A Psalm of Asaph. It is mentioned, in the life of Hezekiah, that «the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer,» so that very likely this Psalm was sung in the temple after it had been cleansed and reopened for worship. The first part of the Psalm contains a majestic prophecy of the Second Advent.
Psalms 50:1-3. The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
He came once under the old legal dispensation, and then «there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount;... Sinai was altogether on a smoke because the Lord descended upon in it fire,» and when Christ shall come, in the latter days, with equal splendor, there shall be fire and tempest to swell the pomp of his court.
Psalms 50:4. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
Heaven shall yield up the blessed who are already there, and earth shall give up those that are alive and remain until Christ's coming, and so the whole company of the redeemed shall stand in the presence of their great Lord and Saviour when Christ shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.» This is the summons that is to ring out to the heavens above and the earth beneath:
Psalms 50:5-6. 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.
Now the subject of the Psalm changes; but let not the doctrine of the Second Advent pass from our thoughts. Christ will surely come again, but are we all prepared to meet him? Shall we behold that glorious appearance with joy or with sorrow? When he reigns with his ancients gloriously, shall we share in the splendors of that reign? Lord, call us to thyself now; help us to suffer with thee now; help us to bear reproach for thee among men now, and then, though «It doth not yet appear how great we must be made,» yet we know that «When we see our Saviour here, we shall be like our Head.» Now the Lord addresses his own people:
Psalms 50:7. Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.
Note then that, with all the faults which Christ can find in his people, he is still their God. All the sins of the saints cannot separate them from Christ. They may blot the indenture, but it is only a copy of the covenant made by Christ on their behalf; the real title-deeds are in heaven, beyond all risk of loss. Sinner though thou art, O child of Israel, yet God is thy God still, and not all thine imperfections, follies, and backslidings can ever rob thee of thine eternal interest in him.
Psalms 50:8-13. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy 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 thee: for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
The Lord puts a slur upon the Levitical sacrifices in comparison with evangelical offerings. He sets prayer and praise before the blood of bulls or the sacrifices of goats. Yet we are not to understand that God despises the gifts of his people. If you give to God as though he needed your help, he will have none of it but our gracious God is so condescending that, although he needs nothing, he permits his people to bring their thank-offerings, and to lay them at his feet. My God, wilt thou accept a gift from me? Then I will not be slow to give it to thee. Let every one of us feel in his heart that, though God needeth nothing from us, yet we need the privilege of giving to him.
Psalms 50:14-15. Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High; and call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
See the three ways of praising God. One is by giving him your grateful thanksgiving. Banish your murmurings; sweep away your mistrusts; and let your mouth be filled with his praise all the day long. Then the next way of praising God is by paying your vows unto him; let your constant prayers and offerings to God prove the gratitude of your heart. And the last and sweetest way of praising God is to call upon him in the day of trouble. There are many of you who are in trouble at this moment, therefore call upon God. Perhaps you say, «That will benefit me, but how will it glorify him?» Why, God getteth much honour out of hearts that dare to trust him. If thou canst cast thy burden upon the Lord, thou wilt as much honour him as angels do when, with veiled faces, they cry, «Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.» We adore his wisdom, his faithfulness, his love, his grace, his truth, his power, when we believe that in the darkest night he can bring us sudden daylight, and that in the ebb-tide of our affairs he can bring the floods back again. Christian, honour thy God by calling upon him. With all thy difficulties, and doubts, and fears, call upon God, and he will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify him. Now comes another change:
Psalms 50:16. But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
Unconverted preachers, unsaved Sabbath-school teachers, what answer can you give to this question of the Most High?
Psalms 50:17-20. Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and has been a partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son.
Slander, you see, is put side by side with adultery and theft; and indeed, I do not know whether it is not the worst of the three. You might almost as well cut a man's throat as slander his character. You had better steal his purse than steal his good name. «What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.» There are no coals hot enough to burn slanderous tongues; there are no punishments severe enough for those who slander their own mother's son.
Psalms 50:21. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence;
A wonderful thing is that silence of God, that longsuffering with sinners and another wonderful thing is the impudent interpretation which the sinner gives to that silence.
Psalms 50:21. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
«I will do what I have not yet done. If thou thinkest me in arrears, I will clear myself with thee soon. I will ease me of mine adversaries.» When God arises in judgment, he may make it to be a slow work, but he will make it to be a sure work.
Psalms 50:22-23. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.
How blessed, then, is it to praise the Lord both with the lip and with the life!