Psalm 88 is familiar to many Bible readers. It is often read during gatherings for the breaking of bread because we can apply it to Christ. Indeed, it is worth contemplating this Psalm.
The Theme of the Psalm
The theme of this Psalm can be described with a verse from Deuteronomy: “Cursed is anyone who does not fulfill the words of this Law by doing them!” (Deut 27:26)—or as it is rendered in Galatians 3:10: “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the Law, to do them.”
Although the Psalmist never explicitly states that he has acted against the law, the verses clearly illustrate what it means to be cursed: separation from blessing, from people, from God, and from life. The Psalmist speaks of God no longer remembering him (v. 5), being cut off from His hand (v. 5), acquaintances, lovers, and friends being removed from him (v. 8, 18), and God hiding His face from him (v. 14). He feels what it means to be cursed.
The Jewish Remnant
The Jewish remnant will experience this feeling during the time of tribulation. The Psalms show that the remnant increasingly recognizes during the seven years of tribulation how much the people of Israel have sinned against God: In Psalm 7:3, it is still a cautious question about wrongdoing; in Psalm 19:12, the remnant speaks of hidden sins; and in later Psalms, they openly confess their sins (Ps 25, 32, 38, 41). Psalm 51 is the first climax of this insight.
The third book of the Psalms shows that the remnant must witness the attacks from enemies on Israel. The next book of Psalms already has the prophetic background of Christ appearing in power and glory. It is as if the remnant, in our Psalm at the end of the third book, looks back on the seven years of tribulation and understands why the many sufferings befell the people: Throughout its history, the people had continually broken God’s law. And therefore, they had deserved the curse of the law.
Christ Made a Curse
Galatians 3 shows us that Christ became a curse (in an incomparably more comprehensive sense than the remnant) during the three hours of darkness on the cross. There (and only there) did Christ become a curse so that He could redeem those who actually deserved the curse from the curse of the law (Gal 3:13). Therefore, we can also Psalm apply 88 to Christ. He felt the separation from God deeply (v. 14); He suffered under God’s judgment, which He bore for us (v. 3, 6, 16, 17); He also suffered from being abandoned by those close to Him (v. 8, 18); and He had His impending death before His eyes (v. 9-12).
One might object that verse 15 cannot refer to the three hours of darkness. It says, “I was miserable and about to die from my youth on.” And indeed, Christ was only forsaken and judged by God during those three hours. In relation to the future remnant, we understand this thought well: Israel had a long history of breaking the law and was under God’s wrath “from its youth”. Yet, when reading this verse, we can also consider that the foreboding sufferings of the Lord would have stood before His heart from His youth (cf. Lk 22:41-44; John 12:27).
“Lord, God of My Salvation”
It is striking that in this Psalm, only one speaks. We read the personal address (you, your, yours) 25 times. This Psalm is a single prayer. The heading in verse 1 makes this very clear: “Lord, the God of my salvation,
I have cried out by day and in the night before You!” As in Psalm 22:2, night and day indicate a constant, incessant cry.
With the words “Lord, God of my salvation,” the Psalmist addresses the eternal, unchanging God, who is interested in having a relationship with people (especially the people of Israel) and who has often intervened for their salvation. Christ, as a true man, experienced this during His life: No one actualized the relationship to God as perfectly as He did (cf. Ps 16:2). And throughout His life, He experienced how God intervened for His salvation (cf. Ps 16:1)—whether during the massacre of the innocent infants in Bethlehem (Mt 2:13-18), on the mountain at Nazareth (Lk 4:30), in the temple (John 8:59), or in Solomon’s Porch (John 10:31, 39). And so, even in the deepest sufferings, He turns to the God of His salvation with full confidence. Yet, in the three hours of darkness, He was not saved by Him, received no favor from Him, but was laid in the deepest pit, oppressed, and struck by this very God of His salvation. The one who had always saved Him before was the one who now “destroyed” Him (cf. v. 16). This made His suffering the most dreadful of all.
A Prayer in Three Sections
Following the heading, there are three sections, which we would like to apply to Christ. Each is introduced by the indication that He cries and calls to God:
- “Let my prayer come before You; Incline Your ear to my cry!” (v. 2)
- “My eye grows dim from misery; I have called upon You every day, Lord;
I have spread out my hands to You” (v. 9) - “But I, Lord, have cried out to You for help, And in the morning my prayer comes before You.” (v. 13)
Each of these sections has a different focus. Yet, one thought runs through them: It is always about darkness (v. 6, 12, 18).
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Darkness in the Depths (v. 2-8)
The first section has a major theme: darkness in the depths. It is notable how the path leads ever deeper downward. Initially, it says “my life has approached Sheol” (v. 3). We read of “going down” into the pit (v. 4), and finally of “lying in the grave” (v. 5). It seems as if He is like a man without strength (v. 4b), unable to free Himself, and whom God no longer remembers, so that He is completely cut off from God’s gracious and mighty actions (v. 5b).
Brought into the Lowest Pit by God
How could it come to this? Verse 6 provides the answer: “You have put me in the lowest pit, In dark places, in the depths.” For Christ, the fact that it was God Himself who brought Him into this darkness was the reason that made the pit the lowest pit.
Yet verse 7 goes a step further. It is not only that God laid Him in the lowest pit and did not bring Him out. Christ feels that even in the lowest pit, He is oppressed by His God. The wrath of God and His waves have gone over Him. What made this wrath so “heavy” was that it was God Himself who oppressed Him (“Your wrath … all Your waves you have …”). And in this judgment, no suffering was spared. All the waves of judgment went over Him—not one was withheld.
Utter Abandonment and Complete Suffering
After the Selah, it is stated that no one else—not even those closest to Him—stood by Him. Made a curse, He was an abomination to all. And therefore, what follows is the concluding thought of the first section: “I am shut up, and I cannot come out”—He Himself was like a man without strength, God was the one who oppressed Him, and also removed all from Him all those close to Him.
These few verses show something of what Christ expresses in verse 3: “My soul has had enough troubles”—there couldn’t be any more!
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Darkness in Death (v. 9-12)
The second section is about death as the “wages of sin” (Rom 6:23). Christ had never sinned, but had glorified God throughout His life. It is all the more grievous for Him to endure the “sufferings of death” (Heb 2:9). His eye grows dim from misery because of the affliction of the impending death before Him. With this affliction, He calls and pleads to God (v. 9).
In verses 10 to 12, the Psalmist asks four questions. On the one hand, they are concerned with what cannot be done in death (from an Old Testament perspective): experiencing and praising God. Neither are wonders performed for the dead, nor is anything known in the darkness. And the graciousness, faithfulness, and righteousness of God are not recounted there.
In this respect, too, Christ “tasted” what death is (cf. Heb 2:9b). In the three hours of darkness, God hid His face from Him, so that He could not enjoy the graciousness, faithfulness, and righteousness of God in fellowship with His God. This was more dreadful for the Holy and Righteous One than it would have been for anyone else. No one knew God as He did. No one else enjoyed the attributes of God as much as He did. Therefore, it would not have been as dreadful for anyone else not to experience all this and not to praise God.
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Darkness Until the End (v. 13-18)
After bringing His distress before God in the first and second sections—and not being heard—Christ’s suffering is now at its greatest. Although He cries out in the morning, there is no answer. He feels that His soul is rejected—this may refer to the first section (cf. v. 2). And God had hidden His face from Him—this refers to the second section. He could no longer experience God and enjoy fellowship with Him. But why? “The upright will see his face” (Ps 11:7b) and are seen by Him. Christ was the perfectly upright One. But because He was made a curse for us, He was forsaken by God.
The Foreknown Sufferings of the Savior
Now Christ looks back: From His youth, the foreboding sufferings stood before Him. Our Savior knew from the beginning what awaited Him on the cross. We worship Him for coming to earth and setting His face to go to Jerusalem (Lk 9:51) despite knowing what awaited Him. But now on the cross and in the darkness, the sufferings were no longer ahead of Him, but He bore the terrors, and this made Him “miserable”.
The Full Weight of Judgment
The expressions in verses 16 and 17 describe a continuous and complete judgment. During the three hours of darkness, the wrath of God went over Him. It was the righteous wrath of God over sin—over the sin of those who believe in Christ. And He allowed them to go over Him. The terrors surrounded Him “all day long,” throughout the entire three hours of judgment; and they encompassed Him “altogether.” Not one terror was withheld. The Savior therefore laments that they have destroyed Him. A complete, relentless judgment—to the end.
And even then, His acquaintances are in a hiding place. As a curse on the cross, He was separated from everything that could give hope and joy.
(No) Darkness
Thus, this Psalm ends as darkly as it began. There is no ray of light, no blessing in this Psalm. It describes the curse and ends with death and loneliness.
But the work of Christ was necessary so that neither the Jewish remnant nor believers of other times would have to experience what Christ experienced in those three hours. He has “redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us” (Gal 3:13). Because He endured all the waves of judgment, there is no wave left for us to fear. And because He went into death, the remnant in the kingdom of peace will sing of the graciousness of the Lord and praise His wonders. This is found in Psalm 89. This Psalm shows the blessing and the ray of light that emerges from the bitter suffering that Christ endured when He became a curse for us. And we want to praise and worship Him for His great and difficult work on the cross.
He was oppressed by all the waves of God, and blessed be God that it is so, for there is no wave of God left that could oppress us.
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