Jesus, the Suffering King

Introduction

While this psalm was written by David, Christians have always identified this psalm with the crucifixion of Christ. Charles Spurgeon called Psalm 22 “The Psalm of the Cross” and Jesus, himself quoted this psalm during his crucifixion.

Psalm 22:1–21 CSB

1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning? 2 My God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, by night, yet I have no rest. 3 But you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4 Our ancestors trusted in you; they trusted, and you rescued them. 5 They cried to you and were set free; they trusted in you and were not disgraced. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by people. 7 Everyone who sees me mocks me; they sneer and shake their heads: 8 “He relies on the Lord; let him save him; let the Lord rescue him, since he takes pleasure in him.” 9 It was you who brought me out of the womb, making me secure at my mother’s breast. 10 I was given over to you at birth; you have been my God from my mother’s womb. 11 Don’t be far from me, because distress is near and there’s no one to help. 12 Many bulls surround me; strong ones of Bashan encircle me. 13 They open their mouths against me— lions, mauling and roaring. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, melting within me. 15 My strength is dried up like baked clay; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You put me into the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has closed in on me; they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones; people look and stare at me. 18 They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing. 19 But you, Lord, don’t be far away. My strength, come quickly to help me. 20 Rescue my life from the sword, my only life from the power of these dogs. 21 Save me from the lion’s mouth, from the horns of wild oxen. You answered me!

[pray]

I. His Suffering and Crucifixion

A. Abandoned by God

We recognize verse 1 as the words that Jesus quoted on the cross...

Psalm 22:1a (CSB)

1a My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

This feeling of abandonment is one that each one of us have shared from time to time.

Some of us feel abandoned by someone that we loved and trusted. Others perhaps feel abandoned by a friend or a group of friends that turned their back on us. Some have been abandoned by those who, by all rights, should never have abandoned us… parents, children, church family, spiritual mentors. These feelings of abandonment hurt deeply.

Our deepest feelings of abandonment are rooted in our most profound feelings of love and connection.

The problem with feelings is that sometimes they lie to us and keep us from seeing the truth of things. People often falsely blame God for their troubles and feel abandoned by God. But does God really give up on his own people?

Psalm 22:1–3 CSB

1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning? 2 My God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, by night, yet I have no rest. 3 But you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.

We think that God is so far removed from our day to day experience that we are all alone in our struggle.

There are times that we have truly experienced abandonment in life from those that we love. We live in a fallen world where sometimes we are hurt by the actions of others. However, other times our feelings of abandonment are not based in reality, but in our perception. This can especially be true when we are talking about feeling abandoned by God.

Additionally, there are times that God puts us in a situation that we must learn how to get through on faith and perseverance rather than being rescued by the sovereign hand of God Almighty. These are seasons of growth and spiritual development. God uses these times in our lives to prepare us for his work and they are absolutely necessary. We might beg for God to release us from these experiences, but to do so would stall our spiritual development and delay our progress.

And then there are times that we are caught so deeply with our own suffering that, from our perspective, it appears that God has completely forsaken us. But, I ask you this question...

Did God really forsake his son on the cross?

Does God forsake us when we sin or are going through times of suffering?

This can be tricky when we are observing our condition from a place of suffering because our feelings are incapable of helping us find the truth. We often feel so completely alone that we think we have been abandoned. Our personal experience tells our brain that we have been abandoned. However, our theology teaches us something very different about abandonment. There is another word here in this passage. Watch for it… “trust”.

Psalm 22:4–5 CSB

4 Our ancestors trusted in you; they trusted, and you rescued them. 5 They cried to you and were set free; they trusted in you and were not disgraced.

When the ancestors trusted in God, what did he do for them? [He rescued them.]

What did he do when they cried out to God? [He set them free.]

Did they experience shame when they put their trust in the Lord? [No.]

When Israel cried out for a redeemer, what did God do time and again? [He sent a redeemer to rescue them, time and time again.]

When we find ourselves in a time of suffering, we repeat the same mistake that Israel made. We get down on ourselves and beat ourselves up by getting down in the mud like a worm and feeling sorry for ourselves. The psalmist wrote...

Psalm 22:6 CSB

6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by people.

We feel like we’re all on our own, but are we really alone?

B. Never alone, Never forsaken...

We can see a beautiful promise from God to his people throughout scripture...

Deuteronomy 31:6 CSB

6 Be strong and courageous; don’t be terrified or afraid of them. For the Lord your God is the one who will go with you; he will not leave you or abandon you.”

Matthew 28:20b (CSB)

20b And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Hebrews 13:5c (CSB)

5c I will never leave you or abandon you.

Principle: If you love God and have the blessing of a relational connection with him, God will never abandon you.

If that is the case, why did Jesus feel abandoned by God?

Part of this is a mystery to us. This is a way of saying that we don’t know or understand why God had to do things in this way. I personally believe, that—while God is all powerful and can do things any way that he chooses—God has chosen to do things in a specific way due to something that is beyond our understanding. Perhaps he has agreed to follow certain rules of engagement, or there is something in the design of this plan of salvation that requires him to do things in a certain way. We cannot say why, because the why is not yet revealed to us.

For whatever reason that only God understands, God had to turn his back on Jesus as he took our sins upon himself so that we might be saved. The best way that I can think of this is that God cannot coexist with sin. But he found a way that his son, Jesus, could take our sin and pay the price so that we might find salvation and be restored to a relationship of peace with God.

The prophet Isaiah wrote about the suffering of the Messiah and the reason for that suffering…

Isaiah 53:4–5 CSB

4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.

Paul wrote to the church a Galatia...

Galatians 3:13 CSB

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.

The abandonment that Jesus felt was supposed to be our own abandonment by God. He took that sin that was by all rights in our own account and he took those sins upon himself by some divine means, so that he might become a sacrificial offering on our behalf.

2 Corinthians 5:21 CSB

21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

C. Despised By Mankind

Psalm 22:7–11 CSB

7 Everyone who sees me mocks me; they sneer and shake their heads: 8 “He relies on the Lord; let him save him; let the Lord rescue him, since he takes pleasure in him.” 9 It was you who brought me out of the womb, making me secure at my mother’s breast. 10 I was given over to you at birth; you have been my God from my mother’s womb. 11 Don’t be far from me, because distress is near and there’s no one to help.

While, Jesus the divine being, the Son of God, felt abandoned by God, Jesus the Son of Man, felt the rejection of humanity in this moment as well. It was in the nature of the God/Man to turn back to God, even when he felt abandoned by that same God. Therefore, he begged God to return to him and end the abandonment.

This is an appropriate response when we experience our own suffering. Turn to God and beg him for his peace and his grace to comfort you when you feel alone.

The psalm then goes into some examples of the experience of suffering. While we may not understand from our own daily experience what the bulls of Bashan might be like or the mauling of a pride of lions. These are examples of the strength and severity of the enemies that are in hot pursuit. I think many of us can relate to verse 14...

Psalm 22:14–15 CSB

14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, melting within me. 15 My strength is dried up like baked clay; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You put me into the dust of death.

There have been days that I could absolutely relate to these verses. When we go through trials that sap our energy, they can absolutely consume our thought life so that we don’t sleep well and our thinking is clouded. There is this overwhelming fatigue that can overtake us at times. This, I think is related to the depression that plays out in our physical wellbeing. There is also a visceral response to the fear and anxiety that can overwhelm us at times.

Let’s keep going and look at verse 18...

Psalm 22:18 CSB

18 They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.

Verse 18 makes a reference that we connect to the experience that Jesus had on the cross. We can see this played out in the various gospel accounts: Mt 27:35; Lk 23:34; Jn 19:24. The Roman guards plundered Jesus’ belongings and mocked him by gambling for his clothing while he hung on the cross.

And verses 19-21 return to a prayer for deliverance from this treacherous situation.

Psalm 22:19–21 CSB

19 But you, Lord, don’t be far away. My strength, come quickly to help me. 20 Rescue my life from the sword, my only life from the power of these dogs. 21 Save me from the lion’s mouth, from the horns of wild oxen. You answered me!

D. How Should We Respond?

There are two responses that I can see to this text:

1. How do we respond to our own suffering?

Unfortunately we do suffer at times. As I’ve already mentioned there are times that trouble comes into our lives. We sometimes experience:

family and relational troubles

financial and career difficulties

health and mental wellbeing challenges

the sinful behavior of others who strike out against us

Any of these experiences can cause us to feel abandoned or depressed and anxious. There are several things that we can do when we experience these kinds of troubles:

Examine ourselves to see what part of this trouble is our own responsibility. When we find out what our part is, we can make adjustments and find ways to be a better person in the future.

Seek wise counsel to get an outside perspective on what you are going through. I want to emphasize the “wise” part of this counsel. Facebook is not wise counsel. Seeking out people who will tell you what you want to hear is not wise counsel. You may want to seek out a spiritual mentor or a Christian counselor to help you get some good perspective on this problem.

Pray to God like the psalmist prayed to God for help in times of trouble.

Know that God is with you in times of trouble. That is not a promise that things will always work out the way you might hope for. But there is a comfort in knowing that God will provide comfort to you in times of trouble.

Psalm 34:18 CSB

18 The Lord is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit.

2. How do we respond to the suffering of the Messiah?

The whole point of the Messiah’s suffering creates an opportunity for us in salvation. It was his suffering that has given us a chance at lasting redemption. Our response should be to accept this salvation by turning from our rebellion and uniting with Christ, the Messiah and accepting him as the master of our lives.

John 3:16–17 CSB

16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

While we can relate at some level to the abandonment that the psalmist felt, we also know that the love of God and the sacrifice of his son was accomplished on our behalf so that we could have free access to enter into God’s presence.

Romans 4:25 CSB

25 He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

We also know that Jesus Christ was resurrected from among the dead. The resurrection is that pivotal event in human history that provides the foundational doctrine of our faith. We’ll dig into the resurrection a bit more next week in our final psalm of this series. For now, let’s look to Paul’s words on the need for the resurrection in the Gospel...

1 Corinthians 15:14–19 CSB

14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith. 15 Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised up Christ—whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. 19 If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.

The resurrection is vital.

Lexham Survey of Theology Jesus’ Resurrection

His resurrection validates his identity as the divine Son of God, demonstrates his irrevocable victory over death and the grave, and secures both the present salvation and future physical resurrection of believers.

Additionally, we have an assurance that salvation secures our place with God...

Romans 8:38–39 CSB

38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

II. God Responded

I think it is interesting to note that the psalm turns on verse 21...

Psalm 22:21 CSB

21 Save me from the lion’s mouth, from the horns of wild oxen. You answered me!

He goes here from begging for rescue from the mouth of the lion to having received a response. The observant student might ask, was the response so quick? Many who are here today might believe that Christ suffered in hell for the three days before he was resurrected. I don’t hold that belief, even though the Apostle’s Creed declared that Christ suffered in Hell...

The Hebrew scripture uses the word sheol to describe the realm of the dead. In the New Testament we see the Greek word hades, which refers to the same place of the dead. This place is different from the eternal lake of fire that we think of as hell.

We see this distinction described in the book of the Revelation at the final resurrection and judgment...

Revelation 20:11–15 CSB

11 Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books. 13 Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works. 14 Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

This holding place sheol/hades is generally considered to be divided into a place of blessing and a place of judgment. We generally get to this confusion by falsely translating or linking sheol/hades to Hell, which is rightly named the eternal lake of fire, the place of eternal punishment.

There is no evidence that Jesus spent any time in Hell, the eternal lake of fire. That is solely a place for those who have been judged in the final judgment and found lacking because of their rejection of God and because of their rebellion against the King of Heaven.

Jesus clearly stated on the cross that he was going to paradise, (παράδεισος paradeisos), which was the blessed region of sheol. This place is also often mistakenly translated as “heaven.” Heaven is not some remote physical place in our universe that we might find through exploration. It is more likely some separate plane that we cannot sense or reach on our own.

It is much easier to think of Heaven and Hell in relation to connection with and relation to the presence of God. Heaven is a place of fellowship with God and brings us eternal joy as we worship him, seated upon the throne. And Hell, by comparison is a place of eternal separation from God and punishment for rebellion.

Conclusion

We’re not going to cover the second half of this psalm today. We’ll look at the fulfilment of the promise next week as we look at the Christ the Glorified King. However, we might look at Jesus’ final words, as recorded in the Gospel of John...

John 19:30 CSB

30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

Some scholars have connected the words of Christ, “It is finished.” with the final words of Psalm 22...

Psalm 22:31 CSB

31 They will come and declare his righteousness; to a people yet to be born they will declare what he has done.

One way this psalm could have been translated is “he has done it” which might have been translated into the Greek word τελέω teleō. The form is used in the Greek text, tetelestai, which carries the meaning “it has been accomplished perfectly.” There is an understanding here that Jesus is talking about the work which was assigned to him by God, the Father. The task he was given was to befriend and embrace a group of disciples who would learn all that he had to teach them and continue carrying the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the world. There is no doubt that this work has been accomplished and that the Triune Godhead has worked to advance the message of the Gospel throughout time around the world.

We’ll pick up the glorification of the Messiah in detail next week.