Psalm 22

So grateful for God’s presence that is here, and we will be continuing with our series this morning, Lowly Shepherd, Mighty King, as we go through Psalm 21, Psalm 22, Psalm 23, and 24, in the weeks to come, Lord willing. A couple of weeks ago we talked about Psalm 21, about how the victory of the King was so in line with the victory of the Lord, and how that was beautifully pointing to the harmonious relationship and the humility of our Lord, as He did not do anything without the help of His Heavenly Father, as He lived on the face of the earth. Today we come to Psalm 22, probably the most important psalm in the entire psaltery of 150 psalms, is Psalm 22. It’s written by David, as mentioned in the headline, and there’s probably some parts of this psalm that is directly attributed to the life of David. But just reading through this psalm, it is very, very clear that even when David was running away from Saul, none of these things that are mentioned in this psalm ever happened in his life. So that makes us beg the question, who is this person that Psalm 22 is really talking about? And why was David inspired to write these words, even though he was not truly the testimony of his own life? When we study scriptures, it is very clear to us as to who Psalm 22 points to. But I love God’s Word, and love the fact of the Holy Spirit inspiring someone who lived almost a thousand years before our Lord, to pen these words that he often did not even understand himself. But being a faithful scribe of God’s Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit, he would write these words down that become so profound and important as it relates to the death and crucifixion of our Lord. Any honest examiner of the Old Testament cannot escape passage such as Psalm 22 and Isaiah chapter 53. In fact, these chapters have been monumental and instrumental in bringing honest searchers from Jewish faith into the Christian faith, probably more than any portions of the Old Testament. Psalm 22 screams in their face about the validity of the Messiah that had came to die for our sins on the cross. Isaiah 53 that we read this morning parallels together with it as the Jewish mind that is honest fails to find any character in the Old Testament who is fully able to describe what we read in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53.

So we start with verse 1, and the question profoundly asked of the Lord on the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? Living in a time wrapped in space and not understanding fully even the depths of the intimacy between the Father and the Son, we fail to understand the depth of the cry that we read in Psalm 22:1. You all know what relationships mean in your own life, and you know how painful it is to be separated from our loved ones, even for a moment, even for hours, for days, or even for many years. We all feel the pains of it. That’s why death is so painful in all of our lives when we know that at least this side of eternity we are separated from our loved ones forever. That’s what makes separation so painful. Even saying goodbyes in the airport, there are so many tears that are shed, even though we might see that person a few weeks later, because death and separation of loved ones is so painful.

Now I want you to magnify that and multiply that by millions, and you understand the depth of the anguish of the cry on the cross. For time, when time cannot be measured, there was always this unhindered fellowship that existed between the Father and the Son, and that relationship is the strongest relationship in the universe. Every relationship on the earth that is even strong does not even compare to the intimacy that exists between the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is one that is perfect. It is one that is never divided. It is now one that is never broken. There’s always unhindered fellowship that happens between the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, but in a way that we do not even fully understand, that no theologian have been able to explain. Somehow, somehow the triune God was separated on the cross of Calvary. Our Lord knew fully well what he was about to face, and that’s why he shed drops of blood while he was in the garden of Gethsemane. It had nothing to do with physical pain he was about to experience, but the thought of being separated from the Father and sin being placed upon him who knew no sin was too much for him, so much so that he would shed drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane until extreme, excruciating anxiety and anticipation of the suffering that lay ahead of him. But yet, when he faced the cross, and he was in that moment of separation from the Father as the sins of all of us was placed upon him, he would ask the question and cry out, why God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Knowing that forsaking was coming did not dull the pain and the questions that was asked on the cross, because that forsaking on the cross was much more, much more painful than even Jesus had maybe anticipated. So he cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Matthew writing to us in this gospel, Matthew 27:46 writes to us about three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani, which means my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The greatest abandonment the world has ever seen happened on the cross of Calvary. The greatest separation and painful separation the world has ever witnessed happened on the cross of Calvary. All that was done to bring us back to God as only he can. Look at verse 2, his crying is continuing, my God, I cry out by day, but here is the most amazing fact, you do not answer. Think about this for a second. Does anyone who should answer the cries of someone, it is the father answering the cries of his son. But yet on that moment, on that day, heaven was silent. Remember, I preached to you this often, when Abraham took his dagger to pierce the heart of Isaac, heaven was not silent, but on the cross of Calvary, heaven did not answer. By fight, he says, I find no rest.

In verse 6, he comes and says, I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. In the midst of his sufferings, he feels like a worm and not a man. This is not a description that any one of us ever want to have in our own lives. Nobody ever says, I’m a worm. We all even for our teams and for sports teams, we have names like Giants and Broncos and Raiders, because those all exhibit words of power. Nobody calls themselves worms. But Jesus says, I’m a worm and not a man. The word that is used for worm over there, it’s actually very beautiful. It is actually the worm cochineal. This worm cochineal, and I have a picture of it. You can see by the beautiful picture of it, but you crush this worm, what comes out of it is actually a scarlet dye that is used to dye and make beautiful clothes. This worm is the only one that produces this particular kind of scarlet dye that is able to make beautiful clothes.

Why is this God’s word using the word cochineal to describe our Lord? Remember what we read in the Old Testament about the scarlet dye in the Old Testament. Exodus 26:31, make a curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. As the tabernacle is made, the curtain that is in the tabernacle is supposed to be made of three different colors, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, finally twisted linen with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. Same chapter 26:36 tells us how the entrance to the tent should be made. For the entrance to the tent, make a curtain of the same colors, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finally twisted linen, the work of an embroider. When God chose the colors to adorn the curtains and the tent covering to the tabernacle, He chose the color purple. The crushing of the cochineal brings about the color purple that is able, scarlet color, that is able to make beautiful scarlet dye, that is able to make beautiful scarlet clothes. It is a picture of what the Lord does. His crushing on the cross is able to produce for us His blood that is able to cover us fully and take away our sins and give us the righteousness that He alone is able to give. So even when God chose the colors of the curtains of the tabernacle, He had a son on the mind who’d be crushed on the cross, bringing about the covering for our sins.

Verse 7, all who see me mock me. They hurl insults, shaking their heads. Verse 8, he trusts in the Lord. They say, let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him since he delights in him. Not only is he suffering the pain of excruciating physical pain, but he’s also suffering the mockery of the people that were around him. The very ones probably that laid out the palm leaves to him just a few hours before and welcomed him with the cries of Hosanna into Jerusalem are now jeering and mocking his name. Matthew tells us the same thing. The exact words are quoted again in Matthew 27:42-43 as well. He saved others they said, but he cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him. For he said, I am the son of God. The very words that Jesus spoke, they’re using against him and making fun of him saying he saved others, but he himself, he’s not able to save. And they are like bulls and fierce animals all around him. Look at verse 12. Many bulls surround me, strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Bashan, a place known for his great bulls and the Psalmist used that imagery of bulls surrounding a person to illustrate the Lord being surrounded by his adversaries and enemies. Verse 13, roaring lions that tear their prey, open their mouths wide against me. Verse 14 and look, talking about his sufferings on the cross. I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax. It has melted within me. All of these are descriptions of what happens on the cross. Thirst, heart melting away, joints crumbling, stretched to the max. He suffers for us on the cross.

The first thing that I wanted to remind yourself of this morning is this, the depth of the sufferings of Christ shows to us the depth of our sins and God’s great love for us. If you are not pondering upon the cross daily, you will minimize the sin of your life and how much you’ve been forgiven for. But the more you gaze at the cross and the depth of the suffering on the cross, the more you understand what a great sin and depravity from which God had rescued you from. The sufferings of the cross are proportional to the depth of your sins in your life. If there’s any other way for God to save us, he would have definitely done it. He would never place sin, which is opposite of what everything God is, upon the sinless son of God on the cross. That was the only way to save us. So he made him go through the most immense sufferings the world has ever seen because the depth of our sins were so great. And you need to be aware in your heart that even this morning that we have been saved from so much and it took so much pain and suffering on the cross to save us from. If there’s any other way to save us, God would have taken an easier route. He did not spare any expense in saving your life and my life from the clutches of sin and grave and death.

The famous Dutch painter Rembrandt has painted this famous painting, The Raising of the Cross. You have to look very closely at this picture. You see the soldiers raising the body of our Lord and you see people all around that are watching. They’re mocking, jeering, some just curiously looking. If you look very, very closely in the middle of it, there is a man who’s dressed differently with a blue hat, with a blue attire. Modern man dressed differently than the rest of the people all around him. You know who that man is? It is Rembrandt himself who drew himself to the picture of raising of the cross. You know what he’s saying? I was there. I was raising him. Those nail pierced hands were not for somebody else. It was for me. Even though I was not physically present on that day 2,000 years ago, his nails that went through his hands was for my sins, not for someone else’s. I was the one who put the crown of thorns on his head. I was the one that beated him to a pulp. I was the one that pierced his side. I was the one who nailed him on the cross. It was me that caused him not to come down from the cross. Rembrandt is being honest in his painting. The cross was for me. The cross was because of me. The cross was my doing, not anyone else’s. I’m not a good person. I’m not a righteous person. I’m a person born into sin, living in sin. Without God’s help, I would be lost forever. But the God of all the ages, because of his great love for me, sent his son into this world and he died for me on the cross of Calvary. His wounds were for my sins and I’ll be forever grateful for what he did for me on the cross.

He continues, verse 15, my mouth is dried up like a pot shed. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death. The word there, you lay me, in the Hebrew literally means you appointed for me to be put in death. This suffering of our Lord, and the second point you need to understand, was not something that came upon him as an accident. The sufferings of Christ were voluntary in nature and completely based on the eternal plan of a loving God. See, the sufferings that I have in my life, I don’t choose them. They just come. You just have to live. Sufferings will come. But the sufferings of our Lord was chosen by him, chosen by his father. He walked to the cross willingly. Don’t think that he was led to the cross. At any moment, he could have just walked back. At any moment, he could have said, no, I don’t want to do this. But he willingly allowed himself to go to the cross. That’s why, and we talked about this when we went through the book of Acts, in 4:27-28, this word is written to us in God’s word. Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city, Jerusalem, to conspire against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed. But look at the last sentence. They only did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

The power of God and the will of God was not involved. Crucifixion would never take place. Pilate could never crucify my Lord. The Jewish nation could never crucify my Lord. How can you kill the author of life who holds the stars in his hands and holds the whole universe with his hands? How can you ever kill him? He can only be done if his will and power had decided beforehand that he would go to the cross. See, his death for us, his suffering for us was a voluntary one. There’s no death like that in the world where someone willingly walked into suffering. Starting from verse 16 is verses that directly talk about the fact or the method by which our Lord would be killed. Dogs surround me. Pack of villains encircle me. They pierce my hands and my feet. This verse is so beautiful as it talks directly about how our Lord would be killed that the Jewish rabbis that came after the coming of our Lord actually changed the Hebrew text. Here’s the way they did it. If you read some of the Hebrew text from 3rd and 4th century Old Testament, after our Lord, it actually says, lions have come looking for my hands and feet. And wait a minute, how do you translate this to lion when this is pierced? Well, in the Hebrew, the word for lion and the word for piercing are very, very similar to each other. The only difference is one has a longer vowel ending stroke at the end than compared to the other. So you know what the later Hebrew people did? Because they knew that this verse was so indicative of the fact of how our Lord died, they changed the later Hebrew text. And they would always talk about that the Christians wrote this into their own writing of the Old Testament scriptures until the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. And you know what they found when the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1940s? The Christian translation was always right. He was pierced, my hands and feet, and the Dead Sea Scrolls dated to almost 500, 600 years before the coming of our Lord into the face of the earth. Why? Again, showing to us the authenticity and the validity of God’s word.

Crucifixion. It’s remarkable how this came out to be in the life of our Lord. The earliest record that we have in history of crucifixion actually is about 519 BC. There Darius, who was the king of Persia, the one that we read about in the book of Daniel, actually killed 6,000 people in one day by crucifixion who had rebelled against him. That is the earliest record that we have. Then as we go through history, the Greeks adopted it. Many people tried to do different, different versions of it, but the ones who perfected it was the Romans. And not only that, it is around 86 that Rome was able to annex Judea completely. And starting from that time on, this becomes the method of punishment given to the worst criminal society for all those who are under the Roman rule. When the Bible says, in the fullness of time, God sent his son into this world. God sent his son into the world at a time when he could be crucified and not killed by any other means. If Jesus was born just 30 years before or 20 years before, he would not have been killed by crucifixion. And these words that we read about, that his hands and feet were pierced on that day, would not be fulfilled. But God knew when his son would come. God also knew that his son would come into this world when crucifixion would be the preferred method by the Romans to make a mockery and to also show the example to others who would dare to revolt against Rome. This was the worst of the way to die, and it was given to the worst of the criminals. And this was the way our God in heaven chose his son to die.

The worst of the ways. Why? Because our sin was so great, and he wanted to show it to us over and over again, that he did not spare any expense when it came to purchasing our redemption and our forgiveness. I can never preach enough about this, because the church needs to understand the price that was paid for you on the cross. As you know, the victim of crucifixion was first severely scourged or beaten. An ordeal that was life threatening by itself. Then he was forced to carry the large wooden cross beam to the site of the crucifixion. This was almost like digging your own grave, because you’re literally carrying the instrument of your own death on your shoulders. Bearing this wood on already the back that is scourged and beaten into a pulp was already very painful, and it added an extra measure of shame as well, as the victim would march across the street to the place of crucifixion. When the victim arrived at the place of crucifixion, he would be stripped completely naked to further shame him. All the pictures of crucifixion that you see today, for sake of decency, and we can look at it, there’s a covering that covers the private areas of our Lord. That is not the way he hung at the cross. He was completely naked on the cross. Then he’ll be forced to stretch out his arms on the cross beam, where they were nailed in place. The nails were not hammered into the palms, they were hammered into the wrist of the person who was crucified. This would make sure that there was excruciating pain that pressed on the large nerves running through the hands. The cross beam would then be hoisted up and fastened to an upright piece that would remain standing between crucifixions. After fastening the cross beam, the executioner would nail the victim’s feet to the cross as well, normally one foot on top of the other, nailed through the middle and arch of each foot with the knees slightly bent.

The primary purpose of this was to inject maximum pain into the person who was dying. Once the victim was fastened to the cross, all that is supporting his weight are the three nails upon which he’s standing. The only way the victim could breathe was to stretch himself on the foot that was nailed to the cross. The arms would be stretched out in such a way as to cause cramping and paralysis in the chest muscles, making it impossible to breathe unless and until you stretched upwards. But every time you stretch upwards, you’re rubbing your back that is already scourged and beaten up against the rough edges of the wooden beam. The victim would try not to do that too much because of this excruciating pain, but soon difficulty breathing would set in and he would again arch himself up for another breath. It was a slow and torturous death. Oftentimes people remained on the cross for three to four days. The only way to hasten death was to break the bones in the legs so that the person would not be able to stretch himself up to take another breath again. That’s why they came to break the bones of all of them, but they found that he had already died and thus was fulfilled what was written in the scriptures. Not one of his bones were broken on that day. Look at verse 17. All my bones are on display. Why? Stretched out on a cross, all of his bones are on display. People stare and gloat over me. Verse 18, what a precise prophetic word. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. They did just that on that day. Why are all the descriptions given to us written thousands of years ago? It is the reason is this. The precise descriptions of the crucifixion of our Lord shows to us the remarkable divine origin of God’s word. This is not just David writing. This is the Holy Spirit writing through the pen of David with remarkable accuracy so that you and I living thousands of years later can read God’s word and say, this is God’s word. This comes from the mouth of God. This is the breath of God. This is not a man’s origin. You can put your trust in it.

In the midst of all this suffering that is mentioned over here, there is also cry towards the hope and the deliverance that God alone is able to give. And I think this is very, very important for us to learn this because in the midst of the sufferings that we go through, this is what God wants us to do in our lives as well. Look at verse two. It says literally this, you are enthroned as the Holy One. And he says, you are the praise of Israel. And then in verse four, it says, in you, our ancestors put their trust. In the midst of all the suffering, the sufferer is saying, I trust in the suffering that I’m going through because why? My God is a Holy God. And he’s not going to do anything that is unfair or unrighteous. And whatever he does is always perfect. Not only that, in the midst of my suffering, I’m going to put my trust in the same God that my father’s trusted in. And Jesus is telling us a way to go through the sufferings of life the same way he did as well. And look at not only that, look at verse nine. This, he is the one that brought us out of the womb of our mothers. When you are going through pain and sufferings in your life, remember that God is the one who knitted you together in your mother’s womb. He cares for you. And the Bible says, even when I was breastfeeding on my mom, you are the one, oh God, that I put my trust in. You have been my God from my birth, from my conception, all the days of my life. You are my God and you know me so well. And he continues in verse 19 by telling us, you are my strength. Come quickly to help me. In the midst of your sufferings, always remember, your God is a holy God. He always does things perfectly. In the midst of your sufferings, always remember, he is the God of our ancestors. He is a faithful God who will never leave us nor forsake us. In the midst of your sufferings, always remember, even the one that conceived you in your mother’s womb is this loving God. He is not going to forget you in the midst of your sufferings. In the midst of your sufferings, always remember, he is our ultimate strength and he will always come to help us.

And he cried out to the Lord and the Lord heard him and look what he did. Verse 22, I will proclaim your name to my brothers. In the midst of the assembly, I will praise you. Even though it is not very clearly said to us. Psalm 22:22 is the triumphant Lord returning, having defeated death forever. Yes, he went through the suffering of the cross of Calvary, but that was not the end of his life. He will rise again to proclaim the name of the Lord to his brothers. And exactly what he did, John 20:17, Jesus said, do not hold on to me for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. And you know what? This is the first time in the gospels where Jesus addresses his disciples as his brothers. And that happened after the resurrection of our Lord. Psalm 22:22, I will declare before the brothers, the glories of our Lord. Jesus said to them, go and tell them that by his, I am ascending to the Father, your God and my God. Why? Verse 24, when he cried to him for help, he heard. Because of that, what would happen to him? Because of the fact that he is now Lord resurrected over all. Verse 27, all the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will worship before you. We read that this morning as well. Isaiah 53 told us this, after the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied by his knowledge. My righteous servant will justify many and he will bear their inequities. Not only that, I will give him a portion among the great. He will divide the spoils with the strong because he poured out his life under death and he was numbered with the transgressors. God’s word continues, verse 28, all dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations. The one who died did not remain in his death. He rose again, not as a suffering servant. He rose again as the king of kings and the Lord of lords and all dominion in the world and all nations of the world now belongs to him.

Look at the way the psalm ends. Posterity will serve him. Future generations will be told about the Lord. That’s what we’re doing today. Future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people even yet unborn. The death and eventual resurrection of Christ gives all dominion authority to him reigning over the hearts and nations of the world. His death was not a tragedy. His suffering was not meaningless. When our Lord died on the cross, all dominion authority were coming under his power. When he rose from the dead three days later, all the nations of the world, all the hearts of everyone are bowing down before him and a day will come that even those who are unbelieving today will bow down before him. The Bible says that in the same chapter also. Every soul, every man, every nation will bow down before him because all dominion authority of all the nations and all the hearts belong to him because not only did he die but he rose again victorious and now lives as king of kings and Lord of lords and soon he will come back to establish his righteous reign in this earth.

I’ll end with this. Quoting from John’s start. He says, I could never myself believe in God if you’re not for the cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I turned to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross. Nails through his hands and feet. Back lacerated. Limbs wrenched. Brow bleeding from torn pricks. Mouth dry. Intolerably thirsty. Plunged into God-forsaken darkness. That is the God for me. He set aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. That is my God who suffered. He understands my suffering. He understands my pain. My God has never kept himself immune to the sufferings of our life either. Our God is the real God. Our God is one who suffered like no other but he rose again and he is victorious having all dominion of the nations and the hearts of all who trust in him to completely be his. The question this morning as I end is this. How much do you love him? How much do I love him? He loved you so much. He cared for you so much that he shed his last drop of blood on the cross. How do you serve him this morning? If you have been forgiven of so much, you are called to forgive. If you have been loved so much, you are called to love. If your righteousness was paid with such heavy price, you are called to a life of righteousness and holy living and obedience unto the Lord. I pray that a meditation on the cross will once again bring us back to a place of absolute surrender where we say, God if you set aside everything of heaven to gain my salvation, I will set aside my will, my ambitions, my own self and I will do everything to follow after you for you did just everything for me and I will do the same for you as well. Let’s look to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you Lord for your word. We thank you that he died on the cross for our sins. But God the Father heard your cry. Three days later you did not remain in the grave. You came out victorious and now all the nations will praise you. Generations coming will proclaim about your righteousness and a day is soon coming when every tongue will confess and every knee will bow that you are Lord. We praise you. We love you God. We thank you for your sacrifice. Help us to continue to remember that as we go into the table of the Lord. Thank you for hearing our prayer. It’s in the name of the Lord Jesus that we pray. Amen.