Man of Sorrows
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Perhaps you were surprised this morning when you saw that my sermon text is from Psalm 22. If you recall, last week I said we were going to take a journey of lament through Psalm 3-7. As I was preparing my next sermon in that journey I discovered that what was to be some introductory comments, quickly became a sermon in it’s own right. To properly understand the Lament Psalms we need to understand two things:
David’s Laments are Christ’s Laments
Christ’s Laments are Our Laments
In other words, when David says...
O Lord, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
…the same type of foes also rose up against Jesus. Moreover, these are the same foes that raise up against us. In fact, this will be the topic of next week’s sermon: Who are the foes that are the cause of our laments?
There is no better Psalm to illustrate that David’s laments were a prophetic foreshadow of Christ’s lament and by virtue of our union with Christ, our laments than Psalm 22. Let us now hear God’s word to us this morning from Psalm 22:
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.
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.
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!”
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.
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.
As I read this passage, I am sure you could not help but think about the events of Good Friday. This is because...
David’s Laments are Christ’s Laments
David’s Laments are Christ’s Laments
Unlike Psalm 3, we do not know the historical event that promoted David to write Psalm 22. We do not know exactly what happened to David, but we do know that it must have been a very intense suffering. All prophetic literature uses metaphorical language, because our emotions are greater than normal language. For example, to say, “he was very angry,” is not as powerful as to say, “his anger burned like a fiery furnace.” No one’s anger is literally a “fiery furnace,” but this metaphor perfectly captures the intensity of some types of anger. This is what people mean when they speak of the power of metaphor.
What is truly amazing about Psalm 22, is that the Holy Spirit guided David in his choice of metaphor so that Psalm 22 became an accurate description of Jesus’ suffering on Good Friday. In Psalm 22:14, David would write that he felt like he was “poured out like water” and that his “heart melted like wax” within him, but Jesus’ heart literally burst within Him, so that when one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, out poured water and blood! (Jn 19:34) Probably no one cast lots for David’s clothes (Ps 22:17), but they did for Jesus’ clothes. (Lk 23:34)
Psalm 22 serves not only as a prophecy concerning what Jesus suffered on Good Friday, but it also serves as a sign pointing us to the true meaning of Christ’s sufferings—on the cross Jesus bore all of our sins and miseries.
Centuries after David, Isaiah was given a prophetic word concerning Jesus and His ministry. He wrote:
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
Jesus took all of David’s sorrows and bore them on the cross. Not only that, Jesus took upon Himself all the sins and all the miseries of all the elect! This means that if you are a believer, Jesus took all your sin and misery as well!
We cannot read and pray the lament Psalms properly until we understand this.
For example: When we are in a crisis and we take up Psalm 88 and pray...
For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol.
I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am a man who has no strength,
like one set loose among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
for they are cut off from your hand.
We are not just using this Psalm to express the depth of our emotion to God, but we are by faith confessing that Jesus took upon himself the very sorrows that caused us to pray this Psalm!
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
But not only this, but by virtue of our union with Christ is so the reverse is true!
Christ’s Laments are Our Laments
Christ’s Laments are Our Laments
On the road to Emmaus, Jesus had to correct the misunderstanding of two of His disciples concerning His death and resurrection. Beginning with Genesis and continuing all the way through Malachi, Jesus explained to them that it...
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
In this verse we see the pattern that Jesus’ life took: First there was suffering and then there was glory. This by the way is the pattern we find in the Lament Psalms.
Now here is the exciting part, Paul says our lives as Christians follows the same pattern.
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Do you understand what Paul is saying? Once you are a believer in Jesus Christ your sorrows are no longer the regular, run of the mill sorrows the rest of humanity suffers. Your sorrows, like Jesus’ before you, become holy to the Lord. They are no longer random, pointless events, but are now a part of God’s plan of redeeming a people for Himself.
The only reason God allows suffering in the life of His children is because it either contributes to the salvation of yourself or another person (Phil 1:24-26, Col 1:24) or it contributes to the sanctification of yourself or another person. (1 Pet 1:6-7, James 1:2-4)
There is nothing more disheartening than pointless suffering. Without this biblical perspective on suffering, it all too easy to fall into despair, bitterness or emotional numbness. However, our suffering is not pointless in Christ Jesus!
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Jesus was a man of sorrows, but He was even more a man of joy. He was joyful because He look forward to the fruit of His suffering. Hebrews 12:2 says that for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. Jesus wants us to share in His joy.
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
We know that we will share in Christ’s joy, because just as we share in His suffering, we also share in His glory! (Rom 8:17) Consequently...
Christ’s Victory is Our Victory!
Christ’s Victory is Our Victory!
On the night that He was betrayed, Jesus attempted to prepare His disciples for His impending death. He concludes by saying...
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Jesus is speaking that same word to each and everyone of us this morning.
One of the features of the Lament Psalms is that they do not remain in lament, but contain the promise of God’s deliverance of His people and victory over evil. Jesus experienced that victory in His resurrection. Psalm 22 ends with this promise:
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.
Once again, David felt as though he went “down to the dust” and that he “could not keep himself alive,” but Jesus literally went “down to the dust” and He literally “could not keep himself alive.” The victory Jesus experienced dwarfs the victory David experienced! By virtue of our union with Christ tells us that we are “more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Rom 8:37)
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
So read, pray and sing the Lament Psalms. They are part of your inheritance in Christ Jesus.
The Laments are Ours.
The Promises are Ours.
The Victory is Ours!