Title: By Christ’s Name JAH
Text: Ps 68: 1-6
Date: July 23, 2020
Place: SGBC, NJ
This 68th
Psalm is gospel beginning to end. Tonight
we will look at the first 6 verses. But first
let me show you who this Psalm speaks of.
In the original Hebrew language this Psalm gives different names for
God.
- Verse 1: Let God [Elohim] arise—often used with reference to God being our Judge
- Verse 4:…extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his
name JAH—the existing one.
- Verse 11: The Lord [Adonai] gave the word—sovereign, controller, supreme ruler
- Verse 14: When the Almighty [Shaddai] scattered kings—almighty, most powerful
- Verse 16: the LORD [Jehovah] will dwell in [his holy hill]
forever—the long form of
Jah, the existing, eternal one
- Verse 19…the God [El] of our salvation—strength of our salvation
Who is this God? Verse
18 says "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive:
thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD
God might dwell among them.” Ephesians
4:8 declares this is the Lord Jesus Christ.
This entire Psalm is concerning Christ Jesus our God our Savior.
From the beginning Christ
has been the one Mediator between God and men.
From before the foundation of the world to the garden after the fall
until the last elect child is gathered in, Christ is the One through whom God deals
with his people.
Christ is the fulness
of the Godhead bodily. God the Father,
God the Son and God the Holy Spirit dwell in Christ. He said, “He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father” (Jn 14: 9). He
said, “I and my Father are one” (Jn 10: 30).
Christ is God. He is Elohim our Judge—all
judgment has been given to Christ of the Father. Christ is Jah, Jehovah—the existing, eternal
One, God eternal. Christ is Adonai—the sovereign,
controlling, supreme ruler. Christ is El
Shaddai—the Strength, the Almighty of our salvation.
Now, the time at
which David wrote this was when they were moving the ark of the covenant from
the house of Obed-edom up to Mt Zion. The
ark was a type of Christ. I see David looking
at the ark and, by faith, beholding Christ.
As they began to move the ark they sang,
Psalm 68: 1: Let God
arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before
him.
These are the exact
words Moses spoke when the ark moved.
Numbers 10: 35: And
it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and
let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.
Psalm 68: 2: As smoke
is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the
fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. 3: But let the
righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly
rejoice. 4: Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon
the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him. 5: A father of the
fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. 6:
God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with
chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
Proposition:
Christ is Jah, the existing One, who has, is and shall save his people from all
our enemies.
JAH AROSE IN ETERNITY
Psalm 68: 4: Sing
unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by
his name JAH, and rejoice before him
When it says “he
rides upon the heavens by his name JAH” it means he existed before the
heavens; he created the heavens; and he controls the heavens. Christ is the self-existent, everlasting
"I AM", eternal God, the second person in the trinity.
Revelation 1: 8: I am
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and
which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
When Christ appeared
to Moses in the burning bush,
Exodus 3:14: God said
unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children
of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Before time was
created, Christ was the Wisdom of God:
Proverbs 8: 22: The
LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. 23: I
was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. 24: When
there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no
fountains abounding with water. 25: Before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth: 26: While as yet he had not made the earth, nor
the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
Christ is the Word who is God.
John 1: 1: In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2: The
same was in the beginning with God. 3: All things were made by him; and without
him was not any thing made that was made.
When scripture speaks of Christ being “begotten of the
Father” it does not mean he was created or born but that the Christ was in the
bosom of the Father. He was One with the
Father and the Spirit. Christ is the
second person in the trinity. He is the Word
of God, the Wisdom of God. Of course, in
eternity and throughout the old testament period Christ has not assumed the
body of a man which God formed for him.
But each of those preincarnate appearances were Christ.
Our prayer is “let God arise.” We need Christ to arise to save us from
our enemies. He arose for his elect in
eternity before as yet time or creation existed. In Christ, God the Father chose a people and purposed
all his acts of grace towards his people.
Christ is first in God’s thoughts, first in his purposes, first in his decrees
concerning our salvation. In Christ, the
covenant of grace was made and all fulness of grace was treasured up. Notice, God’s election was “in heavenly
places in Christ.”
Ephesians
1: 3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4: According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love:
From eternity, God the
Father ordained that Christ have all preeminence and that all fulness dwell in
him. In Colossians 1, Paul clearly
declares that Christ is from the beginning, that he is the image of God and
that Christ is the creator and sustainer of creation.
Colossians 1: 15: Who
is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16: For by
him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities,
or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17: And he is before
all things, and by him all things consist. 18: And he is the head of the body,
the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things
he might have the preeminence. 19 For it
pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
In the Revelation of Christ, he said,
Revelation 3:14: And
unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the
Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
Christ has always gone
before his people. He name is JAH: the self-existent,
everlasting "I AM", who is eternal. Even before we fell, he arose for
us “before the world began.”
2 Timothy 1: 9: Who
hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began, 10: But is now made manifest by the appearing of
our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel:
JAH AROSE IN TIME
Psalm 68: 1: Let God
arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.
2: As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire,
so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
Seeing that Christ
arose for his elect in eternity, we can be sure he has and shall arise for his
people in time. He arises to scatter our
enemies. Those who hate Christ, and who
hate Christ’s people, are Christ’s enemies.
The devil and his seed are the enemies of Christ and his people. But Christ makes the enemy flee like smoke and
melt like wax because Christ always arises for his people.
The one thing that
separates God’s elect from the rest of sinners and keeps us separated is Christ’s
presence.
Exodus 33: 14: And he
said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. 15: And
he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
16: For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace
in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be
separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face
of the earth.
He arises to go
before us.
Deuteronomy 20: 4: For
the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against
your enemies, to save you.
Psalm 12: 5: For the
oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith
the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
Isaiah 45: 2: I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I
will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: 3:
And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret
places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy
name, am the God of Israel.
Isaiah 52:12: For ye
shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you;
and the God of Israel will be your rereward.
In the garden, after
the fall, Christ arose. Remember, there
is one Mediator between God and men. That
means Christ is “the Voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in cool of the
day” (Gen 3:8). Having fallen in sin,
Adam and Eve did what all unregenerate sinners do, they hid themselves from “the
presence” of Christ. But our great JAH
found them and covered their nakedness.
Throughout history,
Christ arose for his people. Notice,
verse 7 of our Psalm:
Psalm 68: 7: O God,
when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the
wilderness; Selah: 8: The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence
of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 9: Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain,
whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary. 10: Thy
congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for
the poor.
Christ sent rain in
the desert when they needed it. He sent
bread from heaven and quail. Christ is
the smitten Rock who gave them water. Verse
12 and 14 says, “Kings of armies did flee apace:…when the Almighty scattered
kings in it…”
On the cross, Christ
arose for his people and conquered all our enemies
Colossians 2: 14: Blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to
us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15: And having
spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing
over them in it.
Now, Christ is risen to
the right hand of the Father, with all power and glory as the Head over all
things to the church—his body—who filleth all in all.
Brethren, let our
prayer ever be, “Let God arise!” Christ
promises to go before us, to be present with us always, to lead, guide and defend
us.
JAH RISES FROM HIS
HOLY HABITATION
Psalm 65: 5: A father of the fatherless, and a judge of
the widows, is God in his holy habitation. 6: God setteth the solitary
in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the
rebellious dwell in a dry land.
Our risen Savior
continues saving his people from his holy habitation. All God’s elect, by virtue of our fall in
Adam, come into this world “fatherless”.
By our sin separating us from Christ our Husband we enter as helpless as
widows. Sadly, we were also rebellious. Nothing is more helpless than the orphan; none
more easily oppressed as a widow; they represent Christ’s redeemed, powerless
and alone while dead in sins.
But through this very means—the preaching of the gospel—Christ
also arises in the hearts of those he redeemed from his holy habitation in
glory. He finds us under the power of
the prince of the air. But he binds our
enemy the strongman. He subdues the enemy
of our sinful flesh. When Christ enters
into us through the Spirit of God he creates a new man within, giving us life
and faith in him.
Then Christ reveals himself
“a father of the fatherless.” Adam
sinned and left us orphans in sin. But Christ,
our last Adam, has always been and shall always be "the Everlasting
Father” (Is 9:6). He brings us to see
his great love in laying down his life in our place so that we willingly confess,
Hosea 14: 3: Asshur
shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more
to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless
findeth mercy.
He warns our enemies:
Proverbs 23:10…enter
not into the fields of the fatherless: 11: For their redeemer is mighty; he
shall plead their cause with thee.
When Christ arises in
our hearts, he reveals that he is the “judge of the widows.” In our widowhood we were oppressed by the
curse of the law but Christ settled judgment for us. He bore our sins and put away our curse by being
made a curse for us. Our Head, JAH, made
us the righteousness of God in him. When
he arises in our hearts, he says to his bride, to each believer in particular:
Isaiah 54:4: Fear
not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt
not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt
not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. 5: For thy Maker is thine
husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of
Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called… 13 And all thy children shall be taught of the
LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. 14: In righteousness shalt
thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not
fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. 15: Behold, they shall
surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall for thy sake. 16: Behold, I have created the smith that
bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his
work; and I have created the waster to destroy. 17: No weapon that is formed
against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against
thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the
servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
When Christ arises in
our hearts he “setteth the solitary in families.”
Luke 18: 28 Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and
followed thee. 29 And he said unto them,
Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or
brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, 30 Who shall not receive manifold more in this
present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.
Brethren, we have a multitude of fathers, mothers, brothers
and sisters: Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; Sarah, Rebeka, Martha, Mary, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel; Peter, Paul, James and John. Verse 27 of our Psalm reads, “There is little
Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes
of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.”
We have families scattered around this country and the world. God is our Father and Christ the Firstborn
among many brethren:
Ephesians 3: 15: [we
are members of]…the whole family in heaven and earth…
It is because “Christ
bringeth out those which are bound with chains.” Christ created a new man within us
opening the bars of our sin-nature through the gospel to behold the law declares
we are set free.
Isaiah 61:1: The
Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach
good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that
are bound;
Isaiah 49: 8: [God the
Father gave his Son] for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to
cause to inherit the desolate heritages; 9
That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in
darkness, Shew yourselves.
Now, he says to us “You
are no longer under the law but under grace” (Rom 6: 14). Christ bringeth out those which are bound
with chains.
Now, you and I who
make up his church are on the hunt for those lost sinners who are yet prisoners
but who Christ has already redeemed. God
the Father says to you and I who are his church, for whom Christ has fulfilled
our covenant obligations by his blood,
Zechariah 9:11: As
for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out
of the pit wherein is no water.
He calls them “thy
prisoners.” They belong to us, Christ’s church.
Christ has delivered them “out of the pit” by his accomplished
redemption. But they are yet lost. Therefore, he charges us to send forth the
gospel to tell them it is done. I pray
there may be some here who Christ has delivered and tonight the Spirit might
reveal the good news to them and turn them to Christ our Stronghold. God says,
Zechariah 9: 12: Turn
you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I
will render double unto thee
May our great JAH come and open the prison for someone now
and cause you
Isaiah 55:6: Seek ye
the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7: Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him
return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he
will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 40:2: Speak ye
comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double
for all her sins.
Brethren, now, we see why verse 4 of our Psalm says, “Sing
unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by
his name JAH, and rejoice before him.”
Amen!