. . . to Psalm 22. Actually, I include the entire Psalm in my post, so just read on!
22:1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
Jesus cried out these very words from the cross. Our sin
caused a cloud to pass between he and the Father, as he tasted death for us:
physical, spiritual, eternal death.
22:2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
This is spiritual suffering.
22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Wonderful and powerful truth! God inhabits our praise!!
Praise him!
22:4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
22:5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
22:6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
I am a reproach of men, and despised of the people. A man
of sorrows. People despise and mock Jesus, the One who died for them that they
might live.
22:8 He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
Crucifixion was a slow, painful, public death. While Jesus was on the cross they mocked him, scorned him, laughed at him, using these very words (Matt 27:39-43; Mark 15:29-32)
So many laughing at Jesus
While the funniest thing that he's done
Is love this whole stubborn rebellious world
While their hate for him just goes on
(How Can They Live Without Jesus; Keith Green; 1978)
22:9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.
22:10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.
22:11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
Even when he seemed abandoned by his Father, he continued
to trust him.
Thou art my God from my mother’s belly – all the phrases in v 9-10 speak of the trust Christ had in his Father. I think they also say a lot about the ability of infants and children to believe in the Lord.
Verses 12-21 speak in detail the suffering of Christ on the tree. The suffering? He is painfully dying before their eyes.
22:12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
22:13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
22:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
22:15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
22:16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
22:17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
22:18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
22:19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
22:20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
22:21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
Bulls, dogs, wicked - all refer to those who condemned him, crucified him, and then stood
around and gleefully watched his life ebb away. Add to this the wicked
delight of the demonic world, who thought they had won. "It may seem like Friday night, but Sunday's on the way." (Carman)
They part my garments – Oh the humiliation of hanging on the cross naked. Why did he suffer so? For me; for you; it was necessary for our salvation.
Deliver my soul…save me – Thus he called out to his Father, yet he died and was buried. Did the Father completely abandon him. He bore our sin. Was our sin so great that there is no hope for salvation? No. Praise God, No!
Verses 1-21 are the sufferings of Christ; v 22-31 is the glory that should follow.
22:22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
He is risen! In the midst of the church will I sing
praise unto thee. (Heb 2:12)
22:23 Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
22:24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
22:25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
22:26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
He is risen indeed!
My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation – When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (2 Thess 1:10)
22:27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
22:28 For the kingdom is the LORD'S: and he is the governor among the nations.
22:29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
Christ is Lord and King, his gospel shall go to all the
ends of the world, and a great multitude, which no man can number, shall turn
to him.
He is the governor among the nations - this is his kingdom on the earth; the millennium.
22:30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
22:31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
The
seed is the Church, believers in Jesus Christ, us. We are the people
that shall be born. We are the generation that belongs to the risen
Lord. The Jesus Generation!
This is why it was necessary for Christ to suffer, that we might be reconciled to God. Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus!
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