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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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 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. 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 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. 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." 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.