Psalm 82
Psalm 82 is a courtroom scene where God stands “…in the
congregation of gods; and in the midst of gods, he examines” (Ps. 82:1, ABP).
God is in the midst of the divine council, rebuking angelic rulers for their
corruption. Right here I want to stop and point out that God is not a
Calvinistic-god. If God were the Calvinistic-god of whom Martin Luther said,
“the devil is God’s devil”, implying that God gets the evil done that He wants
done, but doesn’t want to do it Himself, he lets "his devil" do it – if that were true, then why
would God be rebuking the angels to whom He gave authority over nations, for
becoming corrupt. Surely no rebuke would be required if they were being "his devil" and doing what He wanted done anyway? The deterministically-in-control Calvinistic-god would be pleased that the
corruption is getting done by one other than Himself. But on the contrary, we see in Psalm 82 that the God of the Bible is deeply empathetic and moved for the plight of those caught in the hands of the wicked;
desiring that the poor and the fatherless and the helpless be rescued (Ps. 82:4, KJV). The evil in their lives is not being done by God through "his devil" as Luther would have us believe. This psalm gives us insight as to why God divided the
nations up among the sons of God, as per Deut. 32:8-9 and Deut. 4:19. God’s
purpose was that the poor and the fatherless would have help in time of need and be defended from the work of the devil; that the
afflicted and the needy would see justice; that the poor and the needy would be
delivered; that the poor and the needy would be rescued out of the hand of the
wicked (Ps. 82:3-4, KJV). The reason why God gave these angelic rulers over the
nations the job to help and defend and protect those who needed such, was
because God in His everlasting, long-suffering love for mankind, understood
that in our fallen state, “They do not, neither will they understand; they walk
on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course” (Ps 82:5,
KJV). There is a curse-condition and a fallen-state that makes it impossible for us rescue ourselves. Thanks be to God who is rich in mercy and knows our condition as fallen sinners.
He responds in love and with a rescue plan! He does not respond in anger. The
Calvinistic-god is filled with wrath at our depravity and we have no way of
helping ourselves – and so he pics a few for heaven, randomly, and leaves the
rest? That is not the God of the Bible, and it is not who we meet here in Psalm
82. On the contrary, the God who loves mankind is angry with the angelic rulers
who have become corrupt in their positions of authority; rather than helping
mankind, they have chosen to side with the wicked and judge unjustly (Ps. 82:2,
KJV). God is not pleased with this state of affairs. A declaration is made that these corrupt angelic beings will “die like
men, and fall like one of the princes” (Ps 82:7, KJV). The Psalm ends with God
being called upon to “judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations” (Ps.
82:8, KJV) because of what Jesus did on the cross. The price has been paid so that we can "get help" to walk in His ways; so that when our spirit is willing but we find our flesh weak, then we can cry out to God and He will fight the spiritual warfare in our lives for us, so that we can indeed choose to walk in His ways! God’s desire, when He looks upon mankind, is that we get help! God's desire is that the fatherless and the
poor and the needy be rescued out of the hand of the wicked. God’s heart is to rescue and to help us; if we lack wisdom we can “ask of the giving God!” and it shall be
given to him without berating (James 1:5). The devil is not God’s devil – God
does not bring evil wishes upon us through a henchman called God’s devil. I
disagree with Martin Luther and Calvinists on this point vehemently. God only has help and rescue and good things planned for us,
“Let no one being tested say
that, From God I am tested! For God is beyond testing by evils, and he himself
tests no one. But each is tested by his own desire, being dragged away and
being entrapped. So then the desire having conceived, gives birth to sin; but
sin being perpetuated, engenders death. Do not be misled, my beloved brethren!
Every good portion and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the
father of lights, of whom there is no alteration or shaded circuit.” (James
1:13-17, ABP)
God’s desire is to rescue and save mankind and therefore He
has implanted his word into each person. James calls us to “receive the
implanted word! The one being able to deliver your souls” (James 1:21b, ABP).
Furthermore, Jesus lights every man that comes into the world! (John 1:9). God
is not busy with a random Calvinistic election. God is not willing that any
should perish, and He has done everything from His side that can be done to make it possible for us to choose Him and walk after Him and be saved. All that remains is for us to choose to side with Him; pledge our
allegiance; choose a side - put our faith in Christ! To follow after God in a pure and undefiled manner
is manifested by being the beatitudes person that Jesus taught us to be, and by taking care of orphans and widows in their affliction, and by keeping ourselves spotless from the world (James 1:27, ABP). In light of Psalm 82,
I recognize that when God calls us to visit orphans and widows, he is asking of
us exactly that which He requires of the angelic authorities (which they, in their rebellion, are not doing) – that we will do
justice to the humble and the needy when we judge for the orphan and the poor!
(Ps. 82:3, ABP). The element of doing in James echoes the requirements
on the angelic rulers. Between the book of James and Psalm 82 we learn that God
heart is that action should be taken to deliver the needy and the poor, and rescue them
from the hand of the sinner (Ps. 82:4, ABP). God is most concerned about those
who do not know nor perceive for they are in darkness, but God is faithful and sovereign; He remains committed to the promise of restoration and in His Sovereignty HE WILL DO IT! “...all the foundations of the earth shall be shaken” (Ps. 82:5b,
ABP), and He will judge the earth and inherit the nations (Ps. 82:8, ABP). He will establish an everlasting kingdom! The
essence of God’s plan is that He has found ways for us to be rescued while living among the tares in this current kingdom until such
time that He breaks into history once more, and shakes the heavens and the
earth, and establishes an everlasting kingdom where “there shall be no more
curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it…” (Rev. 22:3). The
tabernacle of God will be with men, “and he will dwell with them, and they
shall be his people, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain” for the former things will have passed away; God will make
all things new (Rev. 21:3-5). It is written that God is longsuffering and not
willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9, KJV). God’s desire toward us is
that we overcome, and “He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and [God]
will be his God, and he shall be [God’s] son” (Rev. 21:7). God’s desire for us
to overcome is also heard in his call for our maturity (1 Thess. 4:11-12).
Since angelic rulers have rebelled and work against us, it is all the more
imperative that we do two things: first cry out to God to fight the fight for
us because we can’t. He needs to win the fight for us in the spirit realm so
that we can, do the second thing, and that is, take ownership and
responsibility for our perseverance and growth in maturity. Praise God that He goes
around seeking those who want to walk in His way so that He can help them; 2Ch
16:9 says, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth,
to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward
him...” God is on our side! Let us not grow weary but be emboldened toward victory and the upward call of God in Christ Jesus!
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