"Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered: let them also that hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice." —Psalm 68:20
One of the reasons some people hate the word of God is because of the imprecatory element found in it, such as is illustrated in our text for today. Our moral sensitivity is so dulled that we cannot tolerate the idea of a God of judgment. In such an environment it is important to remember that if there is, after all, a creator God, then the rules of justice are His to call, not ours.It will be well, too, to remember His dealings with Adam in the beginning. Testing Adam's moral response, God graciously informed him that should he eat of the fruit of the tree that was in the midst of the garden, he would "surely die." That was the word of God, and all Adam had to do to avoid the judgment was to "trust and obey" that Word. There followed the "big lie" of the Adversary, who said categorically, "ye shall not surely die."(See Genesis 3.) God having spoken, and Adam having made a faith-choice, believing the devil rather than God, God had no choice but to carry out the promised judgment; otherwise His integrity and justice would have collapsed.
The issue is precisely the same today, except that we have the issue illustrated and reinforced by ten thousand years of history. God has spoken, giving us His Word and in it His warnings and His gracious invitation to trust the One He has sent forth to deliver us from the wrath to come. Satan, through His spokesmen, continues to deny what God has affirmed, and fools still follow him to their own everlasting destruction.
Let us ever remember that behind the human agency in scripture, David in this case, is the Living Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is, after all, the Lord Who gives the word. The human agent is simply the publisher (See Psalm 68:11). From that perspective we may see this text as uttered by the Son of God in behalf of the Father. And what it foretokens is the inevitable judgment to come. This, too, is predicted and outlined in the revelation of a merciful God:
"We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: 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; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. [II Thess. 1:3-10]."
There is the precise fulfillment of this terrifying prayer, in a single event the two-edged sword of divine justice bringing the wrath of the Almighty upon the haters of God and the gospel of Christ, and final vindication of the faith of those who recognizing and repenting of their rebellious and lost condition have cast themselves upon the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy.
Decide today, if you have not already done so, whose side you are on. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (see Ezek. 33:11), which is why He sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. But if you reject Him, God has no choice if He is to maintain His righteousness, but to suffer you to perish. When you have crossed what some men call "the great divide," it will be too late to decide for God.
"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation [II Cor. 6:2b]."
For His glory and our good,
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