This psalm describes in detail the excruciating pain and suffering which our Lord and Savior underwent to pay our wage of sin. On at least eight occasions, it is referenced elsewhere in scripture and describes the unique moment in history when the Son of God was forsaken. Psalm 22, Psalm 23 and 24 form a trilogy of Christ the Shepherd. In this psalm, the Good Shepherd dies for the sheep. In Psalm 23, the Great Shepherd lives for the sheep and cares for them. And in Psalm 24, finally, the Chief Shepherd returns in glory to reward his sheep for their service. Join Carl now for this insightful broadcast, as he shares the foretelling of the crucifixion which wasn’t even invented when King David penned these words…
Here is a complete transcript of the podcast…(below)
Friend, today we will discuss the Psalm of the Crucifixion, or the Psalm of the Cross, namely Psalm 22. After two psalms that dwell on the strength of God and the victories experienced by David, Psalm 22 captures quite a different, more somber mood. This is the description of Christ on the cross and the very words he uttered from the cross. There are no less than eight mentions of Christ on the cross, largely from the Gospel of Matthew and two instances from the Gospel of John, which I will get into here shortly. But friend, this is a description of Christ being suspended between heaven and earth as he takes sin upon himself. And as he does so, he becomes sin for us, yet he is also forsaken by God himself. Let me read it for you now.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you hear me not, and in the night season, and am not silent. But you are holy, O you that inhabit the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in you, they trusted, and you did deliver them. They cried unto you, and they were delivered. They trusted in you, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted in the Lord, that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. But you are he that took me out of the womb. You did make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breast. I was cast upon you from the womb. You are my God from my mother’s belly. But not far from me, for trouble is near. For there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed about me. Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths as a raving 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 in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a pot’s herd, and my tongue is cleaved to my jaws. And you have brought me into the dust of death, for dogs have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones. They look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and have cast lots upon my vesture. But be not thou far from me, O Lord. O my strength, haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the God.
Save me from the lion’s mouth, for you have heard me from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare your name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation while I praise you. Yea, they that fear the Lord praise him. All ye, the seed of Jacob, glorify him and fear him. All ye, the seed of Israel, for you have not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath he hid his face from him. But when he cried unto him, he heard. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them that fear him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek him. Your heart shall live forever. All the ends of the world shall remember and trust in the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before you. For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and he is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship. All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him, and none can keep alive his own soul. A seed shall serve him. It shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born that he hath done this.”
Friends, Psalm 22 is unique. It is special. It describes Christ’s suffering on the cross. When he became sin for us. And the famous words, Eli, Eli, lama, sabachthani, which are mentioned from the Aramaic and quoted by Christ on the cross. It is very clear a reference of him being forsaken by his father. Because he became sin for us, because he became a curse for us, God had to look away, friend. Christ was hanging between heaven and earth. This was the moment, the most monumental and pivotal moment through the annals of time when our sin issue was dealt with once and for all. When Christ made propitiation for us, we now can access that propitiation. We are no longer at enmity with God and can embrace the blood of his son, Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 2:9, it says that “God tasted death for every man through his son.”
And this forsaking was very difficult for Christ. For this forsaking began in the garden of Gethsemane and it ran over into the cross, friend. I’m reading eight instances here in this Psalm where God is referencing the Gospels. Number one, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Referenced in Matthew 27:46, “I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people.” Matthew chapter 27 verses 29 through 31, “All that see me laugh to scorn, they shoot out the lip” they shake the head in reference to the scourging by the Roman soldiers prior to the cross that Jesus took, including the crown of thorns upon his head and the blood loss that began with the beating and the scourging and the mocking.
He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him. Matthew chapter 27 verse 43, “I am poured out like water. All of my bones are out of joint.” Friend, the truth is that when Christ was laid up on crucifixion and the actual weight of the cross was placed into the holding in the floor, it would have slammed down and literally put all of his bones out of joint. I believe from the very beginning of the crucifixion, that’s when he would have experienced this dislocation in every joint and sinew of his body. My tongue cleaves to my jaws. Dogs have compassed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. This is referenced in Matthew 27 again and John chapter 20 verses 2 through 7. And John 19 also references this horrendous suffering that Christ experienced for us on the cross. “They parted my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture.” Think about it. Crucifixion wasn’t even invented when David penned this psalm. Hundreds of years prior to Christ’s crucifixion, yet he was foretelling of the crucifixion itself and describes it in detail. Jesus was a target of scorn and ridicule. He was surrounded by strong bulls and roaring lions. These are two different symbols for powerful enemies.
He describes complete exhaustion, disheartenment, weakness, and thirst as he was on the cross for those hours. And of course, the sun became darkened and there was an earthquake. It’s almost as if earth had rejected Christ, just as men had rejected Christ, just as God the Father would have rejected Christ as he turned away in the very moment of becoming sin for us. In verse 6, he describes himself, “as a worm”, the lowest of animals or the lowest of insects, I guess you could say. But it’s a metaphor for how low Christ would have felt as he became sin. When he knew no sin, he was God incarnate from the foundation of the world that entered this world and became effectively a weak worm of the dust as he took on that nature.
Friend, I’m thinking of that play that should not be mentioned, that Shakespearean play. And Lady Macbeth’s steely determination to get her husband to kill Duncan from the outset she’s constantly manipulating her husband and eventually coerces him into doing the deed itself. Yet she has to live with the guilt, the guilt and the shame of committing murder, which would eventually cause her to ruin as she took her own life. But listen to this. A quote from this is, all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, out damned spot, I say.
Out damned spot. This is the fifth act, scene one of Macbeth, where she’s trying to get rid of this spot of blood that is on her hand. And friend, we are all murderers in God’s sight. God took our place as we were murderers on the cross. He was murdered for us as we were murderers. And if we hold hate in our heart, we are akin to murderers. And that is the bar that Christ set. The bar is much higher, much higher than the Old Testament. And then friend, we have reference to the heart melting in the midst of my bowels. My heart turned to wax, literally referring to the terrible pain and feeling of pressure on Christ’s heart with blood loss. And incidentally, I have an article, The Blood of Christ, Mysterious and Majestic on my website that goes into the suffering that Christ undertook for us on the cross and prior to where he was scourged and the incredible amount of blood loss that took place there. And then when the Romans pierced his side, blood and water came out.
And that’s reference to the water or the cavities of the heart rather imploding and bringing water into the heart. There shouldn’t be any water inside the heart at that stage. But there was due to the incredible stress that Christ went through on the cross. And in that hot Middle Eastern sun, his tongue would have been cleaving to the roof of his mouth, no doubt. Then in verse 16, it talks about the dogs surrounding him. This is a reference to the Gentiles, because the pious Jews referred to the Gentiles as dogs. And thank God, friend, this Gentile has been brought into that branch. I have become a partaker of the true vine as a Gentile that was originally rejected by Christ’s covenant, but is now engrafted in. And we, friend, the whole world has access to salvation through Christ.
And later on, there’s reference to the messianic time, the millennial reign, and Zechariah chapter 14 talks about it. When all the nations shall ascend to Jerusalem to worship the Messiah, of course, this is something to come. Psalm 22, Psalm 23 and 24 form a trilogy of Christ the Shepherd. In 22, the Good Shepherd dies for the sheep. In Psalm 23, the Great Shepherd lives for the sheep and cares for them. And in Psalm 24, finally, the Chief Shepherd returns in glory to reward his sheep for their service. And in this psalm, friend, that we have read today, there are three burdens mentioned between verses 1 and 5, the burden of being abandoned by God. Verses 6 through 11 show that Christ was despised by the people. And finally, through verses 12 through 21, he was condemned by the law.
Christ took our burdens, and we need to take no burden, friend. We are to cast our care upon him. He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was buried for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. And friend, I have relied on that verse many times for the manifestation of healing in prayer. By his stripes, the stripes that occurred from the cat and nine tails, the literal wedges of flesh that on the recoil were ripped from Christ’s skin. These are the stripes of which this psalm speaks. And Isaiah 53, which I just referenced, is why Christ came. He came as a substitutionary sacrifice. He paid our wage of sin. And friend, those in hell who are burning right now, their wages were paid, yet they did not appropriate the blood of Christ on earth. And that is very, very sad.
https://sermonwriter.com/biblical-commentary/old-testament-psalm-22-commentary/
https://carljosephministries.com/podcast/psalm-5-vengeance-is-mine/
Title: Psalm 22: Psalm of the Crucifixion
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