When I am Defeated and Alone

Most people feel that these two are joined in some way, that the fate of God’s plan being realized in our lives is somehow linked to us being able to be successful or fulfilled as well. (staple pages together).

Our text today describes the inner turmoil of the crucified Son of God, who in his humanity experienced the deepest level of defeat possible when God the Son felt the weight of sin applied to Him and felt utterly abandoned by his disciples, his family, and even his Heavenly Father.

Our text today is Psalm 22. Before we begin to study it verse-by-verse, I want to lay out the setting and structure for us.

Written by David.

There is no good fit to the events referenced in the psalm and the events in David’s life.

Most scholars, when trying to determine an antecedent event in David’s life which might provide the occasion for writing this psalm, agree that David is here using hyperbolic fanciful imagery to describe some season of suffering, most probably his exile from Jerusalem due to the uprising of Absolom.

While David’s suffering provides the setting, the H.S. used his poetic description to prophetically describe the literal sufferings of our Lord.

Origen (2nd c. Theologian and Scholar): “What the psalmist complains of in mere figurative, though highly coloured terms, befell the Son of God in veritable fact.”

Charles Spurgeon: This is beyond all others The Psalm of the Cross.… It is the photograph of our Lord’s saddest hours, the record of his dying words … the memorial of his expiring joys. David and his afflictions may be here in a very modified sense, but, as the star is concealed by the light of the sun, he who sees Jesus will probably neither see nor care to see David. Before us we have a description both of the darkness and of the glory of the cross, the sufferings of Christ and the glory which shall follow. Oh for grace to draw near and see this great sight! We should read reverently, putting off our shoes from off our feet, as Moses did at the burning bush, for if there be holy ground anywhere in Scripture it is in this Psalm.

The psalm is a lament, one of 65 out of the 150 in the psalter.

There are two broad sections of this psalm: Jesus’ description of his suffering (vs 1-21) and Jesus’ description of his success (vs 22-31).

In the first section, there are three cycles of complaint, each followed by a prayer.

Spiritual Suffering (vs 1-2)

Prayer of confidence in the nature of God (vs 3-5)

Personal Suffering (vs 6-8)

Prayer of personal testimony (vs 9-11)

Physical Suffering (vs 12-18)

Prayer for rescue (vs 19-21)

The second major section of the psalm, vs 22 and following, expresses an ever-widening kingdom of Praise to God through the victory of Messiah’s suffering and resurrection.

Thesis: We are here provided with God’s answer to the problem of pain in our lives in the suffering and glorification of Christ. Never has a more horrific thing been done to a more innocent individual, and yet here, more than in any other event, is God glorified and mercy displayed.

II. Body

A. The Suffering of our Lord

The suffering of the Son is taken in three scenes, interspersed with prayer. We will look at the three statements of suffering first and then turn to the intervening prayers.

1. The Spiritual Suffering of our Lord (vs 1-2).

Psalm 22:1–2 ESV

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.

Notice how personal the emotions of this opening statement. The personal pronouns “me” and “my” occur five times in the first verse alone.

We must acknowledge that David is here writing, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, of the experiences of Christ in his humanity.

The Godhead is indivisible. Otherwise, the three persons would not be One God of one substance. There is no severing of the persons of the Godhood into three beings.

The abandonment felt is that of the humanity nature of Christ, which has never been without the constant intimate joyful presence and fellowship of the other members of the trinity until this moment.

This is the consistent testimony of the church fathers:

Ambrose of Milan (4th c. bishop): Everywhere, indeed, we have witness in the Scriptures to show that Christ, in naming God as His God, does so as man. “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” And again: “From My mother’s womb Thou art My God.

Christ’s experiential abandonment by the Father is as a consequence of him taking on the sins of the world in that moment. His person of the Godhead was not divorced from the others, but he was, in his humanity, under the full weight of the wrath of God and felt utterly abandoned to the moment.

Christ cries out these very words from the cross in Matt 27:46 “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?””

It is common in Jewish culture, both in the 1st century and afterward, to cite an entire psalm by quoting either the opening line or the most thematically relevant line of the psalm, rather than by reciting its numerical reference.

Called “Incipit reference.”

Peter, Paul, Matthew, and Luke all use this technique in their writings.

Christ was not simply expressing the deep sorrow and pain of abandonment on the cross at that moment. He was preaching even then, drawing the minds of all those present to the entire Psalm, which is in its without reservation about that moment and its repercussions throughout eternity.

With regard to the fact that Jesus quotes the Psalm in Aramaic, neither from the Hebrew nor from Greek Septuagint, Biblical Scholar Susan Gillingham points out that, while the totality of the Aramaic Targums produced by the Qumran community and discovered as the Dead Sea scrolls would not be complete until the fourth century, “Aramaic psalms were known earlier, illustrated by Jesus’ cry of dereliction using Psalm 22:1, given in Aramaic in Mt. 27:46. “

“The significance of this is that Qumran was prone to interpret the psalms, especially with what might be termed a prophetic spirit, in that they saw the psalms as prophecies soon to be fulfilled, probably within their own generation.” —Susan Gillingham

Jesus’ fulfillment about the year AD 30 certainly aligns with their perspective.

There are several translator-supplied words in the second phrase of vs 1. A more literal translation would be: “Far from my salvation are the words of my roaring.”

The idea is that his screams and cries, both in Gethsemane and from the cross, did not result in His rescue.

Again, both natures of Christ are at play here. In the garden, he prayed in his humanity for rescue but in his divinity he was submitted to the Father’s will.

Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.””

Isaiah 53:10 “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”

This doesn’t mean that Christ was a victim of the Father’s abuse, as some have claimed. In His divinity, he was also completely committed to the plan.

John 10:18 “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.”

His references to crying by day and by night doubtless refer to his prayers in the garden and throughout his passion.

2. The Personal Suffering of our Lord (vs 6-8)

Psalm 22:6–8 ESV

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

These very words and actions are literally fulfilled by the Jewish leadership and the mocking crowd witnessing Jesus’ crucifixion.

Matt 27:39 “And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads”

Matt 27:43 “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ””

Doubtless many more words of insult and derision were hurled at Jesus as well which are not recorded in scripture.

The literal meaning of “make mouths at me” is “loosed their lips at me.”

The idea is that they let it all fly. There was no reservation or filtering of their insults and abuses.

The result of all of these insults was to make Christ, in his humanity, feel like nothing, merely a worm. Humiliated. Abandoned. Alone.

It is interesting that the same Hebrew word which is translated here as “worm” also means “scarlet.”

The scarlet dye that was used at the time came from crushing a pupae stage of a parasitic bug, known as Coccus ilicis.

It is not, in fact, a worm, but rather a small scale bug. The adult is much less obvious than the large pupae stage, which looks like a firmly-attached blood-red berry growing on the bark of trees.

These “worms” were harvested and crushed, providing the red pigment widely used in the middle-east during the second temple period, the days of Jesus.

When the Pupae stage is over and the adult emerges, the empty shell of the pupae left clinging to the branch is white and waxy.

Many believe that this blood-red-to-white transformation might have been the inspiration behind the often-quoted expression of cleansing from sin in Isaiah 1:18.

Isaiah 1:18 ““Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”

If Jesus was meaning to direct his hearers to this natural metaphor, it is appropriate. The pupae is all red. Christ took on all the world’s sin. The pupae is crushed completely. So was our Savior.

Charles Spurgeon: “There is a little red worm which seems to be nothing else but blood when it is crushed. It seems all gone except a blood-stain. And the Savior, in the deep humiliation of His spirit, compares Himself to that little red worm. How true it is that ‘He made Himself of no reputation’ for our sakes! He emptied Himself of all His Glory, and if there is any glory natural to manhood, He emptied Himself even of that! Not only the glories of His Godhead, but also the honors of His Manhood He laid aside that it might be seen that ‘though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor.’”

3. The Physical Suffering of our Lord (vs 12-18)

Psalm 22:12–18 ESV

Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

Jesus is ultimately executed by a collection of physical enemies: A faithless disciple, jealous Jewish leaders, a fearful governor, and ruthless Roman soldiers.

David figuratively represents a collection of antagonists with various poetic images:

Bulls of Bashan (a very fertile area known for healthy livestock) (vs 12)

Roaring Lions (vs 13)

Wild scavenging dogs (vs 16)

A company of evil men (vs 16)

The physical destruction of his body and the torturous pain he endured are the focus here.

Almost every aspect of suffering described in this passage bears direct comparison to the death by crucifixion which Christ endured.

Vs 14:

Bones out of joint: When the cross is dropped into the hole in the ground which serves as its foundation, it falls several feet. The impact frequently dislocated shoulders and hips.

Heart melted like wax: accumulation of fluid around the heart during crucifixion was very common.

The death of the criminal would eventually be due to either asphyxiation or congestive heart failure.

Also, The separation of plasma from blood solids, which flowed out of the wound in Christ’s side, may also be in view here.

Vs 15:

My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws: Massive amounts of blood loss led to dehydration.

Christ spoke of his thirst, although he didn’t end up drinking.

John 19:28 “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.””

You lay me in the dust of death: The imperfect verb tense in this phrase draws the reader’s attention to the ongoing nature of this action. The Savior is in the process of dying.

Vs 16:

They have pierced my hands and feet: Crucified criminals were either tied or nailed to the cross. We know from the gospels that he was nailed.

John 20:24-28 “Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!””

Vs 17:

I can count all my bones: Two possibilities:

Jesus was naked, emaciated, and on display so that his bones were clearly visible to onlookers for them to gloat over his exposure and shame (fits the immediate context better). Or

His bones were not broken like the other two criminals crucified with him because he was already dead.

Fits the passover lamb admonition

Exodus 12:46 “It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.”

John 19:32-34 “So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.”

They stare and gloat over me: The public mockery and gloating over his pain.

Vs 18:

They divide my garments among them and cast lots: exactly fulfilled.

Matt 27:35 “And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots.”

Before moving on to our next point, I want to point out, as did John Chrysostom (5th c. Patriarch of Constantinople), that the description of Psalm 22 was penned by David 1,000 years before Christ would endure these sufferings and three hundred years before the first crucifixion would be attempted by the Persians.

There was no contemporary example of this kind of death for David to look at and be inspired to use as a metaphor for his own suffering.

This is written in the past tense, not the future. This was an accomplished fact from the perspective of heaven when David wrote it.

Chrysostom: For just as it is impossible that things which have happened should not have happened, so is it impossible that this should not happen, although it be future. On this account they predict things to come under the semblance of past time, indicating by this means the impossibility of their failure, the certainty of their coming to pass.

B. The Supplication of our Lord

Every description of suffering is followed by a prayer.

Most lament psalms include confessions of sin. The suffering author is aware that their sin is at least part of the reason why they are in their predicament.

Most laments also include imprecatory prayers, where the author calls on God to enact justice and vengeance upon his enemies.

Christ’s lament, penned by David, is different.

Smith & Akin in “Exalting Jesus in the Psalms”: Immediately the cry of the righteous Sufferer confronts us. How do we know he is righteous? In the psalm he does not confess personal sin. He has none. Further, he does not hurl a vindictive or vicious word at the enemies who taunt him and seek his death. No, the one suffering the abandonment of heaven and earth endures his passion as an innocent victim and as a trusting servant of the Lord.

1. Supplication of Confidence in God’s Nature (vs 3-5):

Psalm 22:3–5 ESV

Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

Christ does not impugn the righteousness of God in his pain, as we are so oft to do.

The whole “problem of pain,” which is a real obstacle for many to faith, hinges on how an all-good, all-powerful, all-loving God can allow evil in the world in general or our lives in particular.

Illustration, Stage 2: Light the stapled pages on fire and drop them into the metal bucket on the table. While the flames are visible, continue:

Here, the greatest abuse of justice ever to occur is happening. The only perfectly innocent person in history is being wrongly executed in the most horrific way every devised by mankind. Moreover, this is being done by the explicit foreordained will of God. He has been abandoned by all those who pledged their love to him, and he does not resort to declarations of the imperfections of God.

1 Pet 2:23 “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

He reminds God in his prayer that those who have called on Him in the past were rescued, but He would not be. At least, he would not be spared this moment.

2 Cor 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

The eternal God suffered mortality so that we, though mortal, would not have to suffer eternally.

2. The Supplication of Personal Testimony (vs 9-11):

Psalm 22:9–11 ESV

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

Christ, more than any other man, walked intimately with God from the very beginning.

Conceived by the Holy Spirit

Inspired a worship service by JTB in the womb of Elizabeth while still in utero.

Recognized God as father and astounded teachers of the Law at the age of 12.

Luke 2:52 “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”

Now, in the midst of ultimate suffering, He draws upon his history with His Father and asks Him to be nearby in the moment of His death.

His statement in vs 11 that “there is none to help.”

Certainly refers to his disciples Matt 26:31 “Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ ...””

Some have seen in this phrase also a feeling of distance between Christ in his humanity and the Holy Spirit, which had empowered and directed his earthly ministry from the beginning.

Ultimately, this cry for help and proximity was not answered with relief or salvation from the moment.

The death of Polycarp: “For eighty and six years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong. And how can I now blaspheme my king who saved me?”

3. The Supplication of Rescue (vs 19-21)

Psalm 22:19–22 ESV

But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

In the most urgent of the prayers offered in this passage, Christ is taking inventory of his enemies again, but this time in reverse order.

A chiasm which points us to the physical suffering of Christ.

Observe that he concludes his prayer with an exclamation of praise and hope.

ESV: You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

NET: From the horns of the wild oxen, you have answered me!

In the most urgent appeal to God for rescue, in the last moments of physical life, He is resolved that His rescue has arrived, although He will still be dead in a matter of moments.

C. The Success of our Lord

Psalm 22:22–31 (ESV)

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

From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.

For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.

If you are comfortable writing in your Bible, and I hope you are, write the word “Resurrection” between vs 21 and 22.

What we have above that word is the suffering of our Savior in the moments before he dies.

What we have below that word is his triumph in glory.

1. Success in Perspective

Augustine (4th c. Bishop and Doctor of the Church): The Father might seem by his passivity to disregard his Son’s affliction; but it was not really so. Every pang was marked, every suffering sympathized with. And the reward received from the Father was proportionate. “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death;” and “He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a Name which is above every name: that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

In vs 24, the Messiah speaks of himself in the 3rd person and reverses his initial accusation at the top of his lament.

God had not abandoned him. He was not, in truth, far away.

In his humanity, Jesus had felt abandoned. He felt left alone in his pain, but this was his pain talking and not reality.

2. Success in People Worshiping.

Vs 22: “my brothers,” the apostles and “the congregation,” those 120 who made up the earliest church by the time of Christ’s resurrection.

Vs 23: “You who fear the Lord,” faithful Jews; “offspring of Jacob or Israel,” all of the Jewish people.

Vs 25: “The great congregation,” an upgrade from the previous reference to the congregation, perhaps festal gatherings are in view here.

Vs 27: “All the ends of the earth” and “the families of the nations” applies to all people alive at any given moment, likely hyperbolically representing the first generation of both Jews and gentiles to receive the gospel during the apostolic age.

Vs 29: “All the prosperous of the earth” and “the one who could not keep himself alive” explicitly include all socio-economic strata of society. Rich or poor has no meaning in the Body of Christ.

Vs 30-31: “Posterity,” “Coming generations,” and “a people yet unborn” includes all people of all time for as long as God chooses to allow this dispensation to continue. Nobody is excluded.

We are to see in the final rapture of all of creation from all of time worshipping the enthroned God echoes of Daniel 7:13-14 ““I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

3. Success in Process.

Notice the final phrase of vs 31. “He has done it.”

This may have been what was on the lips of Jesus when he cried out, “It is finished.”

John 19:30 ESV

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

By quoting the first and last lines of this psalm in his death, he pointed everyone present toward both their part in his abuse and his own eventual triumph.

Illustration, Stage 3: draw out the burned papers from the bucket. The top page, with our hopes and projects, should all be burned up and gone, but the bottom page, the glory of God and the good of His people, should remain.

III. Application

The answer to the problem of pain in your life is that your personal joy and success or the lack thereof is not God’s goal. The universe is not about you.

God might be most glorified through a course of events which is not pleasurable and does not include your rescue.

Your healing, your restoration, your deliverance might not come in this life.

Christ is the best example of this.

You are not alone. Christ was not.

God is still good. His goodness kept Christ on the cross.

God is still powerful. His kingdom wins in the end.

God is still loving. He will rescue and restore you, in the next life if not in this one.

We are here faced with the cost of our salvation in the torment of our Lord as well as the indescribable majesty of his triumphant kingdom.

Our current series focuses on worshipping God no matter what.

There is no reality in which every knee will not eventually bow to Jesus and every tongue proclaim that He is God.

In light of this truth, and especially when showcased in the context of the incredible price paid for your forgiveness, I have to ask: Why will you bend the knee?

In glorious worship and thanksgiving, as part of the loving celebration of the victory of Christ?

Or in fear and loathing, as a conquered enemy combatant bound for hell?

If you have not yielded your life to Christ and drawn upon His sacrificial love and mercy for your forgiveness, there is no better time than today.

Lastly, we are humbled to approach communion.

Dismiss ushers to begin assembling the elements.

Ambrose and Augustine both saw shadows of this celebration in the Psalm, where in Psalm 22:26 we read, “The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever!”

Those of you who know Christ, who have sought Him and found the savior of your souls, are invited to participate in this celebration.

If you have not yet placed your faith in Christ, do that now. Pray even this moment, in the quietness of your heart, and admit to Jesus that He is God and that you are a sinner. Thank him for the sacrifice He has offered for you, and ask Him to forgive you of your sins. Pledge your life to him from this point forward, and join with us as we celebrate this moment together as the children of God.

If you aren’t ready to do that yet, that’s fine. Please just let the elements pass by you.

We do not believe that it is the reception of these elements are effective in our salvation. Rather, they reflect the great price which was paid for our salvation.

As we take them momentarily, we can join with the psalmist in declaring to one another, “May your hearts live forever!”

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