SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
5/5/2012 9:21:51 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The
judges and the judgment
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
82:2-8
Message
of the verses: We looked at the
introduction and the first verse of Psalm 82 yesterday and in the introduction
that Dr. Wiersbe wrote he stated the following:
The psalmist speaks in verse 1 and announces that the Judge will speak,
and in verse 8, Asaph prays that God will bring justice to the whole
earth. Between the statements, the Lord
Himself speaks to the judges.”
The
Judges (vv.2-7): “2 How long will
you judge unjustly And show partiality to the wicked? Selah. 3 Vindicate the
weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute. 4 Rescue the
weak and needy; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked. 5 They do not know
nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the
earth are shaken. 6 I said, "You
are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High. 7 “Nevertheless you will
die like men And fall like any one of the princes.’”
2 “How long will you hand down
unjust decisions by favoring the wicked?
Interlude 3 “Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights
of the oppressed and the destitute. 4 Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver
them from the grasp of evil people. 5 But these oppressors know nothing; they
are so ignorant! They wander about in darkness, while the whole world is shaken
to the core. 6 I say, ’You are gods; you are all children of the Most High. 7 But
you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.’’’ (NLT)
We will begin to look at this
section by quoting a wonderful verse found in the book of Micah chapter six and
verse eight: “He has told you, O man,
what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love
kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”
As we compare this verse with the verses above we see that these judges
did not do justice and they did not love kindness, and they did not walk humbly
with God.
Dr. Wiersbe points out that the
pronoun “you” in verse two is plural “for the Lord is addressing all the guilty
judges.” There are many verses in the
Law of God that speak of how judges are to rule in a proper way and not be
influenced by the rich or their own beliefs, that is to say that if a judge has
a personal preference, but it differs from the law then he has to judge
according to the law. It was in 1973 the
Supreme Court brought down a decision and its affects have been responsible of
killing over fifty million unborn babies in the United States. In this decision the Supreme Court over
stepped their boundaries by not interpreting the constitution, but legislating law. They will have to answer to God for every
baby that has been aborted since their decision. What the psalmist is writing about in this
psalm speaks to all of the wrong decisions that judges have made and one day
these unjust judges will have to answer to the Judge of all the world. Genesis 18:25b says “Shall not the Judge of
all the earth do right?”
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following on
verse five: “Does verse 5 describe the
evil judges or the abused people? If the
judges, then it is a terrible indictment against people who are supposed to
know the Law and walk in its light (Isa. 8:20; 59:1-15; Rom. 1:21-22). But it’s possible that the pronoun ‘they’ in
verse 5 refers back to the weak and needy people described in verse 4. The priests and Levites did not always do
their jobs well, and the common people did not know the Law well enough to
defend themselves. ‘My people are
destroyed for lack of knowledge’ (Hos. 4:6)
When the Law of God is ignored or disobeyed, this shakes and threatens
the very foundations of society (11:3; 89:14; 97:2), for God’s moral Law is the
standard by which man’s laws must be judged.”
The
Judgment (vv. 6-8): “6 I said,
"You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High. 7 “Nevertheless
you will die like men And fall like any one of the princes." 8 Arise, O
God, judge the earth! For it is You who possesses all the nations.” “6 I say, ’You are gods; you are all children of the Most High. 7 But
you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.’’’ 8 Rise up, O God, and judge the earth, for
all the nations belong to you.” (NLT)
Verse six is quoted in John
10:34-36. The Amplified version of the
Bible reads as follows “34. Jesus answered, Is it not written in your Law, I
said, Ye are gods? [Psalm 82:6] 35. So men are called gods—by the Law—men to
whom God’s message came, and the Scripture cannot be set aside or cancelled or broken or
annulled. [If that is true] do you say
[to Me], 36 The On Whom the Father consecrated and dedicated and set apart
for Himself and sent into the world, You are blaspheming, because I said, I am
the Son of God?” I have to admit that
this Scripture has always been a problem for me to understand, but maybe the
light will come on after looking at it in Psalm 82:6. Warren Wiersbe writes the following “Jesus
quoted verse 6 (John 10:34-36) to defend His own claims to be the Son of
God. For, if the Lord called ‘gods’ the
imperfect human judges chosen by men, how much more should Jesus Christ be
called ‘the Son of God,’ He who was set apart by the Father and sent to
earth!
These men who have been called
‘gods’ will die and then they will be judged for their sins even though they
were called gods, God will judge them.
The word translated as “god’ is elohim and this word is seen in Exodus
21:6 “then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the
doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve
him permanently.” Again I wish to look
at the verse in the Amplified Version of the Bible: “Then his master shall bring him to God [the
judges]; he shall bring him to the door or doorpost, and shall pierce his ear
with an awl; and he shall serve him for life.” I believe that Jesus is saying to those who
are confronting him as seen in John 10 that if judges who are picked by mere
man can be called gods (elohim) then Jesus can be called the Son of God because
for one reason that is who His is, and for another reason that God the Father
has consecrated, dedicated, and set apart Jesus Christ to come into the
world. These men who were confronting
Jesus did not get it.
Asaph now speaks again in verse
eight and adds a prayer that God will bring justice to all the earth, and we
know that this is a prayer that will be answered by God.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I realize
that because I am a born again believer in Jesus Christ that I am to follow the
commandments that are set forth in the Scriptures. I see from this psalm that these judges who
are called ‘gods’ have not always followed the Law, and will someday have to
pay for their sins because they did not follow the Law. In Jeremiah 31:31 and then brought into the
book of Hebrews we read that God will put His Laws in our hearts. I am to follow these laws. Jesus said that if
you love me you will follow my commandments.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Love
the Lord by following His commandments.
5/5/2012
11:30:27 AM
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