"The Mighty God, Even the Lord, Has Spoken! - Psalm 50

 

A Psalm of Asaph   (See 1 Chronicles 15:17 and 19; and 2 Chronicles 29:30 and also 1 Chronicles 16:7)   Commentaries by Dennis Edwards

Psalm 50:1 The mighty God, even the Lord, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.

Who is the “mighty God” spoken of here? Where else do we find the “mighty God” in Scripture? Let’s look to the prophecies from Isaiah about the Messiah.

Isaiah 9:6-7 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulders: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of host will perform this.”

All the names used for Jehovah in Isaiah are here used to identify the Messiah. Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, the only begotten Son of the Father, is the mighty God and upon His shoulders the government or kingdom is being built which shall have no end. His peace in the lives of those that believe shall increase more and more.

Isaiah 10:20-21 “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and as such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more stay (or depend) upon him that smote them; but they shall stay (or depend) upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.”

Here we see the Holy One of Israel is the mighty God.

In the New Testament we find out  more information about who the Holy One of Israel is.

Luke 4:31-37 “And (Jesus) came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. And they were astonished at His doctrine: for His word was with power. And in the synagogue, there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with you, you Jesus of Nazareth? are you come to destroy us? I know you who you are; the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold your peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. And they were all amazed, and spoke among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out. And the fame of Him went out into every place of the country round about.”

The devil called Jesus the Holy One of Israel. Apostle James tells us: “You believe that there is one God; you do well: the devils also believe, and tremble,” James 2:19.

In the Gospel of John, we find that Jesus, the Word, is the Creator God with God the Father.

John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.”

John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.”

Apostle Paul makes the same point in His epistle to the Colossians.

Colossians 1:12-21 “Giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has He reconciled.”

Apostle Paul tells us that by Jesus Christ “all things were created and by Him all things consist” or it’s Jesus that made and keeps everything together.

The author of Hebrews makes the same point.

Hebrews 1:1-4 “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high: Being made so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

God through Jesus has made all things and upholds them through the word of His power. It is Jesus who has made and is upholding the universe and all that is within it and the spiritual realm.”

In Isaiah we see the imagery of the Holy One of Israel (i.e. Jesus) being the Creator God.

Isaiah 45:11-12 &18 “Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and His Maker, Ask me of things concerning My sons, and concerning the works of My hands command Me. I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and their hosts have I commanded… For thus says the Lord, that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He has established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord, and there is none else.”

In Genesis, the transcript of the oldest series of written records of human history, we find the three persons of the Trinity alive and well in the creation account.

Genesis 1:1-3 “In the beginning God (the Father or first person of the Trinity) created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit (the third person of the Trinity) of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God (the Father) said (God the Son, the Word, the second person of the Trinity), Let there be light: and there was light.”

God spoke and His Word brought the worlds into existence. No, we cannot understand how it all works, but all three persons of the Godhead were active in the creation account. We even find plural imagery when God creates man and woman.

Genesis 1:26 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

Psalm 50:2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined.

As we have read earlier, Jesus is the expressed image of the Father, perfect and beautiful, though Isaiah tells us, “When we shall see Him, there is no beauty (in a worldly sense) that we should desire Him.” In the one translation we read,

Isaiah 53:2 NIV He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.

There was no beauty or majesty in Jesus like that of a proud king or movie star or athlete. He was in fact “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not,” Isaiah 53:3.

Psalm 50:3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him.

When Jesus comes to judge the world during the wrath of God, the book of Revelation says, “His eyes were as a flame of fire,” Revelation 19:12a. Apostle Paul has a similar description. “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” 1 Thessalonians 1:6-9.

Psalm 50:4-6 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness: for God is judge Himself. Selah.

He will be coming to judge the nations. But before He pours out the vials of His wrath on the wicked and unbelieving, He will first gather His elect from the four winds of heaven. “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:31. Those of us who have accepted Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins have come into the power of New Covenant. We will be gathered together with the Lord in the rapture event. God’s wrath will then soon follow on the wicked and unbelieving.

Psalm 50:7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, even your God.

God is telling His people to attend to His words, to listen to His voice.

Psalm 50:8-13 “I will not reprove you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, to have been continually before me. I will take no bullock out of your house, nor he goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?”

God is really not interested in our sacrificial works of righteousness made to fulfil some religious requirement. The sacrificial system was a foreshadowing of what Jesus would do with His ultimate sacrifice on the cross. God wants to live in our hearts. He wants us to offer Him the sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise. He wants our lives to be a living sacrifice. He wants us to worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

Psalm 50:14-15 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay yours vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.

If we are walking in communion with God, if we walking in thanksgiving and praise, then, when things go wrong and we call upon Him, He will answer. He will be with us in trouble. “Because you have kept the word of My patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation that shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth,” Revelation 3:10.

Psalm 50:16-17 But unto the wicked God says, What have you to do to declare my statutes, or that you should take my covenant in your mouth? Seeing you hate instruction, and cast my words behind you.

To the wicked God says, Why are you taking My word in your mouth seeing you don’t believe it?

Psalm 50:18-21 When you saw a thief, then you consented with him, and has been partaker with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son. These things have you done, and I kept silence; you thought that I was altogether such a one as yourself: but I will reprove you, and set them in order before your eyes.

God has seen those of us who collaborate with evil, and who speak falsely against those of their own family. He promises that He will not let these things slide. He will reprove us. We think we have gotten away with our secret sins, but we shall be exposed. God will set things in order.

Psalm 50:22 Now consider this, you that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

God is sending a strong warning that we better get right with Him, or we’ll be in trouble, “for our God is a consuming fire,” Hebrews 12:29.

Psalm 50:23  Whoso offers praise glorifies me: and to him that orders his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God.

God wants us to be thankful and full of praise to Him. He wants our words to be true, honest, and of good report. If we do these things, He will bring us salvation. “He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Mican 6:8.

Apostle James tells us, ”If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:26-27.