Transcription
[Music] Today we take a look at Psalm 22. And this is one of those Psalms where we feel a bit like we're on holy ground. Psalm 22 is one of the most remarkable Psalms among the entire collection of 150 songs. It's so powerfully and so beautifully and so movingly describes in prophecy the sufferings of Jesus, who specifically referred to this Psalm even on the cross. That we just, again, we feel we're a bit on holy ground as we come to Psalm 22.
Now, this is another Psalm that has a title. The title for the Hebrew in this Psalm simply reads like this: "To the chief musician, set to the deer of the dawn, a psalm of David." So, this is a psalm sung to the greatest musician, the chief musician, the Lord. To a tune that we don't know. The tune was called "The Deer of the Dawn." We don't know what that tune was about, but this was the tune set to it. And we know that it was sung and composed by David, King David, David the son of Jesse, David who was, and I love this title for David in 2 Samuel chapter 23 verse 1, it calls him "the sweet psalmist of Israel."
Now, in this Psalm, David sings as much more than an artist. He also speaks and sings as one of the greatest prophets ever to speak, pointing even more than pointing to himself in his own experience, because David's own experience is obviously reflected in this Psalm. But in grieving, even greater measure, it's to the experience of Jesus Christ, Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, David's greater son.
As we've been making our way through the Psalms, it's kind of been our habit to at the end of the Psalm find, you know, just point out two or three places where each particular Psalm points to Jesus. And that's a wonderful thing to do. Whatever you're studying the Bible, it's always great to have our attention drawn to Jesus Christ. I want you to know that in this Psalm, it's all throughout. We're not going to end it the same way we have many of the other Psalms. With this Psalm, Jesus is in almost every line, prominent in how it speaks of Jesus, our Messiah. So, if you're ready, I think I'm ready. Let's get into this Psalm 22.
Beginning now in the first two verses: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent."
This Psalm begins very abruptly, and it begins abruptly with what I would call a disturbing scene. This is someone who knows God, who trusts God, yet they feel forsaken by God and they cry out in agony. Now, if we go back to the title of the Psalm, remember when I mentioned to you before we got into verse 1, this is a psalm of David. And there were many instances in the life of David, the son of Jesse, who later became King David, there were many instances in his life where he might have composed such an agonized song. After all, before he took the throne of Israel, he had 15 years living as a fugitive from the hand of King Saul. After he took the throne, there were many seasons of great danger and deprivation in David's life. We can't peg this to a particular event in David's life, but we know he had many such seasons where he was in real trouble and he wondered where God was in the midst of that trouble.
Now, while this Psalm was certainly true of King David in his life experience, and we can believe that David is writing out of his life experience, like many of the Psalms, it is even more true of Jesus the Messiah than it was of David, the one who composed the song. Jesus deliberately chose these words to describe his agony on the cross. You can find that in Matthew chapter 27. You can find it in Mark chapter 15, where Jesus, quoting the Aramaic expression of these words, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
And if we just look at it piece by piece, this opening is so powerful, at least on two levels. First of all, the cry, "My God," shows that the one who feels forsaken of the Lord at that moment, they truly did have a relationship with God. Oh, for certain, this person in this situation, they are a victim of the cruelty of men. But the cry and the complaint is to God. Even notice, "My God." It's not, "Hey, why are these people bothering me?" It's not, "Why am I being persecuted?" It's not, "What does man say against me or what does man do against me?" It's none of that. The cry goes straight to God and it says, "My God." This is the God I know. This is the God I love. This is the God I have relationship with. And if it could get any more powerful, it does, there in verse 1, where he repeats it, "My God, my God." That shows the intensity of the agony. John trap, the old Puritan commentator, said, "Then it was that he felt in soul and body the horror of God's displeasure against sin, for which he had undertaken."
Now, there, John trap is speaking of the prophetic meaning of these words as they were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. As we see continuing on in verse 1, where he says, "Why have you forsaken me?" I detect a note of surprise in that cry. And in the following lines, it's as if the forsaken one here seems bewildered. "Why would my God forsake me? Other people may deserve that, but I can't figure out why my God would forsake me."
Now, when it comes to King David, we can easily imagine a situation in his life where he experienced this many times. He found himself in seemingly impossible circumstances and he wondered, "God, why don't you rescue me? Or why don't you rescue me immediately?" But of course, beyond David in his life, this agonized cry and the intentional identification that Jesus made with these words, this describes some of the most intense and mysterious descriptions of what Jesus experienced on the cross.
Now, Jesus had known great pain and suffering during his life, physically and emotionally. Yet, Jesus had never known any kind of separation or alienation from God his Father. And at this moment, when Jesus cried out these amazing words, quoting from Psalm 22, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" At this moment, Jesus experienced what he had not yet ever experienced. There was a significant sense in which Jesus rightly felt forsaken by God the Father. You see, on the cross, at that moment when Jesus spoke those words, I believe that a holy transaction took place. God the Father regarded the Son as if he were a sinner. As the Apostle Paul would later write, this is 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21: "God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him." I think Paul's stating of those words, so inspired of Holy Spirit, has a brilliance that can come from God alone. God the Father made the Son, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, he made him to be sin for us. Not to be a sinner, Jesus never became a sinner, but it's as if he became the very embodiment of all the sin of humanity. Why? So that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
But understand, there's also a sense in which Jesus did not only endure the withdrawal of the Father's fellowship, but also the actual outpouring of the Father's wrath upon him as a substitute for sinful humanity. Charles Spurgeon said, "This was the blackness and darkness of his horror. Then it was that he penetrated into the depths of the caverns of suffering." You see, we tread on holy ground here. There's so much that, admittedly, we don't understand the exact dynamics of what happened between the Father and the Son when Jesus was on the cross. We know, we know that Jesus never stopped being God, and that there was never any final or real, or you might say, existential sense in which Jesus was separated from God the Father. At the same time, when God the Father poured out upon the Son all the wrath, all the shame, all the guilt that our sin deserved, surely Jesus, especially in his humanity, felt something of that. And all he could feel was to cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why? Why have you turned the light of your shining face away from me? Why is your wrath down upon me?"
Now, as horrible as this was, it fulfilled God's good and loving plan of redemption. That's why Isaiah could say in Isaiah chapter 53 verse 10, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him." What a remarkable thing to say. How could it ever please the Father to do this to the Son? It pleased him because it would accomplish the salvation of his people.
Now, at the same time, and again, I said we tread on holy ground here, we cannot say that the separation between the Father and the Son at the cross was complete. But Paul made this clear. Again, the Apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 19, I love this line. 2 Corinthians 5:19 says, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself." At the cross, the Father was in the Son doing the work. And so, we have an air of mystery about this, but we dare not soften this. I mean, look at it there in verse 1, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Did you notice that? That's a question. There's a definite question in these words of David, and Jesus appropriated those words to himself on the cross. What Jesus endured on the cross was so complex, so dark, so mysterious, so powerful, eternally, that it was, at least at the moment in his humanity, beyond his ability to figure out. And so he asked a question, "Why?" "Why have you forsaken me?"
Charles Spurgeon considered this question with an emphasis on the word "you." Paraphrasing Spurgeon, it was as if Jesus said this: "I can understand why Judas has forsaken me. I can understand why Peter has forsaken me. But you, O Father, why have you forsaken me?" And if I could, and I want to do this reverently, I want to imagine an answer from the Father to the Son of that question. "Son, you ask me why? It's because, my Son, you have chosen to stand in the place of guilty sinners. You who have never known sin have made the infinite sacrifice to become sin and receive my just wrath that should be placed upon sin and sinners. You do this because of your great love, and also because of my great love. That's the why." Then, again, reverently, I say this, then perhaps the Father gave the Son a glimpse of his reward there. He could see it in his mind's eye, perhaps even while he was on the cross, the righteously robed multitude of his people on heaven's golden streets, every one of them singing praises of the Redeemer throughout all eternity. That was why. To win this people. And, and I don't want to imply for a moment that there was anything light or fun for Jesus on the cross, but, but might we not speculate that there was a glimmer, a spark of satisfaction in the heart of the Son as he glimpsed his reward, even, even on the cross?
And we continue on there in verse 1. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me?" Then we came back to David. David knew what it was to feel the presence and the deliverance of God, and he had experienced it many times before. He knew what it was like to have God help him, and every prior time of help made this dramatic absence of God's help feel more devastating. "Why, God? You've helped me so many times before. Where are you now for me?" There seemed to be no explanation for the lack of God's help. That's why he says, "Why?" Now, I don't have any doubt that David experienced this and that David wrote this Psalm from deep experience in his own life. But, but it was only a shadow compared to how Jesus would have experienced this. Prior to the cross, Jesus Christ lived every moment in conscious fellowship with God the Father, combined with a continual dependence upon the help of both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. But at the cross, Jesus felt helpless, and so it seemed that the Father was so far from helping him.
And then verse 2: "O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not hear." You see, a further dimension of David's agony was the fact that he made repeated, constant appeals to God, and yet felt utterly unheard. His groaning was unanswered, his cry was ignored. And again, David certainly experienced this, but the greater Son of David experienced it in a far greater degree on the cross. Jesus felt abandoned by the Father and felt that his groaning and his cries went unanswered.
Now, putting all of that into perspective from the first two verses, now look at verses three, four, and five. We read here: "But you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in you; they trusted, and you delivered them. They cried to you, and were delivered; they trusted in you, and were not ashamed."
You can tell, at least for a moment here, I'm a bit speechless. Because in the midst of the agony again that David felt in his own life, reflected in the first two verses, but Jesus felt in, in almost infinitely greater measure, despite that agony, look at the cry in verse 3. "But you are holy." The forsaken one remembered God and his greatness, even when he was immersed in suffering. He did not curse God, he did not blaspheme God, and he knew that his present agony did not change God's holiness. "You are holy." Nor did it change God's greatness. Look at that line in verse 3: "You are enthroned on the praises of Israel." God, I know this, that even though I can't figure out my present moment of suffering, I do know this: you are still enthroned in Israel.
Now, we have the sense that the present crisis filled David, and of course the greater Son of David, with a sense of doubt and confusion. Yet, they would never allow doubts as to the holiness or the greatness of God. But whatever David did not know in his present situation, there were things that he did know. Even if he would ask a question, "Why have you forsaken? Why are you so far from helping me?" All that was to accord in the feelings. But this is what I do know. I do know that you're holy God, and I do know that you reign, you are enthroned. And so he says, "First, for our fathers trusted in you. They cried to you and were delivered." You see, David also remembered how God had answered and delivered many times before. Strangely, remembering how God had answered many times before, I see it as adding measures of both comfort and despair. There was comfort in it, knowing that he cried out to the same God who had delivered him before and would deliver him again. But there was despair in knowing that the God who had delivered before now seemed to be so distant and so silent. You can almost hear the agony of the forsaken one. "They cried to you and were delivered." That line from verse 5. "But I cry to you and I feel ignored."
Now, by the way, did you notice there that line in verse 5, or rather verse 4? "Our fathers." In other words, collectively. That David in his suffering when he wrote this, and Jesus as being the prophetic perfection of this, both of them were one with their people. They recognized themselves as part of God's great family in the midst of this.
Now, verse 6. We see them mocking the forsaken one. "Here he describes his agony. But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me ridicule me; they shoot out the lip, they shake their head, saying, 'He trusted in the Lord; let him rescue him, let him deliver him, since he delights in him.'"
You see, the intensity of the conflict made David feel not only ignored, but insignificant. That's why he says in verse 6, "But I am a worm and no man." It seems like God sees to help other people, but God doesn't give any help to worms. And so this low standing that I feel I have in my own eyes, the low standing I know I have in the eyes of others, it simply adds to the agony. And again, it was true of David in his experience when he wrote this Psalm, but it was even more true, it was dramatically fulfilled in the greater Son of David, Jesus Christ. So much so that on the cross, Matthew chapter 27 says that he was "a reproach of men and despised by the people." Again, that's the idea from Matthew 27. I'm quoting from Psalm 22. Cruel men mocked Jesus in his greatest agony on the cross. It's something of a strange miracle that we see before us in the text. The, the Lord of glory brought into association with worms. Spurgeon said something that really made me think on this. He said, "What a contrast between 'I am' and 'I am a worm.'" Jesus many times, especially recorded in the Gospel of John, gave these dramatic "I am" statements, and we just rejoice in reading those. But the one who could call out with all authority and with all power and say, "I am He," also felt, "I, I'm a worm."
Verse 7: "They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 'He trusted in the Lord.'" Now, I'm reading verse 8: "He trusted in the Lord; let him rescue him." David's misery multiplied at those who mocked and misunderstood his agony. They used it all as an excuse to call into question his very relationship with God, even as the friends of Job did with that man who suffered. It's as if they said this, "Well, he says he trusts in the Lord." That's in verse 8. "But, but we all know that the Lord rescues those who trust in him. It seems like he delighted in God, but that must be false because he's not being delivered." So, even as it says in verse 8, "He trusted in the Lord; let him rescue him."
If Jesus identified with the opening words of Psalm 22, with that great cry from the cross, again, Matthew chapter 27, Mark chapter 15, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" That cry from the cross, Jesus identified with the first lines of this Psalm. But his enemies unwittingly identified with the scornful enemies of God and His Anointed in their mockery of Jesus on the cross. This is what it says in Psalm 22, verse 8. I'll read it now again: "He trusted in the Lord; let him rescue him." Now, listen to Matthew 27:43: "He trusted in God; let him deliver him." Now, it's almost the same words. That's why it says in verse 8, "Let him deliver him, since he delights in him."
Now, this statement reveals the frequent ignorance and cruelty of those who oppose God and who oppose God's people. It claimed to see no deliverance when that deliverance would indeed come soon. Listen, those people who mocked David, David made it through whatever crisis he had, and he came through just fine, thank you. But even more so, those people who mocked Jesus on the cross, listen, you just give it a few hours, and he's gonna rise triumphantly from the dead. You see, they questioned the delight of God in this one that they deemed to be forsaken, when God did, and truly does, delight in that one.
Continuing on now, verse 9: "But you are he who took me out of the womb; you made me trust while on my mother's breasts. I was cast upon you from birth; from my mother's womb you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help."
In verse 9, David continues to pour out his heart before God, and he's going to appeal to God and look for reasons to kind of, "God, let me give you an incentive to come help me. You are the one who took me out of the womb." That's in verse 9. David understood both for himself and of course, prophetically speaking for the later to come Messiah, that in the depth of agony and the sense of abandonment, he could still appeal to God in remembrance of better times. "Support, you've met my needs before. You took me out of the womb." The forsaken one, both David of old and Jesus in this ultimate sense, they did not say, "Since I feel abandoned by God, I will abandon him." No, never. They remained steadfast through this dark night of the soul, and they still made appeal to the God who cared for them since birth. I love the phrasing there, verse 9, "out of the womb," "while on my mother's breasts," verse 10, "from birth, you have been my God." You see, the forsaken one argued on very good and logical grounds. He reminded God of the care given since his very earliest days. All those prior graces might seem to be wasted if the sufferer was not rescued in his present crisis. "Lord, you've got an investment in me. Your work, don't forsake me now."
Then verse 11: "Be not far from me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help." You see, again, the plea for help is eloquently, and I would even say persuasively, stated. God seemed far away, but trouble was near, and there's none to help. So, Lord, you must help me. God.
And again, verse 12, the continued agony of the forsaken: "Many bulls have surrounded me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They gape at me with their mouths like a raging and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue clings to my jaws; you have brought me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed me; they pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; they all look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots."
Did you just, did you just hear what I read to you from verses 12 through 18 of Psalm 22? Now, you see how precious, how beautiful, how powerful this Psalm is. Again, not only because it describes the true experience that David had in his own day, but if you can't see Jesus in this Psalm, I don't know where you're looking. You must have your eyes closed.
Let's go back to verse 12. First, the description. "Many bulls have surrounded me." You see, the forsaken one again described his crisis. He described the people tormenting him as if they were strong bulls of Bashan. These were large animals, proverbial for their strength. They surrounded him and they threatened him. And with all this threat around him, how was he? Look at verse 14: "I am poured out like water." The forsaken one felt completely empty. He perceived no resource in himself that was able to meet the crisis at the moment. Whatever strength or resistance he had, it was poured out like water upon the ground. I like what Matthew Poole, the old Puritan commentator, said about this: "My heart faileth, my spirits are spent and gone like water, which once spilled can never be recovered. My very flesh is melted within me, and I am become as weak as water."
That's why he says, verse 14, "My bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within me." Now, again, this, we go back to the title. This is a psalm of David. And I don't have any doubt that this described the physical extremity of David at the time, though of course describing it poetically. But it is also an amazingly specific prophecy of the future suffering of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, on the cross. You see, the deliberately awkward and strained position of the crucified man meant that on the cross, one could say, "My bones are out of joint," as it says there in verse 14. Now, David didn't know the practice of crucifixion in his day, but he described the physical agony of it with the accuracy of a prophet of the Lord.
Then there's also some reason to believe, mainly based on John chapter 19 verse 34, that on the cross, Jesus suffered from a ruptured heart, making the words, "my heart is like wax; it is melted within me." Again, those are amazingly specific words. It says in verse 15, "my tongue clings to my jaws." And as was normal for anyone under the agony of crucifixion, they were under great dehydration and thirst on the cross, and this was Jesus. John chapter 19 verse 28. Verse 15 continues, "you have brought me to the dust of death." Now, David used this moving poetic phrase to describe the extent of his misery. He probably had in mind the curse that God had pronounced upon Adam after Adam's sin. Do you remember that from Genesis chapter 3 verse 19? "For dust you are, and to dust you shall return." And since all humanity was contained in Adam, this curse extended to the entire human race. And David felt himself close to the dust of death. Now, obviously, David did not die in the crisis described by the Psalm. He lived. How do we know? Even when he lived to write the Psalm and other Psalms afterwards. Yet, he came to the edge of death, the edge of mortality, when God brought him to the dust of death.
Now, what was true in a minor way of David, the son of Jesse, the King of Israel, was absolutely true of Jesus in a perfected sense. Jesus, the Son of David, did not merely come to the edge of death. He was plunged into the dust of death and into all the cursedness implied by that phrase. Jesus bore the sting of Adam's curse for us. Galatians 3:13 says, so that we would not have to bear it ourselves.
And then he says in verse 16, "For dogs have surrounded me; the assembly of the wicked has enclosed me." That David's crisis would be bad enough even if he was surrounded by sympathetic friends. But his misery was multiplied because there were violent and wicked men on every side of him. But if you take that phrase in verse 16, think of Jesus on the cross. "For dogs have surrounded me; the assembly of the wicked has enclosed me." In his death, Jesus Christ had few sympathizers. Oh, there were a few there at the foot of the cross, but not many. Mostly the people around him were haters and scoffers and mockers. They surrounded Jesus on every side, and they sought to make his suffering worse in that critical moment.
Then we get to the lines, verse 16: "They pierced my hands and my feet." Now, perhaps here, as David wrote this Psalm, he was referring to wounds he received in struggling against these determined enemies. But perhaps he wrote purely prophetically. In any regard, hundreds of years before the Romans adopted the Persian practice of crucifixion, the Prophet David described the wounds of crucifixion that the greater Son of David would bear. Now, the Masoretic Hebrew text of Psalm 22 verse 16 doesn't say "pierced." It says "as a lion." Yet, the Septuagint, or ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, long before the Christian era, was it translated, it renders the Hebrew text as saying "pierced." Now, the Masoretic Hebrew text shouldn't be casually disregarded, but there is good reason to side with the Septuagint and almost every other translation here. Matter of fact, let me quote to you something from James Montgomery Boice. He says this: "Quote, it may even suggest that the Masoretic text was deliberately pointed in the way that it was by later Jewish scholars to avoid what otherwise would be a nearly inescapable prophecy of Jesus' crucifixion." Oh no, friends, we don't have any doubt. "Pierced" is the right translation there in Psalm 22 verse 16.
And then in verse 17, the agonized cries: "I can count all my bones." You see, David, in his day, examined his wounds and understood that he had no broken bones. But the Son of David, Jesus of Nazareth, also, he, despite the great suffering on the cross, suffered no broken bones. John carefully noted this in John chapter 19, verses 31 through 37. It fulfilled this prophecy, as well as Psalm 34:20, and as well as the pattern of the Passover lamb, which was to be sacrificed without the breaking of bones. You'll find that in Exodus chapter 12 verse 46 and Numbers chapter 9 verse 12.
Continuing on, verse 17: "They look and stare at me." In David's crisis, he was the focus of unwanted attention. His tormentors did not allow him the dignity of private suffering, but they exposed everything to their stare. David's greater Son also found no place to hide from the unwanted stares of cruel, mocking men at the cross. You see, on the cross, Jesus was the focus of much mocking and humiliation. Matthew chapter 27, Mark chapter 15, it lays it all out for us. But, you know, Jesus was also the focus of simple astonishment. I remember when the Centurion said, this is in Matthew chapter 27 verse 54, the Centurion supervising the execution of Jesus on the cross said this: "Truly, this was the Son of God." And Luke also noted, this is in Luke chapter 23 verse 48, "The whole crowd who came together to that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned. They recognized that something significant had happened. It wasn't just a normal execution of slaves and criminals."
Then in verse 18: "They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." Again, I, I believe this happened in the real experience of King David, that he was so humbled before his adversaries on an occasion, and he was so powerless against them, that they took even his clothing and used it for themselves. But as with other aspects of Psalm 22, this was fulfilled even more literally in the experience of Jesus than it ever was in the life of David. As was the custom at that time, Jesus was stripped naked, or nearly naked, for the cross, and the soldiers gambled, they cast lots, as it says there in verse 18, for his clothing at the very foot of the cross. John chapter 19, verses 23 and 24, quote this passage. So does Matthew chapter 27 verse 35. They quote this line of Psalm 22 as being fulfilled in Jesus at the cross.
Now, these next couple verses, I do want you to note carefully, beginning at verse 19 and taking it to the first lines of verse 21. We're not going to read the last line of verse 21, and we're saving that for the next section. But, but look at just this, this, um, this end cry for help here. Verse 19: "But you, O Lord, do not be far from me; O my strength, hasten to help me! Deliver my precious life from the sword, my lonely life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth, and from the horns of the wild oxen."
Again, did you see that in verse 19? "But you, O Lord, do not be far from me." That's the same request that we saw back in verse 11. It's repeated. That David seemed to believe that he could endure anything if he enjoyed the conscious presence and help of God. And so his plea was not focused on changing the situation. It wasn't, "Lord, get me out of here." It was, "God, be near me. Draw near to me. If you draw near to me, then I can endure this." "Hasten to help me," verse 19. "Deliver me," verse 20. "Save me," verse 21. And then he pictured his adversaries as vicious animals. Verse 20, "the dog." Verse 21, "the lion's mouth." Verse 21, "the horns of the wild oxen." David pled for help and deliverance that the presence of God brings.
Now, these lines reflect not only the great danger and misery that David experienced, but even more particularly what Jesus Christ, the Son of David, experienced. But now, starting with the last line of verse 21, we're going to see the amazing trust. Because you've got to admit, there's agony all through these first 21 verses, but there's so much trust in God. Now, you're going to see what God does for the one who trusts in him. Last line of verse 21, ready? "You have answered me."
"I will declare your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly, I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and fear him, all you offspring of Israel."
A beautiful is this, that last line of verse 21: "You have answered me." After pouring out his soul in agony, now the forsaken one has a glorious sense that God has answered him. The crisis became bearable in the knowledge that God was not removed from the suffering, nor was God silent in the suffering, but he draws near in the midst of it. You see, the answer of God to the forsaken one instantly meant that he no longer felt forsaken. Look at that, that last line of verse 21: "You have answered me." That's not forsaken. Now, the deliverance from the actual crisis may take a little bit of time, but the deliverance from the sense of being forsaken by God in the midst of the crisis, he held that in hand right then. There was immense relief, immense joy, immense peace in those words, "You have answered me."
Now, again, as we've been saying all throughout this Psalm, it's easy to see these words fulfilled in the experience of David, but it was perfectly completed in Jesus Christ. This was also the resolution that another forsaken one named Job fought so hard for. You see, in the book of Job, we see that even without an immediate deliverance from difficulty, there was a sense of immense comfort and simply knowing that God was there and that God would not be silent in the midst of crisis. And knowing that Jesus fulfilled this prophetic Psalm, it makes me wonder. Can I just wonder about some things before you right now? I wonder when Jesus spoke or lived the fulfillment of these words, "You have answered me." Now, perhaps it's impossible to say this with certainty, but perhaps it was while he was still nailed to the cross, after the mysterious, glorious transaction of bearing the sin of mankind, after, after Jesus cried out, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Perhaps it was even after the triumphant announcement recorded in John chapter 19 verse 30: "It is finished." Yet before, or maybe it was even in the warm words that Jesus said last of all on the cross, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." That's in Luke chapter 23 verse 46. You say those words point to a reestablished sense of fellowship, replacing the prior sense of forsakenness. Wouldn't you say that there's two different senses there? "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" and "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." It's as if, in between, close to the end, Jesus was able to say, either literally with his words or with all of his heart, "You have answered me."
And then in verse 22: "I will declare your name to my brethren." You see, having been delivered, if not from the crisis itself, certainly from the sense of having been forsaken in the crisis, now the promise is made to glorify and praise the God of deliverance. Other people need to know of God's greatness in such extremity. Now, I find it fascinating that Hebrews chapter 2 verse 12 quotes the second half of Psalm 22, specifically verse 22 of Psalm 22, proving clearly that the entire Psalm points to Jesus, not just the agony of the first half. I want to just rephrase that so everybody knows what I'm talking about. We have a way of reading something, well, maybe just say, I have had a way of reading Psalm 22, maybe it's not you, but it is me. I used to read Psalm 22 and only really focus on the agony, the portion in the first half of Psalm 22 as belonging to Jesus, and all that's true. But what I had not fully appreciated is that the triumphant part of the second half, just as much, belongs to Jesus. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 12 proves it. You know, on the night before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed a glorious prayer. It's in John chapter 17. And one line of that prayer reads this. It's in verse 26 of John 17. Jesus said this: "I have declared to them your name and I will declare it." Those words, prayed in the shadow of the coming cross, can be understood as a deliberate desire to fulfill this word in Psalm 22 verse 22: "I will declare your name to my brethren." Jesus understood that his obedient work on the cross would bring great glory to his God and Father. Declaring the greatness of his name. "Father, this is one of the reasons why I'm going to the cross. This is one of the reasons why I'm going to pay the price. This is one of the reasons why I'm going to endure to the end, because I want to declare your name to my brethren."
We may say that this section really teaches us Jesus' desire to proclaim this. I mean, look at verse 23: "You who fear the Lord, praise him!" I like that. That's a command given to us. Are you one of those who fear the Lord? Well, then listen to Psalm 22 verse 23. "You praise him." The command is given to praise, to glorify, to fear the Lord. The God of such great deliverance deserves all three of those things: our praise, our glorification, and our fear. He deserves all three of those things. And again, we prophetically see it in this section. Jesus doing two great things in the aftermath of God's great work, or his great work on the cross. First of all, Jesus declared God's name, verse 22: "I will declare your name to my brethren." But then Jesus also leads the redeemed in praise. Please look at that other line from verse 22: "In the midst of the assembly, I will praise you." Okay, well, stop for just a minute there. This is one of those little lines from the Psalms that when you meditate on it, it'll absolutely stun you. Think about this. Jesus says prophetically in Psalm 22, because can we agree this is Jesus speaking prophetically? Yes, it was true of David in his day, but David spoke beyond himself to the Son of David. Jesus says prophetically in Psalm 22, "In the midst of the assembly, I will praise you." He says that to God his Father. So, the Son promises to praise the Father. We're in the midst of the assembly. The assembly of what? Well, you know what an assembly is. You know, I went to elementary school and junior high or middle school and high school all in America, and in American schools, we have assemblies. There's times when they call together all the student group, and everybody gets together in the gym or outside in some arena or something like that, and everybody gets together for assembly. It's gathering together all the people of the school. You wonder what the assembly is here in verse 22. "In the midst of the assembly." It means all of God's people. And where is Jesus? He is in the midst of the assembly. Okay, let me read you something Charles Spurgeon said. He wrote this. "I like to think that when we pray on earth, our prayers are not alone, but a great High Priest is there to offer our petitions with his own. When we sing on earth, it is the same. It is not Jesus, excuse me, is not Jesus Christ in the midst of the congregation gathering up all the notes which come from sincere lips to put them into the golden censer and to make them rise as precious incense before the throne of infinite majesty." The simple point is this, friend: Jesus praises and praises with us in the midst of the assembly. "I will praise you."
Continuing on this unbelievable note of praise, check it out here, verses 24 and 25. We read this: "For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has he hidden his face from him; but when he cried out to him, he heard. My praise shall be of you in the great assembly; I will pay my vows before those who fear him."
Now, David's triumphant words here, verse 24, again, true of David, but perfectly fulfilled in Jesus Christ. These triumphant words reflect a profound spiritual wisdom and depth. The God who answers the forsaken one still allowed the affliction of the afflicted. Yet, notice that line: "He has not despised or abhorred it." That's in verse 24. God has used and would use that affliction to good and great purpose. Look, we just need to understand the affliction that David went through, it did good for him. The affliction that Jesus went through, it did good for him. It sounds trite to say that because we're talking about perfection with Jesus Christ, but friends, don't you understand? Some of God's people automatically associate all affliction with the disfavor of God. Now, it is true that sometimes affliction may come as punishment for the unbeliever or as discipline for the believer. Yet, sometimes affliction is something that God does not despise, and he uses it to good effect in the lives of his people. We see this in the sense that the words of Isaiah chapter 53 verse 10 were fulfilled. It says this: "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him." The affliction was not despised.
As well, verse 24 says, "nor has he hidden his face from him." Now, certainly David, and Jesus after him, felt that the Father hid his face. I mean, do we have to remind ourselves of the words of verses 1 and 2? "Why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me? You do not hear." Again, Psalm 22, verses 1 and 2 of this very same song. Yet, now, after God's answer has come, it is clear that he never did leave the afflicted one, even in the midst of the affliction. Instead, verse 24: "When he cried to him, he heard." Now, the answer seemed an intolerable long time in coming, but it came. Both David and the Son of David, Jesus Christ, could both say, "He heard my cry." Therefore, in verse 25, "My praise shall be of you in the great assembly; I will pay my vows."
Now, there are two aspects to a right response when God does such a wonderful deliverance. The first right response is public praise. The second right response is keeping promises. And that's what David talks about there in verse 25. "I'll praise you in the great assembly. I'll pay my vows."
Now, verse 26. He's going to talk about others who also rejoice in the God who answers so gloriously. Look at this, verse 26: "The poor shall eat and be satisfied. Let those who seek Him, or so those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you."
Verse 26: "The poor shall eat and be satisfied." If God shows such faithfulness to the afflicted, then there's hope for the poor. The good God will take care of the poor who trust in him and seek him. They will praise the Lord also. You see, the faithfulness of God to the forsaken one, and here we're talking ultimately of Jesus, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" The faithfulness of God did forsake and one becomes a foundation for his faithfulness to other people in need, such as the poor. His satisfaction in the work of the Son of David means that grace and blessing and joy comes to others. "Let your heart live forever." That's a joyous proclamation. Verse 26: "Those who seek Him will praise the Lord." There is a promise in this. All those who seek Him will and find the Lord, and they will praise Him.
And then, wow, get ready for this one. Verse 27: "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord." Can I say this a little bit crazy here? Verse 27 also says, "All the families of the nations shall worship before you." Suddenly, we've gone from this focus of trouble and affliction for the one who felt forsaken, and now, by the time we get to verse 27, we're looking all around the globe. We're looking for the work of God to extend to every place around the earth. I'll read verse 27 again: "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you."
You see, not only is it true that the Lord has not despised or abhorred the afflictions of the afflicted (that's in verse 24), but he used that affliction to reach all the ends of the world for the knowledge of God, for repentance unto Him, and for His worship. "All the families of the nations shall worship before you." You see, we may say that this section of Psalm 22 shows another great reason why Jesus went to the cross. He went out of simple love for those who would believe on Him in His saving work, and therefore those who would remember and turn to the Lord.
Is not an overly sentimental exaggeration to say that Jesus thought of his redeemed, and He loved them up to the cross, and even on the cross. Brother and sisters, I'm telling you, if you belong to God, Jesus thought of you at the cross. He remembered. He thought of you, of those who would remember Him and turn to the Lord, of the families of the earth that would come and worship Him.
As Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 says, that Jesus, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame. Psalm 22 powerfully displays that joy, both in His obedience and in the glorifying of God the Father, and the joy of rescuing and loving those who would trust on Him, that there would be brethren that He would declare the name of God unto. That's in verse 22.
Alright, let's read to the end now. Verse 28 to 31, the end verses of this song. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and He rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before Him. Even he who cannot keep himself alive, a posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation. They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done this.
Verse 28: The kingdom is the Lord's, and He rules over the nations. You see, the experience of affliction and crisis, it did not make the one who felt forsaken at the beginning of the psalm, it didn't make them lose any sense of confidence of God's power and authority. No, the Lord's reign over the nations makes sense of both His prior crisis and the call to have all the nations worshiped before the Lord, that we saw back in verse 27. You know that phrase in verse 28, "The Kingdom is the Lord's, and He rules over the nations." That reminds us that one day Jesus will reign over all nations. It would be unthinkable otherwise.
Then verse 29: All the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before Him. The Lord God is so highly exalted that everybody honors Him, both the prosperous of the earth mentioned in verse 20, and those who go down to the dust. All of them are going to worship Him. Now, it is of note that though all honor the Lord, they honor Him in different ways. You see, the prosperous of the earth mentioned in verse 29, they eat and worship. They enjoy a fellowship meal with God. In contrast, those who go down to the dust simply bow before the Lord in humbled reverence. That's in verse 29 as well.
You know, I'm fascinated by that idea in verse 29. It's much the same idea as the later passage of the Apostle Paul when he wrote this, Philippians chapter 2, verses 10 and 11. Paul wrote this, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and those on earth and of those under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. It's as if, list, everybody's going to bow the knee. Everybody's going to worship the Lord. You can do it as one of the prosperous ones of the earth and enjoy a fellowship meal with God and worship Him, or you can go down to the dust and you'll bow down before Him, but everybody's going to worship Him on that day.
And by the way, those who go down to the dust suggests those who are rightly humbled, but it can also be understood in a broader sense. Earlier in the psalm, dust suggested the mortality of man and his place under the curse. That's back in verse 15. David might be using the phrase "those who go down to the dust" as a simple representation of all humanity. Now, if that's true, then the phrase that follows in verse 29, "even he who cannot keep himself alive," follows the same thought. And it's a suggestive phrase, especially considering the connection in the psalm with Jesus the Messiah, the greater Son of David. Because of all humanity, Jesus was singular. He was alone as the one who could keep himself alive. That line in verse 29, "even he who cannot keep himself alive," that was true of every single person humanity except Jesus Christ Himself. They are going to see that Jesus was true when He said, "No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again." That's in John chapter 10 verse 18.
Then in verse 30, it speaks that a posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation. The faithfulness of God unto the one who felt forsaken in the first part of the psalm. God's faithfulness towards that one is told now throughout all generations. It brings great glory to the Lord. They will all look at what has been accomplished in and through the one who felt forsaken, and they're going to hear that He has done this.
Verse 31: Who's the "He"? It's God Himself. This was God's work. So there's going to be service unto God throughout the generations. Did you see that in verse 30? "A posterity shall serve Him." It results in God's fame throughout the generations. Verse 30: "It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation." And it results in the spread of God's righteous message, the message of God's righteousness throughout all the generations. Verse 31: "They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born."
And if you think about it, we can say that Jesus thought of His Jewish brothers on the cross. Verse 22 mentions "my brethren." That would be the Jewish people. He thought of the Gentiles who come into the assembly of the redeemed. If you take a look at verse 25, it says "the great assembly." Verse 25. He even thought of future generations who He would rescue and who would trust Him. Verse 32, "the next generation." Verse 31, "to a people who will be born." All of this adds to the wonderful truth. It was true for King David of Israel, but it's far more gloriously fulfilled in Jesus Christ, that none of the forsaken one's sufferings were wasted. Every drop of the cup of agony that Jesus drank was and is used to the glory of God.
You see, in the fullest measure, Jesus appropriated the victory of the second half of this Psalm, just as much as He did the agony of the first half. Remember this, Jesus cried out before He died, "It is finished." That's John chapter 19 verse 30. This is, or may very well be, a quotation from the last line of verse 22. Now, in our text, that verse reads, "that He has done it." But, but the idea, at least according to James Montgomery's boys, is that there's no object for that verb in Hebrew, and it could equally well be translated, "It is finished." Can you think about that just for a moment? It may very well be that Jesus quoted not only from the first line of Psalm 22, but from the last line of Psalm 22, saying, "My work, my life, it all encompasses every verse of this marvelous song."
Darica Kidner says this, "The psalm which began with the cry of dereliction ends with the word 'He has wrought it,' an announcement not far removed from our Lord's great cry, 'It is finished.'" Well, it's been my pattern here through the Book of Psalms, at the end of the psalm, I say, "Well, how does this psalm point to Jesus?" Brother, sister, I'm not going to do that with this one. Psalm 22 points to Jesus in almost every line of this tremendous psalm. It powerfully proclaims to us the suffering and the glory of the Messiah. Yes, yes, understand, it speaks of Jesus's agony on the cross, spiritually, emotionally, physically, but it also speaks of His transcendent triumph on the cross, a triumph that you and I can live in and walk in to the glory of God.
Let me pray just for that. Father, we were a little bit stunned by such a remarkable psalm. This song that was real in David's experience, yet Lord, it is so undeniably true that he spoke as a prophet of God of things that would be fulfilled far more perfectly in Jesus Christ than ever would be fulfilled in David himself. So thank you, Jesus. Thank you for the agony that You surrendered to. Thank you for the victory that You've won on our behalf. And Lord, we just want to follow You, Lord Jesus, thanking You, praising You, in the midst of the assembly. We honor You, Lord God, and we pray to You in Jesus' name. Amen.
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