Alive In The Spirit

But before Paul gets into that, he stops and he does a little Scripture exposition on Psalm 68.18. And here he shows why Christ had the right to give these gifts. Look at verse 8, and he’s quoting Psalm 68.18. Wherefore it saith, that is Psalm 68.18. When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now we’ll stop there. If you were to study Psalm 68, you would see it as a picture of God like a conquering hero. God sets out in verse 1 to make a war with his enemies, and God wins, by the way, in case you want to know how it ended.

God always wins. So God goes out to war and God is victorious. Now when God is victorious, he comes back and it shows God, as it were, in verse 18, ascending the hill of victory. And he’s got all of the spoils and all of the captives with him. That’s the picture. And by the way, Paul’s use of it here indicates to us that it is a prophecy of Jesus Christ. It was a picture of the great victory of Jesus over Satan, sin, death and hell. That’s what the psalmist was really looking forward to.

But let’s see how Paul interprets this tremendous verse. When he ascended up on high, he let captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now here’s the picture. When a king of Israel would go to battle, he’d go out to fight the enemy, and if he would win he would come back. And when he came to the city, he would ascend the hills of Mount Zion. Mount Zion, the great crowning hill of Jerusalem, the place of great victory, the place where God had established his people. And so the king would ride in up, ascending as it were, Mount Zion.

And they would all be, as they were with Jesus, hailing him as king in the day of Palm Sunday that we remember. It was just a traditional way to accept the conquering hero. He would be riding in not on the cult, the fowl of an ass, but on the steed that he was victorious in, and he would ride into the city. And behind him he would have two things. Two things, he would have the spoils of victory, which would no doubt be a lot of the people from that foreign nation brought to be slaves, and some riches, and some things that they had taken as spoil.

But there would be a second group. Notice it says he would lead captivity, captive. He would recapture the captives. What does he mean? Many times other nations had Israelites in prison. Many times when the kings of Israel conquered that nation, they freed those captives and brought them back to their own land. You see? So you’ve got him with the people from that nation who are being brought back, and you’ve got him with his own people who were freed. So the picture then, now get it, because you’ll never understand the text without it.

Here comes the conquering hero. He has won the war, he is victorious, the victory is done, and he’s got the spoils on the one hand, people from that nation brought back to serve Israel, and he’s got his own people who were held prisoner there that he has released and set free, and they’re coming back free, and it’s a joyous scene. That is precisely what Paul sees here in terms of Christ. Now watch. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, he entered into a battle with Satan and his demons and his hosts, and he won that battle.

That’s right. It looked like a loser on the cross. Christ was a winner. And after the cross, Jesus came back, up as it were, ascending the mount of victory, and he had behind him the spoils of war, and he led captivity captive. Now let me go from there and let’s follow Paul’s exposition in verses 9-10, and we’ll clarify it. Now he came back with captives, and he came back with spoils to give. Now he wants to explain who this is. Who is the Psalmist talking about? Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? In other words, before whoever this refers to ascended, he descended.

Verse 10, he that descended is the same that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things. That he might fill all things? Who is he that fills all things? Go back to chapter 1 verse 23, which is his body the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Who is it? The antecedent, verse 20, which he brought in. What Christ? Christ is the one who fills all in all. Christ is the one who dominates the universe. All right? That’s who he’s talking about. Christ is also, and you’ll notice in verse 8 it says he ascended.

In verse 9 it says he ascended, and in verse 10 it says he ascended. Now the only person I know of the New Testament that ascended is who? Jesus Christ. Acts chapter 1, he ascended, a cloud received him out of their sight. Now then Paul takes this scripture and applies it to Christ, and he says Christ is the one who brought the spoils and led the captives free. And you say, but what does this have to do with the gifts? Now watch, and I’ll show you. Look with me at first Peter chapter 3, and if you’re a little bit lost, that’s all right.

We’re getting there. You’ll begin to see the outline of what the conclusion is as we look at this. Now watch. I’m going to show you the exact incident that is prophesied in that psalm, the exact thing that Paul is making application to. Verse 18 of chapter 3. Now let’s just find out where we are. We’re talking about Christ. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the injustice, that he might bring us to God, being put to death. Now stop there. All right, now we know who we’re talking about, Christ.

We know where we’re talking. He’s put to death. We’re at the cross. Okay, this is a picture of the cross. Now watch. At the cross, while he was suffering for sin, while he was the just for the unjust, while he was put to death, he was dead in the flesh, but he was alive in the what? Spirit, small s, small s. In other words, his outer man had died, but his inner man was alive. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of Alive in the Spirit. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world.

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