What Was, What Is, And What Is To Come

Psalm 80

Meditating is good. Psalm 1 states of the blessed man whose "delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night". It isn't such that you form new doctrines or have a revelation (neither are necessary today with the completed Word given to us), but that you know God in a much greater personal way. How we see God is ever changing throughout our lives. He never changes, but how we see Him does.

One main focus I had when I first started these meditations is to see how they impacted the prayer life of Jesus. Often enough I asked, "Could Jesus have prayed this psalm as a prayer?” This psalm presents that thought to me. This appears to be a prayer, some say it was written by Asaph as just that, a prayer. As it also presents thoughts of leading Joseph, then mentions his two sons and Benjamin (basically including Rachel's children, the sought for wife of Jacob) it makes for an interesting direction to begin this prayer. Just exactly how does this all fit together?

According to Numbers 2 in the wilderness these three tribes camped together west of the Tabernacle. When they moved from place to place they followed immediately after the tribe of Levi carrying the Ark of the Covenant and everything related to the Tabernacle. Manasseh is said to be the tribe that was a leader of the Ten tribes of Israel and would be key to leading them to join Judah in accepting David as the the king of all of Israel.

Certainly Jesus would pray in His day for all of Israel to be unified, but unified spiritually in a way they never had been before since coming out of Egypt. In fact in talking to the Syrophonecian woman Jesus said He was only sent to the house of Israel. As I read through this psalm I was thinking of important claims Jesus made.

To him that excelleth on Shoshannim Eduth.

A Psalm committed to Asaph.

Hear, O thou Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like sheep: shew thy brightness, thou that sittest between the Cherubims.

Psalms 80:1 GNV

Jesus had healed a blind man who didn't even ask Him. The disciples had questioned who had sinned, this man or his parents. Once he could see both the man and the parents were questioned by the Jews. The Pharisaic group among them overheard the last comments to the man who could now see.

And Jesus said, I am come unto judgment into this world, that they which see not, might see: and that they which see, might be made blind.

John 9:39 GNV

The Pharisees asked if they were blind. What Jesus wanted them to focus on, to understand was the fact that by being blind they were still in their sin. But then moving on into John 10 to say that He is the door to the sheep for the shepherd and moving on to "I am the good Shepherd". So from this psalm Jesus moves from being the Shepherd of Israel to being the Good Shepherd. To the man that was born blind Jesus had told him before he healed him "As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world". The psalmist had called on the Shepherd to "show his brightness". This Light is the brightness from between the cherubims. And this psalmist follows up with...

Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine that we may be saved.

Psalms 80:3 GNV

The Light of the world, the brightness from between the cherubim, and here causing His face to shine upon us. Yes, it doesn't say "the light", but where else is there brightness. How else does anything shine?

But there is one more likeness in this psalm that Jesus uses that certainly might not have been lost on His small audience, His disciples at the last supper before He was crucified. Here in this psalm where verses 8 though 16 speak of a vine, a vine that refers to the children of Israel being brought out of Egypt and planted in that land promised. A vine that flourished over the years, was attacked, was eventually nearly destroyed. Much as Moses saw a likeness in the mountain of God, a pattern for the Tabernacle, and yet the Tabernacle, the Temple were each only a shadow of things to come. In fact in the New Jerusalem. As we are told:

And I saw no Temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it.

Revelation 21:22 GNV

So it would only be a little use of the meditation imagination to see moving from Israel as the vine to Jesus telling the disciples "I am the true vine." With the mind of Jesus being far beyond mine He would have seen far beyond my thoughts of this psalm. That would have given Him much greater insight to pray this psalm seeing these thoughts of Israel’s past to be reflected in His coming and truths He would present about Himself in a much greater way. He would have then in all appreciated the closing truths of this psalm.

Let thine hand be upon the man of thy right hand, and upon the son of man, whom thou madest strong for thine own self. So will not we go back from thee: revive thou us, and we shall call upon thy Name. Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts: cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved.

Psalms 80:17 - 19 GNV