Psalm 85

This is a wonderful song about the faithfulness of God to keep His promised to His people.  Note the simple progression in the four stanzas:

·        God has brought back the captivity of Jacob, v1-3.  Given the fact that this Psalm is of the sons of Korah (see the title before v1) this refers to the Babylonian captivity.  To do this God had “come to terms” (so to speak) with the sins of Jacob.  He had forgiven them.  Daniel 9 is a prayer of confession by Daniel, confessing the sins of Israel.  He prayed this prayer at the point when the captivity was seventy years, the time God had determined.

·        But Jacob is not yet restored, v4-7.  When the people returned they were not the glorious nation they had been and that God promised they would be.  It is the times of the Gentiles; Jerusalem and Judah are under Gentile rule, the rule of the Medes and Persians.  So God’s anger and the effects of His anger are still evident.  Thus there is still a need for His mercy and salvation!

·        Thus it is time to wait for God’s answer, v8-9.  But in waiting the writer properly warns the people not to return to their folly.  This is a universal problem.  We often get impatient for God to do as He promises and that impatience can result in a return to our sinful past.  But not so for those who fear Him.  For them God’s salvation is always near, it is the experience of the heart even if we await it’s outworking.

·        There is hope; the time of restoration will come, v10-13.  The last stanza is a clear statement of hope.  It may sound familiar. What the Psalmist says is that God has promised; His promise will be fulfilled without question in the time of the Messiah.  I say it sounds familiar because we often say this today about Israel.  We say, “They are back in the land, the captivity is returning.  But they are not yet restored.  The Gentiles time is still at hand; and the nation is not saved.  But it will happen but probably not until Christ returns.”  

 Do you see the reference to the Messiah in v10-13?  Psalm 85:10 is a truly magnificent statement about the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.  When did mercy and truth meet?  When have righteousness and peace kissed?  The answer is at the cross of Jesus Christ.  It is then that the truth of God’s justice was satisfied in the merciful death of Christ when He bore our sin and punishment.  It is then that God’s righteous demands were so completely satisfied that He could then in a reconciled relationship of peace with sinful man.  (Fill your mind and heart with this truth with passages such as Romans 3:21-26; 5:1-11; 2 Cor. 5:12-21; Col. 1:19-23.)


Let us learn the blessing of patience in waiting upon God.  Let us fear Him, not allowing a return to the folly that led to His chastening.  And let us rejoice in our Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect sacrifice!