Psalms 50:4

True and righteous are his judgments, Rev. xix. The righteousness of God in all the rebukes of his word and providence, in the establishment of his gospel (which brings in an everlasting righteousness, and in which the righteousness of God is revealed ), and especially in the judgment of the great day, is what the heavens will declare; that is, 1.

He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth. Angels and men, the upper and the lower worlds, are called to witness the solemn scene. The whole creation shall stand in court to testify to the solemnity and the truth of the divine pleading. Both earth beneath and heaven above shall unite in condemning sin; the guilty shall have no appeal, though all are summoned that they may appeal if they dare. Both angels and men have seen the guilt of mankind and the goodness of the Lord, they shall therefore confess the justice of the divine utterance, and say "Amen" to the sentence of the supreme Judge. Alas, ye despisers! What will ye do and to whom will ye fly? That he may judge his people. Judgment begins at the house of God. The trial of the visible people of God will be a most awful ceremonial. He will thoroughly purge his floor. He will discern between his nominal and his real people, and that in open court, the whole universe looking on. My soul, when this actually takes place, how will it fare with thee? Canst thou endure the day of his coming?

He shall call to the heavens from above - He will call on all the universe; he will summon all worlds. The meaning here is, not that he will gather those who are in heaven to be judged, but that he will call on the inhabitants of all worlds to be his witnesses; to bear their attestation to the justice of his sentence. See Psa 50:6. The phrase “from above” does not, of course, refer to the heavens as being above God, but to the heavens as they appear to human beings to be above themselves. And to the earth - To all the dwellers upon the earth; “to the whole universe.” He makes this universal appeal with the confident assurance that his final sentence will be approved; that the universe will see and admit that it is just. See Rev 15:3; Rev 19:1-3. There can be no doubt that the universe, as such, will approve the ultimate sentence that will be pronounced on mankind. That he may judge his people - That is, all these arrangements - this coming with fire and tempest, and this universal appeal - will be prepatory to the judging of his people, or in order that the judgment may be conducted with due solemnity and propriety. The idea is, that an event so momentous should be conducted in a way suited to produce an appropriate impression; so conducted, that there would be a universal conviction of the justice and impartiality of the sentence. The reference here is particularly to his professed “people,” that is, to determine whether they were truly his, for that is the main subject of the psalm, though the “language” is derived from the solemnities appropriate to the universal judgment.