(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.
Two Witnesses in One Psalm
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.
Why the Heavens and Not the Earth
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.
Whose Glory Is Declared
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.
Evidence Refused, Not Merely Missed
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's Use of This Psalm
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.
Where This Witness Stops
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.
Star Knowledge Without Sight
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.
Summary
- 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.