Psalm 22:1-18 - Jesus in the Psalms pt 1.

The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

Over the course of the next 4 evening services we are going to look at Jesus as foretold in Psalms. Chapters 22-24 make up a trilogy. Here is a brief explanation of these chapters given by Theologian CI Scofield, “In Psalm 22. the good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep (John 10:11); in Psalm 23. the great Shepherd, “brought again from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Heb. 13:20), tenderly cares for the sheep; in Psalm 24. the chief Shepherd appears as King of glory to own and reward the sheep” C. I. Scofield, ed., The Scofield Reference Bible:

Therefore, today we are going to look at just the first part of the Good Shepherd giving his life for the Sheep

They had no name for the Messiah, and they could not yet see exactly what He would do for them as a people but as David wrote down these words he was giving them a glimpse in to the heart of their future Messiah. Today we are going to look at the first 18 Verses of Psalms 22 and these depict the ravages of Jesus’ body on the cross.

I want to read this side by side with the matching New Testament account of Psalm

Psalm 22:1 “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?”

Matthew 27:46 “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?””

Psalm 22:2–5 “O 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.”

Romans 5:5 “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Psalm 22:6–7 “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,”

Luke 23:35 “And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.””

Mark 15:29 “And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days,”

Psalm 22:8 ““He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!””

Matthew 27:43 “He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ””

Psalm 22:9–15 “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 has melted within Me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death.”

John 19:28 “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!””

Psalm 22:16 “For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet;”

Matthew 27:35 “Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: “They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.””

John 20:25 “The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.””

Psalm 22:17 “I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me.”

Luke 23:27, “And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him.”

Luke 23:35 “And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.””

Psalm 22:18 “They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.”

John 19:24 “They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: “They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.” Therefore the soldiers did these things.”

Luke 23:34 “Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots.”

When we read it in context we can see the last few hours of Jesus earthly life here in this verses and it is pretty amazing how they match up. As we dig a little deeper we need to compare Davids words with Christ’s reality.

In Verse 1 we see the words that Jesus uses on the cross. Psalm 22:1 “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? but Jesus is speaking to a Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek crowd and therefore His words reflect that so he uses the Aramaic for God Eli or Eloi and in stead of for God instead of the Hebrew, “meh, azab niy” for why have you forsaken me Jesus actually used a Chaldean word “sabachthani” meaning “Thou hast forsaken me”. Jesus was not at this point crying out in physical pain nor was he in mental confusion it was a cry of extreme loss. For the first time in all of eternity there was a separation and in that moment He was forsaken or abandoned by God.

Tim Keller had this to say about Jesus being forsaken,

“This forsakenness, this loss, was between the Father and the Son, who had loved each other from all eternity. This love was infinitely long, absolutely perfect, and Jesus was losing it. Jesus was being cut out of the dance.

Jesus, the Maker of the world, was being unmade. Why? Jesus was experiencing our judgment day. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It wasn’t a rhetorical question. And the answer is: For you, for me, for us. Jesus was forsaken by God so that we would never have to be. The judgment that should have fallen on us fell instead on Jesus.” (Keller, King’s Cross, 202; emphasis in original)

Now we know that David too had times where he felt like he was forsaken and yet we know that there is no way that he felt the abandonment as profusely as Jesus did on the cross. This also can be said of us because there are times when we feel like God has stopped caring or has at least not noticed you and you feel forsaken or abandoned. That feeling of loneliness is terrifying and it is supposed to be. We were created to be relational beings living in community with each other. When that order is interrupted or we choose to separate ourselves from those around us for a time we easily slip into this feeling of forsakenness and abandonment. We got a pretty good look at that during COVID and I think the world got a wake up call on the importance of fellowship and gathering. As Christians we should turn toward God in these times of loneliness and abandonment, we should seek our solace in His arms. However, we like the author can feel like even God isn’t listening. We can question God as David did, Psalm 22:1 “Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?” However we do not know fully understand being forsaken as Christ did because for Jesus on the cross God really did turn His back on Christ but for us when we feel like God is far away it is not because God is any further from us then He was before but because we have tried to separate ourselves from His presence through our sin. When we feel like God is far away we should be asking the question, “Who moved?” It isn’t God.

The Helper

As we move down the Psalm we see that vs. 3-5 speak about the people of Israel as the fathers who went before them. There is a lineage of faithful people who have come before us and their faithfulness delivered them from trials and judgment. There is a beautiful statement that David then makes about his God. He says in verse 3, Psalm 22:3 “But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.” They called out to the Lord and he delivered them. It is a beautiful thing then that we can see this continued and furthered through the work of the Holy Spirit as we read in Romans 5:5. Jesus made sure to tell the disciples that it was good that he should go because it means that they will receive the Holy Spirit. John 16:7 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”

The Crucifixion

Moving forward look down at verses 6-7. Here we get into the pain of the Crucifixion and it starts with being hated by all those around Jesus. The word used in the NKJV is ridicule but in the Hebrew the word had a deeper more personal meaning. This wasn’t just simply like speaking badly about someone behind their backs it was actually despising them to the face, it was scorn and mocking and hatred. We are meant to understand that when the people passed by the convicted Jesus they didn’t just hate Him they mocked him they derided Him, there was scorn in their voice. In a way we can understand, there were many of these same people there at the gates of Jerusalem to usher Jesus in as the Messiah King they wanted Him to be but who they believed to be the King and potential Messiah had proven in their eyes to be nothing more than a loser who couldn’t even save Himself. So, they mocked Jesus, they hated Jesus and they didn’t do it in quite they yelled it at Him and told others to do the same.

David had similar bouts with those people who should have supported him and given him their allegiance during his time of running from King Saul and then again when he was running from his own son Absalom. Especially in the later when David had to leave Jerusalem quick because of Absalom, Davids flight was followed by a man named Shimei who threw rocks at David and spewed out curses against him. 2 Sam. 16:5-14. Much like Jesus, David just took these on the chin without retaliating and later even shows Shimei more mercy by not having him killed upon his return.

As the Psalm continues we don’t just see the crucifixion we get to read the gory details. These verses 14-16 show us the detail that we don’t see in the New Testament. We read in verse 14 that Christ is exhausted it feels like his energy is gone, the words are “I am poured out like water.” Exhaustion is like that, it feels like you are a low battery in a cassette player. The voices slow down and they sound pained. Jesus’ hours spent from the three trials, the whippings, the mockings, the trip to Golgotha and now the energy exerted on the cross not only has him at the end physically but even his mental and physical being is close to giving out. He is poured out as water.

Then we hear about the excruciating pain experienced on the cross. We tend to think about the pain of the nails in his hands and feet that is described in vs. 16 but that is just a part of the pain of crucifixion. In verse 14 we read that all of his bones are out of joint. After spending hours on the cross with his weight suspended on those two joints every other joint of consequence is also out of joint. His shoulders have separated from exhaustion of trying to hold himself up to breathe. His elbows and knees are the same. Just before the point of his death even Jesus’ heart was affected, as it says it felt like melted wax. The constant pain and struggle to keep breathing has lead to it stopping and starting. If that was not enough the mockings and the hatred never stops even on the cross even in this state there are who look and stare. Mark 15:29–32 “And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.”

There is no strength left in His body and He cannot continue. This was not a quick death and that was the point. To die in this way made a point to those who watched it, “Don’t do anything deserving of dying in this way.” Humanity has come up with so truly horrible ways to punish criminals but Crucifixion is quite possibly the worst.

We however don’t get to put ourselves in the seat of Jesus or David for it is our sin that placed on Jesus the need for his death. It is our mocking, our throwing of stones, our hatred of the Lord that is in need of Jesus’ mercy. We are given so much mercy even though we are the ones whose sins are added to the cost of Jesus’ crucifixion. We need to read these words here in Psalms and remind ourselves of the cost that was paid for our forgiveness and salvation. It is really hard to feel good about yourself when you realize that the cost of your sin was the crucifixion of Jesus.

Pray