Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him. Sermons
I. TO WHOM DOES THE OFFICE OF JUDGE BELONG? In the sixth verse we read, "God is Judge himself." He allows none but himself to sit in judgment on others; for none else has the authority or the ability to do it. But he, whose great Trinity of names is given here, keeps all in infinite hands. "God," the Supreme Ruler; El-Elohim, the God of gods; Jehovah, the covenant God of Israel; - he it is who is thus enthroned and speaks with his voice, on the eternal principles which are the basis of his throne. II. WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THAT OFFICE? As here indicated, it includes the expression of his mind and will, as to the worship he requires, the conduct he approves or disapproves, the decisions he forms, the sentences he pronounces, the destinies he assigns. For long God may have seemed to keep silence hereon (ver. 21), but he will not be silent always (ver. 3). III. WHEN DOES THE JUDGMENT TAKE PLACE? It can scarcely be questioned that the remarkable words in ver. 3 point to a specific time when God shall come to judgment, and when attendant on the judgment there will be great signs and wonders in the heaven above and the earth beneath (see vers. 1, 3, 4). But three or four distinctive forms of God's judgment are indicated in Scripture. 1. The judgment at the last day. This is brought before us in Matthew 25:31-46. 2. The judgment expressed in providential dispensations on the Jewish Church (Jeremiah 7:1-20; Ezekiel 9:4-6; 1 Peter 4:17). 3. The judgments that are brought upon Christian Churches that are unfaithful. These are plainly enough shown us in the epistles to the seven Churches 4. The judgment that is ever going on in every visible Church - a judgment by One whose eyes are as a flame of fire, and who walks in the midst of the golden lamps. This is God's "eternal judgment" (Hebrews 6:1), the principles of which never, never vary. What they will be seen to be at the last day they are now, seen or unseen. IV. WHO ARE THE JUDGED? (Ver. 5.) The heavens and the earth are called to be witnesses of God's judgment "of the covenant people" (Cheyne). "This psalm," says Dickson, "is a citing of the visible Church before God... to compear before the tribunal of God, now in time while mercy may be had, timously to consider the Lord's controversy against the sinners in his Church, that they may repent and be saved." "The psalm," says Perowne, "deals with 'the sinners and the hypocrites in Zion,' but it reaches to all men, in all places, to the end of time." It contains the message of Divine indignation to those in Israel who were not of Israel; it specifies: 1. The superstitious - those who brought offerings of slain beasts in sacrifice, thinking that God accepted them as such, or who even, perhaps, stooped to the pagan notion that such sacrifices were "food for the gods." Hence, though there is no rebuke over any offerings withheld (ver. 8), yet there is severe indignation against the low conceptions of God and his worship with which these offerings were brought (vers. 9-13). 2. There were the scribes (see Matthew Poole), who expounded the Law, but kept it not (ver. 16). 3. There were those whose service was but a form - who vowed to God, but did not pay (ver. 14). 4. There were the openly wicked, who sought by profession of religion to cloak their wickedness (vers. 17-20). Think of such a heterogeneous mass being collected together in one visible Church! Is it any wonder that "judgment must begin at the house of God"? V. WHAT IS THE BASIS OF JUDGMENT? (Ver. 2.) "Out of Zion God hath shined." As from Mount Sinai he declared his will in the legislation of Moses, so from Zion he hath declared his will in the proclamations of prophet, apostle, saint, and seer; and according to those principles of truth and righteousness thus proclaimed is God's judgment ever being exercised; according to them will it finally proceed. And according to the measure of light granted to men, will be the standard by which they will be tried. Fuller light on this theme comes to view in the New Testament. Peter's words (Acts 10:35; 1 Peter 3:18 - 4:6), Paul's words (Romans 2:16; Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10), throw a flood of light hereon, showing us that ere the final judgment comes every soul will come to know its relation to the Lord Jesus, and that according to its response will be its destiny. VI. WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH JUDGMENT WILL PROCEED? Five of these are indicated in the psalm. 1. That merely formal offerings are offensive to God (vers. 8-13). 2. That no measure of religiousness will be accepted if iniquity has prevailed in the heart and life (ver. 16). 3. That the truly acceptable worship is a life of consecration, fidelity, prayer, and praise (vers. 14, 15). 4. That whosoever has ordered his life after the revealed will of God, will see God's salvation (ver. 23). 5. That wherever the life has been one of forgetfulness and neglect of God, the guilty one will be confounded (ver. 22). VII. WHAT ARE THE COMPLAINTS MADE BY THE GREAT JUDGE? One is negative, viz. the absence of the worship of the heart; another is positive - hypocrisy and guilt screened under a profession of religion, and the thought being cherished all the while that they would never be detected (ver. 21). VIII. WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE SOVEREIGN JUDGE? A life of (1) praise (ver. 23); (2) thanksgiving (ver. 14); (3) loyalty (ver. 14); (4) prayer (ver. 15); (5) glorifying God (ver. 15); (6) a good and upright conversation (ver. 23). Who does not see how infinitely such a life rises above that of merely formal lip-service? IX. WHAT WILL BE THE ISSUE OF THE JUDGMENT? Under varied forms of expression, the results are declared to be twofold, according to the main drifts of character and life. 1. For those in the wrong, rejection, sin set in order, brought home, exposed, condemned (vers. 21, 22). 2. For those who are in the right - the salvation of God (Acts 10:35; Acts 15:8, 9, 11). Thus under every head, though in archaic form, and with light less full, the very same truths are declared by the psalmist that were afterwards brought out more fully by Jesus Christ and his apostles. X. TO WHOM IS THE CALL ADDRESSED TO HEAR ALL THIS, AND WHY? (Vers. 1, 4.) The whole earth is called on to witness and to watch the severely discriminating judgments of God on his visible Church; and every one is called upon to hearken, because it is God who speaketh. The Apostle Peter raises a momentous question in 1 Peter 4:17, 18. Whether we are ready to face the last judgment depends on how we stand in relation to that judgment which is going on every hour. Mote: After studying such a psalm as this, how vain does the question put by Roman Catholics appear, "Where can I find God's true Church?" For this whole psalm is addressed to God's true Church. Yet whoever, even "in Zion," is at ease, or formal, or corrupt, will find that not even membership in any visible Church will save him. Only those will be saved whose hearts are purified by faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. - C.
Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. I. THE COMING OF OUR GOD. The expression is very striking: "Our God shall come!" Christ is God as well as man. His first coming was in His birth at Bethlehem. Here the psalmist contemplates His second coming. The cry may soon be heard, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh," etc. It is of the utmost importance that we should be ready.II. THE MANNER OF HIS COMING. "A fire shall devour," etc. It is impossible to describe the terror of that day! III. THE OBJECT OF HIS COMING. "He shall call," etc. (R. Horsfall.) 1. Rise in the morning, and go forth to look upon the world as the light reveals it to the eye. You see the sun mounting to his throne of glory, dispensing, as he goes, life and warmth and beauty over all the habitable globe. All nature awakes at his approach. But though there is a very orchestra of subtile sounds — the song of birds, the hum of insect life, the sough of the swaying pines, the rustle of the dewy leaves — yet nowhere in field or forest, on the green earth or in the deep blue sky, do you hear the voice of the Deity. God keeps silence! 2. Go climb some lofty mountain, until you have the clouds beneath your feet, and the world spread out in grand panorama before you, river and plain, hill and valley, city and hamlet. You seem to breathe the pure air of heaven, and to stand under its cloudless dome. But neither in that blue arch above you, nor among those vast ranges of billowy mountains which encompass you, nor from those yet loftier snow-clad peaks which tower up to heaven, arrayed in their white robes for ever as the high priests of nature, do you hear any whisper or echo of the voice of the invisible God. The cataract thunders in the gorge, the mountain-brook babbles in the valley, the sad sea-waves chant their dirge along the shore, the hoarse thunder reverberates from peak to peak, but God keeps silence. 3. Picture some of the scenes of shameful revelry nightly enacted in such a city as this, when the licence and impiety of Belshazzar's feast are reproduced; when lips that were taught in infancy to lisp the name of God in prayer are made the instruments of ribaldry and blasphemy. Yet no handwriting on the wall rebukes the shameless revellers. God keeps silence! 4. Or, think of the deeds of wickedness daily wrought among men — "man's inhumanity to man," the heartless cruelty with which the strong prey upon the weak, "the oppressor's wrongs, the proud man's contumely," deceit and falsehood, trickery and hypocrisy, wrong and robbery. God keeps silence! II. WHY DOES GOD KEEP SILENCE? 1. A spiritual being cannot be apprehended by the senses. The eye of flesh, the ear of flesh cannot perceive the invisible God. It is the soul which perceives, hears, apprehends Him. Faith in God must remain a moral act; it must be the result of moral considerations, not of the formulas of logic. The stream cannot rise above its source; and belief in God, which should be the result of a logical demonstration, would remain an act of the logical faculties, and would have no moral value. Moreover, if the being and attributes of God were so plainly exhibited in the visible universe as to preclude the possibility of a doubt, a necessary element of man's probation would be wanting. 2. The probationary character of human life. If God's presence and power and retributive justice were forced upon the attention of men, so that they could not escape the consciousness of it; if God's voice were ever sounding in their ears in warning; and if punishment followed swiftly upon transgression — men in that case would act as truly under compulsion as if bound hand and foot, and driven by the whip of the taskmaster. There might be obedience to the Divine law; but it would be enforced obedience, and hence its moral value would be gone. (R. H. McKim, D. D.) People Asaph, Bathsheba, David, Nathan, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Burning, Devour, Devoureth, Devouring, Devours, Fire, Mightily, Mighty, Quiet, Rages, Round, Silence, Silent, Stormeth, Storm-winds, Stormy, Tempest, TempestuousOutline 1. The majesty of God in the church5. His order to gather his saints 7. The pleasure of God is not in ceremonies 14. but in sincerity of obedience Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 50:3Library Prayers AnsweredIN BUSINESS AND SOCIAL ANXIETIES. HELP IN PAYING A MORTGAGE. A business man in New York had several large amounts due for payment. An unprecedented series of calls from tradesmen wishing their bills paid sooner than customary, drained his means, and he was satisfied from the situation that his means would not be sufficient to pay them all. His business receipts, at this juncture, fell to one-half what they had usually been. A loan was due at the bank; a mortgage on his property, as well as large … Various—The Wonders of Prayer And that which Follows Concerning Birds of the Air and Lilies of the Field... The Holy Souls Why all Things Work for Good Rome and Ephesus The Opinion of St. Augustin How they are to be Admonished who Lament Sins of Deed, and those who Lament Only Sins of Thought. Triumph Over Death and the Grave Seasons of Covenanting. Putting God to Work Epistle cxxi. To Leander, Bishop of Hispalis (Seville). The Third Commandment First Sunday after Epiphany Letter Xlv (Circa A. D. 1120) to a Youth Named Fulk, who Afterwards was Archdeacon of Langres How those are to be Admonished who Abstain not from the Sins which they Bewail, and those Who, Abstaining from Them, Bewail them Not. Nature of Covenanting. Letter xix (A. D. 1127) to Suger, Abbot of S. Denis Epistle Lxiv. To Augustine, Bishop of the Angli . The Doctrine The Ninth Commandment On the Symbols of the Essence' and Coessential. ' Links Psalm 50:3 NIVPsalm 50:3 NLT Psalm 50:3 ESV Psalm 50:3 NASB Psalm 50:3 KJV Psalm 50:3 Bible Apps Psalm 50:3 Parallel Psalm 50:3 Biblia Paralela Psalm 50:3 Chinese Bible Psalm 50:3 French Bible Psalm 50:3 German Bible Psalm 50:3 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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