When I read Psalm 50, I imagine it as a courtroom drama. I do not know how many of us have ever stood in a courtroom in front of a judge for some crime we committed. But I am pretty sure we have all witnessed a courtroom drama on TV.
The lawyers are present, the victim or victims or usually there, the witnesses are called to testify, the jury is assembled to examine the evidence and help render a verdict, curious spectators are gathered for the show, the entire room exudes a kind of atmosphere that promises that justice will be served, and the judge enters the room to a standing audience and he sits on the bench above the entire proceeding, giving an air of impartial commitment to meeting out the justice that is deserved.
If you put yourself in the shoes of the criminal who is on trial, it can be a pretty scary experience depending on the weight of the crime. What would you be feeling if your crime carried the potential for a life sentence or the death penalty? What do you think you would long for the most if you were in those shoes? What would you want if you were found to be guilty as charged after all the evidence was gathered and all the testimony was examined? Hold onto that thought as we look at the text together.
A Psalm of Asaph. 1The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. 2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. 3Our God comes; he does not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest. 4He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people: 5“Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!” 6The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge! Selah 7“Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. 8Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. 9I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. 10For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. 11I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. 12If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. 13Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? 14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, 15and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” 16But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? 17For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. 18If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers. 19You give your mouth free reign for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. 20You sit and speak against your brother, you slander your own mother’s son. 21These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you. 22Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver! 23The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me, to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”
#1: GOD ASSEMBLES HIS COURTROOM (VV. 1 – 6)
In verses 1 – 6 God enters the courtroom in front of the entire world from the top of Mount Zion – a place that symbolizes the freedom we have in the gospel as a ransomed family of God as opposed to the symbol of the law and obedience that we see in another mountain known as Mount Sinai2 – and as God shows up in the courtroom, it appears as though he is clothed in fiery, stormy robes of justice as he calls the heavens and the earth to be his witnesses against his covenant people as well as his enemies.
What do you think it would be like to be in God’s courtroom? What is God – the righteous judge – like? The text tells us that he speaks to the entire earth, he is perfectly beautiful, he is a devouring fire, a consuming storm, he has no problem going toe to toe with his enemies and the heavens proclaim him as the perfect judge over all creation. You can hear a pin drop when God walks into his courtroom. In fact, at the end of verse 6 our Psalmist includes the word “Selah” which means to pause in absolute silence to think about what he has just described.
So, think about it; can you imagine being in a courtroom, nose to nose with a judge like this? Can you imagine this setting, especially if you are guilty of a crime? Can you imagine this moment, especially if you know that the penalty for your crime is a life sentence that is more like a death sentence? What do you long for in this moment? What do you feel in this moment? Hold onto that thought.
#2: GOD REBUKES AND ENCOURAGES ISRAEL (VV. 7 – 15)
In verses 7 – 15, God addresses his people, and he lets them know he is not upset with them for their lack of religious performance – it seems like they are actually performing quite well since their burnt offerings are continually before God (v. 8). God basically says that he does not want any more sacrifices from his people and then he goes on to explain that everything in all of Creation belongs to him and that if he actually had a need for something, he definitely would not ask his people to fulfill his need.
What is going on here? Why does God not want his people to fulfill their religious obligations and what is the deal with his rant about not needing anything from them? As I read through this portion of the text, it seems like Israel was guilty of believing that God somehow needed them; like God somehow was relying on their religious performance. Maybe they had become proud of their religious performance and had begun to think that God needed them to do him a favor. The reality is that God needs no one. So, God reminds Israel that he does not need favors from anyone, and that Israel should offer her religious performances out of gratitude to God as their Savior and provider and then continue looking to him for deliverance.
In essence, God is saying that Israel is guilty of believing that he depends upon their empty religious performances, when, in reality, they need to be reminded that they are supposed to depend upon God alone. Israel had forgotten that their religious performance was not supposed to be a circus act for their own entertainment or worst yet, some kind of performance for God; their religious acts were supposed to be done to remind themselves of their great need for God and all that he had done to redeem them so that their hearts would worship God in Spirit and in truth.
Can you think of ways that you and I slip into this kind of sin: the kind of sin where we think that God needs our religious performance? Do you know what it is like to become so self-sufficient that you actually begin to think that God is giving you a pat on the back for your good behavior?
It is so easy to begin to think that God needs us to pay our tithes, to attend church gatherings, to serve on leadership teams, to study the Bible, pray, evangelize, etc. Little bit by little bit our attitude changes and we begin to think we are better than we really are, and we begin to tell God about all the things we are doing to please him and to bring attention to his name – as if he actually needs us to do this.
Pretty soon, we are not grateful in our service towards him, we do not draw close to him in prayer, and do not read his Word with a sense of awe – instead we offer up our dead, cold, performance on a platter to prove just how worthy we are of his love. In these moments the object of our worship shifts away from the Creator to the created and we become guilty of offering up obscene worship to the one who saved us as we literally worship our own performance.
Imagine being guilty of this crime and standing in God’s courtroom face to face with the only perfect being whom you have belittled and betrayed. What does that feel like to you? What do you long for in that moment? What do you want the most? Again, keep hold of your answers to those questions as we look at what happens next.
#3: GOD REBUKES AND CHARGES THE WICKED (VV. 16 – 21)
In verses 16 – 21, once God has rebuked and encouraged Israel, he turns around and calls a different group of people onto the carpet when he rebukes and charges the wicked. And what does God say to the wicked? In no uncertain terms, in a very direct and confrontational manner, God stands nose to nose with his enemies and he tells the wicked that they have no right or place among God’s people because they hate discipline, they reject God’s words, and they are in the habit of enjoying all things that are evil. These people are the wicked pretenders that have the look of a Christian on Sunday mornings or in small groups or on their social media posts but deep down inside they are wicked to the core; they are hypocrites in every sense of the word.
In a sense, these wicked pretenders – these hypocrites – have recreated God into their own image and fashioned him into a worthless idol who enjoys every kind of evil the human heart can devise. This would be a pretty scary place to be. What does it look like in your life when you dethrone God, refashion him into the image of your own human liking, while placing yourself not only on the throne but on the judge’s bench? What does it look like for you to diminish God’s character?
Maybe you do not like the fact that God is the God of wrath. Or maybe you find it hard to accept that God is the God of justice. Or maybe there are certain sins that you love to indulge in that you have justified with some lame interpretation that says that those sins are not really sins today or that those sins are covered under the blood of the sacrifice.
Maybe you do not like being corrected. Or maybe you have no appetite for God’s Word. Or maybe you secretly steal from God when you cheat on your taxes or withhold your tithes and offerings. Or maybe you have decided that sexual sin is not a real thing because marriage between a man and a woman is a cultural construct meant to control people. Maybe you do not outright lie to everyone but instead you withhold the truth by sharing half-truths therefore you practice deceit. Maybe you really get a kick out of kicking others when they are down by gossiping and slandering them.
All the while, God’s patience with you in the midst of this hypocrisy has not led you to repentance but instead has led you to double down in your pursuit of your sinful pleasures as you play the pretender on your car stereo before and after church gatherings.
Can you imagine being this fake? Can you imagine being this kind of a poser and standing in that courtroom as God confronts you for your wickedness and calls heaven and earth to testify against you? What do you long for in that moment? What do you really think the sentence for your crimes will be?
#4: GOD PRONOUNCES THE SENTENCE FOR BOTH PARTIES (VV. 22 – 23)
In verses 22 – 23, after all the charges have been laid out and all the testimony from the eyewitnesses and victims have been given, it is time for the judge to proclaim the verdict and assign the sentence for the crimes that have been done. The punishment must fit the crime and if you do the crime then you know that you are going to do the time.
In this case, God says that the wicked will be destroyed, and the repentant will be spared. The wicked will literally get tossed into the wood chipper while the repentant – those who rely upon God in humble gratitude for their salvation – will be acquitted of their crimes.
Imagine the scene in the courtroom of God. Both parties are guilty as charged. One party is standing in front of the bench in defiance of God’s righteous rule and the other party is standing in front of the bench totally humbled and grateful for the pardon that is being offered to them.
One party arrogantly believes they are totally cool with God because God would do what they would do, and He will merely overlook their sins because their sins are antiquated devices of control – it is hard for them to believe that they really are fakers, posers, frauds, and hypocrites.
The other party has been confronted with their sins of self-sufficiency and empty worship performances and are left with nothing to save themselves except the merciful provision of the righteous judge himself – the one who is both the victim and the judge in this case. It is a fascinating scene that gives me a sense of horror on the one hand and relief on the other hand. I feel horror because I know that I am guilty of both, dead religious performance and fraudulent hypocrisy.
CONCLUSION…
In conclusion, I have been asking you all along: What do you long for the most if you are guilty of any of the crimes we have discussed, and you are standing in the courtroom of the righteous judge over all the earth? What do you feel? What do you want the most when the verdict of “guilty as charged” comes out of the mouth of the jury foreman?
I love to imagine this moment when all of my sins will be laid bare before heaven and earth. I imagine everyone in the room nodding their head in agreement that I am guilty as charged and deserving of the death penalty. I imagine the “Selah silence” in the air as I await my sentence. And then I imagine the Holy Spirit stepping in as my defense attorney and proclaiming that there is still another witness. And then Jesus walks into the room and declares that his broken body and his shed blood has removed my guilt and then the Spirit nods in agreement and then the Father, the Righteous Judge declares me to be “not guilty”.
In this moment, everything I have felt and everything I have longed for is fulfilled in the saving work of our triune Godhead as the full effects of the bloody cross, the empty tomb, and the promise of heaven become reality. My closing question is this: What will your day in the courtroom of the Righteous Judge be like? Will Jesus step in for you because you have surrendered to him? I hope this is what you have to look forward to.
1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references in this paper are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).
2 Richard D. Phillips, Psalms 42 – 72, (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 2019), 76-77.