Psalm 80: Guilt, Grace, Gratitude
Q&A 1 of the Heidelberg Catechism asks, “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” It famously answers, “That I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ [who] has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood…” Then Q&2 asks: “How many things must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort?” It tells us: “Three: first, how great my sin and misery are; second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery; and third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance.” These three things (guilt, grace, and gratitude), then, become the controlling paradigm for the rest of the catechism. It teaches us about our sin and the judgment we deserve; our Savior who bore our punishment to restore us to God; and our life of grateful obedience to the one who saved us.
Many have pointed out that this threefold structure mirrors the outline of the Book of Romans. But I’d like to suggest that we see it already in the Old Testament, in Psalm 80 – perhaps not one of the most well-known psalms, but a beautiful psalm that is filled with gospel-comfort.
It’s set in the period of the exile, in Book 3 of the Psalter, where God’s people have justly merited his discipline; and yet they cry out for him to raise up the “son of man” at his right hand (v. 17), that his face might be turned toward them in grace, and they might serve him in grateful obedience – “not turning back” from God again (v. 18). It is the gospel in miniature; it is a little microcosm of the whole story of the Bible.
For that whom king they longed for on the other side of the exile has long been understood to be a reference to the coming Messiah. Indeed, the vine and vineyard-language throughout this psalm is picked up on directly by Christ in the Gospels.
In the midst of the exile, God’s people remember, in Psalm 80, how he brought them out of Egypt and planted them like a vine in the land of promise. He cleared the ground for it, and it took deep root and filled the land so that the mountains were covered with its shade; it sent out its branches to the sea, and its roots to the River. They are describing God’s gracious dealings with his people in the exodus, and the entrance into the land, and amid the growth of his kingdom under Solomon.
But then they lament that the walls of the vineyard have been broken down, so that the (unclean) wild boar ravages it and eats of its fruit. This is a poetic recounting of the Gentile nations coming in and destroying God’s vineyard as described in Psalm 79. And though Asaph asks, “Why?” he knows the answer: he’s already recounted Israel’s history of disobedience in Psalm 78.
Because of their sin, they have merited God’s judgment. He has removed his gracious presence from them, and the light of his countenance (notice how vv. 3, 7, & 19 structure the psalm around a prayer that he would make his face shine upon them once again, as in Numbers 6:24-26). At present, they experience his frown. God’s vine is like that destroyed vineyard of Isaiah 5:1-7; so, they pray for the divine vinedresser to look down in grace and have regard for it (v. 14).
Then, after asking God to look down from heaven and “see,” they ask him not only to have regard for his vine, but for the “son” whom he has made strong for himself (v. 15). It’s as if they are asking God to be gracious to them for the sake of another – this yet unnamed “son” – who appears to be one and the same with the “son of man” at God’s right hand in v. 17.
In the midst of the exile, when God’s vine has been all but destroyed, they pray for God to raise up a root of dry ground. It reminds us of Isaiah, where just after the vineyard is destroyed in Isaiah 5, a stump remains in Isaiah 6, from which a shoot will come forth in Isaiah 11, and a branch who will fruit. They’re praying for God to raise up from this broken-down vineyard one who will be the “True Vine” – the son of man whom God makes strong for himself to restore his people that his face might shine upon them again.
Thus, the hope of Psalm 80 – the hope of God’s people being restored from exile – is tied to God raising up a king at his right hand. Hence, the Septuagint, in its rendering of this psalm, adds at the end of the superscription, “for the end.” They understood this psalm messianically, as a cry for God’s promised king who would be exalted to his right hand in the latter days.
So, we shouldn’t be surprised when we come to the NT and find Jesus referring to himself as the “son of man” and the “true vine,” or describing Israel as God’s vineyard. These appear to be allusions back to Psalm 80.
When Jesus calls himself the true vine (John 15), he is saying he is everything Israel was meant to be, as God’s vineyard. He is the true vineyard who obeyed where they didn’t. He is the branch who has come from Jesse’s stump to be and do everything they were supposed to be & do.
And yet... this righteous branch will be cut down that they might be restored. He will be treated as the unfaithful and unfruitful vine deserves. This is where Jesus’ parable of the vineyard in Mark 12 is interesting. Many commentators see it as evoking the imagery of Psalm 80, as Psalm 80 is the only OT passage that combines these images of a vineyard and a son. But here, when the divine vinedresser sends his son to visit his vine, he is shamefully mistreated and killed. He is “destroyed” as Israel in her sin deserved to be.
The son of the vinedresser is the true vine, who is yet treated as Israel in her sin deserves. When Psalm 80:14 then literally asks for God to “visit” his vine, that divine visitation takes place when he sends his Son who will be shamefully mistreated and killed. He will be cut down and perish. At the Cross, God’s face will be turned away from him, so that it could shine upon his people in grace. The true vine will suffer the covenant-curses the unfaithful vine deserves, so they & we could be treated as his righteousness merits.
So, Spurgeon says of the prayer in Psalm 80:14-15 for God to look down and have regard for his vine because of the Son he made strong for himself: “Let us pray to the Lord, if he will not in the first place look upon his church, to look upon the Lord Jesus, and then behold her in mercy for his sake. That is the true art of prayer, to put Christ forward and cry, ‘Him and then the sinner see; look through Jesus’ wounds on me.’”
Jesus will be fed the bread of tears (v. 5) so that we could feast on the bread of heaven. He drinks in full measure the “tears” of God’s wrath (v. 5), so that God’s face can shine upon us as we drink his cup of blessing. Everything in this prayer is able to be answered because of Christ, the good shepherd of v. 1, who visits his people, looking down from heaven and seeing them (v. 14), then coming to bear the judgment we deserve so that we could be restored to God’s grace.
That is the “gospel according to Psalm 80.” And we sing and pray this psalm that we might enter into the story of God’s people, rehearsing this history of redemption, to be reminded of the judgment sin brings but also the grace of God in hearing the prayers of his people.
They prayed for him to let his face shine upon them once again, and he did! Even though they didn’t deserve it. And so, reading and singing this psalm helps us see the mercy of God toward underserving sinners, and thus grounds us in the assurance of his promise-keeping grace. He had promised to restore them from exile; he had promised to raise up a king. And in sending Christ as the fulfillment of this psalm, he keeps every one of his promises.
This psalm, then, shows us the guilt of God’s people and the grace of God’s Son as we turn to him in faith. And then, in v. 18, it shows us also the response of gratitude that is fitting for those who have received this grace: that when God sends this son of man to turn his face toward us in grace, our response is that we should no longer turn back from him, but call upon his name!
As we take this psalm on our lips, then, entering into the experience of God’s people and rehearsing the salvation he’s given us, we are thus informed of our fitting response of gratitude: that we would call upon his name and cling to him, bearing fruit. That we “abide” in the true vine (John 15:1-8), who strengthens us by his grace, that we might gratefully serve the one who has so graciously turned his face toward us. So, cling to the Lord Jesus Christ; receive his strengthening grace through his Word, even in this psalm, and let it remind you of those three things you must know: how great your sin and misery are, how you are delivered from all your sin and misery, and you are to thank God for this deliverance – strengthened by his grace as you abide in the son of man.
