Psalm 68:20 "He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death."
"He that is our God..." Who is the "our" in this
verse? I could get into a deep theological discussion concerning this but
I simply want to say as the Apostle Paul, "they that are Christ's at his
coming." (1 Corinthians 15:23) The answer lies with those for whom
Christ died and will spend all eternity with Him. But I want to go even a
little deeper than that. Who is the "our" that speaks of the Lord God
Almighty as "our God"? Let us look back to the events and
things spoken by Jesus on the cross. Jesus cried with a loud voice,
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" If your God is the
same as the God to Whom Christ cried out as He was on the cross, then you can
say that the "our God" in Psalm 68:20 includes you and Jesus. I can
say that the "our" of verse 20 is Jesus and me. He is "our
God".
Our God is the God of salvation; and unto Him belongs "the issues from
death." In this passage, written a thousand years before Jesus went
to the cross, David is saying that only to, yes ONLY to, "our God"
belongs the issues from death; that is, only our God can deliver us from the
spiritual death in which we were born. We were dead in trespasses and
sins and could not bring ourselves out. We were dead in trespasses and sins and
had no self desire to bring ourselves out. In fact, when we were dead in
trespasses and sins, the things of God were foolishness to us. See 1 Corinthians
2:14. Some might say, "I don't ever remember a time when I did not
love God." I won't deny that. We saw in the past couple weeks that
John the Baptist was born of the Spirit of God while still in Elisabeth's womb.
But even for John, the sin nature had to be dealt with. He had to be born again
by the Spirit of God. You and I had to be born again of the Spirit of God in
order to understand and rejoice in the great truth of Psalm 68:20.
Unto God belongs the issues (deliverance, the going out) from death.
Aren't you thankful that you can look at that verse and say along with Jesus,
"My God! My God!" What wondrous love is this that our God loves
us and has delivered us even though we are undeserving.