Confession
Psalm 79:1–13
Deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake! Psalm 79:9

Every true prayer should have within it a confession of the worshiper’s sins. This is not some morbid preoccupation. It is an inevitable result of prayer that is truly prayer to God. This is because God is holy, and we are not. So if we are really praying to him, we will be aware of his holiness, and his holiness will convict us of our sinful state. This is how we know that the prayer of the tax collector in Jesus’s parable was a true prayer and the prayer of the Pharisee was not. The Pharisee began his prayer with “God” but he went on to talk about himself and how good he was. The tax collector prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” and Jesus said that he was heard and went home justified (Luke 18:9–14).

This has bearing on Psalm 79, for one of its most important features is an acknowledgment of sin. There is an acknowledgment of the sins of the fathers, since it was for their sins that Judah was overrun and Jerusalem destroyed (v. 8). But there is also acknowledgment of the people’s own and present sins, for the psalmist prays, “Deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake!”

This is important. The people were suffering the destruction of their entire civilization—politically, economically, socially, and religiously. Yet there is not the slightest suggestion that they did not actually deserve it, or even that they did not deserve having it continue as long as it had. Instead of excusing their sins, the psalmist acknowledges them and pleads for God to make atonement.

What is he thinking of when he mentions atonement? The only atonement he knew was that made at the temple by the high priest when sacrifices were offered up, particularly on the Day of Atonement. That temple was now gone. How could atonement for sin be made? I do not know what the psalmist was thinking of but I do know how God did it. God did it, not by causing the temple to be rebuilt and the sacrifices to be reinstituted—though the temple was rebuilt in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, and the offerings were begun again—but rather by sending Jesus Christ to be the perfect and only sufficient sacrifice. That is why, when Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, indicating that the way into the presence of God was now open for all who would come through faith in his sacrifice.

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.