Summary
Psalm 68: The Story of God, Resurrection, and Pentecost
Psalm 68 was a favorite of Martin Luther because in it the whole sweep of God's saving work comes into view—creation's King going forth before His people, the victory of the resurrection, and the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. It is a psalm of movement: God rises, enemies scatter, the righteous rejoice, and the Lord leads His people through the wilderness toward a heavenly home. Verse 19 alone—"Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation"—is so rich that The Psalms: Lesson 4 commends it as a model for opening prayer, since praying God's own words back to Him gives "double earnestness and life" to our petitions.
The psalm opens with a battle cry: "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered" Psalm 68:1-3. When Christ was crucified, the devil believed he had won. By God's grace, the enemies were permitted to think victory was theirs—until the morning of the resurrection, when God rose up and the powers of sin, death, and the devil were scattered like smoke and melted like wax before fire. A candle stands firm against water and force, but cannot endure the flame; so no created power can stand in the presence of the living God. The Spirit moves unseen like wind, driving out evil and carrying the Word forward in the victory Christ has already secured. The righteous, therefore, are not timid but jubilant—singing, exulting, confident that the triumph of the empty tomb is theirs.
Verses 5 and 6 turn to the character of this victorious God: "Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation" Psalm 68:5-6. Enthroned on high, He is not distant but sovereign and attentive to the lowly. Mary's Magnificat and Zechariah's Benedictus echo this same God who scatters the proud, lifts up the humble, fills the hungry, and remembers His covenant Luke 1:46-79. And in our sin, we are precisely the needy ones—orphaned, widowed, desolate apart from Him. He gives the homeless a home, leads prisoners out to prosperity, and brings His wandering people toward the New Jerusalem, where the river of life flows and no one hungers or thirsts. The rebellious, by contrast, "dwell in a parched land"—a thirst that nothing outside of God can quench. Christ alone is the living water.
Verses 7 and 8 recall how God went out before His people and "marched through the wilderness," when "the earth quaked" and "the heavens poured down rain" Psalm 68:7-8. This is Sinai, where Israel heard the voice of the Lord from the fire and trembled, begging Moses to mediate Deuteronomy 5:22-27. Creation itself reacts to its Maker; thunder rolls, the mountain shakes, and the people are shaken to the core. The same God who went before Israel in fire and cloud is the God who goes before His Church now—mighty, holy, and faithful.
The pattern of the psalm is the pattern of the Christian life. God rises and our enemies are scattered. The Spirit drives out evil and drives us outward in love—to share the Word, to care for the widow and orphan, to be His hands and feet in a world still parched for grace. We sing because the victory is ours in Christ; we serve because the same Spirit who raised Him is at work in us; and we journey, like Israel through the wilderness, toward the eternal home where the Lord daily bears us up and God Himself is our salvation.
Video citations
- The Psalms: Lesson 4 — We're going to be studying from Psalm 68. Definitely this week, very possibly further next week. It's a really cool psalm, and Martin Luther really loved this, as it gives us the story of God, but…