations will be blessed through him. This is the Mission of God… the Mission of God through His People, but more profoundly, the Mission of God through His Messiah, His Christ, Jesus our Savior.

9 The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 72:8). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 10 The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 72:11). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 11 The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 72:12–14). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

It is the Mission announced to Abraham in Genesis 12. God promised Abraham:

3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”12

This is the King who embodies that promise, the Christ. Prophesied 3,000 years ago, embodied by Jesus 2,000 years ago, and Promised to return and reign for eternity.

In these days that might seem shaky, uncertain, anxious, perhaps even hopeless… let’s expand our vision and know that God’s plan for all people is blessing… blessing in and through Jesus.

The Psalm then ends with this acclamation of praise, this doxology. Would you read it out loud with me?

18 Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.

19 Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory.

Amen and Amen. 13

Pray with me.

Father, You are worthy to be praised; You are marvelous and glorious. We pray that the whole earth would, indeed, be filled with Your glory… and in these days, in this era, Your glory is demonstrated most through Your people. So, let us glorify you. In our adoration of You and our service and labors on Your behalf. We glorify you first and foremost by embracing Your promises… so, today we believe. Jesus I believe. Thank You for our King, our Christ, our Savior, Jesus; we pray, and we serve, in that Great Name of Jesus. Amen.

12 The New International Version. (2011). (Ge 12:3). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 13 The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 72:17–19). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.