A Commentary of Psalm 145: Strictly particular to the Elect Alone

This commentary is to show why the blessings and promises of Psalm 145 are strictly particular to the elect alone. 

Psa 145:1  David's Psalm of praise. I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. 

Psa 145:2  Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. 

Psa 145:3  Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. 

Psa 145:4  One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. 

Psa 145:5  I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. 

Psa 145:6  And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. 

Psa 145:7  They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. 

 

No one has the will and desire to praise God but those whom God causes to approach unto Him in time according to His eternal unconditional election (Psalm 65:4). All men without exception come into this world totally depraved, without any inclination to the true God whatsoever, however only the elect who is justified in time will have the God-given ability to praise God everyday (verse 2) and he will continue to praise God forever and ever (verses 1-2). The wicked reprobate will never praise God in time and definitely not forever and ever. Generation after generation of the elect in the world will declare His glorious and righteous majesty (verses 4-7). The context of verses 1-7 clearly tells us that the audience of Psalm 145 is the elect alone.

 

Psa 145:8  The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. 

Psa 145:9  The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. 

Psa 145:10  All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. 

Psa 145:11  They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; 

Psa 145:12  To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. 

Psa 145:13  Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. 

 

Since the elect alone is the audience of Psalm 145 as proven from verses 1-7, therefore God’s grace, compassion, longsuffering, goodness and mercy of verses 8 and 9 is also towards the elect alone. Therefore the “all” and “all His works” of verses 9a and 9b respectively must refer only to the elect. Besides proof of context from verses 1-7, this interpretation is logical if we compare Scripture with Scripture to interpret the “all” of verse 9a and “all his works” of verse 9b with Revelation 5:9, 7:9 and Ephesians 2:10 respectively:

Revelation 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

Revelation 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 

Ephesians 2:10 For we (the elect) are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them

The elect from all kinds of backgrounds (Revelation 5:9, 7:9) is God’s great workmanship (Ephesians 2:10), not that any elect deserves it. It is God’s promise to Abraham that all his spiritual seeds out of every nation will be saved (Genesis 22:17). It is all the elect of all kinds, not all men head-to-head without exception. There is no possibility that the “all” of verse 9a to literally mean all men head-to-head without exception (including the wicked reprobates) based on the context and the principle of Scripture interpreting Scripture. Let not emotions and a twisted view of God’s love rule your interpretation. Again, “all his works” of verse 9b and “all thy works” of verse 10a can only refer to the elect and furthermore verse 10b gives us the explicit identity of those works of God: “and thy saints shall bless thee”.

In vain do the moderate Calvinists attempt to quote from Psalm 145:8-10 to prove their unbiblical doctrines of common grace i.e. God’s non-saving favour towards the wicked reprobates and His sincere failed desire for the wicked reprobates (whom God has eternally reprobated) to be saved.

 

Psa 145:14  The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. 

Psa 145:15  The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. 

Psa 145:16  Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. 

Psa 145:17  The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. 

Psa 145:18  The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. 

Psa 145:19  He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. 

Psa 145:20  The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy. 

Psa 145:21  My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever. 

 

The context continues to speak of the elect alone. The LORD upholds and preserves the soul of all the elect repentant sinners from all kinds of backgrounds who love Him and be bowed down (verses 14 and 20a). God does not do that to the wicked reprobate. The fifth point of Calvinism is only applicable to the elect.

Again, the “all” of verse 15a refers only to the elect. Do the eyes of the wicked reprobates ever wait upon God? On the contrary, the eyes of the wicked reprobates hate God.

While I do not deny that God gives physical meat to the wicked reprobates to make them physically full in His providence, but does God ever give the wicked reprobate a spiritual meat to make them spiritually full (verse 15b)? On the contrary, God gives the wicked reprobate spiritual meat (i.e. the preaching of the Gospel) to harden their hearts and causes them not to be spiritually full. Consider Jesus’ doctrine of eternal reprobation which shows that one of the purposes of preaching is to harden the hearts of the wicked reprobates:

Matthew 13:-13-15 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

 

Does God well-meaningly offer the Gospel to the wicked reprobates and sincerely desiring their salvation (verse 16a)? No. God cannot contradict His own eternal decree of eternal reprobation. Furthermore, salvation is not an offer by which God is just standing by to wait for the independent free will of man to move itself to believe the Gospel. God only opens His hand towards the elect and He will cause them to believe (verse 16a). How about the “every living thing” of verse 16b? Does that refer to non-human living things as well? The context does not allow so and moreover God satisfies the godly desire of the elect alone. O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days (Psalm 90:14) and He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them (Psalm 145:19). God reaches out truly to the elect alone and He fulfils the godly desire of His elect.

 

Do the wicked reprobates ever call upon God in truth and be nigh unto Him (verse 18)? No. While there are wicked reprobate who claim to be Christians and seem to be worshipping God and enjoying Christian fellowship (as Hebrews 6:4-6 and 1 John 2:19 prove the existence of such people), they are never saved in the first place and therefore fake Christians. They are ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:7).

 

In verse 17, it speaks of God’s intrinsic goodness. God is the definition of goodness. Whatever God does is good. Something is right and good because God says so. Man’s standard of goodness cannot measure to the incomprehensible and inexhaustible goodness of God. The doctrine of eternal unconditional election and reprobation are good because God says so. It is good, righteous, holy and just that God has no general and common goodness, grace, longsuffering, love, compassion, and mercy towards the wicked reprobates. What good is God’s goodness if it does not lead a person to repentance (Romans 2:4)? The moderate Calvinists are running on treadmills trying to run away from a logical contradiction with their futile attempt to distinguish between common grace or goodness, and special grace and goodness of God. God’s grace and goodness are always special, and they are common to the elect alone.

 

Do the wicked reprobates ever fear God (v.19b)? Does God hear the cry of Judas? Did God save Judas? The cry of the reprobates is an abomination to God. The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous (Proverbs 15:29). The prayer and cry of the wicked reprobates are selfish and unrepentant. God sees the hearts.

 

But all the wicked will He destroy (v.20b). “But” implies that the blessings and promises of verses 1-20a and 21 are never applicable to the wicked reprobates because God has purposed from eternity to destroy them.

 

 

Conclusion

I have shown that Psalm 145 does not teach common and universal grace, compassion, longsuffering, mercy and goodness of God towards the wicked reprobates. The moderate Calvinists, together with the Arminians, must prevent their emotions from clouding their proper exegesis. God is love, but His love is not what most people think of according to their flawed emotions.