Psalms 82:1

The Bible says in Psalms 82:1-2, “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.[2] How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.” The first phrase of verse one is the same thing that Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” If you want to be closer to God and grow more in the knowledge of Christ, make sure you go to a good Bible-teaching church. When Christians gather together in a congregation, God promises His presence. It is interesting that the last part of verse one says about God: “he judgeth among the gods.” This seems to be a reference to false religion. Christians are supposed to be involved with true religion by going to a good Bible-teaching church. If you cannot find one, then start one. God wants true religion to be built up and supported by believers, and God will judge the false religions. They are headed to hell. Do not worry about them. God will take care of them. He is their Judge.

Christians are also supposed to be judges, but in a different way. Christians are supposed to discern between good and evil, and to discern between good and evil people in order to avoid the evil ones and not join in their ungodly activities and ungodly beliefs. Christians are not supposed to “accept the persons of the wicked.” Doctrinal statements are important. Someone who claims to be a Christian but who rejects the deity of Christ cannot be accepted. There are many compromises and unjust alliances formed among the supposed clergy. Some of the clergy are not true believers.

The Bible says in Psalms 82:3-4, “Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.[4] Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.” This is true religion: caring about others. As it says in James 1:27, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” Wicked people take advantage of the poor and the fatherless and the needy. Wicked people look for the innocent and defenseless ones of our community in order to use them and abuse them. Christians are the most compassionate of all people on the earth. Who will help the weak ones if we do not help them? One reason to help those that are weak is to try and get them to the point where they are strong. For example, we need to protect children until they are old enough to take care of themselves with God’s help. We want to help the poor, not only with today’s material needs, but also with education and training so that they can eventually take care of themselves and their own families.

The Bible says in Psalms 82:5, “They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are out of course.” This verse tells us what is wrong with the world. It is the same problem today that they had three thousand years ago when this verse was written. There is something that people need to know that many of them do not know: they need to know Jesus as their personal Savior. And then they need to know the Bible and sound Biblical doctrine so that their lives will be founded on truth and so that they will have the basis for making good decisions. If they do not have these understandings, “they walk on in darkness.” And we know what happens to anyone who walks in darkness: they fall into a ditch. This lack of knowledge of Jesus and lack of knowledge of the Bible is the problem with the world today: “all the foundations of the earth are out of course.”

The Bible says in Psalms 82:6, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” The purpose of this verse is to remind believers how greatly we have been elevated once we accept Jesus as Savior. We are the sons and the daughters of God. We will reign with Him in heaven forever. We will judge the world. We will have super-human powers. He calls us “gods” with a little “g.” All of this and much more simply because we are the “children of the most High.” What a privilege and honor that we have.

And yet it can all be wasted. The Bible says in Psalms 82:7, “But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” You had better heed the warnings. There are many dangers in this world of woe and of evil. One of the dangers for a Christian is that he or she will get out of fellowship with Christ and miss God’s will, and even die before his or her time. The way to keep such a thing from happening is to daily stay in fellowship with Christ by doing what it says in First John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Notice the last phrase of Psalms 82:7, “fall like one of the princes.” Princes fall when God judges them and decides to take them out. God is judge. This verse compares Christians to “princes” because we are the true rulers of the earth. In fact the jobs that God gives each believer to do are more important than any job of the rulers of the nations of this world. The rulers of the nations deal with people’s human lives. But the work that Jesus gives to Christians deals with people’s spiritual and eternal lives.

The Bible says in Psalms 82:8, “Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.” This prayer request will be granted because this is exactly what God is doing. Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. Every human being is headed for one common experience: to kneel at the feet of Jesus and be judged by Him. It says in Romans 14:11-12, “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.[12] So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” It says in Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” And it says in Revelation 20:12, “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”

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