Have you or your Christian friends ever been ridiculed or persecuted for faith in Christ or for your simple obedience to His commands? Such has always been the lot of the godly in this wayward world. Such was the experience of the psalmist. It was the more painful because God seemed deaf to His people’s prayers. But the Lord Jesus bade us on such occasions to “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven”, Matt. 5. 12.
- The Flock, vv. 1-7. When suffering for Christ, how happy it is to say, “The Lord is my shepherd”, my personal Saviour who cares for me. Here He is called the Shepherd of Israel, concerned for the whole nation whom He led out of Egypt. Further, while on earth the Saviour said to His disciples, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”, Luke 12. 32. Each little company of His people may count on His divine support; each one of the seven churches in Asia was His personal concern. Although that at Philadelphia had but a little strength, He commended it for keeping His Word and not denying His name, Rev. 3. 8.
- The Vine, vv. 8-16. Next, Israel is depicted as a vine brought out of Egypt, and planted in Canaan to bring forth fruit for the pleasure of God. In the days of David and Solomon, her influence spread to the Great Sea on the west and the river Euphrates on the north-east, vv. 8-11. God protests through the prophet Isaiah that He had done everything possible to make the nation prosperous and pleasurable to Him. But Israel had become a monument to the ingratitude and perversity of the human heart, Isa. 5. 1-7. It explains the words of the Lord Jesus to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again”, John 3. 7; men needed a new nature in order to please God.
- The Man, vv. 17-19. God said to Pharaoh, “Israel is my son, even my firstborn”, Exod. 4. 22. But now Another comes into view, the Firstborn who never failed, the Man whose name is the Branch, the Son of man who will have the glory of universal and eternal dominion, Zech. 6. 12. Note the Branch and the Son of man made strong for God and for His pleasure, Psa. 80. 15-17.
