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Title: Judging Among the Gods
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jcan071
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Date Posted：06/21/2016 7:38 PMCopy HTML

Random Thought
6-21

Judging Among the Gods

“God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods.”

Psalm 82:1

The term “gods” in the verse above refers to God’s people, not to the idols of heathen nations. The Lord said to Israel, a few verses later, “I have said, ‘You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High’ ” (Ps. 82:6). Jesus, himself, even quoted that verse to show that God consider His children to be “gods” (Jn. 10:34-36).

Asaph wrote this Psalm. He was a prophet and he was a leader of the Levitical singers in David’s time. In saying that God is the One who judges among the gods, Asaph was saying that only God was capable of making judgments among His people. The world doesn’t understand God’s people. It doesn’t understand their experiences or their feelings, and so, it cannot rightly make judgments of controversies that arise in the family of God.

When Paul heard that a brother in Corinth had taken another brother to court, he was indignant. How could a judge in a human court reach a righteous conclusion concerning controversies within the family of God? He wrote (1Cor. 6:1-8):

1. Does any one of you, having a dispute with another, dare to go before the unjust to be judged, and not before the saints?

2. Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to judge the smallest matters?

3. Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, then, matters of this life?

4. If you use law-courts for matters of this life, you are authorizing as judges those who have no standing in the Assembly.

5. I say this to your shame. Is it really so, that there is not a single wise man among you, one who is able to judge between his brothers?

6. Instead, brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers?

7. It is already, therefore, an utter loss for you, that you have lawsuits against each other. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

8. Instead, you, yourselves, do wrong and cheat — and do these things to brothers!

Paul knew that any child of God who runs to the world to enlist its aid against another brother is doing evil. In everything we are to do things God’s way or not do them at all. The foolish run to the world because they know that if they run to God they’ll find true justice, and that is not what they want. They know that God alone is able to judge among His children because He alone truly knows them, and they turn to the world, hoping that the world never really finds them out.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
jcan071 Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #1
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Re：Judging Among the Gods

Date Posted：06/23/2016 2:15 PMCopy HTML

 

The Flesh, the Spirit, and the City

“Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God!

I will mention Rahab and Babylon to them who know me.”

Psalm 87:3-4a

These words from Psalm 87 were spoken by the Spirit of Christ through a prophet. The prophet knew where Rahab and Babylon were located, but he understood nothing about what the Son of God was actually talking about. Nor did that prophet know about the city of God that was revealed to John the apostle in his Revelation.

There are two ways by which man is brought into bondage in this life. He can be enslaved by the lusts of his own fleshly nature, or he can be enslaved by demons. “Rahab” and Babylon” refer to these two evils. In the Old Testament, “Rahab” is another name for Egypt (e.g., Isa. 51:9-10), and Egypt is a symbol of the fleshly nature of man (as suggested in Ezek. 16:26). “Babylon”, on the other hand, refers to spiritual uncleanness, the place where men are brought into spiritual bondage by “doctrines of demons” rather than by the lusts of the flesh. Jesus speaks of these things to those who know him. That is, he teaches his children wisdom concerning such things, revealing how those enemies of our souls work their craftiness and ensnare the spirits of men. Paul also spoke of these two evils to the saints in Corinth, exhorting them to cleanse themselves of “from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit” (2Cor. 7:1).

At the same time, Jesus and his servants speak of the glory of the city of God, to which we hope to go when this age is ended. It is a city illuminated not by the sun but by the brightness of the presence of the Father and the Son (Rev. 21:23), and through which flows a river of life, bordered on each side with trees whose very leaves heal (Rev. 22:1-2). It is a city whose streets are laid with transparent gold, and where every hope for peace and pleasantness is realized. Jesus speaks of that city “to those who know me”, and he encourages them to be faithful and diligent so that they may overcome the two great evils that oppose them and, so, obtain that eternal life.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
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