Psalm 75

1. What Man says in this Psalm:

Man is speaking in only two verses: 1 and 9

A. We need to thank God for His nearness (”for that thy name is near”) B. We need to thank God for His deeds (”thy wondrous works declare”)

2. What God says in this Psalm:

The best summary of this Psalm I can think of is actually Matthew 23:12

”And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.”

Basically, the proud world is going to face God’s judgment.

There are two unfamiliar pictures/phases in this Psalm:

1. The Horn of Pride

(4-5)

The horn was an animal horn, lifted up as a sign of power.

[Zec 1:21 KJV] 21 Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These [are] the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up [their] horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

2. The wine glass of wrath

(8)

There is this familiar Bible picture of the cup of God’s wrath. Look at Jeremiah 25:15-29

”For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. 16 And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. 17 Then took I the cup at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me: 18 [To wit], Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as [it is] this day; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; 20 And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, 21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon, 22 And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which [are] beyond the sea, 23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all [that are] in the utmost corners, 24 And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert, 25 And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, 26 And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which [are] upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. 27 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. 28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink. 29 For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.”

What God was saying in this Psalm was that the Horn of Pride was going to be met with the cup of wrath.

What are the lessons?

1. Don’t lift yourself up against God, because He will knock you down a couple pegs.
2. There is a judgment coming, and the lost will drink of the cup of God’s wrath. (Rev. 14:10 uses the language of the cup of wrath to describe God’s judgement in the end times.)
3. Someone already drank the cup for us. (Mathew 26:42)