God Promises to Take You Home

Psalm 68:1, 35 May God arise, may his enemies be scattered; may his foes flee before him…35 You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!
 
THESE are the first and last verses of Psalm 68. The song celebrates God’s powerful work to lead his people out of Egypt into the land he promised them. As is customary in such songs, there are many verses that extol God’s power to do his will. God scatters his enemies. He leads his people forward. V 17 The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands; the LORD [has come] from Sinai into his sanctuary.  
   As the psalm confirms God’s power, it also assures Israel their omnipotent God is a very personal Father. He is V 5 a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. 6 God sets the lonely in families. 10 Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, O God, you provided for the poor. 19 Praise be to the LORD, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.
   This is the gospel. We need God to arise and to come to our aid. We were enslaved under Satan’s authority. God personally arose from heaven and came down to scatter his enemy Satan from control over your life. And now the active power of Jesus’ name will redeem the captives. Romans 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  
   The gospels record the battle. From Jesus’ birth, Satan attempted to destroy him through Herod’s evil order to kill they infants in Bethlehem. (Mattthew 2:16-18) Satan’s legions roared against their exorcisms: Mark 1:26 The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. As a result Jesus’ power became evident to the Jews. Luke 4:36 All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!” And Jesus authorized his disciples to wage the war: Luke 9:1-2 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
   And then came the great power of Jesus’ resurrection. Death is defeated. There is the good news that  if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
           The people of Israel could worship God when they considered his personal power to make them his own. You, Christian, can worship God and celebrate his personal power free you from Satan and to take you into heaven. Psalm 68:20 Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.