"Gather to Me My saints, who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice." Sermons
I. TO WHOM DOES THE OFFICE OF JUDGE BELONG? In the sixth verse we read, "God is Judge himself." He allows none but himself to sit in judgment on others; for none else has the authority or the ability to do it. But he, whose great Trinity of names is given here, keeps all in infinite hands. "God," the Supreme Ruler; El-Elohim, the God of gods; Jehovah, the covenant God of Israel; - he it is who is thus enthroned and speaks with his voice, on the eternal principles which are the basis of his throne. II. WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THAT OFFICE? As here indicated, it includes the expression of his mind and will, as to the worship he requires, the conduct he approves or disapproves, the decisions he forms, the sentences he pronounces, the destinies he assigns. For long God may have seemed to keep silence hereon (ver. 21), but he will not be silent always (ver. 3). III. WHEN DOES THE JUDGMENT TAKE PLACE? It can scarcely be questioned that the remarkable words in ver. 3 point to a specific time when God shall come to judgment, and when attendant on the judgment there will be great signs and wonders in the heaven above and the earth beneath (see vers. 1, 3, 4). But three or four distinctive forms of God's judgment are indicated in Scripture. 1. The judgment at the last day. This is brought before us in Matthew 25:31-46. 2. The judgment expressed in providential dispensations on the Jewish Church (Jeremiah 7:1-20; Ezekiel 9:4-6; 1 Peter 4:17). 3. The judgments that are brought upon Christian Churches that are unfaithful. These are plainly enough shown us in the epistles to the seven Churches 4. The judgment that is ever going on in every visible Church - a judgment by One whose eyes are as a flame of fire, and who walks in the midst of the golden lamps. This is God's "eternal judgment" (Hebrews 6:1), the principles of which never, never vary. What they will be seen to be at the last day they are now, seen or unseen. IV. WHO ARE THE JUDGED? (Ver. 5.) The heavens and the earth are called to be witnesses of God's judgment "of the covenant people" (Cheyne). "This psalm," says Dickson, "is a citing of the visible Church before God... to compear before the tribunal of God, now in time while mercy may be had, timously to consider the Lord's controversy against the sinners in his Church, that they may repent and be saved." "The psalm," says Perowne, "deals with 'the sinners and the hypocrites in Zion,' but it reaches to all men, in all places, to the end of time." It contains the message of Divine indignation to those in Israel who were not of Israel; it specifies: 1. The superstitious - those who brought offerings of slain beasts in sacrifice, thinking that God accepted them as such, or who even, perhaps, stooped to the pagan notion that such sacrifices were "food for the gods." Hence, though there is no rebuke over any offerings withheld (ver. 8), yet there is severe indignation against the low conceptions of God and his worship with which these offerings were brought (vers. 9-13). 2. There were the scribes (see Matthew Poole), who expounded the Law, but kept it not (ver. 16). 3. There were those whose service was but a form - who vowed to God, but did not pay (ver. 14). 4. There were the openly wicked, who sought by profession of religion to cloak their wickedness (vers. 17-20). Think of such a heterogeneous mass being collected together in one visible Church! Is it any wonder that "judgment must begin at the house of God"? V. WHAT IS THE BASIS OF JUDGMENT? (Ver. 2.) "Out of Zion God hath shined." As from Mount Sinai he declared his will in the legislation of Moses, so from Zion he hath declared his will in the proclamations of prophet, apostle, saint, and seer; and according to those principles of truth and righteousness thus proclaimed is God's judgment ever being exercised; according to them will it finally proceed. And according to the measure of light granted to men, will be the standard by which they will be tried. Fuller light on this theme comes to view in the New Testament. Peter's words (Acts 10:35; 1 Peter 3:18 - 4:6), Paul's words (Romans 2:16; Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10), throw a flood of light hereon, showing us that ere the final judgment comes every soul will come to know its relation to the Lord Jesus, and that according to its response will be its destiny. VI. WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH JUDGMENT WILL PROCEED? Five of these are indicated in the psalm. 1. That merely formal offerings are offensive to God (vers. 8-13). 2. That no measure of religiousness will be accepted if iniquity has prevailed in the heart and life (ver. 16). 3. That the truly acceptable worship is a life of consecration, fidelity, prayer, and praise (vers. 14, 15). 4. That whosoever has ordered his life after the revealed will of God, will see God's salvation (ver. 23). 5. That wherever the life has been one of forgetfulness and neglect of God, the guilty one will be confounded (ver. 22). VII. WHAT ARE THE COMPLAINTS MADE BY THE GREAT JUDGE? One is negative, viz. the absence of the worship of the heart; another is positive - hypocrisy and guilt screened under a profession of religion, and the thought being cherished all the while that they would never be detected (ver. 21). VIII. WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE SOVEREIGN JUDGE? A life of (1) praise (ver. 23); (2) thanksgiving (ver. 14); (3) loyalty (ver. 14); (4) prayer (ver. 15); (5) glorifying God (ver. 15); (6) a good and upright conversation (ver. 23). Who does not see how infinitely such a life rises above that of merely formal lip-service? IX. WHAT WILL BE THE ISSUE OF THE JUDGMENT? Under varied forms of expression, the results are declared to be twofold, according to the main drifts of character and life. 1. For those in the wrong, rejection, sin set in order, brought home, exposed, condemned (vers. 21, 22). 2. For those who are in the right - the salvation of God (Acts 10:35; Acts 15:8, 9, 11). Thus under every head, though in archaic form, and with light less full, the very same truths are declared by the psalmist that were afterwards brought out more fully by Jesus Christ and his apostles. X. TO WHOM IS THE CALL ADDRESSED TO HEAR ALL THIS, AND WHY? (Vers. 1, 4.) The whole earth is called on to witness and to watch the severely discriminating judgments of God on his visible Church; and every one is called upon to hearken, because it is God who speaketh. The Apostle Peter raises a momentous question in 1 Peter 4:17, 18. Whether we are ready to face the last judgment depends on how we stand in relation to that judgment which is going on every hour. Mote: After studying such a psalm as this, how vain does the question put by Roman Catholics appear, "Where can I find God's true Church?" For this whole psalm is addressed to God's true Church. Yet whoever, even "in Zion," is at ease, or formal, or corrupt, will find that not even membership in any visible Church will save him. Only those will be saved whose hearts are purified by faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. - C.
Gather My saints together unto Me. 1. What an expressive word — "My saints!" How the Lord appropriates them as His own! (Malachi 3:17).2. "Gather My saints." "He shall gather the lambs in His arms." He shall "gather" them as a shepherd his sheep in the hour of weakness and danger. They shall not be weak or nervous then. The frail body shall be dropped for ever. 3. "Gather My saints together." It is the family meeting; it is the grand reunion; it is the glad assembly. We shall not rise to meet the Lord individually — in isolation; we shall be gathered together. What heart does not bound at the thought! 4. "Unto Me." What would that meeting be without Jesus? What is any meeting without Him? (F. Whitfield, M. A.) I. THE CHARACTERS DESCRIBED. 1. They are Christ's saints. We are to be a holy people, "without blame before Him in love." How is it with us? 2. They have entered into covenant with God. Abraham (Genesis 15:9, etc.; Jeremiah 34:18). See also Noah's sacrifice. And so God's saints now covenant with God through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. II. THE COMMAND RESPECTING THEM. 1. They will be gathered together. They are not so now. 2. They will be gathered unto Christ. "Gather... unto Me." How blessed this prospect. III. INFERENCES. 1. The duty of Christ's ministers — to gather together saints, from sin and the world, by the preaching of the Gospel. Nothing compensates if this be left undone. 2. The privileges of Christ's people. Eternal life in heaven is yours. (C. Clayton, M. A.) 1. We have the party in whose name the court is called and held. It is in the name of the Holy Trinity, Hebrews "God! God! Jehovah; He hath spoken," etc. God will judge the world by the man Christ. 2. The issuing out of the summons to the whole world, called the earth from the rising of the sun, unto the going down thereof; from east to west, from the one end to the other. 3. From whence the Judge sets forth, making His glorious appearance. At the giving of the law He came from Sinai with terrible majesty (Deuteronomy 33:2). At this His appearance He will come from Zion, the city of the living God, namely, from heaven, the Church being so called as a heaven on earth. 4. His awful coming to the judgment. He is God, as well as man. Devouring fire shall be his harbinger (2 Thessalonians 1:8). But will any then bid Him welcome? Yes, His people will. 5. Whither the summons shall be directed. To the heavens, where the souls of the blessed are that are dead; to the earth, where the living are, good and bad, and where the bodies of the dead are (Revelation 20:13). 6. A special gracious order in favour of His people. See text. Now comes the time of setting all to rights with them. And they are further characterized as "those that have made a covenant," etc.From all which we gather these doctrines — 1. When Christ comes again to put an end to this world, and complete the state of the other world, He will publicly own the saints as His own, and they shall be honourably gathered to Him by His order. 2. When Christ comes again, this earth will be very throng, and a wonderful mixture will be in it more than ever at any time before; He having called to heaven, and the other receptacle of departed souls, and brought them all back to their bodies which are in the earth. 3. When Christ comes again He will put an end to this world ere He go. His very first appearance will put an end to the business of it. All trades, employments, and diversions in this world will end for ever. And, ere He leave it, He will put an end to itself by setting it on fire; so that it shall no more be capable of affording a habitation to man or beast; while withal the heavens that cover it shall pass away (2 Peter 3:10). 4. Saintship will be the only mark of distinction among men then. (T. Boston, D. D.) I. HERE IS THE CHARACTER OF GOOD MEN.1. They are saints. By this expression, "My saints," God claims a property in them, and expresseth His care of them and love to them. 2. They have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice. They have taken Him to be their God, their ruler and portion; and given up all dependence upon other objects. II. THE COMMAND. "Let it be thy care, O my soul! I have the honour and happiness to be gathered with His people; and to have fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. This is the main thing; the source of my chief joy. I bless God that I am gathered with His saints, and united to His Church; and that I do not live in the total or general neglect of this sacred institution. I am willing and thankful to be laid under the most solemn engagements to be the Lord's, and often to recollect and renew them. I know that my treacherous heart needs every tie, to bind it more closely to God and its duty. I would come, deeply humbled for past violations of my engagements, and with the renewed exercises of repentance and faith. Lord, I come, to join myself to Thee in a perpetual covenant, never to be forgotten; with a believing regard to Jesus Christ, the great sacrifice, here set forth, as crucified before my eyes." Let us remember what is said of this gathering. They shall all be gathered from all places, the most obscure and the most remote; and brought to the presence of their covenant-God and Father, who will applaud and reward their fidelity. (Job Orton, D. D.) The psalmist's idea of God, as herein expressed, is broad and spiritual, and indicates high spiritual development. It is an ennobling one for man. To have a covenant with God, to be partner with Him in a bond, is to make us, to a certain extent, equal with Him. Covenant-making is one of the earliest instincts in man, and intrinsically one of the noblest. The bargain-making spirit is not necessarily a low one, nor a selfish one, nor a worldly one. We have degraded it by our use of it, by our desire to over-reach, to get the better of our neighbours in our bargains. The first condition of existence is the establishing of relationship between self, and that which is outside self. During the early years of our life we are largely dependent on others for the fulfilling of that condition for us. When we grow older we realize that for a rich and full and strong life we still are dependent on others, but as they in their turn are also dependent on us, we make covenants with them to fix and regulate the mutual help which we are prepared to render and receive. This covenant-making denotes the recognition, conscious or unconscious, of the incapacity of our own resources to satisfy our own needs and desires. But it indicates also that the true nature of man is not that little portion which he has within himself, but is that great nature, of which each one of us has in himself but a little share. And such is the nature of man, that with all his own resources, and all he can draw from others, he is left still unsatisfied. He craves for a yet fuller life, to be filled out of the infinite nature. This leads us to think of the nature of the covenant between God and man, involving the duty of man. Our part of the agreement is that we sacrifice to God. The only true sacrifice is the one which is prompted by love. Love and sacrifice are a twin growth, and each loses its purity when severed from the other. The act of sacrifice is contemplated oftentimes when we are still in the enjoyment of comfort and peace and light, but the sacrifice itself is carried out when all our comfort has declined, when our peace has been turned into maddest strife, and when the light by which we entered the narrow path of self-surrender has been turned into a darkness deep as death. If we love God, we shall delight in every sacrifice which is a manifestation of love, and we shall rejoice to offer our dearest and best gifts to Him. In poverty and weakness we may now make such offering, but it will continue to complete itself. "And, at last, as the righteous will of man gains the final victory, as it unites itself in entire acquiescence with the all-righteous will of God, sacrifice will at once be perfected and abolished, immersed in one infinite ocean of joy and love." What we are vitally concerned to know about God is that He is perfectly just, and true, and loving. And this we can never learn from any revelation to our outward senses, but by quick prophetic insight, by the intuition of the Spirit. When we realize that God and man are one in a covenant of eternal life, we shall have incentive sufficient and worthy for all noble effort; for we ourselves shall have then become "sons of God."(A. H. Moncur Syme.) The history of sacrifice is as old as the history of sin; the idea of sacrifice much older. It is part of the inmost counsels of God. It finds its corresponding utterance, with differing degrees of clearness and truth, through all that is holiest, noblest, and most personal of all God's creation. Time, study, thought, enter into every work of art that earns any real fame . and perhaps it is not too much to say that no painter's creation, no sculptor's reproduction of all but life, no burning words of eloquence, no minstrel's strain, no poet's dream, no work of art, ever really touches the heart, kindles deep feeling, directs motives, or influences conduct, if it does not bear on or below its surface the evidence of labour, of travail, of self-devotion, of self-dedication, self-absorption in the object of beauty or of power. And only in proportion as those who look, or admire, or criticize, or are captivated, know the real principles of what they gaze upon, or estimate the suffering they cost, does the popular opinion approximate the true. And hence it is that God's judgment, and God's opinion of people and acts, differ so often and so terribly from ours. He knows on what grounds His professing servants claim to have a covenant with Him: in what manner they act up to their claim. But God is gathering together those with whom He has made a covenant by sacrifice. And why? For judgment. "God is judge Himself." He has a heavy charge against them. They are His. They have made a covenant with Him. But herein is their sin. The first awful charge against them is opened thus: "I am God, even thy God." The only sacrifice they had made had cost them nothing. And this day again God speaks. Again "out of Zion bath God appeared in perfect beauty"; but it is not the beauty of the world; it is "in the beauty of holiness" expressed in sacrifice. He gathers His saints together unto Him; "lifted up" from the earth upon the Cross, He "draws all men unto Him." Standing before the Cross, gathered before God, can we compare our lives with that life of sacrifice? Can we say that we have really rendered to Him that which He knows it is a sacrifice to us to give?(G. C. Harris, M. A.) People Asaph, Bathsheba, David, Nathan, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Agreement, Consecrated, Covenant, Faithful, Gather, Godly, Making, Offerings, Ones, Sacrifice, SaintsOutline 1. The majesty of God in the church5. His order to gather his saints 7. The pleasure of God is not in ceremonies 14. but in sincerity of obedience Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 50:5 1346 covenants, nature of Library Prayers AnsweredIN BUSINESS AND SOCIAL ANXIETIES. HELP IN PAYING A MORTGAGE. A business man in New York had several large amounts due for payment. An unprecedented series of calls from tradesmen wishing their bills paid sooner than customary, drained his means, and he was satisfied from the situation that his means would not be sufficient to pay them all. His business receipts, at this juncture, fell to one-half what they had usually been. A loan was due at the bank; a mortgage on his property, as well as large … Various—The Wonders of Prayer And that which Follows Concerning Birds of the Air and Lilies of the Field... The Holy Souls Why all Things Work for Good Rome and Ephesus The Opinion of St. Augustin How they are to be Admonished who Lament Sins of Deed, and those who Lament Only Sins of Thought. Triumph Over Death and the Grave Seasons of Covenanting. Putting God to Work Epistle cxxi. To Leander, Bishop of Hispalis (Seville). The Third Commandment First Sunday after Epiphany Letter Xlv (Circa A. D. 1120) to a Youth Named Fulk, who Afterwards was Archdeacon of Langres How those are to be Admonished who Abstain not from the Sins which they Bewail, and those Who, Abstaining from Them, Bewail them Not. Nature of Covenanting. Letter xix (A. D. 1127) to Suger, Abbot of S. Denis Epistle Lxiv. To Augustine, Bishop of the Angli . The Doctrine The Ninth Commandment On the Symbols of the Essence' and Coessential. 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