The Faith of the Afflicted

Series on the Psalms

Text: Psalm 22

Title: The Faith of the Afflicted

Introduction

Psalm 22 is one of the most powerful and precise predictions of the sufferings of Jesus which can be found in the Old Testament. The apostle John quotes verse 18, They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots, as being fulfilled at Jesus crucifixion in John 19:24. The author of Hebrews applies verse 22 of this Psalm to the victorious Savior in Hebrews 2:12. Jesus himself quotes the first verse of this Psalm on the cross In Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34. Because He quotes it in Aramaic, many conservative commentators issue ominous warnings that this Psalm is not a direct prophecy of Christ’s sufferings on the cross, and even go so far as to say he was not indicating its fulfillment in himself. But both the Apostle John and the author of Hebrews specifically say this Psalm was fulfilled in Christ. The problem goes deeper than the exegesis of this Psalm. It involves our philosophy of history and of Scripture. Too many people have been corrupted by an humanistic and relativistic view of reality. They tend to see these events in the Old Testament as isolated experiences which are later seized upon as fulfillments by the authors of the New Testament. The truth is that a Biblical view of History suggests that the experiences of people like David in Psalm 22 were ordained by God because He had an end in view. In other words, because all of history moves inexorably to Calvary and the sufferings of the lamb of God, therefore God gave to David this experience of abandonment and the words to describe it which precisely foreshadowed the experience of Christ on the cross. The application to Christ is so obvious that it upset later Jewish scholars. Although verse 16 is not quoted in the New Testament the application to Christ is so clear that there is evidence of intentional corruption of the text by the Jewish Massoretes who inserted the vowel pointing, Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. Hebrew originally had no vowels. They were added much later, centuries after the Christian Church began. The word could be translated as the verb pierced, or as a proposition and a noun, like a lion. Jewish translations choose the latter because they wanted to expunge any reference to Christ. However the LXX, a Greek translation from 200 years before Christ translates this word pierced. Furthermore the Hebrew is awkward if we choose the translation “like a lion” because as you can notice the preceding statements as well as the following all have verbs, “dried, sticks, encircled, count and stare.” This should be a reminder to us not to be duped by a false view of history and prophecy. This Psalm describes the sufferings of Christ. That does not mean that it had no contemporary significance to David, but rather that David’s experience came to pass deliberately to prophesy what would later happen to his descendant, the Christ. Following this model let us see that David triumphed in his agony because Christ triumphed and because Christ was victorious we can be too. The real emphasis here is on the sufferer’s knowledge of the character of God, and on Christ’s identification with his people. Christ has reinterpreted our reality with all of its suffering because He is one with us. W. Graham Scroggie calls the two parts of this Psalm the sob and the song.

I. The Sob

The sob is in verses 1-21, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: “He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.” Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. Jesus calls upon his Father, but he does not call him Father as he has consistently done before and will again. He does not call Him Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel. In verses 1 and 2 He calls him “My God.” Is this not an indication of his identification with us? In the account of the crucifixion these words are uttered in the darkness that covered the land. His abandonment in suffering for us and in receiving the judgment of God against our sin is as our representative. Here he is the perfect man, one with us, lost in the darkness of our sin and rebellion. God does not answer because Jesus who knew no sin was made sin for us. Jesus has taken us with him on the cross. Here the Son confronts the Father as the representative man who dies for the sins of his people. In this transaction the only fitting name is “My God.” Jesus describes Himself in v.7 as a worm and no man. But he was the perfect man. He alone knows fully what it means to be man. He is the fulfillment of what man was meant to be. He can only become a worm and no man because he is one with his lost sheep. In the midst of this agony of contradiction the Psalm makes clear that the sufferer never lets go of God. In fact, the question of v.1 is not impugning God’s righteousness. In the midst of suffering how quick we are to dispute God’s justice and question his goodness. Jesus says no matter how abandoned I feel I will praise you. I will not let go of your holiness. In verse 4 he says, In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them, and in verse 10 he says, From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God, and in verse 21 he says, Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. Does Jesus understand when we cry, and when the tears flow like a river? How can he not understand? This is more than an example of patience in suffering. It is man as he was meant to be, trusting in God and the example is the power. It lifts our eyes at the most fearful moment to heaven. We cannot know this Savior and not look up.

II. The Song

The song is in verses 22- 31, I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you. You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise him-may your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him-those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn-for he has done it. The song begins in verse 22 with the words I will declare your name to my Brothers. These words of victory assume the resurrection. They are the fulfillment of Psalm 16:10, You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your holy one see corruption. These words are applied to Christ by Peter in Acts 2. But these words also remind us that His victory is our victory over suffering and death. The rejoicing is not only Christ’s but ours, for he sings in our midst. Recently Mike Glodo wrote an article for Reformed Seminary entitled “Singing with the Savior.” He reminds us, Jesus is singing in the midst of our assemblies. When God hears the voice of our singing he hears the voice of Christ mingled with ours. The beauty of Christian worship is that the real anchor of the choir is Jesus voice. But the meaning of this is that the songs we sing are songs of victory which we share with Christ and when we are in the midst of suffering and trial, Jesus sings his song again with us because he sobbed with us and has brought the true victory. This victory, I think is pictured here in the Psalm in two ways. The most obvious is the extent of the victory in time and space. Future generations and people all over the world will join in then song, all the families of the nations will bow down before him. The second way in which this victory is picture is through a sacrificial meal, a meal of peace with God in which not only the rich but the poorest of men enjoy his bounty of righteousness and peace, The poor will eat and be satisfied. I love the concluding words. He has done it. Perhaps Jesus had this in mind when he said it is finished on the cross.

Conclusion

The ultimate question is whether we sing with the Savior out of our suffering in this fallen world. The true meaning of the cross is to focus our attention on the victory. If we lose sight of this then we can never endure the cross and its shame for the joy and glory set before us as Jesus did. But this is exactly what the author of Hebrews says we should do, for he says in Hebrews 12:2,3, Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Summary of Psalm 22

Psalm 22 is a graphic description of the sufferings of Jesus upon the cross. Jesus quotes verse one from the cross. It also describes the jeering and taunting of Christ, his searing thirst, the piercing of his hands and feet, and the Roman soldiers’ dividing of his garments by lot. Rather than seeing this psalm as an experience of David which happens to be fulfilled in Christ, we should see it primarily as the experience of Christ which is shared by David and us. This is a scripture which shows us both the patience and trust of Christ in suffering and the worldwide triumph he achieved for all who repent and trust in him. We learn first that the only triumph over evil is through patient suffering of Christ on the cross. Here the perfect man, our representative, redeems us by treading the wine press of the wrath of God alone. It also teaches us that the sufferings of this life can never be borne with as proper attitude unless we see that Jesus identified himself with us and His victory is our only means of rejoicing in tribulation.