WWUTT 969 My God Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Psalm 22 as a Messianic Cry from the Cross

Psalm 22 begins, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus prayed that from the cross according to Matthew 27. But to recognize the significance, you have to read the whole psalm, When We Understand the Text.

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Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our Old Testament study, we have been in the psalms, and today we're up to Psalm 22. If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there. Now, we'll only be looking at Psalm 22 today, and the next week we'll do Psalm 23.

Both of these are such important psalms in their own right. I think we would be doing the text a disservice by trying to squeeze them into the same lesson. So, I'll go ahead and begin by reading all 31 verses of Psalm 22.

And you'll recognize this, I think, right at the beginning. Psalm 22, verse 1. 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.

But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me. They make mouths at me. They wag their heads. He trusts in the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, for he delights in him.

Yet you are he who took me from the womb. You made me trust you at my mother's breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother's womb you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.

Many bulls encompass me. Strong bulls of Bashan surround me. They open wide their mouths at me like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax.

It is melted within my breast. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws. You lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me. A company of evildoers encircles me. They have pierced my hands and feet.

I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. But you, O Lord, do not be far off. O you, my help, come quickly to my aid.

Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog. Save me from the mouth of the lion. You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will tell of your name to my brothers.

In the midst of the congregation I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him. All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel. For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard when he cried to him.

From you comes my praise in the great congregation. My vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever.

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship.

Before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him. It shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation. They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn that he has done it.

Jesus Prayed Psalm 22 from the Cross

Now I'm sure you recognize right from the start when we began reading that this is the psalm that Jesus cries out from the cross, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? As recorded in Matthew chapter 27.

But there are no less than four direct prophecies that are made in this psalm fulfilled at the cross of Christ. Now there are other ways that this psalm points to Jesus and he has fulfilled the prophecy that has been made here.

But certainly we have four prophetic words that are fulfilled according to Matthew chapter 27 in particular. Let me go ahead and go there. Matthew 27, I'll start reading in verse 32, where it says that as they went out, this is the company that is leading Jesus to the place where he is to be crucified.

As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry Jesus' cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull, they offered him wine to drink mixed with gall.

But when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, this is Jesus, the king of the Jews.

Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself.

If you are the son of God, come down from the cross. So also the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him saying, he saved others. He cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him.

He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now if he desires him. For he said, I am the son of God. And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. Now from the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lemme sabachthani, that is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, this man is calling Elijah.

And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, truly this was the son of God. There were also many women there looking on from a distance who had followed Jesus from Galilee ministering to him, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock, and he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there sitting opposite the tomb. So did you hear some of the things there in that account in Matthew 27 that we just read in Psalm 22? Let me point out a few of them to you directly.

Of course, you would have picked up right at the very beginning, Psalm 22 1, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And Jesus cries out from the cross in Matthew 27 46 in Aramaic, the very beginning of that song, Eli, Eli, Lema sabachthani.

Now, an error that is often made whenever we read that in Matthew 27 is to take that quote in a vacuum, as though Jesus is saying, the son of God is saying to the father that he has been forsaken by the father, like the son has ceased to become the Trinity ceased to become part of the Trinity for a moment.

Is that what's going on there when Jesus is saying, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Now, remember, I think I mentioned this when we started out in our study of the Psalms, the titles of the Psalms prior to the canon the way that we have it, where you've got the Psalms numbered.

It used to be that the Psalms were known by the first line. So the title of the Psalm is the first line of that Psalm. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me would be the title then of Psalm 22. And so when we read in Matthew 27 that Jesus cried out from the cross, Eli, Eli, Lema sabachthani, that does not mean that was the only thing Jesus said.

Rather, it could be that he quoted a lot of the Psalm, maybe not the whole thing, since he was asphyxiating while he was there on the cross, but this may have been his prayer that he starts praying Psalm 22.

It's not just that line, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But it's also understanding later on in the Psalm, verse three, 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. So certainly in the moment that Jesus is dying there on the cross, he is taking the sin of mankind upon himself.

As we have in 2 Corinthians 5 .21, for our sake, he became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Our sins were placed upon Christ on the cross and his righteousness has been imputed to us.

That's that double imputation. And so in that moment that Jesus is becoming the propitiation for our sins, God the father is so holy he cannot even look upon sin. That being said in Habakkuk 1 .13. So you have God turning his back on Christ in a figurative sense, which is the darkness that covered the land for those three hours.

And then God showed that he had received this sacrifice that Jesus had offered up on our behalf by raising him from the dead. So when Jesus is praying from the cross, Psalm 22, you must consider all of it.

That Christ's cry to his father from the cross is also a plea to be delivered, which the father grants him. In you our fathers trusted, Psalm 22 .4, they trusted and you delivered them. Jesus trusted in the father and the father delivered the son.

They cried and were rescued. Jesus cried and was rescued. In you they trusted and were not put to shame. And as we have in Hebrews 12 .2, Jesus is the author and the perfecter of our faith who for the joy of the Lord that was before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

As we read in Philippians 2, that Jesus is given the name that is above every name because he was obedient to the will of the father even to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and given him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father.

So again, don't take that quote in Matthew 27 as existing in a vacuum. It is rather the title of the psalm. And Jesus had prayed this from the cross calling out to the father who heard him and delivered him just as the psalm has said.

Four Direct Prophecies Fulfilled at the Cross

So that's of course the first link that we have in this psalm to Christ and his crucifixion there on the cross. Another link we have is in Psalm 22 verse 7. So going down, I'll read verse 6. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.

And that of course was the case with Christ there as he hung on the cross. Verse 7, all who see me mock me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads. And what did we have in Matthew 27 but almost those exact words.

Verse 39, those who passed by derided him wagging their heads. Now by the way, this statement of those who passed by we often have this picture of Christ's crucifixion is taking place on a hill far away, right?

You know, the old hymn, the old rugged cross on a hill far away stood an old rugged cross. So if you wanted to see Jesus hanging on the cross you had to leave Jerusalem and go up on this hill at a distance where the cross was and of course the criminals that were hung on either side.

But when the Romans crucified their criminals they did this on a roadside, not like on a hill somewhere, you know, out there in a field you just had to go up on the hill in order to see those who were crucified.

They were out and away from everybody else. No, the Romans wanted to make a spectacle of the ones who were being crucified. So they would crucify them on a road. And in this particular case, Golgotha was the place of the skull and it may have been on a hill, on a slope but it wasn't like it was a hill set away from everybody else, it was on a road.

So people would pass by those who were being crucified and in this way it would strike fear in the hearts of the people that they may not do evil against Rome. And as they would pass by Jesus hanging on the cross they would shake their heads at him.

But Jesus was innocent. He had done nothing wrong and that is the motif of this psalm. Psalm 22, it is a person who has been wronged and treated unjustly by others and calling out to God to deliver the righteous.

And there is no one more righteous than Jesus. So of course, Jesus quoting this psalm Psalm 22 shows that he is the fulfillment of it. He is the most righteous who has ever been. And of course God heard his cry and delivered him.

So we have those who wagged their heads at him and Matthew quotes that almost exactly in Matthew 27, verse 39. Another fulfillment that we have in this psalm is the next verse down. Psalm 22, 8. He trusts in the Lord.

Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him for he delights in him. And that is the exact words that Jesus' mockers used of him. Matthew 27, 43. He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now if he desires him for he said I am the son of God.

Now God did not deliver Jesus in that moment so that what was written in the scriptures would be fulfilled. But God certainly did deliver him by raising him up on the third day. Another fulfillment that we have here comes in verse 18.

So Psalm 22, verse 18 where it says they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. Now this is actually referenced in all four gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But as we've just read it in Matthew 27 we find it in verse 35.

And when they had crucified him they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Exactly in fulfillment of something that had been prophesied in Psalm 22. Now of course we have other things that point to Christ within this psalm.

Like verse 16. For dogs encompass me. A company of evildoers encircles me. They have pierced my hands and feet. And of course that was fulfilled with Christ being crucified. Being nailed to a cross and having the dogs, the Romans, the Gentiles surrounding him and mocking him.

I can count all my bones. Verse 17. They stare and gloat over me. And this is in reference to his flayed flesh from having been whipped and scourged even before he was crucified. And yet the Father showed favor to the Son and indeed delivered him.

Verse 20. They deliver my soul from the sword. My precious life from the power of the dog. From these Gentiles. Save me from the mouth of the lion. You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen.

I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation I will praise you. Now the interesting thing about that passage Psalm 22, 22 is it's quoted in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 12. And the writer of Hebrews references Christ as the innocent one who was crucified for our sins and then was delivered up from death by the Father.

So we have that reference that comes even in Hebrews to this particular Psalm. You who fear the Lord, praise him. All you offspring of Jacob glorify him and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel.

Now even though there are messianic prophecies that are made here in this Psalm, this directly applies to those who would have sung the Psalm a thousand years before Christ when it was written by David.

This referring to the innocent ones. Those who were righteous and had done nothing wrong before God and yet they are oppressed by evil doers. They cry out to God to be delivered and they are reminded.

In you our fathers trusted, they trusted and you delivered them. And so as God has been faithful to his promises in the past, we know that he will be faithful to his promises that he has made to us even now.

And in that way, this Psalm directly applies to us also. We know that God has been faithful to his promises to deliver his people in the past and he will deliver us even now. Though we might go through things where we are oppressed and put down by evil doers and we're innocent and have done nothing wrong and yet people take advantage of us and they mock us, they deride us for the faith that we have and in other ways we may even be persecuted.

Yet we know that the Lord will deliver us. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nations shall worship before you for kingship belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.

Jesus will ultimately return to put his enemies to destruction and deliver up the righteous to be with him in his eternal kingdom forever. And in Christ we are prosperous, not by material possessions, but spiritually we have become rich in the promises of Jesus.

So consider verse 29, all the prosperous of the earth eat and worship before him shall bow all who go down to the dust even the one who could not keep himself alive. That might remind you of Philippians 2 .11 when all the nations everyone, every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Posterity shall serve him. All of our spiritual offspring who receive the gospel and believe in his name, it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation. They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn as the gospel goes out to all the earth that he has done it.

Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for our sins so that all who believe in him and put their faith in Jesus will not perish, but will be forgiven and have everlasting life with him in his eternal kingdom.

We will not be forsaken for he has delivered us. Amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. We hope you are a part of a church family committed to gospel teaching and we thank you for including us in your Bible learning.

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