But not only does God need a habitation—we also need a home. So in this Psalm we have words such as “a home” and “a family,” etc. “God placeth the solitary in families and giveth the desolate a home to dwell in” (v. 6). Thus, we have these two aspects of the second main point: God’s habitation and our home. We must realize that God’s habitation is our home, and our home must be His habitation. This dwelling place is a mutual habitation: God dwells in us and we dwell in God. This is our home; this is the local church. The victory of Christ is for this—for the building up of God’s habitation and the securing of our home.
Hallelujah! Now there is no need for God to isolate Himself in the heavens; there is no need for us to call upon Him long distance. Now we can speak with Him as children with their Father at home; we can speak with Him face to face in the local church. He is at home here; He has established His habitation here. Formerly, it is true, God was on this earth, but He was wandering on this earth. You remember how Jacob, when he was fleeing from his brother, was homeless and wandering. One night he had a dream, a dream about the house of God. That dream signifies not only that he was homeless, but that God also was homeless. As long as we have no home on this earth, God also is homeless. But, praise the Lord, today we have a home, God has a home, and we are at home with our Father. So many, when they come into the local church, exclaim, “I am home, I am home!” In the local church we simply feel that we are home.
In this Psalm we do not have the word “enjoyment,” but we do have the fact. In the habitation which God has built up by the victory of His dear Son Jesus Christ, God is everything to us. In His habitation God is a Father to the fatherless and a protector to the widows. In His habitation He daily loads us with good. All the fulness of the Godhead is in the church for our enjoyment.
Not only do we enjoy all that God is to us, but we enjoy the spoils of Christ’s victory—“The women that tarry at home divide the spoil” (v. 12). What are the spoils? They are “the wings of a dove covered with silver and its pinions with glittering gold” (v. 13). The dove is the Spirit, and wings in the Bible signify flying power. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles...” (Isa. 40:31). O the wings of a dove! This is the spiritual strength, the spiritual power, the power in the Holy Spirit and the power in our spirit. The wings are covered with silver—this means that they are strengthened with the redemption of the Son, the all-inclusive death of Christ. They are also covered with glittering gold—this means that they are strengthened by the nature of God, the life of God, the fulness of the Godhead. The more we enjoy the spoils of the Lord’s victory, the more we will mount up on these two wings, empowered with the cross and all that God is.
O the enjoyment in the local church! We were desolate, but not now: God has given the desolate a home to dwell in. We were fatherless, we were orphans, but not now; we were widows, but not now. Now we are home, God is our Father, God is our protector. We were in the parched land, we were in the prison, but not now. Now we are in prosperity, now we are in the place of plentiful rain. Now at home with the family we are enjoying all the goodness of the Father. Day by day He loads us with good. O what enjoyment is expressed in this Psalm and experienced in the local church!
The first point is the victory of Christ, the second point is the building up of God’s habitation on this earth, and the third point is the enjoyment of God in Christ with all the spoils of His victory in the local church. Psalm 68 is so deep; it is so full of Christ; it has so much concerning God’s habitation and God as everything to us for our enjoyment.
Now we come to the last main point in this Psalm, the matter of praise. O what praise! There is no natural or religious praise in this Psalm. Sometimes when you go out with your family to the sea or the mountains, you look at the heavens, the sea, the mountains, the flowers or the birds, and say, “Lord, how we praise Thee for all these wonderful and beautiful things!” This is natural praise. Sometimes at the day’s end you call your children together and say, “Let us praise and thank the Lord for all His blessings. He has been so kind: He has given us health and kept us from any accident. O Father, how good You are to us!” This is religious praise. We cannot find anything natural or religious in the praises of Psalm 68. All the praises in this Psalm are exceedingly deep in the experiences of Christ. My burden here is just this: we must have a thorough, a radical, a one hundred and eighty degree revolution in our praises. We must learn to praise according to Psalm 68. Our praises must match the element and standard of Psalm 68.