Ps. 68.34-35 (sanctuary power)

Yield power / to God
his majesty / is over Israel
and his power / is in the heavens.
How awesome are you / O God / from your sanctuary!
He is / the God of Israel
who gives / power and strength / to the people.
Blessed be God.

These concluding lines nicely summarize the substance of our previous reflections as well as the entire psalm: the ‘power of God’ that was so manifest in the ‘taking of Zion’ is here the focus of praise and adoration. In the ‘taking’ God established himself as King, with his ‘majesty’ now residing ‘over Israel’. His heavenly, and utterly expansive power, remains ‘in the heavens’. But, as we saw, the objective of this heavenly power/desire is for the earth to match that similar expanse—meaning, that the entire earth would join  in with the entirety of heaven. Zion represents the ‘staging ground’ of this called-for liturgical empire, for it is there that the ‘forever’ of God has been made ‘forever’ in his dwelling. It is there that the astonishing power of deliverance and resurrection occur, drawing together all of Israel in a type of preamble to the world’s unity. The conquering power of death that is made permanent in Zion will flow over the borders of Israel and into the world at large. “How awesome are you, O God, from your sanctuary.” With Zion established the full deployment of God’s ‘drawing forth’ power—even from the belly of the Sea—will begin. This is Zion power; the power of Eden. Everything in these concluding lines comes from and returns to this power: “yield power…majesty over Israel…power in the heavens…awesome from the sanctuary…power to the peoples.”  All power handed over to man is a participation—a dolling out—of the enthronement power of God in Zion. Finally, note how power is 'yielded to God' (34) only to be given back (35) now infused with this Zion power.