Psalm 129--They Have Afflicted Me from My Youth

Psalm 129
English Standard Version

They Have Afflicted Me from My Youth
A Song of Ascents.
129 “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”--
    let Israel now say--
2 “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth,
    yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back;
    they made long their furrows.”
4 The LORD is righteous;
    he has cut the cords of the wicked.
5 May all who hate Zion
    be put to shame and turned backward!
6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops,
    which withers before it grows up,
7 with which the reaper does not fill his hand
    nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
8 nor do those who pass by say,
    “The blessing of the LORD be upon you!
    We bless you in the name of the LORD!”

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This seems like a strange song for the Song of Ascents.  How does it prepare the people for worship?  (We typically think of most of these songs as "call to worship" type songs that we would sing at the beginning of a worship service to get the people's eyes on the Lord and their hearts focused on what's going on spiritually--they are sinners in need of forgiveness and repentance, and the LORD provided that salvation).  This one however is different as it seems to talk about how Israel has been mistreated all her days, yet it also seems to point to the one who would be the True Israel, the Messiah that would stand in their place, and He would be physically mistreated for them.  His back would literally like it had been plowed because of the flogging He would receive prior to being hung on the cross.

However, the LORD cuts the cords of the wicked (we have been set free from the power of sin and death since Jesus was victorious and rose from the dead).  Zion is no longer just the place that refers to the capital city of the Jewish nation (Jerusalem), but it refers to the place where all the people of God, including those that identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus can say that are from.  "I am of Zion," not because of genetics, but because I have been made a citizen of Christ's kingdom.  It is also fair to say though that this kingdom is not of this world, but that new kingdom will be called The New Jerusalem (The Church) and will be both a people (The Bride of Christ) and a place that is described in the book of Revelation.  It will be the color red, like the blood of Jesus--that will be its identity.  However, the wicked will not inherit that new kingdom.  There is another place prepared for them--the place of eternal suffering and torment described as a lake of fire, a place of darkness, and a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  It is a place described as the "second death" as it is the place where all those who are spiritually dead will go to be separated from all the blessings (including eternal and abundant life) that are reserved for those who are in Christ.

All the bad things that the wicked have done to the righteous will be repaid by the LORD in the final judgment.  We need not try to seek vengeance for ourselves.  They will be judged and found worthless, and they will be forgotten (the LORD will cause us to no longer remember anyone or anything from this past life--we will only remember our lives with Him).  All the rich and powerful people that worked so hard to be remembered will be as memorable as grass that withers and dies before it has a chance to grow.  It's not even suitable to be collected as feed for animals if that happens and everyone finds it worthless and ignores is.  God will have His judgment on the wicked, but God also poured out His judgment on the one that stood in the place of Israel and all of His people so that we might receive the LORD's blessings and not His curses.  This psalm should have helped the people be prepared to see the Messiah being beaten and abused for sins that He did not commit so that His people could be set free and receive the blessings of God that they did not deserve (for we were all sinners that were under the curse of the Law before Christ died for us and made penal substitutionary atonement for those who would believe on Him by faith).