“In the mornings I will bring to ruin all the wicked in the land,

To cut off from the city of God all who make a practice of iniquity.”

(Psalm 101:8)

What is the role of the King? What is the role of a magistrate? Biblically, their role can be summed up by the notion of rewarding those who live righteously and punishing those who are wicked (2 Peter 2:14; Romans 13:3-4). How does one do that? One of the ways that one does so is that he works to bring ruin to the wicked in the land. 

One of the reasons that God hates corrupt judges so much is that they fail to do just this (Proverbs 24:23-25; Deuteronomy 27:25). Thus, as we look around our own land, how God must be burning with rage over how many of our judges, governors, and magistrates abuse the law for their own gain and ambition. People pursue an agenda that benefits themselves, their party, and their power, often ignoring the people they have been called to serve.

Worse yet is when the Elders, essentially human magistrates in the church, use their position to preserve their own influence or establish their personal agenda in the life of the church. How rarely we see men leading with Peter’s instruction before them, to exercise oversight without compulsion (1 Peter 5:2). At best, those of us who serve in such a capacity are under-shepherds, serving in the name of the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ. He will call us to account and we will be he will hold us doubly accountable for how we have handled our responsibility.

The final words of this psalm speak of a practice that is altogether rare in the church of Jesus Christ — that is: excommunication. What shall he leaders do with the wicked who refuse to repent? In the end, the answer is to remove them from the body so that they do not infect others with their sin. And so, just as in ancient times, those who practice iniquity will be cut off from the blessings and protections of the city (as well as the central worship in the temple), so too, those who practice iniquity should be cut off from the means of grace and corporate worship. This is the heart of what Jesus teaches in Matthew 18:15-20. Truly, the goal of church discipline is the repentance of the sinner, but it is also for the preservation of the “weaker brother,” who might be drawn into the sin the wicked practice.

Such was Solomon’s job. Such was the job of the king. The historical records demonstrate how poorly the kings and judges practiced Solomon’s counsel. To what end? God cut them off from the land through exile. Yet, what will happen in the church when they fail to submit to and practice God’s law? Jesus’ words to the church in Ephesus should have a particular sting as he warned that their lamp stand will be removed from its place (Revelation 2:5). In other words, they too will be cut off from the land. How many churches fall into that category today, who make themselves arbiters and kings rather than submitting to the Kingship of Christ?