Psalm 22: The Man who found no refuge — A.J. Higgins

Our Father, we take this opportunity just to bow in Thy presence. We give thanks once again for Thy Son, who blessed Thee for one who moved here with no other goal in view but the honor of Thy name. He came to do Thy will, leaving the courts of heaven, He could say, Lo, I come to do Thy will.

We bless Thee for one who glorified Thee and magnified Thy name all upon earth. We thank Thee that His work in Thy presence even now is to continue to bring glory and honor to Thy name. We give thanks again on another Lord's Day as we have contemplated the cross and all of the sufferings of Thy Son and the fruit of the work of Calvary.

Thank Thee once more for all that He accomplished in His death at Calvary, bringing glory to Thy name and salvation to us. We commit the hour before us to Thee. Pray that there will be ministry which will both remind us of Thy Son, challenge our hearts, bring comfort where needed, and grant that the result of this brief time together will be the edifying of the people of God and the exalting of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We commit ourselves and all of our need to Thee as we give thanks once more in the worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, a very, very sincere thank you to our two co-hosts, to Caleb and to Daniel, for all the work that they do.

A very sincere thanks as well to the oversight of the assembly in Glen Ewan, overseeing these series and all that is transpiring. And then, of course, a very genuine thank you to all who have taken time to tune in and to listen to the Word of God being ministered.

I'm not sure what it's like where you are. This is one of those idyllic days, low humidity, brilliant sunshine, temperature about 70 degrees, and it's the kind of day you'd love to go for a walk out in the park.

But for those of you who have taken time to tune in, we appreciate it. Probably it's raining in Ireland, so you have no other choice. But the rest of us did have a choice, and we have chosen to be here.

Psalm 22: The Man Who Found No Refuge

So with that before us, we're going to be reading together Psalm number 22. Very familiar, and yet very, very precious. So Psalm number 22. I will take time to read the entire psalm before we make any comments.

My God, my God. Well, I should read the title to the chief musician, upon Ajah Shahar, a psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Why art Thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring?

O my God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent. But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in Thee, they trusted, Thou didst deliver them.

They cried unto Thee, and were delivered. They trusted in Thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men, and despise of the people. All they that see me, laugh me to scorn.

They shoot out the lick, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver him. Let him deliver him, saying, He delighted in him. But Thou art He that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me whole when I was upon my mother's breast.

I was cast upon me from the womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly. Be not far from me, for trouble is near. There is none to help. 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. 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.

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 enclosed me. They pierce my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones.

They look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them and 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 dog.

Save me from the lion's mouth, for Thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare Thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise Him.

All ye that see Him, Jacob, glorify Him. And fear Him, all ye that see of Israel, for He hath not despised nor poured 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, to make Shalit 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 turn unto the Lord, that all the kindreds of the nation shall worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the Lord, and He is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship.

All 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.

And we know that God will add His blessing to a very, very precious portion of the Word of God. Now perhaps just before moving into the psalm, there might be profit in just thinking of how the word refuge, the different original meanings of the word are found throughout the Old Testament.

There are at least five different words that are translated in our Old Testament as refuge, and several words that are similar in their meaning and in their connotation. The first word really is the word that is part of the theme for this particular series and the fear of the Lord is strong confidence and His children shall have a place of refuge.

That word carries the thought of a shelter, something to give protection from the storm, from the onslaught of the elements all around. And it is the word that is being used in Proverbs 14 and 26. There's another word that is used, it's the word that David uses in one of his psalms.

When he speaks of, he had, rather that refuge failed him. He had no place of refuge. That is the idea, not so much of a shelter, but it comes from a word that means to flee, flight, a place to run to, to escape the danger, to escape the element.

And it is used in that instance in Psalm 142. There's a place in another word that's used in Deuteronomy 33 where we have the eternal God is thy refuge. Carries again the thought of a dwelling place. There's a word that is used uniquely only for the cities of refuge.

It's a word that literally means an asylum, a place where you're taken in and protection is offered from any who would attack. It's only used relative to the cities of refuge. And the fifth word is a word found in both the Psalms and in the Proverbs, which carries the idea of a high tower, a place of defense, a place where one is able to rise above all of the dangers, all of the predators, all of the potential enemies that would surround.

It's used, of course, and I think we have it in Psalm 46 where the Lord opposes with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge, Selah. So taking all of those thoughts together, the Old Testament concept of a refuge would suggest a place of shelter, a place to escape to, a place where you're taken in and protected, and a place where you were lifted up above all of the potential danger and all of the potential enemies that would surround.

So taking all of that together, I want you to think then of this Psalm and consider what is before us, a man who could find no refuge. I want to think just of some general thoughts of the Psalm before we look at some details.

The Trilogy of Psalms 22, 23, and 24

It might be helpful just to consider, first of all, the setting of the Psalm. It's interesting that in a number of instances we have chapters that are brought together in triplets. Here we have Psalm 22, Psalm 23, and Psalm 24.

If you think of others, you think of Matthew 5, 6, and 7 that our brother Dan Rudge touched on so ably last week. You think as well of Romans, and think of Romans 9, 10, and 11, and the landscape of Israel's history.

You can think as well of 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14, where we have gifts that are being furnished, and gifts that are functioning together, and gifts that are fruitful in those three chapters. Hebrews 11, 12, and 13, you have love, rather faith and hope and love in all of those three chapters, and possibly Revelation 1, 2, and 3 as well.

But in a sense, all of those trilogies of chapters are somewhat artificial. The chapter division, as you well know, was given by Bishop Stephen Langton back in the 12th century, and so those divisions are man-made.

But actually, these three Psalms are distinct entities all written by David, and we have a genuine trilogy here of Psalms, and we can see in them some lovely connections. Psalm 22 is the hill of Calvary, Psalm 23 is the valley of the shadow, and Psalm 24 is the bill of the Lord.

We were taught from earliest days that Psalm 22 is the Savior and His suffering, and Psalm 23 is the shepherd sustaining, and Psalm 24 is the sovereign and His scepter. Of course, other ways they can be linked together, Psalm 22 is all about a finished work, Psalm 23 about a furnished table, and Psalm 24 about future glory.

I want you to think then as well of not just the setting of the Psalm, but just the general structure. Very obvious, it divides into two. There is the lonely sufferer of the first 21 verses, and then there is the leader of song of verses 22 to 31.

There is the man who could find no refuge, and then in the second part, there is a man who proclaims God's righteousness. In the first section, he is in the midst of the wild beasts. In the second section, he is in the midst leading, worshipping brethren before the throne.

So those are some very general divisions of the chapter that are very, very easy to trace both in their theme and even in the vocabulary that is being used. We are looking at Hebrew poetry, and Hebrew poetry is replete with similes and metaphors, replete with imagery and word pictures.

So I want you to think just of some of the similes and metaphors that are given to us that appeal to both our imaginations and to our emotion. We're reminded of the very outset of a hind of the dawn, told about the worm and a nobody, about being poured out like water, about a heart that is like wax, about being brought into the dust of death.

All of that imagery is so rich for us to consider, and we will look at some of that in more detail as we look at the psalm. The psalm also, I want you to think of the span of time that is embraced in this psalm.

We move from conception in the womb to birth and childhood, his life, his cross, his resurrection, and a coming kingdom. So we have the entire spectrum of time brought before us all in this one psalm that tells us of the lonely sufferer and of a leader of song.

There is a stress on certain words. You cannot read the first portion of Psalm 22 without that word far, echoing through, a word that must have echoed off the shores of the moral universe. Why hast thou forsaken me?

Why art thou so far from helping me? Three times over in this first section, verse 1, verse 11, verse 19, we are reminded of distance that the Lord Jesus endured upon the cross. And it finds its corresponding word in the second section.

Four times over, we have the word praise. And I think gathered around those two words really is the entire theme of this psalm. In the first part, one who is so far away. In the second part, one who is leading praise and who will be a song leader in a coming day of universal worship.

Other things can be pointed out. The frequent mention that the Lord makes of why hast thou, the word thou, ten times over, impressing us with this personal relationship that was so precious to the Lord Jesus.

Everything viewed as coming from the hand of God in this section. I mentioned some of the links between the different psalms, these psalms, and you can trace them for yourself with Great Prophet. For example, every blessing we have in Psalm 23 is the result of some suffering the Lord Jesus Christ knew in Psalm number 22.

Just take one or two of them, for example. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, thou art with me. What is the great truth of the first part of Psalm 22? Why art thou so far?

So his nearness is in joy for us because he knew this great distance at Calvary. In Psalm number 23, he spreads a table before us in the presence of our enemies. Psalm 22, he knew thirst, dried up like a patcher, my tongue cleaves to my jaws.

So you can trace the various blessings of Psalm 23 and the various sufferings in Psalm 22 that have brought all that to us as well when you think of Psalm 22 and Psalm 24. In Psalm 22, he is all alone.

In Psalm number 24, he is the Lord of hosts. In Psalm 22, he speaks of his strength being dried up, and he calls upon God, O my strength. Psalm number 24, he is the Lord strong and mighty. And so you have contrasts and you have comparisons between this trilogy of Psalms that really is a very, very rich source of study for any who would seek to pursue it.

Psalm 22 as Prophecy of Calvary

As well, just to mention the significance of this Psalm, there are perhaps at least 12 prophecies mentioned in Psalm 22 that were fulfilled. Now, Peter in his address in Acts chapter 2 spoke of David as being a prophet.

David endured lots of suffering. David endured lots of reproach. David knew times of tremendous sorrow. David shed many tears. What we are looking at in Psalm number 22 transcends any experience David ever endured.

There was never a time when David could have said, why art thou so far from helping me? God was always with David. So what we are looking at in Psalm 22 is prophecy 1 ,000 years before the cross that was fulfilled on that day at Calvary.

Now, there are things some could well say. The Lord Jesus quoted Psalm 22 and 1. He self-fulfilled prophecy. But there are prophecies that were fulfilled in Psalm 22 that were beyond the self-fulfilling of the Lord Jesus.

For example, his garments and all that we have there, and the behavior of men around him. They look and stare upon me. They pass by. They mock. They laugh. They deride. So there are things fulfilled that he was not able to self-fulfill.

So we are given here a very, very good, very, very sound basis for the confirmation of the inspiration of the Word of God. But as well, as I hope to show in the second portion of this psalm, you recall the Lord Jesus Christ in John chapter 4 said, the Father seeks worshipers.

One of the great reasons for Calvary is the Lord Jesus Christ bringing men to become worshipers of the Father, worshipers of God. And we will see in the second half of this psalm that that is exactly what the Lord Jesus is doing.

We have that expression, that verse really in verse 23, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation while I praise thee and so on. And we tend to think that when the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to Mary, and he fulfilled that, go tell my brethren, I ascend to my God and your God, my Father and your Father.

I'm going to show, I hope that it goes far beyond a declaration made in the garden, and actually involves his present work of ministry, even now at the right hand of God. He's going to show us as well in that second half that the God that we have is a God who is deserving of our worship, of our trust, of our obedience, and of our service.

So with that before us, I just want to then look at some aspects of this psalm together and consider together the man who found no refuge. Looking then at verses one to five, I want you to think together with me of a man who found no refuge, the righteous judgment of God.

The Sufferings of the Righteous Servant

The psalm ends with those very plaintive words that are likely quoted many times every Lord's day as we have gathered to remember the Lord Jesus Christ. And even in these occasions when we worship without the emblems, they are quoted each time.

Seven cries from the cross. The first three reveal something to us of the compassion and sympathy of Christ. You recall that he could say, Father forgive them, they know not what they do. He could speak to a thief on the cross.

Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. He could speak to John concerning his mother. Woman, behold thy son, behold thy mother. The compassion and sympathy of his heart that was revealed in the first three cries from the cross.

In the last two cries from the cross, we have something of his confidence and satisfaction. It is finished. Father into thy hands, I commend my spirit. But in the middle two cries, or rather the two, that the fourth and fifth cry of the Lord Jesus, we gain something of the character of his sufferings.

I thirst. Now that may refer primarily to his physical suffering, but I cannot help but think it also has some insight into his spiritual longings. You recall a psalmist elsewhere, David, this soul thirsted after God.

I think the Lord Jesus Christ thirsted after God at Calvary. But certainly in the middle cry of the Lord Jesus, we do move beyond the physical. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This is not a cry of ignorance.

The Lord Jesus Christ knew he was perfectly aware of all that lay ahead. In fact, we can go beyond that. The Lord Jesus Christ arranged all the details of Calvary. As part of the Godhead, as part of the grand design of redemption, the Lord Jesus Christ arranged within the Godhead all of the details of Calvary.

He was aware of it from the moment he stepped into time. I've often thought that as a boy of 12 up to the age of 30. Well, beyond that, all the way through to the age of 33. Every year when he went up to Jerusalem, all the occasions he would have traveled up to Jerusalem at the required feasts, his eyes must have strayed to a hill outside the city wall.

And he must have thought of all that lay ahead that he would have to face. And while there are mysteries of his manhood that are difficult for us to comprehend, it's hard to imagine that each year, as each year passed, as he grew closer to the year when he would give himself on a cross on that hill, it's hard to imagine that there was not an increasing pathos in his heart as he walked each year closer to that hill and all that it meant.

So it was not out of ignorance. He was aware of it. He was in full agreement with it. It was not an indictment of God's faithfulness, as we'll see. It was not accusing God of failure. What it was, was an insight into the actual ultimate issue of sin.

If we did not have the cry of verse number one, and did not have the confirming testimony given to us by Matthew and Mark of that cry, who among us would have actually thought that sin was so desperate, that God would have to forsake his son at Calvary?

Likely, we would have thought that would be unthinkable, that God would forsake his son on a cross, allowing men to do their very worst, and he himself withdrawing the enjoyment of the fellowship that they had enjoyed eternally.

It is only because of what we have here and in the corresponding Gospels that we know how deep the sorrows of the Lord Jesus Christ actually were. It gives us an insight into what he prized the most. The intimacy he prized, that all those six hours upon the cross, there was the interruption of the enjoyment of an eternal fellowship.

Never before had there been even a moment's interruption. Unceasing, uninterrupted, flowing freely was an enjoyment between God in heaven and his servant's son upon earth. And now on those hours upon the cross, he cried in the daytime and he cried in the night season.

All six hours he endured as he hung upon the tree, a curse for us. And so we're reminded here of the depths of his suffering. This cry reminds us as well that there was no hand to deliver. There was no help to strengthen.

There was no heart to sympathize. So just take those three things for just a moment. There was no hand to see. There was no help to strengthen him. There was no heart that sympathized. But keep those three in mind.

Come with me in your thinking to the book of Hebrews. And I want you to think of the three great statements relative to our high priest. First of all, he is able to sympathize. Secondly, he is able to succor.

Thirdly, he is able to save. The very things that he was deprived of at Calvary are the very things that you and I can enjoy because he is our high priest. He knew no hand to save. He is able to save for the uttermost.

He knew no help to strengthen. He is able to succor. He knew no heart to sympathize. He is able to sympathize. So in this cry of the Lord Jesus, we are reminded not only of what he did not have, but as a result of that, what we do have and what we can enjoy.

Linked with this cry is his confession. But thou art holy. We have both an explanation, a vindication, and could I suggest adoration, worship. He was explaining why God had forsaken him at Calvary. But thou art holy.

Such is God's character. Such is the person of Christ. That when the Lord Jesus Christ was dealt with as sin upon the cross, God had to forsake him in his holiness. So it is a vindication. It is an explanation.

It is a vindication of the character of God. And it is well as an expression of adoration or worship. I'm sure you have thought at times of that upper room scene just prior to Calvary when the Lord Jesus Christ took bread, broke it, and gave thanks.

He was not merely giving thanks for bread. He was instituting this supper that we normally would be able to mark every Lord's Day. He was giving thanks to his Father for the privilege of dying for you and for me.

He was giving thanks to his Father for the privilege of what that bread spoke of, of his body being given for us. We were reminded this morning at our own Zoom session by our brother Chad Kember. And he mentioned how Matthew and Mark tell us that when the Lord Jesus Christ left the upper room, they sang a psalm.

That psalm was Psalm 118, we're told, part of the last psalm of the Great Hallel, which was sung on the Passover night. And that psalm ends with these words. So just think of the Lord Jesus Christ going out to Gethsemane, going out to Golgotha, singing these words with these words upon his lips and coming from his heart.

Thou art my God, I will praise thee. Thou art my God, I will exalt thee. We'll give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. There was a heart at Calvary that went up in worship to the very hand that was smiting him.

That should bow our hearts in worship, to think that such is our Savior that he worshiped even amidst the scenes of Calvary. There's a great contrast in these verses as well. A long record of divine faithfulness.

The Lord Jesus is vindicating God. I don't think it's so much the idea that you were faithful to them, but why are you not faithful to me? He's recounting God's faithfulness list. Any should think that God is not faithful.

He could think of all the many of Israel to whom God had shown faithfulness. David walking into the Valley of Elah against Goliath. Hezekiah with the hordes of Assyrians and Sennacherib, encircling the city, promising destruction.

Jehoshaphat going out to battle, singing songs of praise to God as he would face Moab and Ammon on that day. And on and on the stories go of a God who was faithful even at times. For example, the case of an Abraham.

When Abraham was not faithful, Abraham lied concerning his wife. God was faithful there. The faithfulness of God despite even the failure of his people. The consequence is that we have a refuge because he had no refuge from the righteous judgment of God.

But then when we come to verses 6 to 11, he found no refuge from the ridicule of men. We are reminded here of their treatment of him. Here especially, we trace the truth of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. He that was rich became poor.

The one who was rich in glory above was treated as a worm and not even a man. Treated as less than human by others. We're reminded, of course, always that the word there for worm is the tola worm. When crushed, scarlet dye that would be evident and would be used in the dyeing of various things, scarlet.

But I think still the truth that is mainly being impressed with us here, being impressed upon us here, is the awful treatment he received from men. They treated him with as much concern as they would have treated stepping on a worm as they moved along the highway.

Absolute disdain, absolute indifference despised by the nation. No vindication for him at the cross. Heaven was silent. What it must have meant to a father's heart to see his son so treated and to be silent.

We sometimes struggle with the silence of God. When you look at Calvary and see the silence of God, there is no mystery then to the silence of God in our lives at times when we're faced with trials and difficulties.

We think of their taunts. They laughed him to scorn. The word there really literally is they instantly derided me. They scorned him with the most vile abuse that they could possibly place upon him. They tempted him to come down from the cross.

You recall the men surrounding the cross time and again come down and we will believe and so on. Their taunts, their jeers. Really what was happening was Satan was putting into the lips of men the very same temptation he had presented the Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness.

Cast yourself down. Show people who you are. Then they'll believe in you. Don't be content to live in obscurity. Cast yourself down from this temple, this pinnacle, and people will recognize you. People will own you.

People will be amazed at you. And the same words now are being put into the lips of men as they surround the cross. Come down from the cross and we will believe. Actually, there is a sense in which if we take Luke's words and understand them properly.

Only Luke tells us at the end of the wilderness temptation that Satan departed from him for a season. Satan dogged the steps of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout his life. And the very temptations that Satan offered in the wilderness were offered from the lips of men throughout his life.

His own brethren said, go up, show yourself. There's no man that does these things in secret who wishes to be known openly. Same temptation as casting himself down. Show yourself. Let people know who you are.

The people of his day in John chapter 6 make these stones into bread. Same temptation that was offered in the wilderness time and again, whether from the lips of family, the lips of friends such as a Peter, the lips of his foes, whatever it may be.

The same temptations presented to the Lord Jesus Christ throughout his life, all the way up to this point at his death upon the cross. And then, of course, they took what was so true of the Lord Jesus.

The dependence that marked him. He trusted in God. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. Last week, our brother Rudge so ably reminded us of the dependency, the dependent man, how dependent the Lord Jesus Christ was in his life.

And here upon the cross is the very thing they threw in his face, his trust in God. And now he is being forsaken. It must have given those who milled around the cross a sense of righteous vindication.

Because in their mind, it was impossible to think, inconceivable that anyone who fully trusted God would be forsaken and left to die upon a cross. And so they threw in his face his trust in God. Marked throughout his life, passed upon God from the womb, coming into the world, the sword of Herod would seek to find him.

And time and again, we find him. And we see his absolute trust in God throughout his life. And they threw it in his face upon Calvary. He found no refuge from the ridicule of men. But he also found no refuge from the rage of his foes.

The Rage of His Foes and the Reality of Death

We read here in Psalm 22 of the bulls that would crush, of the lions that would tear. It's Amos in chapter four who tells us and likens the leaders of the nation to the bulls of Bashan. So in the bulls of Bashan crushing him, I think we have the imagery of the leadership that sought to stamp out his life, with all the power and all the ferocity that they could possibly bring to bear upon the situation.

When we think of the lion, of course, we're reminded of Satan, the roaring lion. But I think really what is in view is that at Calvary, Satan fueled the hatred of men to such a pitch that it was like a roaring, like a lion airing at him upon the cross.

This was the first time that Satan had a visible, tangible target to vent all of his hatred and frustration at God. He had his, in a sense, he had his hands on God for the first time. Luke chapter 22, the Lord Jesus Christ told those who came for him, this is your hour and the power of darkness.

I think I am right in saying that Satan was allowed free reign to do what he wished to at Calvary so that he would never be able to say, if only you had not drawn the line, I would have been able to bring him down.

All of his armaments were unleashed at Christ at Calvary and he had to leave a defeated foe. He fueled men's hatred against Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ himself said in Psalm number 69, the reproaches of them that reproach thee have fallen upon me.

The natural enmity of man's heart against God fueled by the hatred of Satan was all unleashed upon the Lord Jesus at Calvary. He found no refuge from the rage of his foes. The tremendous ferocity of their hatred, the extremity of his suffering, he was poured out like water.

I'm not sure what imagery that, I'm not sure what truth that imagery suggests to you, but certainly in the pouring out, it would suggest that there was no resistance. There was no reserve. He poured out his soul unto death, is what Isaiah 53 reminds us.

He's poured out like water. His bones are out of joint. Isn't it lovely the accuracy of scripture? His bones were out of joint, but not one bone was broken. Very different. But he felt, he was able to count.

He could tell all of his bones. His heart was like wax. So sensitive to the judgment he was enduring. So sensitive to the reproach. So sensitive to the shame. I think there's significance to the imagery of the wax.

There are many things that have to be engulfed by a flame before there's any effect. But with wax, the flame can be at a distance and it can still show the effect of the flame upon it. And as the flame moves closer and closer, the wax becomes more and more affected by the flame.