Read Psalm 82. 1God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: 2“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? 3Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. 4Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” 5They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. 6I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; 7nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.” 8Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!
Like Job, Asaph takes us into the heavenly courtroom, where we see God judging the judges, and it’s not pretty. How long will you judge unjustly? This is the charge against humanity. They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness, is the verdict. God made us gods (Hebrew word elohim meaning God, gods, ruler, or judge) over creation, sons of the Most High, and gave us authority to rule one another, but we simply can’t prevent wickedness or it’s result – death.
Jesus will quote verse 6 in John chapter 10. Jesus is God, but also a human god in the tradition of Psalm 82. He is THE son of the Most High who has been given all rule authority over mankind. He is our judge. The judge of the judges. The judge without partiality, the judge without darkness, the judge with all understanding, the judge who will bring justice to the weak and the fatherless. He will judge us as one of us. One who like all of us died, and fell like every other prince. But unlike the rest of us gods, Christ alone was raised and seated as the Most High over Heaven and Earth.
When we pray Arise, O God, judge the earth, we are praying for the return of Christ. Only as we embrace our union with Christ will we embrace the coming judgment of Jesus. Only the security of grace, the security of being in Christ, can cause us to abdicate our role as god, and admit our failure as judge. Only by to live is Christ will we cry out, “Come Lord Jesus.”
Prayer. Jesus come. Come and judge us. I have no fear of this judgment for I am in you. Amen.
To Live is Christ 