The Abyss, Part 4

David composed Psalm 68 to celebrate the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant in Zion.

Psalm 68:1 quotes Numbers 10:35, citing the very words proclaimed when the Ark set out. While God is omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-12), there are places of his special presence (Psalm 16:11). And the Ark not only symbolized God's special presence; it was where God communed with his people (Exodus 25:22).

That is why carelessly handling the Ark was deadly (2 Samuel 6:6-9). But when David followed the divine instructions (2 Samuel 6:13-15; 1 Chronicles 15:1-2, 25-28), he had success and celebrated with great exuberance. This emotional display embarrassed and angered some people (2 Samuel 6:16, 20-23; 1 Chronicles 15:29).

Thus this Psalm celebrates the coming of Israel's God to Jerusalem -- from Sinai to Zion -- accompanied by the armies of heaven (Psalm 68:7-17). But Psalm 68:18 looks beyond David's bringing the Ark; it clearly points to the victory of David's greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who descended into Sheol in order to defeat Satan and the hosts of hell (Hebrews 2:14-15; Ephesians 4:8-10).

The Lord Jesus has plundered the forces of evil and has imparted gifts to his Church (Ephesians 4:11-13), and at the moment of death we now experience what Old Testament believers did not: "Absent from the body, present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:6-8).