PSALM 76—THE VICTORY OF GOD IN HIS DWELLING PLACE
Psalm 76 tells us that God’s dwelling place is where God defeats His enemies. According to the arrangement of all the Psalms, this signifies that the defeat of the enemies of God follows the desolation, just as Psalm 76 follows Psalm 74. This certainly fits today’s situation. Today, after the desolation of the church, God is defeating His enemies in the local churches.
Verses 1 and 2: “In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.” Salem means peaceful, perfect and complete. That is where God’s tabernacle is located. It is marvelous! Zion means a fortress, or safety. Therefore Salem signifies peace, and Zion speaks of the safety of a fortress. Here in God’s dwelling place we have peace, and here we have safety. Verse 3: “There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.” You must underline the word “there.” It is in God’s dwelling place, in the local churches, that God defeats and destroys His enemy and smashes all his instruments of war. Verse 4: “Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.” The desolaters of God’s sanctuary are the mountains of prey, but Zion is more excellent and more glorious than all the desolaters. Do not forget that all these Psalms are written in poetic form; hence, we must understand them in a poetic way.
Now let us put all these four Psalms together. In Psalm 73 we see the personal sufferings of the seeking saints, then in Psalm 74, the desolation of the house of God. Psalm 75 speaks of Christ’s intervening to judge the desolaters, and Psalm 76 declares the victory of God in His dwelling place. Firstly, God strips His seeking saints of material things to a certain extent. Secondly, they have seen the desolation of the house of God. Thirdly, they have come to know God’s intention that they may enjoy Him in an absolute way and then enjoy the house of God. God’s house has lain desolate for so long because they failed to give God’s Anointed the proper and pre-eminent position. Fourthly, at the set time God’s Anointed will come in to deal with the situation. Fifthly, God’s victory is in His dwelling place. It is in the church as the city that God defeats all His enemies. We must still come back to the dwelling place of God, to Salem, to Zion. Salem is peace, and Zion is safety; so it is there that we have peace and safety.
Altogether, in these four Psalms we see that the enjoyment of the house of God depends entirely upon the position Christ is given among God’s people.
(Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms, Chapter 12, by Witness Lee)
