God the Mighty and Righteous Judge

Psalms 50:1-15
A Psalm of Asaph.

1 The Mighty One, God the LORD,
Has spoken and called the earth
From the rising of the sun to its going down.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God will shine forth.

3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent;
A fire shall devour before Him,
And it shall be very tempestuous all around Him.

4 He shall call to the heavens from above,
And to the earth, that He may judge His people:
5 "Gather My saints together to Me,
Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice."

6 Let the heavens declare His righteousness,
For God Himself is Judge.

Selah

7 "Hear, O My people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you;
I am God, your God!

8 I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices
Or your burnt offerings,
Which are continually before Me.

9 I will not take a bull from your house,
Nor goats out of your folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is Mine,
And the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the mountains,
And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.

12 "If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
Or drink the blood of goats?

14 Offer to God thanksgiving,
And pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me."

Oh, what a Mighty One we serve!  God above is the righteous Judge over the just and the unjust.  The first half of this psalm addresses the just, His people, and the second half the wicked, those opposed to Him and His word.  He has spoken in creation to cause the earth to spin just so, that there are regular sun rises and sunsets.  God also shines forth His perfection out of the perfect and beautiful place He had men build on Mount Zion to worship and serve Him from, a place to meet the invisible and holy God in His glory and to offer sacrifices to Him.  From there God speaks in judgment as a devouring tempest as described here, a force not to be ignored and from which nobody can escape.  Before the watchers in heaven and men on earth, He will call all to accountability, especially those with whom He had made a covenant with by sacrifices.  This Judge is attested to by heaven itself (the creation of angelic beings as well as the physical universe) of His righteousness and therefore His right to judge, and that fairly.  This is worth stopping to reflect upon.  Then God spoke to His people called out by His name, Israel, that He as their only LORD and God had the right and perfect knowledge to speak truth against them and their actions needing to be called to account.  This rebuke was not for failings in offering sacrifices, which they had been doing.  What they sacrificed was His anyway; He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, as the expression of His word goes.  God does not need their offerings to sustain Him, as if He had nothing Himself to feed upon, but wanted them to give up what He had entrusted to them from willing hearts which were ready to offer back to their Lord and Master.  We see that all the sacrifices were of the animals originally given to Adam as helpers, turning to food at the Fall, then to property as their wealth.  These important possessions and original companions were to be given up and given to the Giver as acts of obedience and submission with loving and worshipful hearts.  That covenant begun in Eden’s Garden by the first sacrifice which God made to cover their sins (Genesis 3:21) was later confirmed by men sacrificing willingly what they held dear to offer atonement as God covered their sin in response, each a life for a life, until the ultimate perfect sacrifice of God’s own Son covered all sin for all time, never needing to be repeated (Hebrews 7:27, 9:12, 10:10).  God truly is our righteous Judge, but also a merciful God of grace to sacrifice for us and offer that New Covenant freely and forever to His people whom He calls!