Jesus Died, Jesus Rose, Jesus Reigns (Psalm 22)
Jesus was hanging naked from the cross as people cast lots for His clothing. He was surrounded by gentiles. People passed by mocking Him. The chief priests joined in the mocking and said,
“He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him come down 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.’” (Matthew 27:42-43 ESV)
Jesus’s response to all of this was to cry out “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46 ESV)
We tend to just read this account and think that Jesus was suffering in agony. And He was. There is no doubt that He was suffering in agony. He had been flogged in such a way that the flesh was ripped from His back. He was beaten with fists and a crown of thorns was beaten upon his brow. He carried the cross that He would die upon as far as He could in this condition. And then nails pierced His hands and feet as He hung naked upon the cross.
Of course He was suffering in agony.
But this is not why Jesus cried out “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani”.
In that moment, Jesus wanted the people to remember a song.
It wasn’t until around the year 1330 that the Old Testament had chapter numbers. Until that time the Book of Psalms had no numbers to mark out where you were in the book. The title to the Psalms was the first line of the Psalm.
They wouldn’t say, turn to Psalm 22. They would say, “My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me”.
So, why did Jesus give us a song title in His time of suffering?
The reason is that Psalm 22 was happening in that moment. Those that had eyes to see and ears to hear should have been able to take note of what was happening and see the fulfillment of what they had been singing for years.
Jesus died, Jesus rose, Jesus reigns, and this should give us victorious confidence in this world.
Jesus Died (Psalm 22:1-18)
David wrote this psalm. And at times that is obvious. But at other times we see clearly that the great fulfillment of this psalm is found in Jesus Christ. David had intense feelings during his persecution from Saul. But the fullness of this is found in Jesus Christ, which you will see as we go forward. Therefore, I will look at this mostly in reference to Jesus. But at times we will think about what David was going through.
As Jesus was hanging from the cross He quoted Psalm 22:1.
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” (Matthew 27:46 ESV)
Consider what is happening here for a moment. Jesus knows that He is loved by God. And in this moment, the silence of God is difficult for Him to bear.
This is different from where we usually go when thinking about the crucifixion. Because we understand physical pain so well, we gravitate toward the intense physical pain of Jesus in this moment.
We may not have ever felt a nail go through our hands and feet, the type of beatings that Jesus took, or the humiliation of being hung naked on the cross. But at least we can relate to it to some extent.
But it was the torture of bearing the sin of mankind and being punished by the Father that tormented Jesus in that moment. At that moment, Jesus was bearing the sin of all mankind. The punishment that was due us was placed upon Him.
That is something that we have a hard time relating to and something we really can’t understand.
You see, Jesus’s death was a propitiation for sin. We earned God’s wrath and justice.
Sin is not just doing something wrong. Often it is described as “missing the mark”. In a sense this is true, but really it misses what sin is. Sin is an act of treason against God Almighty. It is, as R.C. Sproul famously put it, “cosmic treason”. And our act of treason required punishment.
This is where we begin to understand what is meant when we say that Jesus’s death is a propitiation.
Jesus’s death is described as a propitiation, or a propitiatory sacrifice in the New Testament. Propitiation is a wrath bearing sacrifice.
God’s wrath was resting on our head and God placed it upon Jesus. God the Son bore the wrath of God in your place. It was due you. It was hanging over your head and God the Son took it upon Himself.
whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (Romans 3:25 ESV)
Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17 ESV)
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2 ESV)
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10 ESV)
This word was commonly used in ancient times. There is an illustration that I like to use about this very thing. This word propitiation is also used in the Iliad and the Odyssey in an enlightening way.
In the epic poem that you might have read portions of in school, Helen was stolen from her husband and taken to Troy by Paris. And this began the Trojan war.
1,000 ships left the harbor to rescue Helen. But there was a problem. The wind wouldn’t blow. And it was suggested that the pagan gods were angry at them and they needed to make a sacrifice to appease the wrath of the gods in order to get the wind to blow again. So, Helen’s father Agamemnon sacrificed his oldest daughter to appease the pagan god Artemis. In the story, the anger of the gods was appeased and the ships made it to Troy. And thus, the Trojan War was allowed to begin.
Why do I use this illustration? Why would this help us to understand anything?
Well, this word “propitiation” has a meaning that we don’t quite understand today. They did when it was written. It was a major work of Ancient Greece that everyone knew well. And that usage of the word reflects the meaning of it quite well.
A propitiation was a wrath bearing sacrificed. God’s wrath was to be poured out on us and instead it was poured out on Jesus. That is why He suffered as He did.
Why would we read, “But I am a worm and not a man” (Psalm 22:6). It is God the Son that this is ultimately about.
At this moment, Jesus was bearing the sins of all mankind. Every sin that would ever be forgiven was placed upon Jesus Christ. Though He was and is God the Son. Though is Himself God, He bore the wrath and justice of God Almighty in place of wicked sinners. And He was being treated that way, in that moment.
In every other instance in history, those that trusted the Lord were not despised. The fathers trusted the Lord and were not despised (Psalm 22:4). Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others trusted the Lord and were not despised. But Jesus hung naked upon that cross bearing the justice of Almighty God in place of wicked sinners. And He did not feel that love and compassion in that moment.
It was because of what we read in Psalm 22:3. God is “holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:3). He is holy and does not tolerate sin. God will punish sin. Jesus was the only person that ever lived sinlessly. Yet, in that moment, Jesus bore the full wrath and justice of God for sin (Psalm 22:9-11).
So, instead of feeling the nearness of the Father, Jesus felt the wrath and justice of His father. And if we think at all about this moment, then we will understand that it was the first time in all of history that God the Son did not feel the nearness of His Father. It was the first time, since before time began, that God the Son felt God the Father’s displeasure. And it only happened in that moment because He was punishing His Son as a propitiatory sacrifice in place of wicked sinners.
So, we begin to read of many things that took place while Jesus was hanging from the cross. While Jesus was in agony upon the cross the Chief Priests cried out
“He trusts in the Lord, let Him deliver Him; let Him rescue Him, for He delights in Him!” (Psalm 22:8 ESV)
The exact fulfillment of this is found in Matthew 27:43. I am certain that there was some fulfillment of this in David’s day. But we know that it happened to Jesus on the cross.
We are told that many bulls encompassed David, and ultimately Jesus. These people were seeking their destruction (Psalm 22:12-13). In David’s case, this would have been a mighty army. But for Jesus, it was the Roman soldiers that beat Him, mocked Him, and now stood guard as He was nailed to the cross.
David felt weakness, I am sure. There is moment after moment in Saul’s persecution of David that would have made him feel completely weak. But we can easily see how this text described Jesus (Psalm 22:14-16).
All of Jesus’s bones were out of joint as He was hanging from the cross (Psalm 22:14). As his body’s weight pulled down against the nails and ropes, surely he felt as if all of his bones were out of joint. And as time went by, it certainly felt that way. Only when He put pressure on the nail in His feet would this pressure be relieved.
David wrote that his heart was “like wax” (Psalm 22:14). And this is probably a statement of weakness on his part. But Jesus’s death would have been heart failure of some sort. Most people that died by crucifixion eventually lacked the strength to push against the nail in the foot to catch a breath. It was a cruel way to die. And eventually the lungs and heart would not be able to function.
David wrote that his strength was dried up like a potsherd (Psalm 22:16). But Jesus definitely felt this way after being beaten, flogged, and nailed to the cross. And as Jesus’s own tongue stuck to His jaws (Psalm 22:15), He said “I thirst” (John 19:28).
Jesus’s suffering and agony are there for all of us to see in Psalm 22. And we see even more of it as we continue to move through the text.
David said that dogs encompassed him (Psalm 22:16). David likely was describing rabid enemies seeking to do him harm. But Jesus would have been talking about the Gentile soldiers that surrounded Him. Jews often called Gentiles “dogs” as a derogatory term. Jesus even did it in Matthew 15:26.
I struggle as I move through the next few verses of Psalm 22 to figure out how it applied to David. It may have been that David was hungry for an extended period of time while he ran from Saul. That is possibly why he said “I can count all my bones” (Psalm 22:17). But Jesus was dehydrated from hanging on the cross. Those people were there staring and gloating over Jesus (Psalm 22:17). They were there to watch Him die, and many of them were mocking Him while they did it. And they even divided up Jesus’s garments and cast lots for them (Psalm 22:18, Matthew 27:35).
Why did this happen?
Why did Jesus die?
We sinned. We rebelled against God. And because God wanted to save us, His Son died as the sacrifice for sin.
God the Son took on human flesh so that He could be that spotless sacrifice. He made Himself killable so that His blood could be spilled for wicked sinners like us.
You and I rebelled against God. We broke His Law. And we did it because we are sinners. Our first parents rebelled against God and all of humanity has inherited a nature set against God. And we have all acted upon that rebellious nature.
And now, we have earned God’s wrath and justice. We deserve for God’s wrath to fall upon our heads. And God would have been in the right to just pour His wrath upon us and be finished with us.
But He chose not to do so. Instead, He gave us His Son.
“”For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 ESV)
Jesus Rose (Psalm 22:19-26)
Jesus was delivered from the grave. And as we read this text, we understand that this is the reason for praise. We do stand in awe of the Lord for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God raised Jesus from the dead. He was not left in the grave (Psalm 22:19-21). And it causes many, many people to stand in awe and sing praises to the Lord (Psalm 22:22-26).
We are almost to that great holiday, the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And we celebrate it for good reason.
God the Son accomplished our justification through the resurrection.
“That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” (Romans 4:22-25 ESV)
We speak often of how the death of Christ atoned for our sin. But we speak little of Jesus being raised for our justification. Justification is the legal declaration of God upon our life. It is where God bangs the gavel on your life and says that you are not just innocent but declared righteous.
That declaration of righteousness can only happen because Jesus rose from the grave.
Because Jesus died, we are forgiven. Because Jesus rose from the grave, we are declared righteous.
Jesus Reigns (Psalm 22:27-31)
I want you to notice something about the ending of this psalm. After the death and resurrection of Jesus, what is the tone?
It is triumphant.
How many people will worship the Lord after His death and resurrection?
“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.” (Psalm 22:27-28 ESV)
How far did Jesus say tell His disciples to spread the gospel?
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” (Matthew 28:18-20 ESV)
How long did Jesus tell us that this expansion would take?
“He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”” (Matthew 13:31-33 ESV)
For a few generations, Christians have thought that the world was just going to go to Hell in a handbasket. And they keep thinking that the end is right here. The belief is that things are just going to get worse and worse until Christ returns. But where did we get that idea?
It’s definitely not in the Psalm that Jesus pointed people to while he was hanging on the cross.
And it’s not what Jesus said would happen while He was teaching about the Kingdom of God on Earth.
Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection did more than just make a way for people to be saved. It purchased a people for Him. We are the posterity that Psalm 22 said would serve Him. And that posterity, as the text says, includes people from all the families of the nations. Kingship belongs to the Lord. And just as Psalm 22 said would happen 1,000 years before Jesus came to Earth, “people yet unborn” proclaim the righteousness of the Lord. (Psalm 22:31).
That is us. That is who we are.
We are to be people that, because of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, because He accomplished our salvation through His perfect life, death, and resurrection, we proclaim His righteousness to others. We are those people that, over 3,000 years ago were “yet unborn” that proclaimed the Lord’s righteousness.
Now, we will go and do it. Go and proclaim the righteousness of the Lord. Stop acting like the world is just going to get worse and worse until Jesus comes. Stop acting like Jesus’s salvation will only go to a handful of people that are helicoptered out of here like the Fall of Saigon or the escape from Afghanistan.
There are more Christians in the world today than there were people that existed when Jesus uttered the Great Commission. And that expansion of the gospel will continue until there are believers from every tribe, nation, and tongue.
Open your mouth, speak of the righteousness of the Lord.
Open your mouth, as one of the Lord’s people, as part of posterity that will serve Him and speak of the salvation that is found in the Lord.
Open your mouth with confidence, for the Lord saves.
Open your mouth and tell of the wonders of His life, death, and resurrection.
Conclusion
We have a tendency to look around and think that all is lost. And that is a tendency to look at the world as if Jesus didn’t come to Earth, die on the cross, rise from the grave, and currently rules and reigns.
In other words, we live as if all is lost when the truth of the matter is that Christ has conquered sin and death. And now, people are coming to Him. He is bringing people to Himself through us, the people that speak His praises to a lost and dying world.