Gather to me this consecrated people, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

 

Tuesday, November 21, 2023


Psalm 50

2 Kings 19:20-37

Matthew 25:1-13


Gather to me this consecrated people, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.


Our God is so high and wonderful we exhaust all the words of all the languages on earth in our attempt to speak about Him. So begins the Psalm: “The Mighty One, God, the LORD!” God holds all things together through His words – He speaks, and the earth is summoned. This wonderful Being we call God has a beauty that shines; and He is not silent.


Nothing can compare to God’s beauty, to God’s righteousness. Why should God let us into His heaven? His fire of holiness devours before Him; the tempest of His righteousness rages above.


A covenant of sacrifice is what our God asks of us. But God has no need of dead bulls or goats. Every animal of the forest belongs to God; He knows every bird in the mountains, and every insect belongs to Him.


God asks us for a sacrifice of thanksgiving. God wants us to call to Him when we need help. What does this type of sacrifice look like? Or rather, who?


Because we have a sacrifice made for us. His name is Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, the Messiah. He came from heaven to earth to give His life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. God’s righteousness is like a fire that would burn us up. But the tempest of God’s rage was spent on the head of Jesus, so that whoever throws away any designs at self-sufficiency and instead calls on God for help in Jesus’ name will be saved. We cannot give God bulls or goats, as if God were a man. We need the blood of Jesus to clean out the darkness.


This Psalm contains the message of the gospel, from start to finish. There is a God, and He has spoken. God does not need a sacrifice of animals; God wants us to acknowledge Him as our Lord and Creator. By calling on the name of the Lord for help, the name of the Lord Jesus, God sees that we understand this distinction between Creator and creature. When we thank God for Jesus, we honour God. By keeping His commandments, we will be shown salvation.



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