Psalm 113:5-8 Who is like to the LORD our God, who dwells on high,… There are two propositions in the text which human reason could never unite. "Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high?" — but yet He "humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and that are in the earth." And the reason why the mere unassisted faculties of man could never unite these two ideas is, that they could not, in the nature of things, be united, but by the third discovery, which must come from God Himself, and show the other two in perfect harmony, — the discovery that "God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son," etc. There God and man met. And when we know this, and enter into the spirit of this great truth, then we know that there is a philanthropy, a love of man, in God; an intense, a boundless love even of creatures low and degraded as they are; then we wonder no longer how it is that He who exalteth Himself to dwell on high should humble Himself to behold, not only the things which are in heaven, but those also upon the earth. I. GOD DWELLETH ON HIGH. 1. This is a declaration of the Divine majesty, designed to rebuke that thoughtlessness which we are so apt to indulge, and to impress us with that reverence which is at once so becoming and so necessary. 2. This is a revelation of His power. Everything being subject to Him who is high above all, whose almighty power has hitherto controlled all things, and continues to control and regulate them, this revelation of the Divine power is made, that man — the man that trusts in God, and rests upon His almighty power — may be afraid of nothing; and that, when he has to believe any express promise which is made to him in the Word of God, whose accomplishment, to the man of the world, seems altogether impossible, he may say, "Is any thing too hard for the Lord?" 3. This is a revelation of His wisdom, of His infinite and arranging wisdom. It is connected with our comfort, as to individual life; connected with our confidence, as to God's Church; and connected with all our views of Providence, as to the management and issues of the affairs of this world. II. AS IS THE MAJESTY, SO ALSO IS THE MERCY OF OUR GOD (ver. 7). 1. This condescension of God to things on earth respects, the regard which He has had for our race, for the race fallen indeed as it is, poor, and seated in the dust, and lying on the dunghill. 2. There is, no doubt, also, a reference in this to the respect which God pays even to the lower ranks of the race, seeing that He raiseth up the poor, and lifteth up the needy. 3. The text includes a reference, also, to the condescension of God in His relation to man in circumstances of trouble. His eye penetrates through the ranks of angels, and fixes upon a trembling, humble, contrite sinner. 4. The expressions of the text refer to our nature. Christ, who is the head, cannot be exalted without the members; and therefore Christ's exaltation is the pattern of ours; His body, now incorruptible, the pattern of our body to be glorified; His stainless glorified spirit the pattern of ours, which is to be without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, pure as the light in which God dwells in the kingdom of heaven, the very place into which He has entered; this glory is to be the residence of His people for ever. (R. Watson.) Parallel Verses KJV: Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, |
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