Psalm 22 Psalm of the Cross

Psalm of the Cross

Psalm 22

 

In his first letter, Peter writes that the prophets were seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 

This psalm is about the clearest picture we have of Jesus’ death & resurrection in the Old Testament.

Jesus Himself made the connection of His death & resurrection to this psalm. Jesus prayed the opening words to this psalm,  "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" Hebrews 2:12 quotes Psalm 22 as Jesus’ words Himself,  "I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE." (Ps. 22:22)

This is an emotional psalm & one of the most intimate connections we have with the suffering of Jesus for our sins.

In the Gospels & other books by physicians we can read what happened physically to Him & what he said or spoke; but through David, the Holy Spirit, some 1000 + years before, tells us what Jesus was thinking & feeling inside, as a human being like us. He felt abandoned, surrounded, desperate, overwhelmed; then God answered & his heart jumped for joy!

Jesus opens His heart to us in this psalm. Verses 1 - 21 Jesus cries for help; verse 22 - 30 is His song of praise.

Being 100% God while at the same time 100% man, being made for a little while a little lower than the angels so He could obtain the greater victor; suffering death that would lead to eternal life.

But, as a human, He was stretched way beyond the redline - The description of His suffering is so powerful because He is one of us. We can identify with Him because He is one of us; because we have the same thoughts & feelings.

His anguish was two-fold. He was abandoned by God & mocked by man. Jesus felt God had abandoned Him. Do you think that His crying out was a show? No! Jesus was human like us! Three times He calls out - My God, My God, His God!

Has there ever been a time that you felt as if God had abandoned you? How about a child when they become separated from their parents, the fear that grips their heart?

I remember one afternoon driving from the airport out to Sandfly on Skidaway to pick Richard up from pre-K. I was late, not by much, but still there was Richard crying his heart out; even though there were other children there playing. His world had collapsed, he wasn’t used to separation - 

The movie “Forsaken”, Donald Sutherland & Kiefer Sutherland play roles of father & son. In the end there is a scene where the son is leaving and the father is heartbroken. It was an emotional scene. Think how much worse it was for Jesus! Jesus had enjoyed perfect unity & love with the Father for eternity up to this point -- I and the Father are One, (John 10:30). He had never known even the most minimal separation or spiritual distance from His Father & now He calls out to God & there’s no answer.

This is such a mystery that some have suggested that Jesus was calling only attention to Psalm 22 as an example of the anguish He was in. As I asked earlier, was this for a show. Others say that maybe He felt alone but wasn’t truly alone.

But sin had to be paid for & Jesus carried our sins, the worlds sins - It’s written in Habakkuk 1:13, Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness - Jesus not ever having sinned, being pure; that day, that hour, drank the sewage, the garbage of all the sin of the world from the beginning to then & to our day & further until He returns.

At that moment God turned His back on Him, His Son, forsaking Him. Again, this is an eternal mystery - Jesus was truly forsaken so that you & I, everyone who comes to Him would never be forsaken.

There may be times when we all feel as if God has turned His back on us; our prayers seem to just bounce off the ceiling - But listen please! If one, you, belongs to Christ, you, we all have His promise which is unbreakable. I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:20). Jesus was truly alone so we would never have to be - believe His promise!

Jesus remembers God’s faithfulness & we should also & come to Him when we feel alone without Him: O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel. In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You delivered them. To You they cried out and were delivered; In You they trusted and were not disappointed. (Vs. 3-5). 

I would think there have been times when the Lord has shown His faithfulness to you even carried you through difficult times in your life.

Jesus in His anguish had to endure mocking - God was silent but not His enemies. Let me tell you that even today many mock Him. All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, [saying,] 8 "Commit [yourself] to the LORD; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him."(vs. 7-8). Matt. 27:39 tells us those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads. Jesus wasn’t immune to insults. Kids had and I’m sure still have the saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” Hogwash! James writes - the tongue is a small part of the body, and [yet] it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, the [very] world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of [our] life, and is set on fire by hell. (3:5-6). 

Jesus may not have responded but the very words hurled at Him hurt deeply; verse 6 shows us how He felt inside, I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people. When you’re insulted & become depressed for your faith in Christ just remember Christ has been there and received worse.

After the anguish of the silence and the scorn Jesus appeals to God. He doesn’t ask to be rescued but begged for Him to be near Him. 

Be not far from me, for trouble is near; For there is none to help … Strong [bulls] of Bashan have encircled me. 13 They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening and a roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; 18 They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots. On the cross Jesus treasured God’s presence more than anything else. The ones surrounding Him will trample Him like bulls, tear Him apart like lions. Jesus was powerless

Think, the one who created the universe, who holds everything together (Col. 1:17), who gives living waters(John 4:10-15) was like a broken clay pot.

David says you lay me in the dust. Isaiah says, It was the will of the Lord to crush Him, 53:10.

Artists always paint Jesus on the cross with a modest towel covering His nakedness, but in truth those who were crucified were hung naked. The people laughed & stared, they gloated.

What does all this mean? The life of the people is bound up in the life of the king - they are blessed through their king. -- 

So, people are saved through Christ’s salvation, His suffering in this manner was for you, for everyone who will believe, who will come to Him.

Alas, and did my Savior bleed

And did my Sovereign die?

Would He devote that sacred head

For such a worm as I?

Was it for sins that I had done

He groaned upon the tree?

Amazing pity, grace unknown

And love beyond degree

My God, why would You shed Your blood

So pure and undefiled

To make a sinful one like me

Your chosen, precious child?

Now the Psalm turns into a song of praise. After all the agony Jesus shouts for joy. Him announces the good news that God has answered Him. He lifts God’s name to God’s people. How? Through human preachers, witnesses. Paul writes it to the Romans, How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher. (10:14).

Just who are God’s people? They are those who have come to Christ. Every true believer, born-again believer is His brother / sister. Hebrews 1:10-12 quotes v. 22of the psalm. 

. . . it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one [Father;] for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying, "I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE."

The brethren to whom Jesus preaches are not just the Jews. No. When God repeats His covenant with Jacob He said, "I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you. (35:11) - 

Gentiles were included, in the Old Testament, among the people of God.

Paul explains this in Romans chapter 4 and Galatians 3:29 -  if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise. 

Jesus preaches God’s name to the nations, to the ends of the earth, All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations will worship before You. 28 For the kingdom is the LORD'S And He rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship, All those who go down to the dust will bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep his soul alive. (Vs 27-29).

I think of Demetrio Gaitan, one of his sons is the worship minister at the Hosanna Christian Community in Raleigh NC. There’s the Baptist church in Panama, Iglesia de Amor, one daughter of the pastor went to Thailand as a bible translator through Wycliff. 

Turn to the Lord, worship Him - Christ calling people across the centuries. Posterity will serve Him; It will be told of the Lord to the [coming] generation. 31 They will come and will declare His righteousness To a people who will be born, that He has performed [it.] Jesus sees the process, one generation telling another about the Lord -  He looked out to the future to see people not yet born hearing about the greatness of God through His resurrection.

We who are alive today have a responsibility to tell the next generation. More so now, these days. If you keep up with the Middle East, read the Scripture you will see the need to tell people the good news. I’m talking about here. To those you know that do not know Christ. I know of three places where that is being taken care of. Liberia Africa, Monrovia to be specific. I have spoken to Dwana Livingston there; in LaHore Pakistan a minister Samson Dass Pastor who travels throughout Pakistan. They have a theological seminary and they live in the midst of Muslims.

We got it easy, for now, but wait if the “Equality” bill becomes law then we’ll see how many are willing to compromise.

Christ Jesus saved the nations of the world through His death, His humiliating death on the cross & resurrection. He hung naked & suffered on that cross for sinners. And there isn’t a person in the whole that was ever exempt from having to come to Christ for forgiveness. God the creator took on flesh, became a human being and paid the price that I, you, everyone, had to pay so that we would have eternal life.

God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Psalm 22 should be a motivator for one to go tell the good news - How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? (Rom 10:14).

Don’t use the word ‘preacher’ as an excuse. I believe Jesus said Go make disciples of all nations. Sometimes we get tied up in semantics and can come up with a lot of excuses.