The Great Sorrow

Psalm 102

Psalm 102 is the fourth of the Great Sorrow Psalms. Though it brings before us the final agonies of the Lord Jesus that He suffered on the cross, yet it covers much more than this. It reveals to us His deep feelings as man. Because though He never ceased to be God, eternal unchanging, undying, yet He became a real man, and was subject to mortality. As Wesley wrote in his hymn, "’Tis mystery all, the Immortal dies", this is beyond our comprehension. So repeatedly in this Psalm, the brevity of Christ’s human life is emphasised, and His deep feelings about being cut off at such an early age.

The name of the composer is not given, and it is said to be "The Prayer of the afflicted". It is not said to be a Psalm of David, nor are the circumstances leading up to its composition, nor the time when it was composed, given to us. The section that reveals the fact of Israel’s restoration, is thought by some to indicate that it was written in Babylon. However this, (at best), is only speculation. We need to point out, that the wisdom of God has ordained that there are some of the sufferings of Christ in which we may share. Paul refers to his own "Filling up that which remains of the afflictions, (sufferings) of Christ"(Colossians 1:24). He also speaks of his being called to the "Fellowship of His sufferings", (Philippians 3:10), and he tells us that "If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him". (Romans 8:17, & 2Timothy 2:12), These sufferings we may call His "Testimonial Sufferings". We need to make it clear, that we could never share in His "Atoning Sufferings", they must be ever His alone; and they are beyond our understanding, let alone our sharing.

However the life of the Lord Jesus from His very birth was a life of suffering. We are taught this in the details of the Oblation or the meal offering, because it was a bloodless offering, and it would speak to us of the perfection of Christ’s life, when daily "By the Eternal Spirit He offered Himself spotless to God". (Hebrews 9:14). Thus His suffering saints may rightly use the language of some of this Psalm, as they pass through the afflictions that God has ordained for them.

Thus we have the heading of the Psalm as being the prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed. It is meant to be an encouragement to those who are called by God to suffer for Him, that we have the loving sympathy of our Great, (and loving), High Priest, who has passed through it all before us, and He knows exactly how we feel, and what to ask His Father to bestow upon us at such a time.

These verses are a cry for answered prayer. The Christian believer has a God given right to expect a prompt answer to the prayer of faith. However sometimes in His great wisdom, God chooses to delay His answer to our prayers. (That is of course where we ask according to His will). (1John 5:14-15). It is rather sad in these days of departure that carnal Christians are encouraged to demand that God should give them things that they may consume on their lusts. But this Psalm does not envisage such a thing. It is not without significance that the Lord Jesus has instructed us to ask, (and keep on asking), to knock, and (keep on knocking), so that we may receive, and that doors may be opened. (Matthew 7:7, & Luke 11:9). However there came a time, when the prayer, the cry of the Lord Jesus was not heard or answered, when He hung amidst the darkness on the cross.

Here we are given a little look into the tender heart of the Lord Jesus. We are also given to understand how that He felt as man, the brevity of His life. His words bring to mind several passages of scripture. James asks us, "What is your life? It is like a vapour that appears for a little while and vanishes away". (James 4:14). Moses tells us that our lives are so brief. We are "Like grass that groweth up, in the evening it is cut down and withereth", (Psalm 90:5-6). Thus the Lord Jesus entered experimentally into all that related to our human condition. The hymn says:

Men sing aloud the praise of Man,

The creature of a day.

Whose little life is as a span

Whose glory fades away.

Verse five tells us of the intense agony that the Lord Jesus passed through when He hung upon the cross, when through intense agony; His bones clung to His skin. He was literally just skin and bones. So deep was His agony. He groaned in His spirit, yet He suffered in silence. The thief, who died by His side, could not help but notice the difference between the way that the Lord Jesus suffered, and the way that he and his fellow thief suffered by His side.

Verses six and seven tell of the intense loneliness that He felt all through His lovely life, but especially when His chosen disciples forsook Him and fled. Three birds are chosen to represent the sadness and loneliness that He felt. The Pelican is mentioned first. This is probably because of their long face, and sad expression. The owl of the desert is mentioned next, probably because of its mournful raucous cry. This cry is emitted as it flies silently about in the dark of night. The sparrow sitting alone on the housetop is the third that is mentioned. The sparrow is a worthless bird, (five were sold for a farthing), and they normally go about in pairs or flocks. But this little worthless bird is chosen to represent the abject loneliness that the Lord Jesus felt.

Verse eight tells of the way that He felt about the hatred and hostility of wicked men, (the very ones that He had come to save). We have seen in the earlier Psalm, that He never gave cause to any person to hate Him, yet they did hate Him, and many still do today. There were so many that were mad at Him, and used His lovely name as a curse, or a swear word. Wicked men still do this today, and His lovely feelings are still the same, even today!

Verse nine reveals yet again, how the Lord Jesus felt when despised and rejected of men. When for His love they gave Him hatred. He ate the ashes of mourning and rejection each day, and the water that He drank was made bitter by the tears that He shed,

In this verse, He turns away from wicked men. They had practiced sin for many centuries, and all the good that He (Their Creator), had potentially created in them, was hardened and defiled, corrupted by sin. But how it broke His heart, that the Holy God, the very One who (as man), He sought to glorify, should turn against Him. It was during those terrible three hours of darkness, that the Lord Jesus bore the wrath of an angry God. We are told in (Psalm 7:11), that God is angry with the wicked every day. All that righteous anger, that unmitigated fury, was poured out upon the Lord Jesus, when He took the place of the wicked, and when, (though He had never sinned even once), He became our substitute. There the wrath of a Holy God against sin was exhausted on Him, who took our place. It is because of this that "There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus", (Romans 8:1)

These verses are a remarkable contrast, because here we have the Lord Jesus, as mortal man, speaking to His immortal, eternal God. Though He was immortal, and eternal in Himself, yet He took a place "A little lower than the Angels", so that He might die in our place. As man His life span was very short, and He felt it so keenly, that His perfect, sinless life should be cut of so soon. How it hurt Him, who had witnessed the passage of the millenniums. He who had existed from before time was, yet after He became man, (for and on man’s behalf), yet his human life only stretched for thirty-three and a half years. It seemed to Him, that his days were so brief, that they were like a lengthened out shadow. He was withered like grass.

Yet the God, with whom He was co-equal endured forever. God was timeless, He was Eternal, He was to be remembered in all generations, (by every generation). He had voluntarily emptied Himself of the glories associated with Deity and had clothed Himself with our humanity. Blessed be His Holy name!

In these verses we have recorded a little of the tremendous results of the perfect life, and His atoning death. In verses thirteen and fourteen, we have the result for Israel. What a glorious day is coming for that Little Nation. Though for the moment they are set aside nationally, yet the time is soon to come, when God will arise and have Mercy on Zion. Though today He has concluded all, (both Israel and the Gentiles), in unbelief, yet it is so that He might have mercy on all. Thank God, that because Christ has died, was buried rose again, and ascended to heaven, the same salvation is offered to both Jew and Gentile. But the day is at hand, when God will favour her, (the set time), has come. This turns our minds to that lovely parenthesis in (Romans 9-11), and we rejoice that, "Of him and through Him, and for Him, are all things", to whom be glory forever!

Still God’s servants "take pleasure in her stones, and favour her dust". Even those of the Gentiles, who have received of God’s wonderful mercy, through the salvation accomplished by our blessed Lord Jesus when He died on the cross, we still look forward to that day soon to come, when God will once more show His wondrous mercy and favour to that little nation.

The restoration of Israel, will bring peace to the earth, and even the heathen, those nations that today worship idols made of wood, stone, gold and silver, will be blessed as they see the glory of Christ, (the One that hung on the cross, and suffered and died there) revealed, as He once again takes up His relationship with Israel as their Messiah.

He whose cry, and prayer was unheard as He hung on the cross amidst the darkness, will regard and hear the cry of the destitute, and will not despise their prayer. They who experience the power of God’s creation then, will surely praise Him for His wonderful mercy.

Even now He looks down from Heaven; even now He beholds all the injustice, and the misery that is inflicted on men. Even now, He hears the groaning of the prisoner, and He desires to loose those that are appointed to death. But in that day, His name will be declared in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem. Lord hasten that wonderful day. When the Kingdoms will be gathered together to serve the LORD.

In these verses the Psalmist turns again to prophecy and describes the deep feelings of the Lord Jesus when here as man. But He looks beyond the wickedness of man, to see the hand of the mighty God, in all that happened to Him. Even though His life was so full of sorrow and hardship, yet He loved life, and we hear Him plead, "Take Me not away in the midst of my days". His earthly life was so brief. He was such a young man when He was taken to the cross. It would seem that his mind turned back to the time, (I use the word time, but there was no time then, it began with the creation), of His mighty power, when He created the World; when He laid the foundation of the earth, when He stretched out the heavens like a curtain. It was all His work; so many scriptures confirm this. O the mystery of the incarnation, that One so great, should clothe Himself with our humanity, is beyond our comprehension. (1Timothy 3:16)

When the present heavens and earth have served their purpose they shall grow old. He who died for lost men will then fold them up like a worn out coat, he will then change them, and introduce a New Heavens and a New Earth. Then because He died, was buried and rose again, His seed, the seed that was born through His sufferings, shall continue. They have already received the "earnest" of their inheritance, but they will receive the fullness of it then. It will be their joy to serve Him throughout the countless ages of eternity. But it is our joy to serve and to worship Him now. In spite of the fact that all hell is set against us.

What a blessed inheritance God has, given us to enjoy now.(Ephesians 1:3-14) May it please the Lord to give to us the faithfulness, and the stability that is proper to His Seed! May we be enabled to continue before Him, and before men, with a faithful and joyful testimony!