Psalm 76

May 25, 2021

1 In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel.

2 In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.

3 There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.

4 Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.

5 The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands.

6 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.

7 Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?

8 Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, and was still,

9 When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.

10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.

11 Vow, and pay unto the LORD your God: let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.

12 He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.

The Point:

God works his terrifying justice and thereby saves the meek.

How do we feel in the recitation of this psalm?

We feel every sentiment that accompanies a fighting man riding into a battle to wage a just war and gain the victory. There the dragon lies in a pool of blood while the knight carries the fair maiden away to safety. How do you feel as you gaze at this scene of ferocious justice and salvific mercy? The deepest commitments of the human heart cry out for retribution upon evil and deliverance for the helpless loved one. When it becomes plain that these longings in the human soul are met, great relief, exhilaration, and exaltation sweeps over the soul.

What does this psalm teach us?

Verses 1–3. The world has its heroes. Today people put pictures of their heroes—movie stars, singers, and sports figures—on their bedroom walls. This is not unusual at all; it is completely natural for people to make a hero out of somebody. Historically, the greatest heroes have always been military leaders who exhibited great courage and prowess on the battlefield. They are famous for their feats in battle, and, as this psalm would put it, “Their names are great!” In Judah among God’s people, the most famous of all would be God Himself. Others may speak of the president of the country, some great military captain in World War II, or a ball player with a batting average of .500, but our conversations will be filled with references to the God of Israel. His tent is in Jerusalem, which means that He has already chosen to live with His special people, the “called out” ones, or the “church of the firstborn” (Heb. 12:22). And when the enemy came against His people in Jerusalem, our Military Champion broke their arrows, shields, and swords to pieces. This psalm praises God for His great feats in battle.

Verses 4–9. The praise contained in these verses is praise given to a military hero. When the psalmist calls God glorious and excellent, he speaks of God’s omnipotent power and His great conquests over mountains of opposition. He renders the most powerful dictators on this globe incapable of opposing Him. He defuses their initiative, confuses their purposes, and weakens their commitment to the war. Even those empires whose armies are outfitted with the highest technology available (which at that time were horses and chariots) are no competition for the Lord of lords and King of kings! For at some point these empires always lose the will to continue on in opposition to the living Christ. One thinks of the Roman Empire that simply lost the will to survive as the citizenry lost the will to work and defend themselves against the marauding hordes. Any empire that is more interested in building its own wealth and power base than serving Christ will eventually fade away.

What business do we have fearing these so-called great empires and their presidents and dictators? Should we tremble at the power of the great empires and the wrath of men, or should we rather fear the One Who takes these empires down and sends the wicked, both body and soul, to hell forever?

As you can see from verses 8 and 9, we cannot separate God’s judgment from His salvation. God brings His judgment in order that He might save the humble on the earth. If God is going to save His people, then somebody is going to get killed. There are many applications to this single principle, the foremost example of which was our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who took the cup of God’s wrath and suffered and died that we might live, but also so that He could conquer principalities and powers. He spoiled these powers, “making a show of them openly” on the cross (Col. 2:15). And, in the wake of all this bloody warfare, God was saving the meek.

Verses 10–12. Verse 10 speaks of God’s absolute sovereignty over the kings of the earth who wage war and bring their own wrath and judgment upon thousands. Such men of might are powerful dictators and kings, many of whom have killed millions of people—men like Adolf Hitler or Josef Stalin. But these men are still well within the control of the sovereign God of heaven and earth. Nebuchadnezzar learned this lesson well. God put him out to pasture until he admitted God’s sovereignty in these memorable words: “He does whatsoever He wills in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand or say, ‘What are you doing?’” (Dan. 4:35). In fact, the most violent and wicked acts of men will always glorify God in some way. If men were to attempt to do even more wickedness, God would restrain them from it. Remember that the arch-crime of all history occurred when men put the Son of God to death by wicked hands at the cross of Calvary. But this was also done by the explicit determinate plan and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23), and the redemption of Christ is and will be to the praise of the glory of his grace forever and ever (Eph. 1:6)!

The point made here is that God’s work of judgment and mercy is a fearful thing. He ought to be feared. When you sit before the judgment seat of almighty God and see the earth grow dark, feel the earth quake, and watch the Son of God become the propitiatory sacrifice, taking the wrath of God for you, shouldn’t you fear? As you see the carcasses of principalities and powers strewing the plains around the cross, and you hear those words, “Not Guilty,” declared from the throne room of heaven, shouldn’t you tremble just a little? Shouldn’t you fear the judgment and mercy of God and perhaps bring Him your tithes and gifts? That is the point of this psalm.

How do we apply this psalm?

1. Surely we ought to fear such a God Who, in the midst of His dreadful judgment, saves the humble meek of the earth. This fear of God must be rooted in a deep understanding of God’s law and a deep conviction of our own sin. It is also important that we see God’s acts of judgment in history, from Sodom and Gomorrah to the armies of Pharaoh—from the principalities and powers that were overcome at the cross to the final destination of the wicked. You must fear the God of the law before you can love the God who killed His Son for you.

2. If we will be saved, something must die. Something must die in order that something might live. The Apostle Paul speaks of the world being crucified unto himself in Galatians 6:14, and every true Christian over time will see the world fade in its power to tempt him and lure him away from Christ. Every time we confess our sin and repent of that sin, we mortify or put to death the flesh.

How does this psalm teach us to worship God?

We do not always speak of God’s salvation in terms of warfare and violence, but this is precisely how God speaks of it. Words like “war,” “fighting,” “killing,” and “wrath” are essential if we are to understand God’s salvation.

Questions:

1. Why is God famous in Zion?

2. According to this psalm, how does God save the meek?

3. Give several examples of Praise Psalms.

4. What can we say about the wrath of men who do terrible things, such as Adolf Hitler or Nero?

5. What happens to powerful empires that refuse to acknowledge Christ as Lord?

6. What are some of God’s acts of judgment in history?

Family Discussion Questions:

1. Who are our heroes? Are there pictures of our heroes on our walls? Do we have biographies of heroes on our bookshelves? What makes these people our heroes?

2. Are we putting to death the flesh in our lives? Is the world becoming less attractive to us all the time?