Introduction
What is God doing? The saints have often puzzled over this question in the midst of their turmoil and fear. That question reached its crescendo as Jesus approached Jerusalem with the hopeful cry of “O save!” ringing in the air.
The Text
[[To the chief Musician upon Shoshannimeduth, A Psalm of Asaph.]] Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. […]
Psalm 80
Summary of the Text
The Psalmist cries out to the Shepherd of Israel (Gen. 49:24), which dwells between the cherubim, to hear the prayers of Rachel’s offspring (vv1-3). Their prayer is that God would shine forth. That refrain will appear 3 times in this Psalm (vv3,7, 19). But there is a problem: God is angry with the prayers of His people (v4). He has sent forth affliction and judgement upon them (vv5-6).
So the refrain repeats: turn us, o God of armies (v7). A parable is then put forth. God is likened to a husbandman of a vineyard. The Exodus is depicted as a vine being transplanted from Egypt into the Promised Land (v8), and in that transplanting the vine flourished by the tender care of the Vine-dresser (vv9-10). But current events call into question the care of the Vine-dresser (vv11-13). If the vine is ravaged it can only be because the husbandman is absent, and so the Psalmist calls upon God to return to His vine, the branch which He had once made so strong (vv14-15). The vine is hacked and burned by wild boars and barbarian hordes (v16), but if God would shine forth these enemies would be incinerated (v16).
Thus, the Psalmist, with prophetic insight, calls for God to put His hand upon the man of His own choosing, namely “the son of man” (v17). By the strength of this man Israel would no longer stray, but would be resurrected to call upon the name of the Lord (v18, Gen. 4:26). The refrain is repeated once more. If God acts, then Israel will be turned; if God’s face shines forth, then Israel will be saved (v19).
The March of the Trees
Now consider the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem. Having just raised Lazarus from the dead and proceeding towards that holy city, rumor began to spread that one who could raise the dead was entering the holy city of peace. The Jerusalem crowds, adopting the imagery of the feast of booths, cut off palm branches, surrounding Jesus as if the trees themselves had gained hands for clapping and voices for crying in jubilation. The image of the triumphal entry is poignant: the Son of man amidst a mobile garden marching on a Jerusalem full of enemies.
John informs us that these branches were palm fronds (Jn. 12:13). Palm trees were highly valued in the ancient world and were thought of as pillars of life and salvation. In the time of the Maccabees, palm branches were incorporated into celebrations of triumph over enemies. Jesus had raised the dead, and now he comes, surrounded by the leaves which epitomized the new life which a royal deliverer would bring. What is God doing?
The Parable of the Vineyard
After Jesus’ triumphal entry He drives money-changers out of the temple (and remember the temple is decorated with all sorts of imagery evoking the Garden of Eden). As the Pharisees challenge Him, He opts to respond to their challenges with an evocative story (Mt. 21:33-46). A story that reaches back to Eden.
God had made plants, but there was no man to tend them (Gen. 2:5-6). What is God doing? There is a real problem, and so He makes a man (Gen. 2:7). Then, quite curiously, God plants a Garden and puts the man in it (Gen. 2:8). The Psalmist, as we just saw, picks up this imagery and paints the Exodus as God once more planting a Garden, a vineyard, in Canaan. But then the walls break down, boars enter in ravaging the Garden. What is God doing?
Isaiah had once picked up on the Psalmist’s theme and told his own parable to rebuke Israel not for being fruitless but for bearing evil fruit (Is. 5:2). God had planted Israel to be a lush garden full of fruit in which God Himself might dwell with His people, but when God came to look for the grapes, He found instead bitter and poisonous wild grapes. So God says He will tear down the walls Himself, and allow the ravaging boars in (Is. 5:5-7). What is God doing?
It is with the tragedy of Eden, and the graphic songs of the Psalmist and Isaiah, running in the background that Jesus tells His parable. A man planted a vineyard, and left it in the care of some husbandmen. When he sent messengers for fruit, they mistreated them. Lastly, he sent his son and the caretakers killed the son in the midst of the vineyard. Jesus’ parable is an unmistakable rebuke that the Chief Priests, as caretakers of the vineyard are about to commit the most devastating crime imaginable. Not only is He accusing them of mistreating the servants and the Son of the Lord of the Vineyard. He is also leveling the claim that they have become as the unclean boar. The Son of Man has just walked into Jerusalem as if carried in by a verdant Garden; but the caretakers of the Lord’s vineyard are enraged brutes determined to destroy the entire Garden. Instead of being a mighty man come to restore the vine, Jesus seems to be walking towards His own destruction. What is God doing?
The Man Made Strong
But the picture is not yet full. If we left it there, we might be tempted to think that God’s anger towards the prayers of salvation from His people could not be turned away. The ravaging beasts would root up the vines, their envious fires would burn down the regal palms. Instead of a lush garden, would God leave the earth a hellish wasteland? Is this story a tragedy or a comedy? Will God’s just anger burn forever? The Jerusalem crowd had cried out to David’s son, in expectant joy, “Hosanna, O Save!” But were His ears deaf? What was God doing?
You may have asked that question in your darkest moments. You may have looked with regret at your past sins and failures, wondering if God could restore you. You might look around at world events and reconsider your postmillennial optimism. The wild boars of grief, weariness, regret, and shame might appear to be stripping the bark off your life. The temptation comes in the middle of the night to think that perhaps God’s favor has passed you over. Perhaps He has forgotten. Or worse, maybe He doesn’t know what He’s doing. And you are tempted to atheistic despair.
But Christ’s triumphal entry is full of a deep and divine irony. Remember that Jesus, in the upper room as He sits on the verge of His own crucifixion, hastens to comfort His disciples that He is the true vine (Jn 15); not only that, but He tells the High Priest He is the Son of Man, He is the answer to the lamenting prayer of Psalm 80:17: Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. He is the vine and the mighty right-handed man who would restore the vine.
But how would He do this? How would He restore the vine? This mighty One who rode triumphant into Jerusalem was going forth to die. The reviving sap would only flow if He first died like a seed. He was stricken, smitten, and afflicted. He was the true vine, and God let the wild boars ravage Him. The fire of God’s anger was poured out upon the man anointed for Israel’s deliverance. The enemies’ arrows pierced Him through. But by all this He was enthroned, as David’s rightful heir, upon Calvary’s tree. By His death, Jacob’s ancient prophecy, came to pass (Gen. 49:22-26). Upon the cross Christ grappled with Leviathan, and defeating that monstrous serpent; by this cosmic battle, as Isaiah foresaw: He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit (Is. 27:1-6).
Shine Upon Us
All this is the bright light of salvation in the face of Christ. If this light shines, we shall be saved. If He quickens us, we shall indeed live. If He turns us, then we shall indeed be restored. What is God doing? He is making sure that in all your sin, in all your sorrows, in all your fears, in all your griefs you come to see that your salvation is only found in the One who is both the Vine and the One who so gloriously restored the Vine.
Charge and Benediction
When you see the cross you are beholding the restoration of the vine. By faith you are joined to that vine and so even in your troubles and trials He bears His fruit in you. That is what God is doing. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.
Jude 1:24-25
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