Firstly we must praise God for Christ’s victory. Verse 4 says, “Sing unto God, sing praises to His name: triumph in Him that rideth through the deserts [or, upon the storm clouds].” Regardless of the storm, regardless of the cloud, God is riding upon them. The storm becomes His throne; the cloud becomes His seat; God is sitting upon them. So we must triumph in Him; we must sing triumphantly and praise His victory.
In verse 18 there is a tremendous praise: “Thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captive a train of vanquished foes. Thou hast received gifts in Man, and even for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell with them.” Christ has ascended! Hallelujah! How did He ascend? By leading captive a train of vanquished foes. All the enemies have been vanquished; all the enemies have been captured. He ascended to the heavens with a celebration of His victory, a celebrating procession of many foes. He defeated Satan! He defeated all the demons and evil spirits! He defeated all the rebellious people, including you! Have you ever said to Satan, “You are a defeated foe; you have been defeated on the cross!” Oh, if we have ever seen the victory won by Christ on the cross, we will say, “Satan is just a defeated foe!”
Christ ascended to the heavens in triumphant victory, and there as man and for man He received gifts from the Father and passed them on to His Body. For what purpose? For the building up of the dwelling place of God. He received gifts in man and for man that God may dwell with them. Paul quoted this verse in Ephesians 4 and said that He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. He also gave all the members—every member is a gift to the Body. The two shoulders may be the Apostle John and the Apostle Peter—these are the great gifts to the Body. Other gifts are also quite useful and beautiful, like our two eyes. Besides these we have lesser gifts like our little fingers, which at times are so comforting and useful. Do you realize how precious and useful you are? Christ needs you and the Body needs you. Even the little members are gifts received from the Father, by Christ, in man, for the church, and given to the church for the building up of God’s dwelling place on this earth.
How did the Father give the gifts to the Son and the Son give the gifts to the church? It is not simply that gifts are given and we receive them—there is much more to it than that. God gave the divine life with the divine nature to His Son Christ; God gave His Holy Spirit to His Son Christ; and God gave all those chosen before the foundation of the world, all the chosen rebels, including you, to His Son Christ. Christ received all this. Then Christ put the divine life into the rebels, Christ put the divine nature into the rebels, and Christ filled these rebels with the Holy Spirit. In so doing, the rebels were transformed into gifts. Saul of Tarsus was such a person, a rebel; but God the Father gave Saul of Tarsus to His Son Christ. We did not observe this, but Christ did— He saw it and said, “Thank You, Father, for such a rebel.” That rebel was kicking Jesus, and Christ in the heavens said, “That’s enough, Saul, that’s enough!” Then the divine life, the divine nature, and the Holy Spirit were put into him. He was reborn, he was converted and transformed, and after a certain time, Saul became Paul, the rebel became an apostle. Such a gift was then given to the church. We were all rebels, but we’ve all been chosen. One day the Father gave these miserable rebels to His Son, and one by one the Son put the divine nature into them, regenerated them, transformed them, filled them with the Holy Spirit, and gave them all as gifts to the Body that the church might be built as the habitation of God on this earth. Hallelujah!
How we need to praise and praise and praise out of such a verse as Psalm 68:18.
Notice verse 11: “The Lord sendeth the news of victory: great is the host of women that publish the tidings.” The Lord gives the news; the women publish the tidings. The men are the strong ones; the women are the weaker vessels (1 Pet. 3:7). In appearance you may be a man, in name you may be a man, but in reality we are all women; we are all weaker ones. All the publishers are not the strong, but the weak. To accomplish a work, you need strong ones, but to publish the tidings you do not need strong ones. We all must publish the tidings. We cannot do anything, but we can publish the tidings—we can tell people that Christ is victor, that Christ has ascended and led captive a train of vanquished foes! Hallelujah! We cannot send Christ to the heavens, but we can publish the tidings. I am utterly weak; in reality I am just a woman—but I can do something, I can publish tidings. The following verse says, “The kings of the armies, they flee, they flee!” These are the tidings. The enemy is defeated!