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During this year’s Advent season, we have been looking at Christ in the Psalms.
Jesus told the religious leaders of his day, /“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.
These are the Scriptures that testify about me.”/ (John 5:39, NIV84).
Since the Jewish Tanakh testify about Jesus, it behooves us to look at the Old Testament Scriptures to see what they say about our Savior.
What we discover is that all of the major event in the life of Jesus were prophesied in the Psalms.
* The first great event in the life of our Savior, is of course, his supernatural conception which is hinted at in the Psalm of the Incarnation—Psalm 40.
* The second great event in the life of our Savior was his temptation in the Judean wilderness.
That event is recorded in the Psalm of the Temptation—Psalm 91.
* This morning we look at another great event in the life of our Savior, which is his crucifixion.
For this we turn to the 22nd Psalm—The Psalm of Crucifixion
It may seem strange talking about the crucifixion at Christmas time.
Yet, we know they are inextricably linked.
In our hymnals we find a hymn entitled “Christmas Has Its Cradle.”
The first stanza reads, “Christmas has its cradle, where a baby cried; did the lantern’s shadow show him crucified?
Did he foresee darkly his life’s willing loss?
Christmas has its cradle and Easter has its cross.”
As believers, we must not forget that the only reason for Christmas is the cross of Calvary.
The Cross is the ultimate explanation for why incarnation takes place.
Psalm 22 is the first and greatest of what we call the passional psalms.
Its quotation by the New Testament writers makes it clear they believed that this Davidic psalm pointed foreword to Jesus.
The description of the suffering here transcends anything which might have befallen David personally.
In this psalm, David lifts up his eyes, looks down the long corridor of time, and sees in striking detail the crucifixion of the Messiah who was yet to come.
It is almost as if David is at the foot of the cross personally witnessing the crucifixion of The Anointed One.
Yet, we know that this psalm is written a thousand years before the event.
We have to say, therefore, that this psalm is the result of the Spirit of God taking over the pen of David in a strange and marvelous way so that David writes the very words of the suffering Messiah himself.
The psalm falls into two easily discernible sections.
The first is the Messiah’s description of the crucifixion (vv.
1–21a).
The second is his exultation in the results of the cross.
!
I. THE MESSIAH’S GRIEVOUS CRUCIFIXION (22:1–21)
* /"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.
Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame."/
(Psalm 22:1-5, ESV)
#. the crucifixion as depicted in Psalm 22 is just as graphic as the passion narratives found in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
#. the only difference is the gospel writers tell of the actual event after it happened and David tells the same story before it happened.
#. the accuracy of the prophecy is to say the least, amazing
#. the gospels tell us the events and the details of the crucifixion but this Psalm tells us the heart and mind of Christ while he was suspended between heaven and earth
!! A. THE PSALM SPEAKS OF THE ANOINTED ONE’S TRAVAIL
#. /His Travail was Divinely from God/ (22:1–5) /“My God, my God!
Why have you forsaken me?”/
* ILLUS.
William MacDonald, in his commentary on this Psalm, writes: /“Approach this Psalm with the utmost solemnity and reverence, because you have probably never stood on holier ground before.
You have come to Golgotha where the Good Shepherd is giving His life for the sheep.
For three hours the earth has been enveloped in thick darkness.
Now “Immanuel’s orphaned cry” echoes through the universe: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”/
#. behind our Lord’s poignant question lies an awful reality—the suffering Savior actually was, literally and completely, forsaken by God
#. the Eternal Son, who had always been the object of His Father’s delight, was now abandoned
#. on two occasions—His baptism and His transfiguration—the heavenly voice had boomed /“This is my beloved son ... listen to Him.”/
#. now the voice is silent, and the presence of God in His life is absent
#.
Jesus knew it was coming; He knew it was part of the penalty that had to be paid for sinners; and yet when the abandonment actually comes it had to be heart-rending to the Son
#. the Perfect Man who unfailingly did the will of God experienced the terrible desolation of being cut off from God
#. the opening utterance of the psalm furnished Jesus with the agonizing cry of his dying hour (Matt 27:45ff.)
#. the word /"groaning"/ at the end of verse one is a strong word used of the /shrieking of a person in intense pain/
#. even in this awful moment, Jesus is fully aware of the Scriptures and what they say about His life, death, and coming resurrection
#. despite his suffering; despite his brief abandonment by the Father as God judges our sin through His own Son, Jesus remains confident in God the Father
#.
He acknowledges the Father’s holiness and sovereignty (v. 3)
* /“Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.”/
(Psalm 22:3, NIV84)
#. in these words, Jesus explains the reason for His forsakenness
#. the love of God demanded that sin’s wages be paid
#.
God’s love provided what His holiness demanded
#.
He sent His Son to die as a substitutionary sacrifice
#.
He acknowledges the Father’s deliverance (vv.
4-5)
* /“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.”/
(Psalm 22:4–5, NIV84)
#. just as the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob trusted in God for their deliverance and God came through, so God the Son will trust God the Father
#.
He has cried out, and He will be delivered
#.
He has trusted in God the Father and he will not be disappointed
#. for our sake, God the Father crushed God the Son like a worm
* /"But I am a worm and not a man, ... ."/
(Psalm 22:6, ESV)
#. this is one of the more fascinating verses in the Psalm, which, when you understand, speaks wonderfully of God’s redemptive work on our behalf
* ILLUS.
The word worm in this passage is the Hebrew tola’at—known as the “Crimson Worm.”
In Palestine and Syria, these worms were collected and crushed in a basin because their blood was used as a dye to create the brilliant scarlet vestments worn by the priests.
In fact the word scarlet in the Old Testament literally translates as the splendor of a worm.
#. in the Psalm, the Anointed One cries out, I am the tola’at and was an epitaph I think he wore proudly
#.
First, the title reminds us of our Lord’s humiliation at the hands of men—he was crushed as a man would crush a worm
#. to that epitaph he adds and [I am] not a man implying that he is a nobody in contrast to being a somebody as far as the Jewish authorities are concerned
* /"who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."/
(Philippians 2:6-8, ESV)
#.
Second, the title reminds us that He had to be crushed in death, and His blood had to be poured out so that you and I might be clothed in glory
#. /His Travail was Physically from Man/ (vv.
22:6b–18)
#. the last half of verse six through verse eighteen refers to the travail that Jesus suffered at the hands of men
#.
He is scorned and despised (22:6)
#.
He is mocked and insulted (22:7–8)
* ILLUS Do you hear the taunts of the Jewish religious elite in these verses as they sneer, He saved others.
Let him save himself and come down off the cross!
#. vv.
7-8 are virtually word-for-word what the jeering crowd said at Calvary
#.
He is viciously attacked by his enemies (22:12–13, 16)
* ILLUS.
The Prophet Amos compares the leaders of the Jewish nation to the cattle of Bashan, and castigates them for oppressing the poor and crushing the needy.
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