Promoted To Glory – Psalm 75

“To the Chief Musician. Set to ‘Do Not Destroy.’ A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.”

The musical score for this Psalm, “Do Not Destroy” is used with Psalms 57, 58, 59. [1] The Psalmist asks that God’s anger be replaced with His favor. It is a cry for a Savior to take away that which is unacceptable to God, and replace it with that which is His delight.

“We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your Name is near.” Psalm 75:1

Twice in a row, do we give thanks to God. We cannot thank God enough for all He has done for us. He provides for us the air we breathe and the ground we walk on. He redeems our soul from the pit. He forgives our sins. He heals our diseases. He provides for our needs. He teaches us and helps us to love as He loves. He gives us grace and helps us to be gracious. Praise the Lord!

“When I choose the proper time, I will judge uprightly. The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved. I set up its pillars firmly. Selah!” Psalm 75:2-3

God, in due time, perfects that which concerns us. When He judges, He judge rightly. He does not pervert justice. He judges all matters in accordance with His Word in the Bible. He manages our trust in Him with integrity and grace.

When the earth and all the inhabitants are dissolved, it is because God is creating a new heaven and new earth wherein dwells righteousness. Christ set up pillars of the new kingdom when He made atonement for our sins, and sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in us.

“I said to the boastful, ‘Do not deal boastfully.’ And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn. Do not lift up your horn on high. Do not speak with a stiff neck.’” Psalm 75:4-5

Twice, Asaph urges arrogant sinners not to lift up their horns against God. They should not seek to gore God or His Word as raging bulls gores someone in their space.

A stiff neck does not turn easily. It does not want to turn one’s face toward God. The head of the anti-Christ will raise his horns against God, but only to be broken to pieces. The Pharaoh had a stiff neck. He defiantly said to Moses, “Who is the Lord?” Pharaoh paid a great cost to find out.

“For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge. He puts down one and exalts another.” Psalm 75:6-7

Earthly governors receive their power and authority from God. They don’t earn or deserve it, but God gives them grace to rule for a season.

Humsan kingdoms rise and fall. In Psalm 75, Asaph directs us to look at the author of them. God has the power to build up or tear down, to plant or uproot them. This is what God told Jeremiah before Babylon became a world controlling empire. Babylon eventually conquered Jerusalem.

In Jeremiah 1:10, the Lord said, “See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.”

In Ezekiel 18:21, the Lord says, “If a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.” And then in Ezekiel 18:24, the Lord says, “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does... all the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.” These are the terms by which God tears down and raises up.

There are many merchants who claim to have the remedy to all your problems. They will sell their solution to you for a profitable price to pack their pockets with your money.

In Isaiah 55:1-3, the Lord says to us, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you—the sure mercies of David.”

The sure mercies of David is a reference to Jesus Messiah. His righteousness is free of charge because He paid for it when He died for our sins on the cross, and when He resurrected from the dead, and ascended on high, and sent His Spirit to dwell within us. Our relationship with God is a grace-based relationship not a performance-based one. Otherwise, we could never measure up to God’s righteous expectation of us. Jesus Christ fulfilled God’s expectation for us.

“For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red. It is fully mixed, and He pours it out. Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth drain and drink down. But I will declare forever, I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. All the horns of the wicked I will also cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.” Psalm 75:8-10

The sufferings of Christ are called a cup in Matthew 20:22 and John 18:11. The wine is red, denoting the wrath of God, which is infused into the judgments executed on sinners, and is the wormwood and the gall in the affliction and the misery. It is read as fire, red as blood, for it burns, it kills. [2]

In Jeremiah 1:13-16, God gave Jeremiah a vision of a boiling pot pouring out from the north onto all the kingdoms of the earth including Jerusalem and Judah. This boiling solution was the Babylonian army conquering the kingdoms of this world. This cup was God’s wrath poured out on sin. In Revelation 15:7 and 16:1, we read of the angels pouring out the vials of God’s wrath upon the earth. Some drops of this wrath may impact God’s people as we share in common calamities of our fellow human beings, but the dregs of the cup are reserved for the wicked. In the hereafter, they will experience the torments of hell. [3]

Asaph praised God, and gave to Him glory, which is what the angel of the Lord urges people to do in Revelation 14:7. The angel said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

I praise our heavenly Father for basing our relationship with Him on the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I could never earn or deserve to come into His holy presence. Thanks to God’s Son atoning work on the cross for me, the righteous Judge of heaven and earth has declared me innocent of all charges against me, and He has adopted me into His family as a son.

Psalm 75:6-7 is true for me, and for all who profess Christ “Exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge. He puts down one and exalts another.” It is via faith in Jesus Christ that God promotes us to glory. Amen!



[1] Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary
[2] Matthew Henry’s Commentary
[3] Ibid