Psalm 22

 

This psalm has been fittingly entitled, The Psalm of the Cross. It is truly phenomenal in that it reads like an eyewitness account of Christ’s crucifixion, despite the fact that David, its divinely inspired penman, wrote it a thousand years before Christ was crucified. Before we proceed, we should pause to slip off our shoes, for we are stepping here onto some of Scripture's most sacred holy ground.

 

Psalm 22:1a

 

BIBLE TEXT: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Psalm 22:1a KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The depths of these words, especially when they were cried out by Christ on the cross of Calvary, are as profound and fathomless as any found in all of Scripture. (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The “why” of this bloodcurdlingly cry of Christ on the cross of Calvary is you and I, for it was for our forgiveness that Christ was forsaken; indeed, if He had not been forsaken, you and I could have never been forgiven!

 

THE FOLLOWING EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 5: THE SALVATION OF MAN'S SOUL FROM OUR BOOK THE KING OF HEARTS: THE SIMPLICITY OF LIVING IN THE SPIRIT PROVIDES A DEEPER DIVE INTO THE DEEP AND PROFOUND TRUTH OF PSALM 22:1.

 

Before our sins against God can be forgiven our sin debt must be paid. God, being just, can never wink at our sins or just simply overlook them. He must demand payment in full, lest He cease to be just. His justice demands that our sin debt be paid off before any pardon can be offered.

 

What is the debt of sin? According to the Bible, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Wages are something you earn. Every sinner in the world is sentenced to death, because we’ve earned it. It is not just physical death that is our just deserts; it is spiritual death as well. Our rebellion against God has not only earned us an end to our earthly life, but also the forfeiture of eternal life. Our sins against God have earned us an eternal separation from Him.

 

For every sin that has ever been committed someone must surely die. Not one sin can go unpunished; all must be paid for. This is why Hebrews 9:22 says, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without the shedding of blood is no remission.” Since “life is in the blood” (see Leviticus 17:11), blood must be shed and life poured out before any sin can be forgiven. In other words, the only hope we have of being forgiven of our sins and escaping death is if someone should shed their blood in place of ours and dare to die in our place.

 

Since you and I cannot pay the sin debt we owe God, Christ came into the world to pay it for us on the cross. By shedding His blood in place of ours and dying in our place Christ has made it possible for you and I to be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God. That Christ paid our sin debt, as well as that of the whole world (1 John 2:2), is proven by His triumphant shout from the cross, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). This Greek word, “telelestai,” literally means “paid in full.” Papyri receipts from the time of Christ have been recovered with the word “telelestai” written across them. Before Christ “bowed His head [on the cross], and gave up the ghost,” He shouted, “Paid in full!” across the sin debt of the world.

 

Since “Jesus paid it all,” as the title of a beloved old hymn attests, all we need to do to be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God is accept by faith Christ’s substitutionary death upon the cross. When we do, our sin is forever pardoned and our sin debt paid in full. It is as though Christ gives us from His own nail-scarred hand a receipt for our sin debt signed in His own blood “Paid in full!”

 

When Christ died on the cross He did more than just die for our sins; according to the Scripture, He actually became our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). When Christ became our sin on the cross of Calvary God the Father poured out the full fury of His wrath on Christ for every sin that has been or ever will be committed. On the cross, Christ suffered the full punishment for all the sins of all time. This explains why Christ, already kneeling under the shadow of the cross, suffered such agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-45, Luke 22:39-46). It was not, as is commonly believed, the physical pain and suffering of the cross that caused Christ to shrink back and His sweat to become like “great drops of blood” in the garden. Instead, it was the fact that Christ was about to become the sin of the world and suffer the full brunt of His Father’s wrath. Although the physical death Christ died on the cross would be more than enough to cause most men to sweat blood, it was the spiritual death that He was facing that caused Christ’s anguish in Gethsemane.

 

The fact that Christ experienced spiritual death—separation from God the Father—is made abundantly clear by Christ’s bloodcurdling cry from the cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me” (Matthew 27:46). When Christ died on the cross, becoming the sin of the world, God the Father turned His back on His Son. Since God cannot look upon sin (Habakkuk 1:13), He turned away from His Son as soon as His Son took upon Himself the sin of the world.

 

With “the Father of lights” (James 1:17) turning away and “the light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5) doused out by the sin of the world, is there any wonder that the Scripture says the earth was suddenly shrouded in an inexplicable darkness (Matthew 27:45)? Suspended between heaven and earth and forsaken by both, Christ hung that dark day on the cruel cross of Calvary. Alone and abandoned Christ died for you and me.

 

READ THE KING OF HEARTS: THE SIMPLICITY OF LIVING IN THE SPIRIT

 

Psalm 22:1b

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?" (Psalm 22:1b KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The reason God the Father was “far from helping” God the Son on the cross of Calvary was so that He could help sinners. If the Father had saved His Son from death on the tree, He could have never saved you and me from our death in trespasses and sins.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: We owe our salvation and redemption to God’s refusal to spare or rescue His own Son from the cross.(Romans 8:32)

 

Psalm 22:2

 

BIBLE TEXT: "O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent." (Psalm 22:2 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Christ practiced what He preached, for He neither fainted in prayer in the night of His crying in Gethsemane nor on the day of His crucifixion on Golgotha. (Luke 18:1)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: No night is too dark nor day too nightmarish to pray in.

 

Psalm 22:3

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." (Psalm 22:3 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Since God inhabits the praise of His people, there’s no better way to assure yourself of His presence than your adoration of His person.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: To praise God sincerely in hardship and heartache we must see Him as holy, in spite of all of life’s hard to understand and horrendous hornets’ nests.

 

Psalm 22:4-5

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded." (Psalm 22:4-5 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Ours is the triumphant heritage of the saints, who have always trusted the Lord for deliverance through all the difficult trials of their lives.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Those who trust the Lord for their deliverance will never be stumped or shamed.

 

Psalm 22:6

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people." (Psalm 22:6 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: In this startling and stunning verse of Scripture, we see how Christ emptied Himself of His glory on the cross to the last granule, in that the great “I AM” groans, “I am a worm, and no man,” but “a reproach of men.”

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: As Christ died for sinners, sinners despised the dying Christ. Truly, sin has never reared its ugly head more contemptibly than it did at Calvary!

 

Psalm 22:7-8

 

BIBLE TEXT: "All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him." (Psalm 22:7-8 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: At the cross, the creature held his Creator in contempt, the sinner scoffed at his Savior, and lowly men mocked their Lord and Master.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Irony of all ironies, if Christ had come down from the cross, as foul sinners taunted Him to do (Mark 15:29-32) and as He could have easily done (Matthew 26:53), it would have been the forever undoing of every sinner.

 

He could have called ten thousand angels,

To destroy the world and set Him free.

He could have called ten thousand angels,

But He died alone for you and me. (Ray Overholt)

 

Psalm 22:9-10

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly." (Psalm 22:9-10 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: During His mutilation on the cross, Christ thought of His miraculous Incarnation, for He was born to die and given a mortal body so that He could do so, by offering it on the cross as a sacrifice for the salvation of the world. (Hebrews 10:5)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: If God takes us from the womb into His arms at our birth, how monstrous of a sin is abortion, which rips the unborn from the hands and arms of God?

 

Psalm 22:11

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help." (Psalm 22:11 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Never is the need for God’s presence, who is our present help in time of trouble, more needed than when trouble is near.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: When we read the woeful words “there is none to help,” how can we help but not think of our Lord being forsaken on the cross, by both Heaven—His Father—and earth—His followers?

 

Psalm 22:12-13

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion." (Psalm 22:12-13 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Like the powerful bulls of Bashan, it was the powerful men of Christ’s day, both the civil rulers and religious leaders, who beset and belittled Him on the cross.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Our adversary, who walketh about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, often uses the gaping mouths of the mighty, his secondhand lions, to gobble up the godly. (1 Peter 5:8)

 

Psalm 22:14-17

 

BIBLE TEXT: "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 potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me." (Psalm 22:14-17 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The physical suffering Christ endured for us during His crucifixion, which is the most cruel means of execution ever dreamed up in the demented mind of fallen man, is vividly described for us here in these most disturbing verses.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: To not only see here the bloody, bruised, and battered figure of Christ dying on the cross, but also His disjointed and protruding bones, His trembling and feverish body, His dried and parched lips, His surrounding scoffers, and His pierced hands and feet, should surely tear at every heart and tear up every eye.

 

Psalm 22:16b

 

BIBLE TEXT: "…they pierced my hands and my feet." (Psalm 22:16b KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: These words of David clearly speak of the crucified Christ, whose hands and feet were not only pierced for our pardon, but to make propitiation for the sins of our whole world. (1 John 2:2)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The only manmade things in Heaven are the nail prints in the hands and feet of Jesus and the spear mark in His side. (Luke 24:39; John 20:27)

 

Psalm 22:18

 

BIBLE TEXT: "They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture." (Psalm 22:18 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Once again, this phenomenal psalm proves itself to be prewritten history, by precisely predicting the soldiers’ casting of lots at the foot of the cross for the seamless robe of our sinless Redeemer. (John 19:23-24)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Unfortunately, many gamble with their souls at the foot of the cross today, by wagering on whether or not to wrap themselves in the seamless robe of Christ’s perfect righteousness, which alone can make them pleasing and acceptable to God.

 

Psalm 22:19

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me." (Psalm 22:19 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: In times of distress, we can ill afford any distance between ourselves and our God, or any sinful hindrances that hinder Him from swiftly hastening to us.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The best way to be close to God and strengthened by Him in trying times is to commune with Him and be strong in Him all the time.

 

Psalm 22:20

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog." (Psalm 22:20 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: This is a prayer for the soul’s salvation from the hound of Hell and his hellish pack of curs, both human and demonic, such as those who circled the cross of Christ.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Tragically, most people call their mortal body rather than their immortal soul “my darling” today, a fact proven by the inordinate time they spend focused on their healthcare, while totally forsaking their soul-care.

 

Psalm 22:21

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns." (Psalm 22:21 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: This verse, like the previous one, is a prayer for deliverance from the devil, the roaring lion, who walks about seeking whom he may devour, and his beastly band, both human and demonic, who do his bidding by goring the godly.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The Hebrew word translated “unicorn” by the King James translators is translated “wild oxen” by modern-day translators. The archaic word is obviously enigmatic and the creature to which it once referred extinct.

 

Psalm 22:22

 

BIBLE TEXT: "I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee." (Psalm 22:22 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: In this verse, we step away from the cross and into the church of the Firstborn with Christ, the Firstborn from the Dead, so that all of His born again brethren can bless His name and breakout in His praise. (Hebrews 12:23; Colossians 1:18; Romans 8:29)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Christ no longer occupies the cross or the tomb, but His church, where He is no longer impaled nor entombed, but exalted and extolled.

 

Psalm 22:23

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel." (Psalm 22:23 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Both the chosen and elect children of God—the physical and spiritual seed of Israel—are to fear, praise, and glorify the Lord.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: God has united both His chosen people—Jews—and His elect people—Christians—together in His church for the glory and praise of His Son, Jesus Christ.

 

Psalm 22:24

 

BIBLE TEXT: "For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard." (Psalm 22:24 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The earthly afflictions of God’s children should never be misunderstood as their Heavenly Father’s abhorrence of them.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Although the prayers of the afflicted are not immediately answered, the afflicted should not impetuously assume that God has turned His face from them or a deaf ear to them.

 

Psalm 22:25

 

BIBLE TEXT: "My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him." (Psalm 22:25 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Unfortunately, many a churchgoer today praises the “great congregation,” his or her megachurch, rather than his or her great Lord and Master.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: If people leave your church saying, “What a building,” “What a crowd,” “What a preacher,” “What a choir,” or “What a service,” instead of “What a Savior,” your church is a failure, if not a fraud.

 

Psalm 22:26

 

BIBLE TEXT: "The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever." (Psalm 22:26 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The meek, who come to church seeking Christ; that is, to eat the Bread of Life and to drink the Living Water, will leave with their souls satisfied and their hearts forever alive.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Christians should come to church with the words of the Greeks ringing in their ears and resounding in their hearts, “We would see Jesus!” (John 12:20-21)

 

Psalm 22:27

 

BIBLE TEXT: "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee." (Psalm 22:27 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The cross of Christ not only cleaved time in two—B.C. and A.D.—but will be remembered throughout time to the ends of the earth.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: From every nation and nationality, men will remember the cross, repent and turn to Christ, and revere and worship Him.

 

Psalm 22:28

 

BIBLE TEXT: "For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations." (Psalm 22:28 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Christ came the first time for a cross, in order to be crucified, but He is coming the second time for a crown, in order to be coronated.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: When Christ returns He will reign and rule over the nations with a rod of iron. There will be no democracy—the rule of the majority—but a theocracy—the rule of Christ. (Revelation 12:5; 19:15)

 

Psalm 22:29

 

BIBLE TEXT: "All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul." (Psalm 22:29 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: All men, both the prosperous and the poor, the powerful and the powerless, the dead and the living, as well as saved and lost souls, will bow before Christ and worship Him.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The only question is when and how you will bow before Christ, now, voluntarily for salvation, or later, mandatorily in condemnation.

 

Psalm 22:30-31

 

BIBLE TEXT: "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." (Psalm 22:30-31 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Here, we see the born again seed—the church—of the Promised Seed of Abraham and the First Born from the Dead—Jesus Christ—not only dedicated to His service, but also declaring and dressed in His righteousness.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Of the miracle and mystery of the church, which is the eternal purpose of God, we can definitely say, “He [Christ] hath done this.” Thus, in these final words of “The Psalm of the Cross,” we are reminded of Christ’s words on the cross, “It is finished” or “It is done.”

 

THE ETERNAL PURPOSE OF GOD

 

The church is the eternal purpose of God. It is what God has been up to all along and why He

has done all He has done. For instance, God created the universe so that He would have

space to hang the world in. He created the world so that He would have a place to put man. He

created man so that He could choose for Himself a chosen people. He chose for Himself a

chosen people so that through them His Son could come into the world. And His Son came into

the world to secure for Himself a bride, an eternal companion and forever lover—the church

(Ephesians 3:2-13)