The Geography of God's Throne Text: Psalm 75:6-10
Introduction: A World Without Up
We live in an age that has lost its bearings because it has lost its theology. Modern man is a frantic cartographer, trying to draw a map of the world without a north, south, east, or west. He looks for promotion, for deliverance, for meaning, in every horizontal direction, and is perpetually bewildered when all he finds is more of the same. He seeks his solutions from Washington, or from Wall Street, or from Silicon Valley, or from the latest self-help guru on the television. He looks to the east for esoteric wisdom and to the west for technological progress. He looks to the desert, the wilderness of his own soul, for some kind of authentic experience. But he will not look up.
And because he will not look up, he cannot understand why his world is coming apart at the seams. He thinks the problem is political, or economic, or psychological. But the problem is theological. The problem is that he has forgotten who the Judge is. He has forgotten that the world has a King, and that this King has a throne, and that this throne is not located in any earthly capital. This psalm, a song of Asaph, is a potent remedy for our horizontal confusion. It is a blast of vertical reality. It reminds us that all earthly power is derivative, all human authority is delegated, and all ultimate outcomes are determined by the Judge of all the earth.
The earlier verses of this psalm set the stage. The psalmist gives thanks to God, whose name is near. God declares that He will judge with equity when He appoints the time. He says that though the earth and its inhabitants dissolve, it is He who holds its pillars steady. He warns the boastful and the wicked not to lift up their horns, not to speak with insolent pride. And then we come to our text, which gives the reason for this warning. It is a declaration of the absolute sovereignty of God over the affairs of men. It is the great correction to our frantic, horizontal searching.
The Text
For one’s rising up does not come from the east, nor from the west,
And not from the desert;
But God is the Judge;
He puts down one and raises up another.
For a cup is in the hand of Yahweh, and the wine foams;
It is full of His mixture, and He pours from this;
Surely all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs.
But as for me, I will declare it forever;
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
And all the horns of the wicked I will cut off,
But the horns of the righteous will be raised up.
(Psalm 75:6-10 LSB)
The Futility of Horizontal Hope (v. 6)
The psalmist begins by demolishing all our misplaced hopes in geography or human systems.
"For one’s rising up does not come from the east, nor from the west, And not from the desert;" (Psalm 75:6)
The word for "rising up" here is about promotion, exaltation, deliverance. It's about who gets ahead, who wins the battle, whose kingdom stands. The psalmist systematically scans the horizon and finds it empty of ultimate help. Not from the east, the direction of the great pagan empires like Assyria and Babylon. Not from the west, the direction of Egypt or the Philistines. Not from the desert, the south, the wilderness where men might look for a rugged, self-made salvation. All the points of the human compass are exhausted.
This is a radical statement. It means that our political saviors are a mirage. It means that economic forecasts are not prophecies. It means that military might is not the final arbiter of history. All human power structures, whether they are political parties, corporate boardrooms, or academic institutions, are playing with borrowed power. They are not the source. They are not in charge. To look to them for ultimate deliverance is like asking a lamp post to do the work of the sun. It is to commit idolatry, and the fruit of idolatry is always disappointment and, eventually, despair.
We must learn to think this way. When we are tempted to fear the latest edict from on high, or to put our ultimate trust in the next election, we must remember this verse. Promotion does not come from the east wing or the west wing. It comes from the throne room of heaven.
The Vertical Reality (v. 7)
Having cleared away the horizontal clutter, the psalmist points us to the true source of all power and authority.
"But God is the Judge; He puts down one and raises up another." (Psalm 75:7 LSB)
Here is the great "but God" of history. The affairs of men are not a chaotic scramble for power. They are not determined by chance, or fate, or blind historical forces. There is a Judge. The Hebrew word is Elohim, the mighty Creator God. He is not a passive observer; He is the active arbiter. He is the one who holds the gavel.
And His judgment is not theoretical. It is intensely practical. "He puts down one and raises up another." This is the doctrine of divine providence in its most muscular form. God is the one who arranges the seating chart of history. He raised up Pharaoh and He put him down in the Red Sea. He raised up David from the sheepfold and put down the house of Saul. He raised up Nebuchadnezzar as His hammer and then shattered him. He raised up Cyrus to be a deliverer for His people. The rise and fall of kings, presidents, and prime ministers is entirely in His hand. As Daniel told that same Nebuchadnezzar, "the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will" (Daniel 4:17).
This truth is a terror to the proud and a profound comfort to the humble. To the arrogant, who believe they are the masters of their own destiny, this is an intolerable thought. But to the righteous, who know their own weakness and the overwhelming power of the world, it is the sweetest news imaginable. Our enemies are not ultimately in charge. Our fate is not in the hands of godless men. Our God is the Judge, and He is on His throne.
The Cup of Divine Wrath (v. 8)
The psalmist now uses a terrifying and potent image to describe the execution of God's judgment upon the wicked.
"For a cup is in the hand of Yahweh, and the wine foams; It is full of His mixture, and He pours from this; Surely all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs." (Genesis 75:8 LSB)
This is the cup of God's judicial wrath. It is not an arbitrary or capricious anger. It is the settled, holy, and just opposition of a righteous God to all that is evil. The imagery is vivid. The wine is foaming, indicating its potency and fermentation. It is a "mixture," a cocktail of judgment, perfectly blended by the divine hand to suit the sins of the drinker. And this cup is not optional. The wicked of the earth "must" drain it. There is no escape. And they must drink it all, right down to the "dregs," the bitter sediment at the bottom. This means they will experience the full measure of God's wrath, with no dilution and no remainder.
This image of the cup of wrath runs throughout the Scriptures. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all speak of it. And it finds its ultimate and most terrifying expression in the New Testament. In the Garden of Gethsemane, our Lord Jesus Christ, facing the cross, prays, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me" (Matthew 26:39). What was in that cup? It was this cup. It was the cup of the wrath of God, full of the mixture of judgment for the sins of His people. It was the accumulated dregs of our rebellion, our pride, our idolatry. And on the cross, He took that cup from our hands, put it to His own lips, and He drained it dry.
He drank the cup of wrath so that He could offer us the cup of salvation. He drank the poison so that we could drink the wine of the new covenant. This is why the wicked of the earth must still drink it. If you are not in Christ, you must pay your own penalty. You must face the Judge and drink the cup yourself. But if you are in Christ, the cup is empty for you. Judgment is passed. The dregs are gone. There is therefore now no condemnation.
The Righteous Response (v. 9-10)
In the face of this stark reality of divine judgment, there are only two possible responses. The wicked drink in silent, eternal terror. But the righteous sing.
"But as for me, I will declare it forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob." (Psalm 75:9 LSB)
Notice the second "but" in our text. "But God is the Judge... But as for me..." The knowledge of God's absolute sovereignty and perfect justice does not lead the believer to a grim fatalism. It leads to worship. The psalmist says he will "declare it forever." This is not a truth to be whispered in theological corners. It is to be proclaimed from the housetops. It is the central headline of reality. God reigns. And this declaration is not a dry recitation of facts; it is a song. "I will sing praises to the God of Jacob."
Why the "God of Jacob"? Because Jacob was the trickster, the supplanter, the unworthy one who was chosen by sheer grace. To praise the God of Jacob is to praise the God of sovereign grace, the God who raises up the unworthy and puts down the proud. It is to acknowledge that our own standing before the Judge is not based on our merit, but on His mercy. We sing because we, who deserved the cup of wrath, have been given the cup of blessing.
The psalm concludes with a final declaration, spoken from God's perspective, of the great reversal that His judgment accomplishes.
"And all the horns of the wicked I will cut off, But the horns of the righteous will be raised up." (Psalm 75:10 LSB)
The "horn" in Scripture is a symbol of power, pride, and authority. Think of a great bull or a stag. The wicked lift up their own horns in arrogant defiance (v. 5). They trust in their own strength. And God's promise is that He will personally "cut off" every last one of them. All humanistic, rebellious power will be de-horned. It will be rendered impotent and shamed.
But in the same act, the horns of the righteous will be raised up. The righteous do not exalt their own horns. Their strength is not in themselves. Their horn is exalted by God. This is what Mary sang about in her Magnificat: "He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly" (Luke 1:51-52). This is the great reversal of the gospel. The way up is down. The way to be exalted is to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and He will lift you up in due time (1 Peter 5:6).
Conclusion
So where do we look for our salvation? Do we look east or west? Do we trust in the political machinations of men, or in the brute force of worldly power? This psalm calls us to repent of our horizontal-mindedness. It calls us to lift our eyes. Promotion, salvation, and vindication do not come from any point on the human compass. They come from the throne of God.
God is the Judge. This is either the most terrifying or the most comforting truth in the universe, depending entirely on your relationship to the One who drank the cup. For those who stand in their own righteousness, the cup of wrath is full and foaming, and they will be made to drink it to the dregs. Their proud horns will be cut off and thrown down into the dust.
But for those who have fled for refuge to Christ, for those who trust in the God of Jacob, the Judge is our Father. The one who puts down and raises up is the one who raised Jesus from the dead for our justification. Therefore, we do not fear the boasting of the wicked. We do not despair when the earth dissolves. We do not put our trust in princes. We declare His sovereignty forever. We sing praises to the God of Jacob. And we wait with confidence for that final day when He will cut off the horns of the wicked once and for all, and raise up the horns of His righteous people, to the praise of His glorious grace.