Psalm 22. The outline of the psalm is very simple. The first half deals with the suffering of Christ, and the second with the glory of Christ. So I'll read the entirety of the psalm, and then we'll look at it in some detail.
So Psalm 22, beginning in verse 1. To the chief musician set to the dear of the dawn, a psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning?
Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not hear, and in the night season, and am not silent. But you are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in you. They trusted and you delivered them.
They cried to you and were delivered. They trusted in you and were not ashamed. But 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. but you are he who took me out of the womb.
You made me trust while on my mother's breasts. I was cast upon you from birth. From my mother's womb, you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help.
Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They gape at me with their mouths like a raging 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 me. My strength is dried up like a pot shirt and my tongue clings to my jaws. You have brought me to the dust of death.
For dogs have surrounded me. The congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones.
They look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them. And for my clothing, they cast lots. But you, O Lord, do not be far from me.
O my strength, hasten to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen. You have answered me.
I will declare your name to my brethren. In the midst of the assembly, I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him. All you descendants of Jacob, glorify him and fear him, all you offspring of Israel.
For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, nor has he hidden his face from him. When he cried to him, he heard. My praise shall be of you in the great assembly. I will pay my vows before those who fear him.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord. and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
For the kingdom is the Lord's, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him, even he who cannot keep himself alive. A posterity shall serve him.
It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation. They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born that He has done this. Amen. Well, let us pray.
But God, as we come to this passage of Holy Scripture, we are struck with being on holy ground. We know this is a record of our Lord's sufferings on the cross. We pray that you would help us to see these things with the eyes of faith and cause it indeed to draw from us worship and praise and adoration and great love to our Savior. We thank you for the lengths that he went to on our behalf.
We thank you for that redemption accomplished and applied. And we praise you that you've made us participants in this, by your grace and for your glory. Again, forgive us for all of our sins and unrighteousness and guide us now by your Holy Spirit, and we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, as I said, the psalm breaks down into two parts. First, the suffering of Christ, we'll notice that in verses one to 21a, and then secondly, the glory of Christ from 21b to verse 31. Like our study last week in Psalm 110, we noted there that David composed the psalm, the text of scripture tells us he did so by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but that the triumph and the glory and the majesty of the psalm far transcends anything that David knew, even at the apex of his kingly power. Well, Psalm 22 is like that as well.
David wrote it, there's a superscription there that tells us or indicates that he does, and no doubt David had a lot of sufferings and trials in his own life, but what we find in this psalm transcends or exceeds anything that occurred to David his earthly life. Alec Motier says, the psalm goes beyond any experience of David's. While it could arise from some time of his suffering, it goes far beyond such to torture and death. We are listening to David the prophet looking forward to the suffering Messiah.
As well, many New Testament passages apply this psalm to our Lord Jesus Christ. We see it In the Passion narrative, we see as well Hebrews 2.12 evokes or invokes this particular Psalm to underscore Christ in the midst of his assembly as the song leader, as the choir leader, as we sing together, Christ is with us, according to the author of the book of Hebrews. So as I said, we'll look first at the suffering of Christ, and there we'll see three things. First, the lamentation of Christ.
Secondly, a description of the suffering of Christ. And then thirdly, the petitions of Christ. And the petitions are sort of mingled out throughout the whole, it's not a three-fold sort of segment in the way that I suggest. We'll bounce around a bit as we move our way through Psalm 22.
The Lamentation of Christ
But notice first the lamentation of Christ, and that's in verses one and two. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not hear and in the night season and I'm not silent.
Of course, that first verse is what Jesus cites or what Jesus recites on the cross according to Matthew 27, especially in verses 45 and 46. We read now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, there was darkness over all the land. And 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?
Now certainly that's a bit of a puzzling statement when you take it at face value. How could God the Son be forsaken by God the Father? So in terms of explanation, we ought to notice first what it doesn't mean, and then secondly what it does mean.
What the Cry of Dereliction Does Not Mean
It does not mean, first of all, that there was any division among the persons of the Trinity. That cannot happen. It could not happen. It has never happened, and it will never happen.
The unity of the divine nature and the triunity of the persons in the Godhead forbid such an interpretation, that there was some division among the persons of the Godhead. As well, the three persons did not suffer on the cross. You see sometimes in theology that people will suggest such a thing. That's not it at all.
Christ, according to His humanity, suffered on the cross for us men and for our salvation. So the cry does not mean there was a division among the persons of the Trinity. The cry also does not mean that there was a dissolution of the hypostatic union. Now by hypostatic union we refer to the one person of Christ with the two natures.
And the dissolution would be that there was somehow a division or a separation or a destruction of that union. Our confession is very clear. It says, so that two whole perfect and distinct natures were inseparably joined together. One of the mysteries of our religion is that while Christ hung on the cross, he was still the God-man.
He was still the divine word who assumed our humanity. The distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion, which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man. So there was no destruction in terms of the Trinity and no destruction in terms of the hypostatic union of our Lord.
What the Cry of Dereliction Does Mean
So we ask the question then, what does the cry mean? The Lord Jesus suffered on the cross according to his humanity. The Lord Jesus suffered on the cross according to his humanity for us men and for our salvation. Remember, our sin, according to 2 Corinthians 5.21, is heaped upon the Savior, and it's punished in the Savior.
The forsakenness is the penal sanctions involved with our law-breaking of God's holy commandments. And so Christ on the cross suffers in our place. Hillary says, nay, it was we who were forsaken and disregarded, so that it was as appropriating our personality that he offered these prayers. I think Aquinas is right on the ball.
He says, Christ spoke these words in the person of a sinner or of the church. So this that he experienced was due to us men for our salvation. So the forsakenness in short was simply the removal of the divine favor at the point of the penal sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus suffered on the cross for the duration determined by the Father.
He was forsaken. And remember, the Lord Jesus was delivered to the cross by the Father. Romans 8, 32. He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
He delivered him up for us all. or in the prophet Isaiah, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he has put him to grief. And so it's that bruising, it's that grief, that's wherein lies the explanation of the forsakenness by the Son of God from the Father. Again, it's not a breach of the doctrine of the Trinity, it's not a dissolution of the hypostatic union, it is Christ as our surety, going to the uttermost lengths to suffer on behalf of all those whom the Father had given Him. So the Lord Jesus suffered on the cross and experienced the withdrawal of the Father's favor, again, according to His humanity.
The favor was withdrawn, but not the Father. Whatever forsakenness means, it cannot mean that there was any removal of the father from the son. Because all throughout the Psalm, the son is calling upon the father. And that would be absolutely ludicrous if he did not know that he had his father's ear.
Listen to David Dixon. He says, Christ, as man, lying under the curse of the law for us, was really deserted and forsaken for a time. Again, not completely abandoned. Oftentimes, that's what forsakenness comes to mean, that he was abandoned by the Father.
In fact, that makes its way into popular hymnody and popular songs. It wasn't an abandonment. The forsakenness was the suffering that the Son endured on our behalf in terms of penal sanction. So again, Dixon, Christ as man lying under the curse of the law for us was really deserted and forsaken for a time in regard, notice, of all sensible consolation.
It's like when we go through, and I don't want to sort of compare our goings through with what Christ is going through, but when we're afflicted or we have hardships or when we have trials, we don't, or we shouldn't, interpret it as being abandoned by the Father. God doesn't abandon His children. God doesn't leave them without Him. Now, for a time, there might be a lack of sensible consolation, but that is a far cry different than suggesting there was some sort of abandonment of the Son by the Father.
Dixon goes on, for it behooved Him to bear the wrath. or effects of wrath due to our sins really, so far as might satisfy for us and relieve us from wrath. It is true the man Christ could no more be forsaken in regard of the divine presence supporting him than the personal union of the two natures could be dissolved. But in regard of sensible consolation, the goodness, the favor, the kindness, and again, that's not suggesting that that was somehow sacrificed or compromised on the part of the Father, But in terms of the experience of the Son who stood for us on that cross and received in Himself the penalty due to our sins, there was that absence. But in regard of sensible consolation, He was, by way of punishment for our sins and by way of cursing our sin in Him, really in our stead for a while deprived as man of the sense of the comfort of His own Godhead.
So He's dealing with the whole hypostatic union part. As well, we've got good, solid men in our camp, I think, that probably explain it a lot better than I'm trying to. Listen to Matthew Henry. Christ was made sin for us, a curse for us.
And therefore, though God loved him as a son, he frowned upon him as a surety. That's what the cry, we call it the cry of dereliction, that's what this means. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's Christ according to his humanity on the cross, suffering the wrath and fury of God most high.
This is an indicator of true humanity. What true man, what real human being wouldn't cry this way under such affliction? Gil says, but he was now without a sense of the gracious presence of God and was filled as the surety of his people with a sense of divine wrath, which their iniquities he now bore deserved and which was necessary for him to endure in order to make full satisfaction for them. For one part of the punishment of sin is loss of the divine presence.
And then John Flavel, it was a penal desertion inflicted on him for satisfaction for those sins of ours which deserve that God should forsake us forever as the damned are forsaken by him. So the lamentation of Christ is at the point of what he experiences directly under the wrath and fury of God the Father.
The Suffering of Christ Described
We move then to a description of the suffering of Christ. Now certainly we have more in this psalm than we do in the passion narrative concerning the physical sufferings of our Lord Jesus. You hear that sometimes. Well, why would you sing Psalms in the church?
There's no Jesus in the Psalms. You get more information about Christ on the cross from Psalm 22 than you do from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I'm not suggesting that they're bankrupt. I'm not suggesting that they don't give us information, but I'm suggesting they don't spell it out in the way that the Savior spells it out himself in Psalm 22.
He describes for us in vivid detail the sufferings that he endured in his passion.
The Reproach of Men
Note first the reproach of men, verses 6 to 8. He says, but I am a worm and no man. The Messiah is looked upon as a worm by men. This is a powerful statement.
I am a worm and no man. Now think about it for a moment. If we had public execution, which I would argue we should, but if we did and we saw somebody being publicly executed, our thoughts would probably not run toward, there's a hero in society. There's a guy everybody should model themselves after.
There's the kind of guy every woman should try to seek as a hot, no, we wouldn't think that. We would think that's disgusting. This guy deserves what's coming to him. That guy gets what the justice has demanded for him.
So Christ says, I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. Gil says, Christ calls himself a worm on account of the opinion that men of the world had of him. Now, if you struggle with this interpretation, consider the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 53, two and three. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness, and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him.
So when Christ here says, I am a worm and no man, expressing what his experience was on the cross. They shook the head. They looked at him. They ridiculed him.
Notice in verses 7 and 8, 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. That is precisely Matthew's gospel. That is precisely chapter 27, verses 39 to 44. Remember at the base of the cross, the religious leaders, those men of renown and dignity, are mocking the crucified Messiah.
And so Christ is reporting all of that vis-a-vis firsthand in Psalm 22. Again, I'm not mitigating the glory of the passion narratives in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but Psalm 22 feeds those, and Psalm 22 in some sense exceeds those. I would suggest that if you're not singing the Psalms of David in public worship, you're missing out a lot on the glory and the suffering and the blessedness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The Attack of Beastly Men
He moves from the reproach of men to the beast attack by beastly men. Verses 12 and 13, verse 16, verse 20, verse 21. Bulls, lion, dogs, dog, lion's mouth, horns of the wild, oxen. He's using animals to describe the actions of men that are directed against him while he's on the cross.
The language is vivid, and the language is very expressive of the kinds of sin that is in the hearts of men. As Davis says, he describes his suffering in beastly terms. Bulls surround him, verse 12. But in the next verse, bulls become a lion that tears up its prey and roars.
In verse 16, dogs circle around. These are not the house pet variety, but the half-wild garbage moochers of the Near East. But the canines are human. They're a congregation of evildoers.
The beast imagery implies, as Alec Mottier says, that the assault lacks any of the constraints of humanity. It was a wretched, bloodthirsty, lawless frenzy on the part of the persons that nailed our blessed Savior to the cross. And that is precisely what he is narrating for us in this particular passage of Holy Scripture. Whence the puzzlement that we find when we move our way through the gospel of John to see their antipathy toward the Son of God.
If we understand the passion and what it all culminated in, we shouldn't be shocked at Jesus' harsh words directed against the religious leaders of his own day. These men that would rally up the crowd, these men that would incite the multitudes to cry, away with him, away with him, crucify him. They were beastly men. They were like bulls, they were like lions, they were like those given over to reprobate activity as they target for destruction the very Messiah sent by God to save his people from their sin.
Now in all of this, the resolve of the Lord Jesus is on full display in the Psalm, but as well in Hebrews 12 too. Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame. So all throughout our Lord Jesus Christ, he set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem. Once he was in Jerusalem, he sat silent or stood silent before the Sanhedrin, and he ultimately goes through all that was purposed for him for our salvation.
The Torture Inflicted on the Cross
Notice he moves on to the torture inflicted by men in verses 14 to 18. Again, you have to see how this transcends what David experienced. David certainly had a hard life. He had many adversities.
He says as much, but the Lord had delivered him from them all. 2 Samuel 4, 1 Kings 2, David bookends his life with that statement. He knew many adversities, but the Lord was faithful to deliver him from them all. But none of his adversities included the kind of torture and the suffering and the ignominy that was enforced upon him by these wretches. Now note the effects of crucifixion in verses 14 and 15.
Makes sense for one crucified. Remember that little piece of wood that the victim stood on was to sort of keep him intact so long as his lungs would continue to function. They typically broke the legs when they wanted to speed up death. So once the legs were broke, the body would extend and he would asphyxiate.
But in this he says, I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a pot shirt and my tongue clings to my jaws. You have brought me to the dust of death.
Notice that constant and persistent acknowledgement of the providence and the sovereignty of his father. He's not mitigating the guiltiness of the lion, of the bulls. He's not mitigating the conduct of these beastly men. But he understands, according to his reality as the divine son, who by the Father's sending comes to save us from our sins.
He says, you have brought me to the dust of death. I think this is echoed in John 19, 28 to 30. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now, a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there, and they filled the sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop and put it to his mouth.
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. And then note the specific reference to crucifixion in verses 16b to 18. 16a, for dogs have surrounded me. Again, these aren't canines.
This isn't your family pet. It's much, much worse than that, kids. You know what's much, much worse than a vicious, vile dog is a vicious, vile man. A man with sin in his heart and rebellion against Yahweh and His Christ, and a man who has purpose to despise and to destroy the very Messiah sent by the Father to save His people from their sins.
For dogs have surrounded me, the congregation of the wicked has enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my feet, I can count all my bones, they look and stare at me, they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. Now, the English versions here follow the Septuagint. The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. A man by the name of Reitlnick makes the observation with reference to the Masoretic Text.
If you notice, if you're using the New King James, there's a reading in the margin ascribed to the Masoretic Text. And it's wildly different than what you have here, and they pierced my hands and my feet. As I said, the English versions follow the Septuagint here. But Reitlnick makes the observation, plainly the Masoretic text rendering avoids the Christological implications of predicting the crucifixion.
Don't miss that. If there is a specifically Christological reading in the Masoretic text, I'm not saying don't trust your Masoretic text. That's not what I'm saying. But understand, if on the basis of this particular passage of the specimen, if there's something that sounds exactly like what happened to Jesus, and there's a bit of an obscuring of that, at least Reitlnick is suggesting that that's what happened.
Plainly, the Masoretic text rendering avoids the Christological implications of predicting the crucifixion, thereby taking the less messianic rendering and making it more acceptable to Judaism. Dale Ralph Davis makes the observation, in 1997 a Hebrew text from Nahal Hever was published which actually reads, they have pierced. And this Hebrew text is a thousand years earlier than our traditional Hebrew text. The Greek translation of the Septuagint from about 200 BC also took it this way.
In other words, the affirmation that this is a specifically Christ-centered messianic reading, it's there. It's extant. It's not that, you know, English translators or the LXX said, well, let's just bolster this messianic interpretation that it lands on Christ and let's throw this in there. No, that's not what happened.
So there is a specific reference to crucifixion. Now, the Roman Empire wasn't even in play at this time, let alone crucifixion by the Roman Empire. So many, many years before the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, we read in Psalm 22 that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be crucified. This is why, or at least one of the reasons why, among many other texts, at times Jesus got not impatient the way I get, because I sin when I'm impatient, but Jesus would upbraid his disciples.
Have you not read? You don't have an expectation that the way that the Messiah would lead many sons to glory would be through suffering? How do you come through Isaiah 53, the suffering servant of Yahweh, and not conclude that the one that the Father sends must to some degree suffer? Or how do you read the Proto-Evangel in Genesis 3.15 and not see some sort of suffering on behalf of the Savior?
His heel's going to be bruised. There's going to be something that obtains with reference to the Messiah. So there is a specific reference here to the crucifixion and a description. They pierced my hands and my feet.
I can count all my bones. They look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. We know that.
They do that in Matthew 27 at verse 35.
The Petitions of Christ
And then finally, under the head of suffering, note the petition of Christ. His confidence in the Father is not confined to His state of exaltation. His confidence in the Father is expressed in the midst of suffering. I already read that in Hebrews chapter 12, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.
He knew that once the cross and once the shame was over, there was joy set before him, vis-a-vis the glory of God and the salvation of the bringing of many sons to glory. And so before the petitions proper, note the affirmation of the Father's perfections. He's going through great distress. He is crying out, or has cried out, why hast thou forsaken me?
But in verse three he says, but you are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel. This is not a man abandoned. This is not a man deserted as if there was no recognition or realization whatsoever of his father. And he never once questions the father's holiness in the midst of it.
We go there, don't we? Something bad happens to us and we start to get this sneaking suspicion that maybe God's holiness, maybe God's goodness, maybe God's kindness is on a bit of a holiday. Because if it wasn't, why am I going through what I'm going through? not so with the Son of God, not so with the Son according to His humanity, but you are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel. The forsakenness of the Son does not mitigate the holiness of the Father, and the forsakenness of the Son highlights the holiness of the Father.
Spurgeon said, however ill things may look, there is no ill in thee, O God. We, excuse me, are very apt to think and speak hardly of God when we are under his afflicting hand. But not so the obedient son. He knows too well his father's goodness to let outward circumstances libel his character.
There is no unrighteousness with the God of Jacob. He deserves no censures. Let him do what he will. He is to be praised and to reign enthroned amid the songs of his chosen people." That's a glorious expression. of blessedness on the part of the Savior.
But you are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel." Notice that he moves in terms of perfection to God's faithfulness. Verse 4, our fathers trusted in you. They trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were delivered.
They trusted in you and were not ashamed. Verses 9 and 10. He's not saying this in a comparative way. You know, you helped the fathers, but you didn't help me.
No, he says, that's one of the glories, one of the perfections that is yours, Father, is that you were faithful to the fathers. You've been faithful to me throughout the entirety of the time, since you brought me forth from my mother's womb. You're good and you do good. And by way of a practical application, I don't want to again parallel our suffering with the Savior's.
That is absolutely ludicrous. But man, we should learn from the Savior here. Instead of impugning the holiness of God or the faithfulness of God when we go through some strait or some hardship or some difficulty, let us learn from the Savior on how to deal Let us learn from the Savior that at times there are hard things that we have to undergo, that at times there are travails, that at times there is suffering, that at times to be conformed under the image of His blessed Son, then we too must suffer, then we too must have hardship. Let us guard against the tendency when any bad thing comes.
Where's the holy God? Where's the faithful God? That is not the mindset of the Savior as He's suffering on the cross. It is not a lack of confidence in His Father.
And I provide that, the affirmation of the Father's perfections, to tie it to His petitions, because He prays as a man who believes those verities. Notice the presence of trouble and the confidence he has in the Father evokes the petition in verse 11. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help. The presence of trouble and the faithfulness of God evokes the petition in verse 19.
But you, O Lord, do not be far from me. O my strength, hasten to help me. The presence of trouble and his confidence in the Father evokes the petition in verse 20, deliver me from the sword. And the presence of trouble and the confidence in his father evokes the petition in verse 21, save me.
So this isn't an utter complete abandonment. The forsakenness is his experience of the wrath and fury of God in our place for the satisfaction of divine justice. The psalm opens up for us in a way that no other place in scripture does the glory of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a commentary written by a man named Herman Ritterboss on the gospel of John.
I'm not using him this time around, but the last time I preached on John, this caught my attention in John 19.18a. It says, where they crucified him. Ritterbaugh says the New Testament has no trace of any passion mysticism oriented to the physical torture of Jesus. He's right.
I looked at Cameron of A, and he was raised Roman Catholic. I was raised Roman Catholic. If any of the rest of you were unfortunate enough to have to go through that, you'll know that they do a lot with the physical torture of Jesus. Unfortunately, Protestants are aping them now, the stations of the cross, passion play, mysticism.
I think that Ritterbos is right on. The New Testament has no trace of any passion mysticism oriented to the physical torture of Jesus. Like there's something that we should just crave about every time Jesus fell, every drop of blood that fell off his head. And I'm not suggesting we shouldn't think through the implications of his physical suffering.
But what I am suggesting is that we get a lot more of it in Psalm 22. We get a lot more of it than we do in Matthew's Gospel, in Mark, or Luke, or John. If you want to know something of what the Savior, according to His humanity, went through on your behalf, Psalm 22 is about the best window you can look through. And then, I don't want to just blow through it, but because of time, we're going to have to blow through it.
The latter part.
The Glory of Christ
The latter part of the Psalm focuses on the glory of Christ. I think the specific reference is the ascension and the current session, similar to what we see there in Psalm 110 or what we saw last week. And I just want to break down 21b to 26, and then 27 to 31.
Blessing Upon His People
I think 21b to 26 deals with the blessing upon his people. In other words, what Jesus does and what Jesus went through and the sufferings from verses 1 to 21a are for the benefit of others. It's for the benefit of us, who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven. Notice we have this response in verse 21b, you have answered me.
The answer of the father. Notice we have the adoption of his people. Verse 22, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will praise you.
Ambrose said he is Lord by nature or our Lord by nature and becomes our brother by grace. That is glorious language. I will declare your name to my brethren, the one who was circled by these bulls, the one who was gaped at by these wretches, the one who was pierced by these filthy criminals. This one has done this for us men and for our salvation.
Notice the adoration of God predicated on what the Son had accomplished in the first part of the Psalm. Notice in verses 23 and following. You who fear the Lord, praise Him. All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him.
And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel. For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, nor has he hidden his face from him. But when he cried to him, he heard. My praise shall be of you in the great assembly.
I will pay my vows before those who fear him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever.
The fear of God is a wonderful outflow of what the work of the Savior on our behalf accomplishes. We see that reason in verse 24. He is not despised, nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. We see as well this emphasis on corporate worship.
My praise shall be of you in the great assembly. So we sing praises to God as we join the elder brother in singing praises to the father. We do so based on the reality of the first half of the Psalm and what the son of God went through on behalf of guilty, vile, helpless sinners. And we see this emphasis on constant provision.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever. So that's the blessing upon His people, but
The Extent of His Kingdom
note the extent of His kingdom in verses 27 to 31. The nations of the earth will be included in this redemptive plan. So I read Psalm 67 at the outset. Let the nations be glad.
Cause your face to shine upon the peoples, that the way of Yahweh would be known throughout the entirety of the earth. This picks up a theme that's not just a little one in scripture. God's promises to Abraham are about nations included in those blessings. We see it all throughout the Psalms.
We see it all throughout the prophets. We see it in our Lord's words, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. We've got this wonderful depiction or presentation of the glorious extension of Christ's kingdom. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nation shall worship before you for the kingdom is the Lord's and he rules over the nations.
This is the emphasis in Holy Scripture. It brings us to the book of Revelation from every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation, a great multitude that no man can number. Notice as well, it's not just going to affect the locations in the earth, but it's going to be generational. Notice in verses 30 and 31, a posterity shall serve him.
It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation. They will come and declare his righteousness to a people who will be born that he has done this. This is an old covenant equivalent to a Matthew 16. I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
It is all predicated on the finished and successful and the glorious work of the Redeemer recorded in the first half of the psalm. The suffering of our blessed Savior inevitably leads to His conquest of the nations, to His extension of His Church, or the advancement of His Church, to the blessedness of His people with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Application
Well, in conclusion, we see the theology of the Psalter. It's about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. If you want to know more of Jesus, read the Psalms.
Meditate on the Psalms. Sing the Psalms. Pray the Psalms. And when you see particular Psalms describing the sinfulness of the Psalmist, you think, well, that can't be true of Jesus.
He who knew no sin, or God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Those Psalms that speak concerning the sinfulness of the psalmist, those are not accepted when I suggest that the Psalms are about Jesus. There was an imputation of our sin to the Savior. It's like Psalm 88.
Remember when Dr. Renahan preached that last year during the conference season? He made that application. He said, this is a description of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus.
He was right on. He was right on. The Psalms are about Jesus. In fact, turn to Hebrews 2 for just a moment.
I already referred to this passage, but it's good to see it or get it in front of our eyes here. Verse 10. Hebrews 2, verse 10, for it was fitting for him, 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 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 there's that verse we just saw in Psalm 22, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly, I will sing praise to you. But look at the first word of verse 12, saying. What is the apostle saying?
The apostle is saying, when you read Psalm 22, that's Jesus saying to you. That's Jesus speaking to you. That's Jesus declaring truth to you. He 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. We wouldn't need to even make the comparison. Whatever suffering David had was far exceeded by the sufferings of Jesus. The psalmist tells us when we read Psalm 22, we're hearing the voice of Jesus.
So brethren, make much of the Psalms in 2025. Make much of the Psalms in private and in corporate worship. As well, the glory of the Savior. The Psalm moves in the direction expounded in the Gospels and Epistles.
Life, suffering, death, exaltation. The Psalm moves in the direction summarized in Hebrews 2.10. He's bringing many sons to glory. How did he do that?
Through suffering. And the psalm displays the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessed effect of his death and resurrection. Verses 27 and 28, all the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord. and all the families of the nation shall worship before you. For the kingdom is the Lord's and he rules over the nations."
Closing Prayer
Well, may God encourage our hearts. May God strengthen us as we participate in the supper. And may he indeed confirm us in our faith, cause it to grow. And may we see in the Psalms, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And may we see specifically in Psalm 22, the suffering and the glory of the Messiah. Well, let us pray.