(To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.) The heavens declare the glory of God; and the expanse sheweth the work of his hands.
Psalm 19 calls the sky as its first witness, speaking before the psalm ever names Scripture. Commentators ask what it says, who can hear it, and where its witness stops.
The psalm has two halves. Creation speaks first. From verse 7 the law of the LORD speaks. Each witness has its own subject and its own hearers.
The two witnesses of Psalm 19 still give their testimony, and nothing has spoiled it: (1) "The heavens declare the glory of God"; and (2) "The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul" (v. 7). Both witnesses speak the truth, as far as they go. The first declares God's power and divinity. Everyone alive has this witness testifying to them all the time. So all who do not turn to God are "without excuse" (Rom. 1:20). The second was sent mainly to the nation of Israel. It speaks of the holiness of God and exposes the sinfulness of man, leaving him nowhere to turn for mercy but God.
The psalm points upward, and that choice is deliberate. Man has spoiled everything within his reach. He has not touched the sky.
It is a solemn thought that whatever man has touched he has corrupted. Creation groans wherever man has been. But if I look where man cannot reach, at the moon and the stars, all is glorious… The heavens are spread over all. The sun runs its tireless circuit from one end of the sky to the other. They are the bright, unchanging witnesses of the divine glory, and man's defiling hand cannot reach them.
The name matters here. The sky does not announce God's covenant name. It announces God as God. The name changes in verse 7.
Notice something else, for this Psalm has great depth. The heavens do not declare the glory of Jehovah — that is His covenant name — but of God. The law of Jehovah converts the soul — it is perfect.
If the message is that plain, the failure to receive it needs explaining. One writer argues that people have not misread the evidence. They have thrown it out.
Creation is open to everyone's view, and it is full of signs of God. Evidence of a divine hand at work lies scattered above man and around him. Even the most darkened mind would struggle to escape the conviction that the wisdom and power on display there is nothing less than divine. Yet, widespread, continuous, and eloquent as its testimony is, men have not read God's plain speech in it. And note the charge against man. It is not just a misreading of the evidence. It is a complete rejection of it.
Paul quotes this passage in Romans 10 when he asks whether Israel had heard. The sky preaches without words to the whole world. Paul makes that his picture of a message that crosses every border.
The heavens testified so plainly that only unbelief could claim earth was everything. But Israel boasted so highly in her earthly inheritance that she shut out everyone who was not a Jew. Yet their own Scriptures declared what their eyes saw every day. A heavenly testimony went out into all the earth, and its words to the ends of the world. This heavenly message is only a picture of the blessed worldwide gospel. That gospel is sent from the Son of Man in the heavens. It is not God speaking on earth, but from heaven, and so it is a voice addressed to all men everywhere — Jews and Gentiles.
Creation is enough to leave people without excuse. It tells you that God is. It does not tell you what He is like toward sinners.
Creation should indeed speak, and its voice be heard. What is invisible in the Creator is still seen. The things He has made make it plain — His eternal power and divine nature. They do not show His grace, or truth, or love. They do show infinite power and design, and that leaves people without excuse. Creation declares the power of God. It does not reveal what He is in Himself — His nature. But unless a person shuts his eyes on purpose, it is evidence enough that a Creator-God exists.
A person can study the heavens and still miss what the psalm sees. Faith, not learning, is what sees God's hand.
Those who study the stars may speak of the varied glories of the heavenly bodies. They may tell of their great discoveries. Yet they may never think of Him whose glory is before their eyes… It takes God-given faith to see the hand of God in creation. Scripture says, "By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God" (Heb. 11:3). The youngest child in the family of God knows more about where creation came from than the greatest thinker who does not know God.
- Speaks — The sky is a sermon that never stops. It declares God's eternal power and divine nature to everyone alive.
- Unspoiled — The psalm looks up because whatever man touches he corrupts; the heavens stay beyond his defiling hand.
- Everywhere — This witness reaches every land. So unbelief is not an honest mistake. It throws out the evidence.
- Limited — The sky shows God's power, not His grace, truth or love. For those you must look elsewhere.
- Faith — Telescopes see stars. Faith sees the glory. The youngest believer sees further here than the finest mind without God.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
A testimony runs over every human head without pause. The sky talks, and it never stops talking. So the question is not whether God has spoken to the world. It is why a message sent every day and every night is so easily missed.
Day and night both speak here. One writer traces where this witness began and why nothing has silenced it.
Creation is the earliest witness of God to man. As soon as man fell, he needed something more, and in the mercy of God he found it. If men turned their back on that, or corrupted it with their own folly, the witness of creation still remained, and they could not silence it. The testimony is continuous and progressive. One day adds its tale to that of another, and one night likewise to the one that went before it. Never exhausted, the story never ends. The day has many voices, each subdued by the sheer number of them. It is like a river of speech flowing on and on. The night, with its quiet breathing, speaks in the hush — perhaps more clearly to the more attentive ear.
The psalmist insists on the word "speech." The same writer asks how seriously anyone takes it — skeptic or believer.
So the psalmist gives speech to creation, and he is in earnest about it. He wants us to know that he means every word of this. He says it is "speech" and it is "words" — really that. Words, despite the sneer of the skeptic. Words, despite the dullness of God's own people. Words truly there to be heard by those who listen for them... how much does the average Christian hear of this continual witness to God in the many voices of the day and the night?
Nobody lives outside the range of a message sent every day and every night. Romans draws the conclusion.
Every day and night the voice of creation speaks in unmistakable language (v. 2). If anyone refuses such clear witness, he is ignorant on purpose. He has no excuse. Even the darkest lands that do not know God hear this voice. Romans 1:19-20 implies as much, presenting creation as a clear testimony — a testimony that people realize condemns the sin they indulge in: "So they are without excuse." So there is no place in the world without a testimony from God (v. 4).
This testimony stays clean because of where it is. Man has spoiled everything he can reach. He cannot reach the sky.
It is a solemn thought that whatever man has touched he has corrupted. Creation groans when a man has been there. But if I look where man cannot reach — at the moon, the stars, and so on — all is glorious... The heavens spread over all. The sun goes round in its tireless circuit from one end to the other. Both are bright, unchanging witnesses of the divine glory, above man's defiling hand.
The second half of the verse gives knowledge to the dark hours, not only to the bright ones.
In this psalm we can clearly see that creation, set before us like this, is really God's faithfulness. This is the realm where God's handiwork, His eternal power and divinity, is plain to grasp — unless we are blind, as we naturally are... Verse 2 tells us clearly that this testimony communicates; it passes something on. God draws our attention to the testimony to Himself in the words "Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge." But if there is darkness, God is willing to give light there, a testimony.
The sky's message has a limit. Later the psalm brings in a second witness, and one writer pairs the two, each with its own job.
The two witnesses of Psalm 19 still bear their uncorrupted testimony: (1) "The heavens declare the glory of God"; and (2) "The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul" (v. 7). These witnesses plainly speak the truth according to their measure. The first declares God's power and divinity. The second speaks of the holiness of God and exposes the sinfulness of man. It shuts him up to God alone for mercy. It leaves him without excuse too, if he does not seek that mercy from Him.
- Voice — The testimony grows: each day adds to the last, each night to the night before, and the story never ends.
- Words — The psalmist means "speech." These are real words for anyone who listens, though even God's own people are dull to them.
- Reach — No place on earth is left out. Even the darkest lands that do not know God hear this voice.
- Verdict — The witness is clear. Refusing it is a choice that leaves people without excuse.
- Limit — The heavens declare God's power and divinity. The law does the other job: it exposes sin and shuts man up to God alone for mercy.
There is no speech and there are no words, yet their voice is heard.
Psalm 19 opens with the heavens declaring God's glory. This verse describes how they do it: no syllable, no language, yet a voice that carries. So why do so many people miss it? And what can a wordless witness do?
Translators read the line in two ways. One: there is no place where the voice goes unheard. The other: there is no speech and no words, yet the voice is heard. Either way the point stands. Creation speaks without making a sound.
This testimony of creation goes out to everyone. There is no audible voice, as there was with the prophets. Still, the testimony is there in a silent voice, in the way things are presented. They have no speech, yet the voice of the testimony is heard.
This voice is not a code that only a few can decipher. It reaches everyone, everywhere.
Every day and night the voice of creation speaks in language no one can mistake (v. 2). So if someone refuses such clear witness, he is ignorant by choice: he has no excuse. Even in the darkest places where God is unknown, their voice is heard. Romans 1:19-20 hints at this. There creation stands as a clear testimony, and people realize it condemns the sin they give themselves to, "So they are without excuse." So there is no place in the world that lacks a testimony from God (v. 4).
The point is so plain that it should not need saying at all.
Let us feel the shame, then, of needing to be told something so simple: that nature's speech is meant to be heard. Nature is the witness to everyone, so its teaching is not meant for a select few. It is for all.
Notice which parts of creation the psalm picks out.
Despite the unbelief in man's heart, whether it shows itself in evolution or modernism, the Creation remains. The Psalmist declares, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork". Every part of creation declares the eternal power and divinity of God. Yet it matters a great deal that the inspired writer of Psalm 19 names parts of creation which man has no power to touch or corrupt. He speaks of the unbroken march of day and night, and of the sun's endless circuit. In God's estimate this witness to His power and divinity is so strong and convincing that it leaves men without excuse.
If the signal is that strong, the failure lies with the listener. One writer traces it to what the human heart wants to find.
Now take the witness of nature to the Creator, which we have described as so powerful and so certain. How do we explain how little conviction it produces, the apparent fruitlessness of this line of evidence? Is it not that men's hearts have wanted some other meaning so badly that they have shut their eyes to what it really shows? They will not see the God it points to. They would gladly give anyone or anything but Him the glory for such handiwork... Yet even with this lack of desire for God, these silent witnesses remain, to be accusers if nothing more.
So there is something this silent voice cannot do.
They are signs of God's creative power and goodness, but they leave the soul unconverted. No one can know God for salvation except through the living and lasting word (1 Peter 1:23). That word reveals Christ, and in Him the Father Himself is revealed and glorified, and our need is met... Romans 1 teaches us that the most anyone can learn from looking at creation alone is God's eternal power and Godhead — His creative power. But this does not meet the sinner's need, and it does not display God's grace.
The reach described here later became an image for something else that spreads without borders.
The testimony of creation is a picture of the testimony the gospel now gives, because both go out to all. God had given His testimony, whether man saw it or not.
- Silent. The sky has no audible voice, as the prophets had. Yet its testimony is heard.
- Simple. Its message was never meant for a trained elite. Nature's speech is for everyone.
- Untouchable. The psalm names the parts of creation man cannot corrupt: day, night, the sun's circuit. The witness stands whatever men say about it.
- Refused. Men wanted another meaning, so they ignored the true one. The silent witnesses then stand as accusers.
- Not enough. Creation shows eternal power and Godhead, not grace. Only God's word reveals Christ and meets the sinner's need.
Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their language to the extremity of the world. In them hath he set a tent for the sun,
The psalm opens with the sky as a preacher. This verse says how far that wordless sermon travels, and it points to the tent God set in the sky for the sun. Two questions follow. How can a silent witness reach anyone? And how far can it take a person?
The heavens make no sound, yet their message is not vague. One writer says the silence lies in the delivery, not in the message.
The language that "day unto day utters" is as little unclear as its "pouring forth" is small. The knowledge that "night unto night shows" is no secret doctrine, but breathes its whisper in the ears of all. "There is no speech nor language, their voice is not heard." Not in spoken form; yet "their line is gone out through all the earth, and their sayings to the end of the world."
(The older wording here reads "their voice is not heard" and "their line is gone out"; the ESV has "whose voice is not heard" and "their voice goes out.")
Because the reach is total, so is the accountability.
Every day and night the voice of creation speaks in unmistakable language (v. 2). If someone refuses such clear witness, he is willfully ignorant: he has no excuse. In the darkest heathen lands their voice is heard. Romans 1:19-20 shows this. There creation stands as a clear testimony, a testimony that people realize condemns the sin they indulge in, "so that they are without excuse." So there is no place in the world that lacks a testimony from God (v. 4).
The psalm looks up, and one writer sees a reason for that. Man has handled the ground under our feet. He has never touched the heavens.
In Psalm 19 we have the testimony of creation and of the law. It is a solemn thought that whatever man has touched he has corrupted. Creation groans when a man has been there. But if I look where man cannot reach, at the moon, the stars, and so on, all is glorious... The heavens spread over all. The sun goes on its tireless circuit from one end to the other. Both are bright, unchanging witnesses of the divine glory, and man's defiling hand cannot reach them.
The second half of the verse narrows from the whole sky to one object. Everything alive depends on the sun, and that dependence is a picture.
This testimony of creation reaches everyone. There is no audible voice here, as there was with the prophets. The testimony still comes through, in the silent voice of the way things are set out. They have no speech, yet the voice of the testimony is heard. The whole creation would be useless without that sun. Wealth would mean nothing without the sun, for there could not be a grain of wheat if there were no sun. So the place the sun has in relation to this creation, the Son of God has in relation to us.
The apostle Paul borrows this line in Romans 10 to answer a question about the gospel's reach, and the borrowing is deliberate.
Psalm 19 is used in the most beautiful way to suggest that the limits are the world. Just as the sun in the heavens is not for one people or land alone, no more is the gospel. There is no language where their voice is not heard. "Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." The gospel goes out to everyone. Jewish claims were therefore set aside. It was not done by new and fuller revelations, but by this divinely skilful use of their own Old Testament Scriptures.
Wide as it is, the sky's message has a limit. It cannot save.
They are signs of God's creative power and goodness; but they leave the soul unconverted. No one can know God in a saving way except through the living and lasting word (1 Peter 1:23), which reveals Christ... We learn from Romans 1 that looking at creation alone teaches us only God's eternal power and divine nature — His creative power. But this does not meet the sinner's need, and it does not display God's grace.
- Wordless — the testimony carries no speech and no language, yet it is not unclear; it whispers in the ears of all.
- Unspoiled — man corrupts what he touches, but he cannot reach the heavens, so that witness stays bright and unchanging.
- Universal — the voice goes out to the end of the world; there is no place on earth without a testimony from God, and so no excuse.
- Central — in that sky He set a tent for the sun, and what the sun is to creation, the Son of God is to us.
- Not enough alone — creation shows His eternal power, but leaves the soul unconverted. Only His living word reveals Christ and saves.
And he is as a bridegroom going forth from his chamber; he rejoiceth as a strong man to run the race.
Two pictures stand side by side in this verse: a bridegroom stepping out on his wedding day, and a runner setting off with strength. Both describe the sun as it leaves its tent in the sky each morning. Commentators ask what this daily sight teaches. Does the sun point beyond itself to a Person? How far does its message travel?
The sun does not wander. God has given it a place and an hour, and it keeps them.
The early verses of the Psalm celebrate the endless witness of creation to God's greatness and glory, at least on its heavenly side. They also tell us of a tent set in the heavens for the sun. At the appointed time it comes out, shining with brightness and warmth, so that nothing is hidden from its light.
We see this every morning, and we owe more to it than we think.
The rising sun is a marvelous witness. In past ages people did not know that the earth turns, so some thought a different sun rose every morning! But the wonder of it should impress everyone... We owe so much to the warmth and light of the sun! This is why foolish people have become sun worshipers, giving no credit to the great Creator who sustains the sun.
Why a runner? Because the sun's course never tires, and that is where its gladness comes from.
The unfailing sun goes out across these heavens, from his chamber at the far end of them. His strength never runs down, and he spreads around him the joy that comes with his presence, for it is a pleasant thing to see the sun. His seems to be the joy of strength — the joy that springs from power fully proved. He always fills his place, and is always a full circle. He is always the centre of light, though the clouds of earth may gather and shut him in. He is always the centre of warmth, though winter may build its wall of frost against him. Darkness and cold and death are the sure result of his absence.
Commentators read the sun as a figure of Christ. The bridegroom picture names a relationship He holds to all He made.
He came to Israel as the Bridegroom, and His own people would not have Him. But He also stands as Bridegroom to the whole creation, for the sun is surely a figure of Him in the language of Psalm 19... As the Bridegroom He will fill the whole universe with light and joy. All creation waits for His coming. Until He appears it will go on in pain and groaning.
That reading points forward. For now, the world is lit only at second hand.
He does not shine now as the Sun of Righteousness. The moon only — a picture of the church — gives her faint light. It is night. But day will come, and the Sun of Righteousness rises with healing in His wings.
What sunlight does for the earth, the gospel does for the world.
The apostle quotes this Psalm in Romans 10:18 to link the ministry of the heavens with the ministry of the gospel. What the one does for the earth, the other does for the world. Both spread everywhere, so that nothing can hide from either the fertilising heat of the one or the saving heat of the other. The ministry of the heavens to the earth reaches all, and that is the pattern of the gospel to the world.
The point cuts against any claim that God's blessing belongs to one nation.
The heavens belonged to no land in particular, nor do the sun and stars shine for Israel alone. They are for everyone on earth. This is the goodness of God, whose rain falls on the just and the unjust, and who makes His sun rise on the evil and the good. In the same way, the law had its narrow limits, but the gospel goes out in the grace of God without restriction.
The psalm does not stop at the sun. It turns to God's word, and for good reason.
They are signs of God's creative power and goodness, but they leave the soul unconverted... Romans 1 teaches that the most we can learn from creation alone is God's eternal power and divine nature — His power as Creator. That does not meet the sinner's need, and it does not show God's grace... So what comes next in our Psalm is most important and most precious: it points us to the life-giving word.
- Appointed — God set a tent in the sky for the sun. It comes out at its appointed hour, and that steady course is what makes it a witness.
- Joyful — Its gladness is the joy of strength. It stays the centre of light and warmth, whatever clouds or frost get in the way.
- Christ — Commentators read the sun as a figure of the Bridegroom. He will fill the universe with light and joy, and creation groans until He appears as the Sun of righteousness.
- Universal — What sunlight is to the earth, the gospel is to the world. It belongs to no single nation, and nothing escapes its saving heat.
- Not enough — Creation's light shows God's eternal power, but leaves the soul unconverted. So the psalm moves on to God's life-giving word.
His going forth is from the end of the heavens, and his circuit unto the ends of it; and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
Each day the sun crosses the whole sky, and nothing escapes its heat. The psalm makes that circuit a picture of a witness reaching everyone — but is the light it gives enough?
The sun's route covers the whole earth. The apostle quotes this psalm to show how wide God's testimony reaches.
The apostle quotes from Psalm 19 a striking and most fitting illustration of how universal God's testimony is. We can see that the psalm divides into two parts. The works of God and the law of the Lord both testify. One witness is outward and universal; the other deals with those who had the law. The heavens belonged to no land in particular, nor do the sun and stars shine for Israel alone. They are for man in the earth at large. This matches the generosity of God, whose rain falls on just and unjust, and who makes His sun rise on evil men and on good.
The sun runs the same course without a break and without tiring.
Across these heavens goes the unfailing sun, out from his chamber at the ends of them. His vigour never lets up, and he spreads around the joy that comes with his presence. His seems indeed the joy of strength — the joy that springs out of proven ability. He always fills his place. He is always full and round, always the centre of light, though the clouds of earth may gather and shut him in. He is always the centre of warmth, though winter may build its barrier of frost against him. Darkness and cold and death are the sure result of his absence.
Writers also read the sun as a picture of Christ. Its heat gives life to those who welcome it, and harms those who do not.
But the sun is clearly created to symbolise the Lord Jesus, as Malachi 4:2 implies: "But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings." The time of this rising will be the beginning of the millennium. That will be a day of wonderful blessing for the world, as pictured in verse 6 of our chapter. The sun is a wonderful friend, but it can be a withering enemy in a dry land without water or shade. So the Lord Jesus is a wonderful friend, but if someone decides to be His enemy, he exposes himself to the results of that folly.
Nothing hides from the sun's heat, and one writer sees in that the pattern for how the gospel spreads.
The service the heavens render to the earth is like the service the gospel renders to the world. Both spread themselves everywhere, so that nothing is hidden from either the fertilising heat or the saving heat. The way the heavens serve the whole earth is the pattern for the way the gospel serves the world.
The sun shines on everyone alike, and one writer reads God's love the same way.
God's love is just like the sun in the heavens, about which we read, "there is nothing hidden from its heat." The sun warms the king and the beggar alike, the rich and the poor, the old and the young, the white and the black. So God's love is for all.
Sunlight exposes as well as warms, and one writer applies that to the Lord's gaze on a lukewarm church.
In contrast to the lack of heat in the assembly at Laodicea, the Lord Himself keeps His warmth and zeal. He is now glorified in heaven, and we may contemplate Him there in all His splendour. He really wants us to do just that, so that we may receive light and warmth and become zealous. A Christian who really loves the Lord "up there" in the glory has spiritual energy "down here." And nothing escapes His searching eyes, not even in Laodicea with its nice cover-ups.
The sun's circuit ends the psalm's picture of creation. One writer explains why this witness cannot be the last word.
The works of God in the heavens and the earth are tokens of His creative power and goodness, but they leave the soul unconverted. We cannot know God in a saving way except through the living and lasting word, which reveals Christ... Romans 1 teaches us that creation alone can show us only God's eternal power and divine nature — His creative power. But this does not meet the sinner's need, nor does it display God's grace.
- Circuit — The sun's route covers everything. The heavens shine for no one nation; their witness reaches all people.
- Strength — The sun never fails, never tires, never leaves its place. That is the joy of proven ability.
- Heat — Nothing hides from it. It warms king and beggar alike, and searches out the cover-ups of a lukewarm heart.
- Pattern — What the sun does for the earth is the model for what the gospel does for the world: everywhere, and freely.
- Limit — Creation's circuit can show God's power, but it cannot save. Only the word that reveals Christ does that.