Just and True are God’s Judgments – Psalm 94

“O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs—O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth! Rise up, O Judge of the earth, return [שׁוּב] a recompence [גְּמוּל] to the proud.” Psalm 94:1-2

Malicious people came against God’s people in the Old and New Testament times. In the Book of Esther, one man named Haman wanted to eradicate all Jews from existence because one Jewish man failed to pay him proper homage. In Acts 14:2, unbelievers poisoned the minds of people against Paul and his ministry team. In Acts 14:19, a group of people persuaded a mob to stone Paul. They dragged him outside the city, and left him for dead.

Christians are persecuted, abused and killed in various nations of the earth today.

In Revelation 12:17, we read that Satan (the dragon) makes war with those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Thus, we know that persecution of believers in Christ will continue until the Lord returns and tosses the devil in the lake of fire.

Psalm 94:1-2 is a prayer for God to shine forth with vengeance upon the proud. It is an appeal to the righteous Judge of all humanity for a just judgment upon them. Thankfully, we do not need to repay our enemies. The Lord says in Romans 12:19, “Vengeance is mine. I will repay.”

“Lord, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph? They utter speech and speak impudently. All the workers of iniquity boast in themselves. They break in pieces Your people, O Lord, and afflict Your heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless.” Psalm 94:3-6

The Psalmist asks God to hasten the defeat of the wicked. Likewise in Revelation 6:9-10, those who had been slain for the Word of God, ask the Lord, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Sin’s servants spoke impudently against God and His people. They assumed wrongly that God would not hold them accountable for the evil that they were doing. They had afflicted and shattered the lives of godly people. And what did they do to foreigners, widows and orphans? They killed them.

“Yet they say, ‘The Lord does not see, nor does the God of Jacob understand.’ Understand, you senseless among the people, and you fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see? He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct, He who teaches man knowledge? The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.” Psalm 94:7-11

In 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10, Paul prophesied of the antichrist as a lawless one whose works are of Satan. He will use unrighteousness to deceive those who perish. They will perish because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” And in verse 12 of this chapter, he wrote, “They will be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Believing lies, denying the truth, and running with outlaws does not end well.

According to Church history, the Apostle John lived longer than the other eleven disciples of Jesus. He witnessed not just one antichrist, but many. In 1 John 2:18, he wrote, “Little children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.”

Even as the number of followers of Christ grew during John’s life, so grew the number of those against Christ. John said we are in the last hour, meaning the Lord’s return is imminent. It has been nearly 2,000 years since John wrote this passage, but 2,000 years in eternity is like an hour.

In 1 John 2:22, John wrote, “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.” In 1 John 4:3, he wrote, “Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” And in 2 John 1:7, he wrote, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.”

The key characteristic of antichrists is that they want to replace Jesus Christ with someone or something else. In John 5:43, Jesus said, “I have come in My Father’s Name, and you do not receive Me; if another person come in his own name, him you will receive.” Thus, we need to beware of personality cults and hero worship. We should never exalt someone other than Jesus as Messiah. Jesus of Nazareth was and is the Chosen and Anointed One of the Father to save us.

Some common errors in this regard include the exaltation of Mary, the saints, the pope, super talented people, a president, a king, a queen, Santa Claus and Easter Bunnies.

God made the ear. He hears. God made the eye. He sees. No one should mistake God’s patience for indifference. Judgment delayed is not judgment denied. The Judge of all the earth sees, knows, and will correct injustice. In 2 Peter 3:9, Peter wrote, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

“Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O Lord, and teach out of Your law, that You may give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked.” Psalm 94:12-13

In the past, the Holy Spirit has led me to dig down and root myself in God’s Word during times of persecution. I was blessed to rest and be instructed by the Lord. While others hardened their hearts to God’s Word and rejoiced to do evil, the Lord reminded me of the parable of the wise and foolish builders. In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus said that a wise man builds his house on the rock of hearing and applying God’s Word to himself. The foolish man builds his house on the sand. Building one’s house on the sand is a metaphor for building one’s life on a bad foundation. It is foolish to build on any other foundation than the Word of God. Only those who build their life on Christ will enter paradise after they die.

“For the Lord will not cast off His people, nor will He forsake His inheritance. But judgment will return to righteousness, and all the upright in heart will follow it.” Psalm 94:14-15

Once the wicked one gains power, he wrongly assumes that his crime network will never be brought down. He is deceived. God may allow His people to experience defeat for a time so that they get serious about seeking Him, but in due season, God will flip the script.

In Revelation 13:7, we read, “It was granted to him [the antichrist] to make war with the saints and to overcome them.” The Lord allows this so that His people will draw near to Him. But later, in Revelation 19:20, we read, “Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet... These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.”

Jesus taught in Matthew 25:31-46 that when He returns all the nations will be gathered before Him. He will separate the sheep from the goats. He will say to the sheep, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” He will say to the goats, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. They will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

“Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul would soon have settled in silence. If I say, ‘My foot slips,’ Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up. In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.” Psalm 94:16-19

Who will rise up for God’s man or woman? God will!

In Acts 7:54-56, when evil persecutors like ferocious lions bit Stephen with their teeth, and when they prepared to stone him to death, he was full of the Holy Spirit. Stephen “gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” Stephen was standing up for Jesus, and Jesus stood for him. Stephen remarked, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

In 2 Timothy 4:17-18, Paul spoke of the Lord rising up on his behalf. “The Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!”

The Lord’s mercy held Stephen up as he was slain for the sake of Christ. The Lord’s mercy held Paul up by delivering him from death. In both incidents, God’s comforts delighted their souls.

“Shall the throne of iniquity, which devises evil by law, have fellowship with You? They gather together against the life of the righteous and condemn innocent blood. But the Lord has been my defense, and my God the rock of my refuge. He has brought on them their own iniquity and shall cut them off in their own wickedness. The Lord our God shall cut them off.” Psalm 94:20-23

The downfall of Haman in the Book of Esther and the downfall of the antichrist in the Book of Revelation are examples of wicked men being brought down by God. These men condemned the innocent. God preserved the life of Esther, and He will preserve the lives of many saints in the future. In Revelation 20:4, John saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness for Jesus. They had not worshiped the beast or his image. They had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. “They lived [again] and reigned with Christ.”

In Revelation 16:5-6, amidst judgments being released on the wicked, an angel declares, “You are righteous, O Lord. The One who is and who was and who is to be, because You have judged these things. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due.” And in Revelation 16:7, John hears another angel saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

The central message of Psalm 94 is simple yet profound. When the wicked gain power, God is the place of refuge for His people. The safest place to be is close to God. The Lord comforts us who trust in Him, and He executes justice on the wicked.