Well, as you can tell from the bulletin this evening, I'm preaching on little-known text, TBA. I was not able to get my text, my verses in, in time. And so I'm going to be preaching this evening from Psalm 68 and its fulfillment in Ephesians 4. As we're thinking especially, we have been thinking this time of the year about the ascension of our Lord and Pentecost, the descent of the Spirit, Psalm 68 records a march from Sinai to Zion. And that march is fulfilled in many places in the New Testament. That fulfillment is spoken of, but especially in Ephesians 4. So we'll be looking briefly at these passages this evening. Beginning at verse 1 of Psalm 68, May God arise, may his enemies be scattered, may his foes flee before him. As smoke is blown away by the wind, may you blow them away. As wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God. But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God, may they be happy and joyful. Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds, His name is the Lord, and rejoice before him. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families. He leads forth the prisoners with singing. But the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. When you went out before your people, O God, when you marched through the wasteland, the earth shook. The heavens poured down rain before God, the one of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. You gave abundant showers, O God. You refreshed your weary inheritance. Your people settled in it. And from your bounty, O God, you provided for the poor. The Lord announced the word, and great was the company of those who proclaimed it. Kings and armies, flee in haste. In the camps, men divide the plunder. Even while you sleep among the campfires, the wings of my dove are sheathed with silver, its feathers with shining gold. When the Almighty scattered the kings in the land, it was like snow fallen on Zalman. The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains. Rugged are the mountains of Bashan. Why gaze in envy, O rugged mountains, at the mountain where God chooses to reign, where the Lord himself will dwell forever. The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands. The Lord has come from Sinai into his sanctuary. When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train, you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious, that you, O Lord God, might dwell there. Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves. From the sovereign Lord comes escape from death. Surely God will crush the heads of his enemies, the hairy crowns of those who go on in their sins. The Lord says, I will bring them from Bashan. I will bring them from the depths of the sea, that you may plunge your feet in the blood of your foes, while the tongues of your dogs have their share. Your procession has come into view, O God, the procession of my God and King into the sanctuary. In front are the singers, after them the musicians. With them are the maidens playing the tambourines. Praise God in the great congregation. Praise the Lord in the assembly of Israel. There's the little tribe of Benjamin leading them. There the great throng of Judah's princes, and there the princes of Zebulun and of Naphtali. Summon your power, O God. Show us your strength, O God, as you have done before. Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings will bring you gifts. Rebuke the beasts among the reeds, the herd of bulls among the calves of the nations. Humbled, may it bring bars of silver. Scatter the nations who delight in war. Envoys will come from Egypt. Cush will submit herself to God. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth. Sing praises to the Lord, to him who rides the ancient skies above, who thunders with mighty voice. Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the skies. You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary. The God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God. And then Ephesians chapter 4, beginning at verse 1. As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says, when he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men. What does he ascended mean except that he also descended to the lower earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe. It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. What has happened between these two comings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? We are very often these days faced with opportunities on every hand to ask our Lord, why has it been so long? How long, O Lord, before Psalm 68 is finally completed? We have seen its fulfillment in part in the resurrection and ascension of our Savior, where he has entered into paradise saying, Here I am and the children that God has given me. But what is to happen in this in-between time? What do we expect in this time between the first and second comings of our Lord? Very often the church has grown impatient, just as the Israelites grew impatient when Moses was up on the mountain with God, interceding for the people. They said, where is this Moses who brought us up out of Egypt? And even though they had seen the wonderful, marvelous things of God, they didn't know what the march from Sinai to Zion was really all about. And so they grumbled and they complained. They set up a golden calf so they could have a God they could visualize, a God they could see, a God they could touch. And now, instead of being fearful in God's presence as he spoke to them, they sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play. In other scenarios, the church takes upon itself the authority to judge, driving out the nations as if even Christian civilization were the children of Israel, the kingdom of David, driving out the Canaanites, from God's holy land. In fact, on a cold November day in 1095, Pope Urban II roused a great crowd and from his window encouraged them to, instead of fighting each other, turn their sights on the real enemy of Islam and retake the holy land. He said to them all, If you must have blood, bathe in the blood of infidels. And there he was following a long line of interpretation going back even to the church father Eusebius who said of his patron Constantine the Great, Our divinely favored Emperor Constantine has received, as it were, a transcript of God's sovereignty and directs in the imitation of God himself the administration of this world's affairs. He subdues and chastens the open adversaries of the truth in accordance with the usages of war. And it's very easy for us, especially as we sing onward Christian soldiers at 4th of July celebrations, not in this church, but around the country on high and holy days where people are not necessarily aware of the ascension of Christ and don't necessarily celebrate his ascension, but nevertheless confuse the march of our armies with the march that is spoken of here in Psalm 68. At first, not even the disciples understood the purpose of Jesus' march in the wilderness. They didn't understand what was happening. They thought that the Messiah was going to lead everybody back to Sinai. They didn't realize that from the very beginning it was a march from the Exodus to Mount Sinai, ultimately to Mount Zion. Even a Jewish theologian like John Levinson remarks concerning this passage that it is a march of Yahweh from bondage to the giving of the law, to the arrival at Zion. But Sinai is just a way station on the way to Zion. He says, Psalm 68 records a march of Yahweh from Sinai, a military campaign in which the God of Israel and his retinue set across the desert. As important as Sinai is in the march, However, Zion is the real destination. As great as the moment of Sinai was, the giving of the law in Israel's past, an even greater fulfillment is up ahead. A fulfillment in which the greater promise given to Abraham will be fulfilled. You recall that in Genesis 15, Abraham was promised both an earthly land and a heavenly land. He was promised that his children would be brought back to this land after five centuries of slavery. But even something greater was given. And he says, through you and your seed, I will bless all of the families of the earth. And so it was precisely that greater promise that was fulfilled in Zion. Where the blessing of God came not just to Israel through the law, but to the nations. through the gospel. And so as important as Sinai is, it is only a way station. It's interesting that John Levinson goes on to say, even later in the Psalter, the identification of God as the one of Sinai, remember we read that in the reading of the text, the one of Sinai gives way to the one of Zion. So significant is his identification with Zion up ahead that his very name now is especially attached to his holy hill. Levinson says, And in the Zion traditions, there will emerge something almost unthinkable in the case of Sinai. An unconditional divine promise that somehow, Above all the vicissitudes of human disobedience, Yahweh himself will arise and scatter his enemies and save his people. So Zion takes on a cosmic, universal role that Sinai never did. And that's from a Jewish interpreter. It's interesting, later on he goes on to point out that this is where Jewish and Christian interpretations diverge. He says, as Jews, we believe finally at the end of the day the voice of Sinai is louder. than the voice of Zion. The Gentiles who delight in war, Psalm 68 tells us, will be judged. But a remnant from all the nations will be brought to God's holy hill. And God's purposes of salvation, not just separation, but of salvation, can only be realized through that promise that God made to Abraham through his seed and not through the efforts of Abraham himself. When he takes that remnant from all the nations, Gentiles will join the procession. See, this royal march is actually a procession. The procession that Adam was meant to lead from the six days of labor into the seventh day of everlasting rest. Israel now is meant to recapitulate, represent this trial all over again, leading the people into the promised land. But in order for this to actually be fulfilled because of the sinfulness of human beings and for it to come to the whole world, it must come not only from a sinful Israel, but from a last Adam who is not only sinless, but fulfills all obedience required by Sinai. And so Zion does indeed take on a cosmic universal role that Sinai never did. Verse 31 of this psalm tells us that Nobles shall come from Egypt. Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God. These nations are not insignificant in Israel's history. It's sort of like the promise that we find in Isaiah of highways being built from Assyria and Egypt to Jerusalem. Now, there have been highways built, but not altogether pleasant highways. Highways of war, highways of destruction. Assyria and Egypt weren't exactly the most friendly nations in the history of Israel. They were the sworn enemies. And Israel itself went into Assyrian captivity. And yet, Isaiah prophesies of a day when God will say, Assyria, my people, Egypt, my beloved. and Israel will be a third along with the other two in that day. Leading captivity captive, ascending, giving gifts and receiving gifts, even from his enemies, crushing the head of the serpent, driving out the enemies from God's holy garden, and dwelling forever in Zion with his people in complete security and safety. That's the theme, really, of this march in Psalm 68. This is the king who daily loads us down with benefits, the God of our salvation, from whom alone, says the psalmist, we receive escape from death. And so that's why Jesus came into the world. Jesus came into the world to be the last Adam, to be the faithful Israelite, to take that march and instead of leading creation toward the exit, instead of taking truth into his own hands, submitted himself to every word that comes from the mouth of God. From his victory on the mountain of Golgotha to his ascension to the true heavenly Zion and enthronement as the King of kings and Lord of Lords, Yahweh leads captivity captive. You think about even before his crucifixion, the return of the 70 in Luke chapter 10, which already anticipates the victory march of Jesus in his ascension. Jesus pronounces the woes, the covenant curses upon the enemies of his kingdom. He drives them out of his kingdom, including Israel's religious leaders. While the 70 return with joy, breathlessly reporting to Jesus, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And Jesus said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. But don't rejoice in this. that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. As the captain of salvation, Jesus Christ, in his earthly ministry marched from Sinai to Zion, he fulfilled all righteousness, leading captivity captive, resisting the way of glory that was proffered to him by Satan. refusing to go around the cross. He went through it, reminding Peter, was it not written that the Son of Man first of all had to suffer these things and then enter into his glory? And in his upper room discourse in John 14 through 16, Jesus prepared the disciples for his departure. What will happen in this in-between time? Will he, like Moses, just sort of be gone from us? Will we have to create idols? Will we have to create placeholders for this absent mediator? No, because the Spirit has been sent. The Spirit has been shed abroad in our hearts. The Spirit has descended at Pentecost, and Satan has already been defeated. All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me, Jesus said. Therefore, go into all the world and preach the gospel. That's what's happening right now. That's what it means to drive out the serpent from the garden. Not that we are literally taking up arms in order to preserve our culture and our nation, but rather that we are going out in the power of the Spirit with the armor that Christ has purchased for us. Faith, the Word of God, Spirit, and His righteousness. And now, finally, in chapter 4 of Ephesians, Paul appeals to Psalm 68. And what's typical in the Apostle Paul, you have to be careful when you're reading Paul, Whenever he quotes one verse, he's assuming that we're all thinking of the whole text, of which it is a part. And so he's really thinking of all of Psalm 68 when he just quotes a few verses here. First of all, Paul is talking about a march, to be sure, but it's a march of all of God's people as one person in unity. And he realizes that this is a difficult thing because it's a new thing that God is doing here, bringing Jew and Gentile together. Probably hard, it's certainly hard for me, it's hard for most of us, those of us who are not Jewish in our background to understand how on earth God pulled this off. This is an amazing feat of God's grace that he brought two peoples together and it's a very important part of the gospel. Jews and Gentiles had been so opposed and not opposed simply because of racial problems but opposed because God opposed them. God put a difference between Israel ethnically and ritually and the world. And it was that difference which the code of Mount Sinai required that actually kept the whole world from being the recipient of these blessings of the gospel. And yet the gospel was preached. The writer of the Hebrews reminds us that in the wilderness wanderings, in the march of Israel from Sinai to Zion, They heard the gospel just as we have but didn't combine the hearing of it with faith. And so Paul is encouraging those whom he has just taught about this great mystery of the church as Jew and Gentile reconciled in Jesus Christ and he's telling them walk worthy of the calling that you have received with all lowliness and gentleness with long-suffering bearing with one another in love of endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. I think we should read this with Paul sort of in the back of his mind thinking about the murmuring of the Israelites. Don't be like the murmuring Israelites, who though they had seen the work of God in the past, complained about God's provision in the present and his faithfulness for the future. This new covenant discipleship is essential if there is to be a people marching in this age under the banner of Christ with his gospel to the ends of the earth. And so the image now in chapter 4 is that of a single body walking toward its goal. This is not a survival of the fittest. This is not a spiritual marathon. This is a group race. And we make it together. This unity is a gift that's already given, not a goal for us to attain. That's why he says that the unity is based not on anything we attain, but on one Lord, one faith, one baptism. If the proclamation of the gospel creates this united body of liberated prisoners in the first place, then its faithful proclamation in the church is essential for preserving the bond of unity. And yet, Paul uses a very strong participle here that tells the church that it must make every effort to preserve this bond of unity. We are one in Christ, therefore let us walk together as one. Jew and Gentile now one in Christ. One family, just exactly as Psalm 68 has promised. But then finally, the last verses of Ephesians tell us what has happened in Christ's ascension. He hasn't just ascended announcing his victory so that we are objectively saved, but nothing happens again until Jesus returns. Rather, right now, Jesus is reigning at the Father's right hand until all of his enemies are made his footstool. Jesus is interceding on our behalf. But according to Paul here in Ephesians 4, he's doing more. He's busting out all the gifts. He's tearing apart the pinata and all the candies flying. He's showering us with all of the gifts that he purchased on the cross, that he predestined for us from all of eternity. That's what's happening right now. Riches are falling from heaven. This is exactly how Paul puts it. Quoting Psalm 68, To each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says, When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men. What does he ascended mean except that he also descended to the lower earthly regions? He who descended is the very same one who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe. All believers share the inheritance of the saints that he talks about in verse 12. Several times in the first part of chapter 4, he talks about what we all share. The benefits that we share in common as those who are captives liberated in his train. But then Paul turns to the specific gifts that he has given the church. He says that he has given offices. It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers. This is what has happened in Christ's ascension. This is what he's doing even now. We heard this morning at Christ URC Santee about a pastor who is wanting us to help plant a URC church in Milan, Italy. And it is a small church. People come from all over the region in order to, sometimes two hours away, for two services. And it's remarkable to hear these stories, and the people are so grateful for what they receive. They recognize in this time around the world, in Europe, in Africa, in Asia. God is still pouring out these blessings. The pinata is still opening. It seems to be limitless in the gifts that are reigning from heaven. Verses 7, 8, and 11 all repeat the reference. Has been given. Christ's giving. He gave gifts and it was he who gave. I don't know where we ever get this idea the church is all about us serving the Lord. Us giving gifts to the Lord. We love and serve our neighbor because of the gifts that God has given us. But this puts us on the receiving end, brothers and sisters. This is what's happening during this age. He is pouring out his gifts. It's emphasized so many times in this passage. He has ascended to the right hand of all power. He has not left one sin for you to atone for. He has not failed to pray one prayer for your salvation. He is at the Father's right hand preparing a place for you. All of his gifts are coming down. Now go grab them. That's what he's saying. Embrace the gifts that God has given through his new covenant and through the gifts that he has given of offices in the church. He gave gifts to men. Now, in Psalm 68, of course, you might recall, it doesn't say he gave gifts to men. It says he received gifts from men, even from the rebellious. So what is Paul doing here? Is this apostolic license? It's exactly the opposite as it is in Psalm 68. And some commentators suggest that it's because of an Aramaic variant. Paul was familiar with an Aramaic variant, which did have the gifts coming from God to the people. But the majority of the text seemed to have it going in the other direction. Regardless, Paul is making the point that after the actual fulfillment of Psalm 68, After Christ has ascended, God is giving gifts to his people. He's showering his people with gifts. It's interesting, I came across a Jewish commentary on this, pointing out that a particular Jewish targum on this psalm reads, You have ascended to heaven, that is Moses the prophet. You have taken captivity captive. You have learned the words of the Torah, and you have given Torah as a gift to men. Do you see how different that is from Paul's interpretation here? It's not the ascension of Moses, but of Christ that Paul proclaims. Even if Moses had ascended according to later tradition, popular legend, Christ has ascended, verse 10, far above all heavens. And his gift, according to Paul in verse 7, is not Torah but grace. And so Paul knew what he was saying. He seems to be alluding specifically to this interpretation. By Paul's time, Pentecost was increasingly associated with the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. Not of Israel going out into the world. into the nations, which is the actual fulfillment of Pentecost in Acts 2, of course, but rather the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. And Psalm 68 was a key hymn for that celebration. Paul sees this psalm as ideal for Ascension Day and for Pentecost, to be sure, but for very different reasons, a very different ascension and a very different conquering ascender. He descended lower and ascended higher than anyone before or after him. His filling of the whole cosmos, verse 10, refers not to his physical presence, but to the extent of his dominion. He has dominion in every part of the globe. He already has conquered as king. And he will return to claim the entirety of his reward, not only of the saints whom he has purchased, but of the whole earth that is in bondage to the curse. And so here's the argument that Paul makes. The giver is Christ. The gift is its ministers. Prophets and apostles no longer being around today, but evangelists, pastors, and teachers, so that God's people may be prepared or completed by the work of ministry, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Now, there's some debate about this verb here, completion, to complete, or to bring perfection. One of the reigning views, actually, before the more recent translations, was that he gave pastors and teachers to perfect the saints through their work of the ministry. so that the whole church would be built up in a unity of the faith and maturity and not tossed back and forth with every wind of doctrine. That seems to all hold together. But more recent translations have encouraged an idea that sort of eliminates any difference between ministers and those to whom they minister. As if the ministers are preparing the people for the work of ministry. And what happens in this case is if the sheep are expected to become shepherds, they're not really receiving all of these graces that are pouring down from heaven that Paul is talking about here. Some serve the body of Christ in these particular ways so that the whole body can be enriched. And then during the week, in our secular callings and vocations, built up in the faith, we can share our faith. with our neighbors and be of comfort and edification to the body of Christ. Because this ministry of the word is preserved in the church, the whole body is made a cloud of witnesses to Christ's triumphal entry into the gates of paradise with us in his train. And on this basis, Paul finally calls us to no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. Stop running around in circles. Stop playing your role in the show about nothing. Stop going nowhere. You know, the nowhere man living in his nowhere land, making all his nowhere plans for nobody. Stop doing that and walk forward toward a destination. We're not masters. We haven't arrived. But we're also not tourists. Just sort of looking at everything. We're pilgrims prepared for the march on our way to that holy city. And that's why Paul will go on in chapter 6 to talk about the whole armor of God. Psalm 68 has so completely flooded his imagination that it continues its reverberations through the following chapters. Look carefully then how you walk, he says, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of your time because the days are evil instead of losing ourselves in self-indulgence which is the Gentile habit of things he says believers are to come together in worship addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ so there is a new political order at work in the world we may not have thought about that when we drove into the driveway tonight or today we may not have thought that we're actually going to a political convention we are it's not a politics of democrats or republicans it's a different kind of political event but it is a political event because Jesus Christ by his erection has numbered the days of the regime of this passing evil age. Every empire will fall. Everything that can be shaken, even Sinai, will be shaken. And all that will be left is the kingdom of our God and of our Christ. And until then, we march forward in all of the armor that Christ has won for us to the ends of the earth, calling other Gentiles like ourselves to join the procession of Israel to God's holy hill. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have called us out of darkness into your marvelous light, that we who were estranged from your covenant and had no right to plead your mercies have nevertheless been enrolled in your covenant. And we and our children are now entitled to call you Savior and Lord. Father, we thank you for your law and your gospel. We thank you for the commands which are sweeter than honeycomb. We especially thank you for that gospel, the good news, which you gave to Abraham, not of something for him to do, but for something for him to believe, for all of us to believe, so that we too may have the faith of Abraham and share with him however far we may have been separated before in all of those blessings which your Son has won for us and continues to give to us through His ascension at your right hand. Hear us, we pray, Father, for we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.