Psalms 22

Psalms 22:1

Psalm 22: Christ in Suffering and GloryDeserted! God could separate from His own essence rather; And Adam’s sins have swept between the righteous Son and Father; Yea, once, Immanuel’s orphaned cry His universe hath shakenIt went up single, echoless, “My God, I am forsaken!” It went up from His holy lips, amid His lost creation That no believer e’er should use those words of desolation. Elizabeth Barrett Browning 22:1, 2 Approach this Psalm with the utmost solemnity and reverence, because you have probably never stood on holier ground before. You have come to Golgotha where the Good Shepherd is giving His life for the sheep. For three hours the earth has been enveloped in thick darkness. Now “Immanuel’s orphaned cry” echoes through the universe: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?“Behind the poignant question lies an awful realitythe suffering Savior actually was, literally and completely, forsaken by God. The Eternal Son who had always been the object of His Father’s delight was now abandoned. The Perfect Man who unfailingly did the will of God experienced the terrible desolation of being cut off from God. The question is, “Why?” Why should the holy, sinless Son of God suffer the concentrated horror of eternal hell in those three long hours of darkness? Scripture gives us the answer. First of all, God is holy, righteous and just, and this means that He must punish sin wherever He finds it. To wink at sin or to overlook it is impossible for God. That brings us to the second point. Although the Lord Jesus had no sins of His own, He took our sins upon Himself.

He voluntarily assumed responsibility to pay the penalty of all our iniquities. The debt we owed was charged to His account, and He willingly became surety for it all. But now what can God do? All His righteous attributes demand that sin be punished. Yet here He looks down and sees His only begotten Son becoming the scapegoat for others. The Son of His love has become our Sin-bearer.

What will God do when He sees our sins laid on His own beloved Son? There was never any doubt as to what God would do! He deliberately unleashed all the fury of His righteous wrath on His own beloved Son. The fierce torrent of divine judgment broke upon the innocent Victim. For our sakes, Christ was forsaken by God so that we might never be forsaken. Thus when we read of Christ’s deep, deep suffering, it should always be with the keen awareness that He bore it all for us. We should punctuate each statement with the words for me. He was forsakenfor me. When I hear Him cry, “Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?” I know that it was for me. And it was for my sake that the heavens were silent to Him by day and by night. 22:3 In a sense the Savior explained His forsakenness in the words, “But You are holy, who inhabit the praises of Israel.” The love of God demanded that sin’s wages be paid. God’s love provided what His holiness demanded. He sent His Son to die as a substitutionary sacrifice. Now “stern justice can demand no more, and mercy can dispense her store.” 22:4, 5 But listen again! The Savior is still speaking to His Father, reminding Him that the patriarchs were never forsaken. Their believing cries for help never went unanswered. Not once were they disappointed when they cried for deliverance. In spite of their sin and waywardness, God never had occasion to forsake them. That sentence was reserved for the spotless Lamb of God! 22:6, 7 Not only was He forsaken by God, but He was despised and rejected by the people. To the creatures whom His hands had made Christ was hardly even a manjust a worm. He knew the bitterness of scorn and rejection by the very people He had come to save. Even as Christ hung on the cross, the watching throng ridiculed and mocked the Eternal Lover of their souls! Incredible as it seems, they sang a taunt song in which they mocked His apparent helplessness and the seeming futility of His trust in God. 22:8 “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” This is exactly what the jeering crowd said at the cross (Mat_27:39, Mat_27:43). 22:9-11 But now the Son of Man turns away from man to God, and remembers Bethlehem. It was God who had brought Him forth from the virgin’s womb. It was God who had preserved Him during the fragile days of His infancy. It was God who had sustained Him in His boyhood and young manhood. On the basis of this past relationship of love Christ now appeals to God to draw near in this hour of His crushing, solitary trial. 22:12, 13 Many of the hate-filled crowd at Calvary were Israelites. Christ likens them here to strong bulls of Bashan and to a raging and roaring lion. The district of Bashan, east of the Jordan, was known for its rich pasture-land and for its strong, well-fattened animals. Amos later referred to the luxury-loving Israelites as cows of Bashan (Amo_4:1). When Christ speaks here of bulls of Bashan, He is referring to His own fellow countrymen, who were even then waiting to close in for the kill. They were not only like goring bulls but also like ravening and roaring lions. The Messiah of Israel had come, and they were pouncing on Him like lions on a lamb! 22:14, 15 Christ’s physical sufferings were excruciating beyond description. There was His exhaustion; He was poured out like water. There was the agony of bone dislocation by hanging on the cross; all His bones were out of joint. There was violent disorder of His internal organs; His heart, for instance, was melted like wax within His breast. There was His unendurable weakness; His strength was dried up like a fragment of pottery. There was His unremitting thirst; His tongue was clinging to His jaws. It could only mean that God was laying Him in the dust of death. 22:16, 17 Just as He had spoken of His Jewish tormentors under the figure of bulls and lions, so He now compares His Gentile executioners to dogs. It was a common name for Jews to use in referring to Gentiles (Mat_15:21-28). Here it refers particularly to the Roman soldiers who surrounded Him like a pack of vicious, snarling curs. It was this company of evil-doers who had pierced His hands and His feet. As they gazed upon His half-naked form, they could see His bones pressing out against His shrunken skin. This gave them keen pleasure and satisfaction. 22:18 Then, in one of the several wonderful prophecies of this Psalm, the Lord Jesus foresees that the soldiers would divide His garments among them and cast lots for His clothing. Here is how it happened hundreds of years later: Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be” (Joh_19:23-24). 22:19-21 For the last time in this Psalm the Savior implores God for His presence and assistance. He asks to be delivered from the sword and from the power of the dog, both references to the Gentiles. The sword is the symbol of governmental power (Rom_13:4). Here, it refers to the Roman government with its power of capital punishment. The dog, as explained above, refers to the Gentile soldiers. Then, in verse 21, Christ asks to be saved from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen. As we saw in verses 12 and 13, this refers to the Jewish people who said to Pilate, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die…” (Joh_19:7). “You have answered Me” makes a distinct and triumphant break between verses 21 and 22. It is the hinge which unites the two sections of the Psalm. The poetry now obviously moves from plaintive pleading to jubilant song. The sufferings of the Lord Jesus are now forever past. His redeeming work has been finished. The cross has been exchanged for the crown! Between these two verses the psalmist transports us in a moment of time from Christ’s First Advent to His Secondfrom Calvary to Olivet! Although the Psalm does not mention it, we know that the intervening period includes the Savior’s death, burial, Resurrection, and Ascension as well as the entire Church Age in which we live. 22:22 By this point in the psalm Christ has returned to earth to reign as King. The faithful remnant of the nation of Israel has entered the kingdom with all its millennial glories. The Messiah of Israel is ready to testify to His Jewish brethren about the faithfulness of God in answering His prayers in the first part of the Psalm. Now Christ praises God in the midst of the congregation. 22:23, 24 The next two verses give the substance of what Christ will say to redeemed Israel in that future millennial day. In three majestic parallelisms Christ addresses them as “you who fear the LORD,” “you descendants of Jacob,” and “you offspring of Israel.” Then He exhorts them to praise the Lord, to glorify Him and to fear Him. The reason for this reverent response is that God has heard and answered those anguished cries that went up from dark Calvary. God did not despise the sufferings endured by His beloved Son, nor did He permanently hide His face from Him. Instead, “God . . . has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phi_2:9-11). 22:25 God is the object of Messiah’s praise: “My praise shall be of You in the great congregation. . . .” In His distress Christ had vowed to praise the Lord publicly, and now He will pay those vows before those who fear the Lord. 22:26 In the last six verses of the Psalm there is a change of speaker. Now the Holy Spirit speaks, describing the ideal conditions that will prevail during the peace and prosperity of the Millennium. Poverty will then be banished; the poor shall eat and be satisfied. The earth will be full of God’s praise. All who seek Him will praise the LORD. On all these worshipers the Spirit pronounces the blessing, “Let your heart live forever!“22:27 There will be worldwide revival. All the ends of the world shall remember what Christ did at Calvary and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will unite in one great act of homage and worship. 22:28, 29 The Lord Himself will exercise worldwide dominion. The throne rights are His, and He will rule over the nations. All the great men of the earth will submit to His rule, and every mortal man shall bow down before Himall those who go down to the dust and who cannot keep themselves alive.22:30, 31 Christ’s fame will endure. One generation after another will serve Him and proclaim His excellencies. A special message will be passed down from one generation to the next: that Christ has righteously finished the great work of redemption. Psalms 22 begins with the fourth word from the crossthe atonement cry.

It ends with the words “that He has done this,” which have exactly the same meaning as Christ’s seventh word from the cross: “It is finished!” (Joh_19:30). Down through the centuries of time the good news will be passed from one generation to another with grateful wonder that Christ has done it all.