The Asaph who wrote Psalm 79 most likely lived in the time of Jeremiah the prophet
when the Babylonians captured the city of Jerusalem and destroyed it. His Psalm
is a cry of anguish and despair as he surveys the terrible destruction of the
temple and massacre of thousands of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Prophetically, of course, the Psalm anticipates the coming of the Antichrist
and his desecration of the temple.
Personally,
I just finish reading the Old Testament books of Jeremiah and Lamentations in
the New Living Translation. If you want to get a full and complete picture of
the history behind this Psalm, I would encourage you to also read these books
and you will feel the anguish of both the prophet and Asaph in this Psalm. You
can also read the historical accounts of this judgment of God on the nation of
Israel in 2 Kings 22-25 and 2 Chronicles 34-36.
In the first four verses of this Psalm, we hear Asaph mourn as he views and
experiences the judgment of God upon Jerusalem and the nation of Israel for
their disobedience. The
land was God's inheritance (Ex. 15:17), and He shared it with the people of
Israel who were His inheritance (28:9; 33:12; Deut. 4:20). They could live in
the land and enjoy its blessings as long as they obeyed the covenant (Lev. 26;
Deut. 28-30), but repeated rebellion would only bring painful discipline to
them, including expulsion from the land (Lev. 26:33-39; Deut. 28:64-68).
Babylon was the leading nation in the conquest of Judah, but the neighboring nations
(Ammon, Moab, Edom) were delighted to see the Jews defeated (vv. 4, 12; see Psalm
44:13, 80:6; 137:7; Ezek. 25). God had said they would be defeated before their
enemies (v. 1; Deut. 28:25) and the dead bodies left unburied, a terrible
disgrace for a Jew (v. 2; Deut. 28:26; Lev. 26:30; and see Jer. 7:33; 8:2;
9:22). Her cities would be destroyed (v. 1; Deut. 28:52) and Israel would be
reproached by her neighbors (vv. 4, 12; Deut. 28:37). Note how Asaph identified
the Lord with the situation: "your inheritance... your holy temple... your
servants... your name."
My friend, it appears that America and many nations of the world have gone down
this same path of forgetting God and living in disobedience and rebellion to
His Word and His principles. First, we watched as the Lord began to withhold
His blessings because of our sins. But now He has begun to pour out His
judgments on us as we see the corruption, chaos, confusion, violence, hatred,
and wars all around us.
I believe this is all setting up for the rapture of the church and the seven-year
tribulation period of God’s wrath being released on the earth. How should we
respond to all this? Like Jeremiah and Asaph, our hearts should be broken, and
we should still set our hope in the Lord and His promises of redemption! We
should live faithful lives in obedience to the Lord and His Word like Noah did
before the judgment of the Flood. We should be sharing the Good News of God’s
mercy and grace for those who will repent and believe.
These are desperate days of crisis that call us to weep and mourn and turn to the
Lord for his mercy like Jeremiah did in Lamentations 3:21-26: “This I recall
to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the LORD'S mercies we are not
consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great
is Your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"Therefore I hope in Him!" The LORD is good to those who wait for
Him, To the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait
quietly For the salvation of the LORD.”
God bless!
