The Messianic Psalms - Psalm 22 (1) — Chip Brogden

I will rejoice and be glad in it. Hello again everyone, this is Chip Brogdon coming to you with another edition of our weekly webcast. We are streaming online at www .watchman .net and we are continuing our series of messages on the Messianic Psalms.

What an exciting study that we have in store and I've already enjoyed the very introductory things that have been shared as a result of this study and we are really getting into the meat of the word now.

Psalm 22 as a Messianic Psalm

This week we are going to look in Psalms chapter 22, the 22nd Psalm, so if you would grab your Bible and join me in Psalm 22, we are going to look at the Messianic Psalm that is concerning the crucifixion of Jesus, the crucifixion of Jesus.

The Messianic Psalms in particular are those Psalms that tell us something of the Lord Jesus Christ, something of his ministry, something of the kingdom of God and these Psalms are very prophetic, they are very profound and they are full of lots of treasure here.

So while we are not going to go through every single Psalm and we are not necessarily going to go in chronological order here or at least in the order that they appear in the book, we will go through them and relate back to the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, ruling and reigning of Jesus Christ.

That's what makes the message of these Messianic Psalms come to life. We are going to see Jesus in these Psalms. The last time we were together we did a study concerning the incarnation of Christ, the word became flesh and now we are looking in Psalm 22 to tell us something about the crucifixion of Christ.

So we will begin there and before we do so, however, let's go to the Lord in prayer. I thank you Father for the opportunity and privilege that we have to study your word and to receive spirit and truth revelation from you.

Your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. I thank you that the scriptures are able to make us wise and Jesus said that everything written about him in the law, in the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled and must come to pass.

And so Lord, we are here before you with our hearts open before you with our Bibles open to Psalm 22 and I pray Lord that you would give us that spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ that we would see him and hear him speaking to us, teaching us, leading us by your Holy Spirit.

So Lord, I thank you for this time that we have together in the word, bless this word so that we can bless others with it as we teach these things Lord that people would be able to take them and receive them, put them into practice, not be forgetful hearers but be doers and would be able to teach others these truths and lead them into the depths of Jesus Christ.

Thank you Father for your word again in Jesus name, Amen. Praise the Lord, Psalm 22 and immediately as you look at Psalm 22 in the context of the Lord Jesus Christ you are going to see something very familiar.

The Two Movements of Psalm 22

I have heard a lot of people refer to Psalm 22 as a very graphic representation of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and it certainly is that as we will see. But this Psalm is roughly divided into two parts, the first part being the crucifixion of Jesus and that is the part that gets a lot of attention but there is another part to this, another half to this Psalm that doesn't get as much recognition or as much notoriety as the first part.

But I would like to address both of those issues because I think it is critical to our understanding and it is critical to really be able to enter into the mindset and the motivation and the heart and spirit of Jesus there on the cross.

So let's begin in Psalm 22 beginning in verse 1, it reads like this, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning? Now immediately that phrase, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

That's going to bring to your remembrance the words of Jesus on the cross and so I'd like to, because we're going to be referring to the crucifixion of Jesus, I'd like you to keep your place here in Psalm 22 because we'll be teaching out of that Psalm but we'll be looking also in the Gospels to get the confirmation and the fulfillment of what is being shared in Psalm 22 so if you'll mark your place there in Psalms and join me in Matthew chapter 27, we're going to make an instantaneous connection here to the Psalm 22 being the Psalm of the crucifixion of Christ.

So if you look in Matthew 27 beginning in verse 46, in about the ninth hour, Matthew 27 46, about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

So immediately, it doesn't take a lot of intelligence to connect Matthew 27 46 with Psalm 22 1, they're saying the same thing, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? So certainly Jesus in the moment is feeling this sense of having been abandoned or forsaken by God, there's a lot we could say about that but basically as he was taking the sins of the world upon himself, he was identifying himself with sinful man and so we're speaking here of that separation that he took upon him, Paul says that he was made to be a sinner for us even though he knew no sin and because he knew no sin, he was always in communion and fellowship with his father until this moment on the cross just before his death when darkness came over the land and he cried out saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, or My God, My God, why have you forsaken me, obviously the first phrase being in Aramaic.

So as we read Psalms 22, let's go back there, keep your place in Matthew 27 because we'll refer back to it again but back to Psalm 22, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning?

Verse 2, Oh my God, I cry in the daytime but you do not hear and in the night season and I'm not silent. Verse 3, but you are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel. Verse 4, our fathers trusted in you, they trusted and you delivered them.

Verse 5, they cried to you and were delivered, they trusted in you and were not ashamed and so we have here in the first several verses of Psalm 22, this sense of being separated from the Lord, I'm crying out to you Lord, I'm crying out to you God.

Actually, it's interesting that Jesus seldom, if ever, refers to the Father as anything other than my Father. It is only here on the cross in that separation that he refers to his Father as God, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And the point being in verse 3 of Psalm 22, you are holy and so it's at that moment that the reason God has, quote, forsaken his Son, the reason there is that separation there is because at that moment in time Jesus identified himself with the sins of man and because he took that sin upon himself, it says God made him to be sin for us so that we could be made the righteousness of God in Christ.

Well, in that moment he took our place and he took the place of sinful man and was separated from the Lord because at that moment he was being our sacrifice. He was dying not just for our sins, plural, but for sin as a spiritual condition, as a spiritual darkness and you see that prophetically in Matthew 27 because it says that darkness came over the land.

And so that was certainly a figure and a type and a symbol of the fact that Jesus was basically entering into the darkness, taking sin upon himself and assuming the place of our substitute. Now you'll run into a lot of theological problems here as you try to determine, well, did Jesus lose his deity?

Was he actually not the Son of God? And you can really get in depth with all of that analysis, but I've tried to do that before and it just did not produce any kind of spiritual fruitfulness or any kind of life.

Whenever you delve into really deep theological issues like that, it's good exercise for your mind, but that's about it. There's no way to be able to expand on these things. I don't know that I've heard anyone really explain it in a way that I'm satisfied that they have the truth on it.

So I'm content just to let the Word of God speak for itself and not try to understand or contemplate or even try to argue or fathom the hidden things. Some things that we need to know, some things are good to know, some things are just better left alone and trying to get into very deep theological issues such as the deity of Christ on the cross.

What was happening on the inside of him? Was he really separated from God or was that just figuratively speaking? Did he lose his divinity at some point? As far as I'm concerned, it's really not the issue.

You can really be distracted trying to get to the bottom of something that God's Word is just not very clear about. I believe God's Word tells us exactly what we need to know and all that we need to know and if the Holy Spirit gives you insight into it, well and good.

But other than that, I think we should not lose the forest for the trees and we should just focus on the basic parameters that are being set out for us. So the bottom line is that Jesus on the cross took upon himself the sins of the world, took upon himself our sin, he stood in our place and so he was separated from God and he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Okay, so let's just be content with that and let's rest in that and if God wants to give us additional light or more insight into that, then certainly we'll be open to receiving that. So as we keep reading verse 6, we see more of this nature that he took upon himself.

Mockery and Rejection of the Messiah

But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. Verse 7, all those who see me ridicule me, they shoot out the lip, they shake the head saying he trusted in the Lord, let him rescue him, let him deliver him since he delights in him.

Now again, if you've ever read the crucifixion of Jesus, the account of that in either Matthew or Mark or Luke or John, then you're going to immediately get this connection. Keep your place there in Psalm 22 and go back again to Matthew chapter 27.

Now we just read how the people mocked him and despised him and they ridiculed him and said he trusted in the Lord, let him rescue him, let him deliver him since he delights in him. So now look at Matthew 27 beginning in verse 39.

It says, and those who pass by, again this is the actual crucifixion of Jesus, those who pass by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, you who destroyed the temple and built it in three days, save yourself.

If you are the son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise the chief priests also mocking with the scribes and elders said, he saved others, himself he cannot save. If he is the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him.

He trusted in God, let him deliver him now if he will have him for he said, I am the son of God. Even the robbers who were crucified with him reviled him with the same thing. Now that's Matthew's account, we learned later by reading other accounts of that situation that eventually one of those thieves was converted there on the cross.

But the point being, you see the exact same language being used here as is used in Psalms 22. Now go back again to Psalm 22 and keep in mind what we just read. Again Psalm 22, 6, I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised by the people.

All those who see me ridicule me, they shoot out the lip, they shake the head saying, he trusted in the Lord, let him rescue him, let him deliver him since he delights in him. And that's exactly what the chief priests and the scribes and the elders told him.

Well if you're the king of Israel, come down from the cross. If God is your father, then let's see if God will deliver you. And so you see there that same ridicule and that same mocking. And once again, this is of prophetic significance to Psalm 22.

Because what is it saying? That the Messiah is not going to be accepted. On the contrary, he will be rejected, he will be crucified and he will be ridiculed. He will not come in power and in glory and in authority and in might and assume the throne of David and everyone shouts his praise.

That's not, that is the exact opposite from the life of Jesus and that's why they didn't understand. But Psalms 22 makes it very clear. So verse 9 of Psalms 22, let's continue reading. But you are he who took me out of the womb, you made me trust while on my mother's breast, verse 10, I was cast upon you from birth, from my mother's womb you have been my God.

And there aren't many people that can say that except for the Son of God. So again, we're having a reference to the Messiah. Verse 10, we've already read that. Verse 11, be not far from me for trouble is near, for there is none to help.

Psalm 22's Physical Prophecy of Crucifixion

And verse 12, many bulls have surrounded me, strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. Now look at verse 13, they gape at me with their mouths like a raging and roaring lion. Verse 14, I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint.

My heart is like wax, it has melted within me. Now you see here a very critical element to crucifixion. Now keep in mind, when David wrote this Psalm 22, this was many centuries before anyone had even invented the idea of crucifixion.

But one of the characteristics of crucifixion is the stress in pulling the arms apart from the body and the position that they put you in when you're being crucified. It basically pulls your bones out of joint over time.

And even the process of the stretching, it pulls the bones apart. And so all of my bones being out of joint, my heart like wax, it has melted within me. That is a very literal, physical description of someone who is being crucified.

Someone who is dying the death of a cross. Once again, the significance of this is that there was no such thing as crucifixion at the time Psalm 22 was written. There was no Roman government. There was no death by crucifixion to the degree that we are certainly more familiar with now.

You've obviously seen movies that depicted the crucifixion of Jesus. So here in Psalm 22, 14, we have something of prophetic significance. Verse 15, my strength is dried up like a potsherd, my tongue clings to my jaws, you have brought me to the dust of death.

Again, bringing out the physical aspects of the slow and lingering death by crucifixion. In verse 16, for dogs have surrounded me, the congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet.

Very amazing and very, very particular attention is being is being shown here to the physical aspects of crucifixion. Now, in the beginning of Psalm 22, we were talking about the spiritual dynamic of the crucifixion.

We were talking about this idea of being separated from God and of being ridiculed by the people. And now we're talking about the physical aspects of the one who is being crucified. Dogs have surrounded me.

The congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. Now, this reference here to dogs, that was one of the terms that the Jews used to describe Gentiles. So if you if you were not Jewish, you were a Gentile or a dog.

And even Jesus used this language when he told the Syrophoenician woman, it isn't right to take bread meant for the children and give it to the dogs because she was a Gentile. So this was kind of a name that really would not have a lot of significance at the time it was written.

But at the time of Jesus death, that was the what they considered Gentiles to be dogs. So when you see read it like this for Gentiles have surrounded me, the congregation of the wicked has enclosed me.

So if when Jesus is saying all throughout the Gospels that the Son of Man is going to be betrayed, he's going to be turned over to Gentiles, he's going to be crucified. And on the third day, he'll rise again.

This is exactly the sort of prophetic scripture that he has in mind here that describes this happening, being turned over to Gentiles, surrounded by the congregation of the wicked, because it was not the Jews who killed Jesus.

The Jews tried him. They they could not put anyone to death. They could only refer a condemned prisoner over to the Romans. It was the Romans who had to determine if someone would be sentenced to death or not.

So we see all this unfolding. And, you know, it's really easy now that we have the life of Jesus in the Gospels. We can go back to Psalm 22 and it kind of all fits together. But what's amazing about this psalm is it was written hundreds and hundreds of years before it ever took place.

And that's what makes it all the more significant. So verse 16 is referring to the fact that the Messiah would be surrounded by Gentiles and he would be pierced through his hands and feet. They pierced my hands and my feet.

Again, a very graphic reference to crucifixion. I can count all my bones. We're reading in verse 17 of Psalm 22. I can count all my bones. They look and stare at me again, referring to the physical aspect of the bones being pulled out of joint as a result of the weight of a man hanging from the cross for an extended period of time.

And I think in recent times where we've had a movie that was made talking about and showing in very graphic detail the physical agonies of a person being crucified. I don't think it's necessary for anyone.

I don't think it's necessary for me to get into all the physical aspects of crucifixion You've seen it before. My point in demonstrating this is to show you how the psalm here is speaking many, many centuries in advance to a kind of death that they were not at all experienced with during that time.

This was a prophetic significance. So when we say David was a prophet and he saw the days of the Lord Jesus, he certainly saw this crucifixion taking place by the spirit. Verse 18, they divide my garments among them and for my clothing, they cast lots.

The Casting of Lots and Prophetic Fulfillment

And so, again, keep your place here in Psalm 22 and turn with me back again to Matthew chapter 27. Now, we could get scriptural support from from any combination of gospels. But just to keep it simple, I'm limiting the the New Testament fulfillment to one book just to just to keep it simple.

Matthew 27, I mean, you can find the same evidence in Mark. You can find it in Luke. You can find it in John. Matthew 27, 35 reads, Then they crucified him and divided his garments, casting lots that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet.

Which prophet? David, the prophet David. Where? In Psalms 22, the Psalms that we're just reading, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet. They divided my garments among them and for my clothing, they cast lots.

That is a direct reference back to Psalm 22, verse 18. They divide my garments among them and for my clothing, they cast lots. What an accurate it goes beyond prediction. It is it is visionary. It is the ability to see something by the spirit and then speak it in what I call the prophetic past tense.

It is so real that it is as if it has already happened and you're just writing down the account of it. So they divide my garments among them and for my clothing, they cast lots. Verse 19. But you, O Lord, do not be far from me.

I'm sorry, we're back in Psalms 22 now. Psalms 22, verse 19. But you, O Lord, do not be far from me. Oh, my strength hasten to help me, deliver me from the sword, my precious life, from the power of the dog.

And again, another reference to the Gentiles. Verse 21. Save me from the lion's mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen. And then right here in the end of 21, there is a shift. And this is what people don't pay a lot of attention to.

You have answered me. Praise the Lord. Now, let's keep reading. Verse 22. I will declare your name to my brethren. Now, let's stop right there. I don't want to keep on going right now. Let's stop right there.

God's Answer and Christ's Willing Submission

As you read Psalm 22, you've got this this this intercession and this agony and this petition being lifted up to the Lord and in scriptural language, a complaint, a protest. It's saying, Lord, look at what's going on around me.

And you have this up until verse 21, this appeal to the Lord. And then at the end of 21, there is the answer. It says you have answered me. Now, answer being how did God answer him? Did God answer Jesus by taking him down off the cross?

No, the answer is God and God answered him not by taking him out of the crucifixion, not by taking him down off the cross. And in fact, that's not what Jesus is asking for in the first place. You remember, Peter was always not always, but Peter in one occasion where Jesus was was reminding them and telling them in advance that I'm going to be turned over to the Gentiles.

I'll be crucified. I'll die. And on the third day, I'll rise again. And at one time, Peter took him aside and said, Lord, stop talking like this. Far be it from you that you would die like this. And you're making you're making me upset when you talk like that.

And and Jesus said, get behind me, Satan, because you savor the things of man and not the things of God. And so you see, Jesus is embracing the will of God. He's not trying to get out of his crucifixion.

He is embracing that. And he says later, the cup that the father has given me, shall I not drink it? So he never when all the disciples fled, Jesus stood his ground. He says, no man takes my life, but I lay it down freely just as I've received commandment of the father.

So he is doing his father's will by submitting to the crucifixion. That's not the purpose of this prayer. This prayer is not being offered to attempt to get get him off of the cross. That was the temptation.

That was the people there were were were saying, hey, if you're the son of God, you should be able to come down off of the cross. Jesus didn't do that because he knew that wouldn't be God's will. Nevertheless, in verse 21, he says, you have answered me.

So how did God answer him? That's what the rest of this psalm is dedicated to. So verse 22, we have the answer. He says, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will praise you.

Christ Declaring God's Name to His Brethren

Now, there is a reference for this. It's in Hebrews chapter two, Hebrews chapter two. And why don't we turn over there? I don't know that we'll have time to to complete the psalm in the limited time that we have left.

But I want you to see this in Hebrews chapter two, beginning in verse 10. It says, for it was fitting for him talking about Jesus, for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings for both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he is not ashamed, who is not ashamed.

Jesus is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will sing praise to you. So we have here again another reference to the Lord Jesus in Psalm 22 that goes beyond simply the crucifixion of Jesus.

He says, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will praise you. So you've got to understand something about the way the Hebrew language is constructed that in English, when you're writing a poem, you're trying to use a certain rhythm.

Most of the time, an English poem will rhyme in Hebrew. They don't rhyme sounds. They rhyme thoughts. So they say the same thing twice. So he's saying, I'll declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly.

I will praise you. And I believe that verse in particular is referring to the church that Jesus is building. Well, now we're really getting into some depth and detail here, and we're not going to have time to complete this psalm.

So we're going to leave it off there, come back again next week and complete Psalm 22. Praise the Lord. This is Chip Brogdon. We're streaming online at www .watchman .net. Thank you for listening to us this week and be sure to join us next week so we can continue this study together.

God bless you.