Psalms for the Summer: The Jurisdiction of God Psalm 82

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you enjoy this sermon. God bless. Lord, I pray

you to open to our minds and to our hearts this

passage, that we would see the goodness of a

God who judges all, who looks over all. God,

I pray, knowing that the idea of your divine

judgment unsettles us at times. I pray, Lord,

that it would also give us great hope. Lord,

we commit this time to you, and we ask that the

words of my mouth, the meditations of our hearts,

would be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our

rock and our Redeemer. Amen. All right. I think

it's rather uncontroversial to say that there

is no shortage of injustice in the world. Far

from it. It's actually not just maybe that there's

no shortage of it, that it just seems to abound.

The world seems chock full of it. And of course,

it's not hard to think of different cases of

the world. We could, I could recount for you

some of the history in our own city of redlining

and cities throughout our country during the

Jim Crow area and how that has continued to have

effect in the lives of so many throughout our

own land. We could consider human trafficking

here in central Pennsylvania or Los Angeles or

the boroughs of New York or all throughout the

world. We could think of the forced labor that

happened during much of colonization, the Spanish

and Comedian of the Americas or what they did

in what is now the Philippines. I mean, the examples

can just kind of abound. We can think of famous

court cases of injustice. You can think, of course,

maybe of the Central Park Five, but we could

go on and on with court cases. We can think of

Massive racial injustices, apartheid in South

Africa, the transatlantic slave trade. We can

think of the genocides in Rwanda or Cambodia.

We can think of the Armenian genocide and so

many Christians, 1 .5 million Christians killed

during World War I by the Ottoman Empire. And

of course, we can talk about the Jews under the

Nazis, the six million or so that were killed.

But what's the difference of these things just

don't happen overnight? It's not just the case

that societies at large kind of commit injustices,

though that often ends up sometimes happening.

But it's often the case that one individual or

one ruler or one authority or one judge acts

unjustly and perpetuates injustice. It's not

the case that all of a sudden Hitler appeared.

He was existing within a structure that had a

history to it Let me tell you at least one of

the examples that people kind of said well Much

of what happened in this case kind of led structurally

to what happened under the Third Reich many of

you may know of the Dreyfus affair Alfred Dreyfus

in his case. He was a he was an affluent and

rather deeply patriotic Frenchman living in Alsace,

which at the time you may know that sort of northeastern

part of France sort of went between the French

and the Germans, but he was a French military

officer and And he had, by all means, sort of

assimilated into French life. And so some people

actually that were sort of known anti -Semitics

thought, well, if we can show that he didn't,

can't it be said maybe that all the Jews can't

assimilate into French life? So Dreyfus was accused

and he was convicted of treason and more specifically

of selling military secrets to the Germans. He

denied the charges, his family protested, all

of the rest. And actually this is where it sort

of parallels both what developed in Germany over

the next few decades, and actually in some ways

you could say our own time, the mass media took

over as it was in the 1890s. And the mobs rallied.

In fact, we know that there were mobs that were

rallying in French cities, crying out in 1894.

death to the Jews in light of the Alfred Dreyfus

case. In fact, one person that I read said that

you could literally just kind of divide the French

population between the pro -Dreyfus and the anti

-Dreyfus, which was to say the pro -Jewish people

and the anti -Jewish people. What seemed clear

to many was this was a case of gross injustice,

of covering up evidence. and largely for the

sake of the Jews being blamed. So Dreyfus was

court -martialed because somebody supposedly

found in sort of the trash bin near him what

was supposedly evidence for this selling of secrets

to the German military. He was court -martialed.

He was tried. He was not allowed to see the evidence.

He wasn't allowed to speak on his behalf. And

he was sentenced to life in a felony colony in

French Guiana on an island called Devil's Island.

Probably not the greatest place to live. Not

only was he sent there, but he was sentenced

to solitary confinement there. As if to teach

anyone else who may do something similar, this

will be your fate. Well, there was a good deal

of outcry against this, of course, because it

seemed rigged. Where was the evidence? Where

was the just trial? And one of the most famous

people that sought to uncover this injustice

was the great French novelist and journalist

Emile Zola. And so Emile Zola actually wrote

a letter that appeared on the front cover of

one of the most widely spread French newspapers

at the time. It was addressed to the French president.

And that letter is called Jacuz, I accuse. And

he lists at the end, Jacuz so and so and so and

so and so and so. And how he was just saying,

this is a rigged deal. This is injustice grossly

administered. Well, after writing that, Emile

Zola was accused himself and he was put on trial

for libel. I'm gonna get back to that trial.

I want us to consider Psalm 82, because in many

ways Psalm 82 actually mirrors in some ways a

courtroom setting. And I want us to look at this

Psalm by considering the judged, who's being

judged, what the judgment is, and then the jurisdiction

of God, all right? Y 'all got that? Three J's?

It's a Presbyterian minister thing. Presbyterian

pastors named Peter do three J's. So the judge

first. And if you open up your Bible to Psalm

82, this is how Psalm 82 begins. God has taken

his place in the divine council in the midst

of the gods. He holds judgment. So he's got the

divine council there and there's these gods and

he's the one who's holding judgment. So who are

the judged? Well, the word there is the Elohim,

which is rightly translated gods. What? Isn't

there just one true God? What is this stuff?

What's it saying? I mean, you're right. Okay,

let me give you some examples. Isaiah 45 says,

I am the Lord and there's no other. Besides me,

there's no God. Sounds pretty clear. 1st Timothy

2 .5 says there's one God, one mediator between

God and man. In our Lord Jesus' own words, he's

sort of echoing the famous Shema of Deuteronomy

6, the great confession of Jewish faith that

Jesus says is true. He's affirming in Luke chapter

Luke 10 · chapter mention

10 and Mark chapter 12 when he says, hero Israel,

Mark 12 · chapter mention

the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. These all

sound pretty clear. So what is happening? Who's

being judged here, right? This council that is

before God who's doing the judging and it says

it's the gods. Well, as you might imagine, scholars

are divided on this. Let me give you two of the

main sort of tier. And the first one and the

most historic kind of understanding of this,

of who's being judged here is human judges. which

is say, human rulers, humans that can affect

the world about them, who can decide the fate

of another. And it might sound odd to us, of

course, to call a human a God, it kind of, it

does. But there's examples of this in the Bible,

actually, Exodus 21, and that's part of Israel's

civil law. And there's actually a case where

it says, okay, if this thing happens, you need

to go to... And it actually refers to gods as

human judges, or sorry, human judges as gods.

You need to go to these small G gods to determine

this case. Exodus 22, 28 says, you shall not

revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

A lot of people think of those as a synonymous

thing. It's saying, don't revile God, which is

a way of also thinking of the rulers of your

people. So the rulers can be considered kind

of like a god. And even if that isn't synonymous

in that text, you can see how there's this god

-like function that rulers have. They actually

sort of set up things for other people. They

speak and actually somebody has to follow them.

They're judging and they're deciding the fate

of the world in a way. And probably the strongest

argument actually to understand these gods here

as human judges or human rulers or human people

that are over others that have an effect in the

world is that Jesus actually in John chapter

John 10 · chapter mention

10, which Nicole read for us, he directly quotes

this text when he's speaking to the religious

rulers. He's saying, you know, God even said

over essentially you all your gods, why are you

getting mad at me for the idea of blasphemy?

It's kind of part of his argument that's going

on there. So, The thing about this, okay, it's

true that to a degree, human judges, human rulers,

human authorities have a God -like function in

the world, which is to say they work on the world

for its fate, right? There's a way in which they

speak and something comes into being in the world,

directs the life of another. We could think back

about the redlining. How has that affected the

world to come, right? It's happening in effect

on the world. and how it comes about. And we

can think about this sort of on a more sort of

local setting too. We've been praying for, I've

been praying for you teachers and you who are

in education, administrators. You know your effect,

actually part of the great probably thing that

enlivens your work is you know I can affect the

future of a student. And you can. For good. or

for ill. You can build them up. You can tear

them down. Parents, you know this. In the authority

kind of way that you interact with your children,

you sort of direct their life in a way. You kind

of set them up on a certain trajectory or not.

Think, of course, of the human judge. Think of

how an entire life can be taken. by the judgment

that they give. Think of human rulers. Think

about how much you care about who gets elected

to what office. Think of how many millions, hundreds

of millions of dollars go into election campaigns.

And think about how you wake up after election

either elated or dejected. Why do you do that?

Because you know to an extent the people that

have power affect the world about you. We know

how significant human judges and human rulers

and those with authority have. And judges and

rulers, and frankly, you and I, because we all

have a degree of authority, though some of us

a smaller degree, have an opportunity or not

to reflect the great judge, the one true and

living God. So speaking of Jewish judges, one

commentator said, they were sons of the highest

called by his name, bearing his image, exercising

his authority, charged to execute his will. And

they ought to have been in their measure, in

their measure, his living representatives. And

that could be said actually about every single

human, charged to do his will. bearing his image,

exercising his authority in their measure, his

living responsibilities. And so it's in this

sense that this human judge idea comes that you

can be called gods. But of course, that's not

the only reason, or that's not the only sort

of way this is understood. The other main way

this is understood is as sort of minor deities

or spiritual beings. And this has gained some

more traction recently, if you're kind of like

into historical theology and its development.

Probably over the last hundred years, this has

gained some more popularity. And this is taking

this idea of Elohim here, gods, to be sort of

minor, minor deities, spiritual beings, maybe

like angels or demons. They're spiritual beings

that have a sway in the world. And actually,

again, you've heard this kind of argument from

Ephesians chapter six, which Nicole read for

us, right? They're the principalities and powers

of the world, or as six four says, We do not

wrestle against flesh and blood, but against

the rulers, against the authorities, against

the cosmic powers over this present darkness,

against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly

places. And so you can see there's an argument

to be made here too, right? Oh, maybe this is,

maybe there are rulers and principalities and

powers. And this, of course, pushes against our

modern sensibilities, but there's this spiritual

reality that is existing beyond us that actually

has an effect. on our world. And Isaiah, again,

Isaiah 24 says, the Lord will punish the powers

in the heaven. And so there is this idea that

in the heavens above, there is certain powers.

This doesn't take it away from the responsibility

of humans, but it does say that there's more

at play than we might see. So which is it? I

wonder what you think? Which is it? Human judges?

some sort of spiritual divine, sub -divine being?

The gods, human judges, human authorities, are

they a spiritual ruler? They'll be judged? You

know what? I don't know. I don't know what the

answer is. I think I lean towards human judges

in part because of how Jesus uses that, but I

don't know. And I actually think that there's

maybe something there which might be the point.

Either seems possible, but the point remains

that God is judging those who have authority

and rule, who judge the world about them, who

have sway in how the world progresses, the fate

of the world. God is calling them to account

for what they do. So the judges. What's the judgment?

Okay. Well, again, in some ways we can break

this into two sections. Now it's not two interpretations,

but two sections. And one first is God's, and

then one is sort of the author of the psalm.

So first verses two to three. It says, this is

God speaking. That's what most all believe. How

long will you judge unjustly? This is God's judgment

that he's holding. And show partiality to the

wicked. Give justice to the weak and the fatherless

maintain the right of the afflicted and the death

to rescue the weak and the needy Deliver them

from the hand of the wicked So that's sort of

God's judgment And here's the here's the author

most likely of the psalm responding also verse

four. Sorry verse five They have neither knowledge

nor understanding they walk about in darkness

all the foundations of the earth are shaken What's

the judgment? Well, it's more of an indictment.

The judgment that God gives to these judges and

rulers, whether on earth or in the spiritual

realm, is that they have not cared for those

among them. I think about this. How long will

you judge unjustly? Show partiality to the wicked.

God says, give justice to the weak and fatherless,

maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute,

rescue the weak and the needy, deliver them from

the hand of the wicked. He's saying you have

not done so. Injustice is running rampant. God's

judgment is an indictment. And then the psalmist

himself says they don't have knowledge, they

don't have understanding, they walk in darkness.

And because of this, the foundations of the earth

seem to be shaking. We all feel unsettled. The

world is not right. Which is to say, it's really

kind of an interesting thing that you first have

God's indictment and then you have the human

response. Which is to say that if you are angry

at injustice, God joins you in that. So is God.

If you look around the world, you see the poor

being taken advantage of, the hope of the needy

being forgotten, as one of our prayers says,

the fatherless being overlooked. If you look

at that and you long for the day when that will

no longer be the case, in a way, so does God.

That's part of what's happening here. God's response

to this God's judgment and this human response,

that the foundations seem to be shaken. If you

consider the plight of children who are abused

or abandoned and misused, and that causes your

blood to boil, this text says that God also is

angry at such a thing. If you consider how often

those in authority abuse it, which is so common

in the church, outside the church, in the civil

realm, all over, So is God. He is outraged by

such a thing. The judgment that God gives as

he calls the rulers to account is an indictment

that they have actually not sought justice. They

have not sought the wellbeing of those under

their care. Martin Luther, the great Protestant

reformer, he wrote this of these verses. He says,

these three verses, meaning two to four, Indeed

the whole psalm, these three verses, actually

let's just take the whole psalm. Every prince

should have painted on the wall of his chamber,

and you think art you should put up in your dorm,

like some of y 'all are moving into your dorms,

you're like, what art should I put up? He's like,

you know, art and people should put up on the

wall, these words, write them up there. But he

goes beyond that. He says, every prince should

have this painted on the wall of his chamber,

on his bed, They're like, well, how should I

design the sheets on my bed? Let's print out

Psalm 82. Over his table, you're like, oh, let's

put a, what do table runners should I buy? Let's

buy one with Psalm 82 all over it. And on his

garments. You know, all over. It's like all over,

the rulers need to know that they will be held

accountable. That God is looking at what they

do, how they're affecting the world, and He is

going to judge. Every ruler should know that

he will give an account to God, an account for

how he did or did not act justly and love mercy

and walk humbly before God. and for the sake

of the people under his care. And I think that

leads to the third part, okay? So I've talked

about like who's being judged, what the judgment

is. And then the third thing, what's the jurisdiction

of God? Which is very clear. And I think it's

actually clear if you take the ambiguity of God's

seriously and you don't land necessarily. Is

it human judges? Is it spiritual beings? Maybe

the point is there is no end to God's jurisdiction.

Maybe he's actually over it all and cares for

it all. So continuing verse six, I said, which

most believe this is again God speaking, you

are God's. Sons of the Most High, all of you.

Nevertheless, like men, you shall die and fall

like any prince. Arise, O God, judge the earth.

We shall inherit all the nations. And again,

two things. First thing, these rulers are not

gods. Sorry. These rulers are not God, right?

It actually says they're gods. They aren't God.

And oddly enough, this text is actually another

one of the ones that people go, well, maybe this

is referring to spiritual beings. Maybe it's

referring to human beings. Part of the argument

for the human side is like man, you shall die.

But again, it does say Elohim and they're like,

oh, what's this? Here's the point. They may be

gods. They may have real effect in the world.

They may be able to judge to a degree, but they

are not God. And think of this again. This is

key, I think, for our own understanding of our

own authority. Fathers, mothers, you will do

well to remember that you are not the God over

your children. You are under the true God, and

you will give an account for how you trained

your children, how you encouraged them, how you

spoke to them. Right, we have certain degrees

of authority you who work so many of you work

you have jobs You will give an account to God

who judges all You know the authority that we

have is a is a authority under the great authority,

which is the point of the Ecclesiastes passage

These rulers are not God and they will give an

account They will give an account That's the

first thing there The rulers are not God and

neither are we. The second thing, though, is

that God's jurisdiction really is over all things.

And again, this is why I kind of love the ambiguity

of verse one. But verse eight, it ends, arise,

O God, judge the earth. He's not saying judge

the king's... The the judges of Israel Judge

Babylon and Assyria, you know, we've been looking

at some exilic Psalms. He's saying judge it all

Arise with God judge the earth for you shall

inherit some of the nations Doesn't say that

does it says all the nations? The jurisdiction

of God is over all things His care is for it

all he desires justice be brought to all of the

world There is no end to the jurisdiction of

God. He will judge the earth, not just Israel

or apartheid South Africa or the Third Reich

or whatever you want it to be, but all of it.

And he will inherit the earth, which is to say

he will have it all. This is something I read

interesting this week. Psalm 82 is used in one

of the great Eastern Orthodox liturgies, particularly

of the Paschal Vigil. And how it's used is this,

is after each reading of each verse, the whole

congregation would sing the very last verse,

arise O God, judge the earth for you shall inherit

all the nations. So after each verse, the whole,

everybody on the night before Easter says those

lines, that very last line after each verse,

arise O God, arise O God, judge the earth for

you shall inherit all the nations. And that happens

on the night of Holy Saturday, which is to say

it's sandwiched between Good Friday and the reality

of the cross, the weight of sin, the destructive

nature of injustice and sin, and the empty tomb,

which is to say the hope of God. That the effects

of sin and its destruction, the death which comes

about because of sin, The injustice of the world

will not have the final say, even as they are

remembering and celebrating Christ in the tomb.

It's sung declaring that the judgment of God

that happened on Good Friday and his rule through

Easter Sunday and the empty tomb will come about.

God's judgment on the cross and the resurrection

is not just a forensic judgment, though it is

that. It is also the vindication of a righteous

God saying, I'm going to bring my righteousness

to the world. I'm going to judge those who perpetuate

sin in the world. It will be judged. And there's

a greater story. He judges Satan's sin and death.

He judges the principalities and powers. He judges

earthly rulers on the cross. And he invites those

who look to the cross to see that there is hope

beyond it to the empty tomb. That's what they're

remembering as they sing this, as they recount

this on Holy Saturday. But let me get back to

the Dreyfus affair, as it is often called. So

I left with Emile Zola's trial, right? he had

written that famous letter, Jacuz, and he'd been

called to trial for libel. And a lot of people

think actually Zola was actually hoping to do

that in a way because he was trying to raise

awareness to the injustice that was happening

and how antisemitism was being widespread throughout

France through this Dreyfus affair. And so he

goes to trial and he's standing there in the

court and And he was told he's not allowed to

speak. He's not allowed to bring evidence. He's

not allowed to to have any testimony from anyone.

And what I read in a number of cases is that

what the what the judge kept telling, in fact,

the judge kept yelling at Zola was this case

is closed. Stop trying to reopen it. We've decided

this man's case is closed. And I guess in the

middle of this judge yelling this, Zola stands

up and he points to a mural of a crucifix, Jesus

hanging on a cross. And he says, there was another

case that was closed. And what he was doing was

he was saying, you know, the Romans and the religious

leaders took their power and they sought to suppress

someone. In fact, what they did was they even

closed him up into a tomb with a big old stone

behind it, thinking, we've done it. And he's

saying there was a case that was so unjust in

the world. And yet the justice of God prevailed.

Jesus should not have died a sinner's death.

He was unjustly condemned. And the justice of

God prevailed so that Jesus himself conquers

Satan's sin and death and brings an end to this

idea that injustice can get away with it. And

here's what happened to Emil Zola. They didn't

buy it. He actually fled to England. He had to

leave the country. He was going to be in prison,

one of the most famous writers of the time in

France. So he fled to England. But what happened

actually right after that is that they decided

to reopen up the Dreyfus case. And a year later,

Alpha Dreyfus was brought back from Devil's Island.

Now, not initially, actually, it wasn't for five

more years that his case was really retried fully

and he was vindicated. It actually wasn't for

seven more years that he was reinstated as a

lieutenant colonel in the French army. But it

was that turning point. The turning point when

Emile Zola said there was a case that was closed.

And that case was the greatest instance of injustice

where the righteous died for the unrighteous

and the unjust judges thought they were going

to get away with it. They thought they could

get away with injustice, and God will not allow

it. Friends, that is good news. I mean, in a

world that is chock full of injustice, in a world

where it's not hard to think of different ways

that all of us live unjust lives, it is good

news to know that God does not turn a blind eye

to any of it. Also, if this jurisdiction of God

is over all things, the truth is that we will

all give an account. And the question of the

scriptures is, will you give an account of how

Christ died for your sin, for the injustice that

you perpetuate? Will you rest on Him? as the

great judge, yes, but also as the one who paid

the penalty for your sin, or will you not? It's

good news to know that God says, there is no

injustice of which I will not judge justly. No

case is finally closed until I close it. But

also it begs the question, where will you be

on the judgment? Will you be clinging to Christ?

Will you be saying, I don't need the righteousness

of God for me. I'll continue in my unjust sin.

Thank you very much. Where will you stand at

the judgment when the jurisdiction of God is

over all things? Let me pray for us. God, we're

thankful that your word speaks to so much. We're

even thankful to a degree when it speaks in a

way that is beyond our understanding because

it humbles us. God, would you bring your justice

to bear in this world? Would we be agents of

it? Would we walk justly? Walk humbly? Would

we love mercy? God, would we be those who exercise

the authority that you give us for the well -being

of those under our care? Would we guard our speech?

Would we use it to build up and not to tear down?

Would we love others as you love us? And God,

would we cling to the cross of Christ who takes

on Satan's sin and death and takes our sin upon

himself that we might receive the judgment of

God, not for what we did, but for the righteousness

of Christ. Please do this, Lord. Teach us these

things. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening

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