Forsaken For Us
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Introduction
Introduction
This Good Friday we are going to turn in the Psalms to Psalm 22. Good Friday is about remembering the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for us. This Psalm is specifically quoted by Jesus while He is on the cross in the fourth of seven statements Jesus is recorded making during His crucifixion.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that would come to you, searched and carefully investigated. 11 They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified in advance to the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
Peter spoke of the prophecy of grace of the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
Psalm 22 is that prophecy. It is the words of a man enduring execution. Describing the crucifixion hundreds of years before the method of execution was even known and fulfilled in Christ Jesus 1000 years after prophesied. Psalm 22 has been described as the best description in all the Bible of Jesus crucifixion by James Montgomery Boice. Martin Luther refers to it as the gem among psalms and Spurgeon refers to it as beyond all others the Psalm of the cross.
A Psalm of lament containing prayers of petition and praise and absent of any confession of sin - for He had none.
It divides perfectly from Suffering to Glory at verse 21
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!
22 I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters; I will praise you in the assembly. 23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! All you descendants of Israel, revere him!
24 For he has not despised or abhorred the torment of the oppressed. He did not hide his face from him but listened when he cried to him for help. 25 I will give praise in the great assembly because of you; I will fulfill my vows before those who fear you.
26 The humble will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him. May your hearts live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will bow down before you,
28 for kingship belongs to the Lord; he rules the nations. 29 All who prosper on earth will eat and bow down; all those who go down to the dust will kneel before him— even the one who cannot preserve his life.
30 Their descendants will serve him; the next generation will be told about the Lord. 31 They will come and declare his righteousness; to a people yet to be born they will declare what he has done.
Abandoned By The Father
Abandoned By The Father
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.
This Psalm while written by King David at the first line - being on this side of the cross cannot help but see it as the prophetic words Christ would speak from the cross. My God, My God why have you forsaken Me? The fourth statement Jesus spoke from the cross.
46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
Why are you so far from my deliverance and from My words of groaning. My God I cry by day and you do not answer me, by night, yet I have no rest. This emphasizes the isolation and the separation Jesus is experiencing while on the cross. In this sense of abandonment Jesus felt in totality God’s complete displeasure against sin.
Jesus has always been one with Father and had always experienced the presence of the Father but here in this time God was turning from Him. For it was in this time that Jesus had taken on the sins of the world and at this moment God regarded the Son as a sinner. This is the great exchange that took place - He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us...
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.
Horrible as it was it fulfilled God’s good and loving plan of redemption and this is why Isaiah the prophet writes that it pleased the LORD to crush Him
10 Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely. When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and by his hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.
The next couple of verses show us the contrast - God is Holy and their ancestors who trusted God rescued, and those who cried out set free - they trusted and were not disgraced. God listened to their cries and their prayers. This is not the experience of Jesus on the cross. He was shamed more than any other man, and instead of delivered He was forsaken. God was unwilling to hear and listen to His prayers. He had shut His ears to the cries of His Son on the cross.
He would not hear Him for He bore our sins and suffered the fires of judgment in His body for us on the cross so God would hear our prayers and cries for help.
Despised and Rejected By People
Despised and Rejected By People
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.
Enduring mocking and ridicule on the cross. I am a worm and not a man - scorned by mankind and despised by people. Everyone who sees me mocks me, sneering and shaking their heads. The great I AM who was made lower than the angels is now made lower than man.
6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.
The hateful faces, the mocking, the spitting, and the laughing all while He was dying - for them, for their sins - even these ones being committed now.
35 The people stood watching, and even the leaders were scoffing: “He saved others; let him save himself if this is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One!”
47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling for Elijah.”
49 But the rest said, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
The Psalm describes the crowd as saying He relies on the LORD let Him save Him and the record of the crucifixion shows that these words were fulfilled that day so long ago at Golgotha. The sad truth is many still today ridicule and mock Him rejecting Him as Lord and Savior.
God has been active in His life since the start and Christ has trusted Himself to God the Father. He has always had the security and safety of the Father. Now He finds Himself at the hour in which evil has its time. The people are ruthless and ferocious with Him. Described as being surrounded by ferocious animals - the goring bull, the roaring and devouring lion.
I am poured out like water - completely drained of vitality, strength and energy. All my bones are disjointed and my heart like wax melting withing me. A description of being so racked in pain that the fight of life is leaving the body and ebbing away.
My strength is dried up like baked clay and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth You put me in the dust of death. Dehydration is getting severe, no life, no moisture and thirst and dryness are extreme, perhaps even entering into shock. The one who created the springs of waters, rivers is now desperate for a drink of water writhing in agony.
They pierced my hands and feet, I can count all my bones (speaks of pain and also of the bones not being broken), they divide my garments among them cast lots for my clothing. Each one of these is a prophecy fulfilled in the crucifixion of Christ.
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier. They also took the tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from the top.
24 So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it, to see who gets it.” This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled that says: They divided my clothes among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing. This is what the soldiers did.
31 Since it was the preparation day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special day). They requested that Pilate have the men’s legs broken and that their bodies be taken away.
32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other one who had been crucified with him. 33 When they came to Jesus, they did not break his legs since they saw that he was already dead.
36 For these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: Not one of his bones will be broken. 37 Also, another Scripture says: They will look at the one they pierced.
The people all stare - it was a public execution. Amazing description of crucifixion written hundreds of years before it would be known. Arising as a method of torture somewhere East, maybe the Medes and Persians? Alexander the Great learned it and brought it West. The Romans learned it and perfected it as a means for the worst criminals. It was a brutal and tortuous humiliating means of execution.
Jesus looked out from the cross, He saw the ridicule, the ruthless nature of those who represented each one of us and our sins.
34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided his clothes and cast lots.
Victory Through The Cross
Victory Through The Cross
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!
22 I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters; I will praise you in the assembly. 23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! All you descendants of Israel, revere him!
24 For he has not despised or abhorred the torment of the oppressed. He did not hide his face from him but listened when he cried to him for help. 25 I will give praise in the great assembly because of you; I will fulfill my vows before those who fear you.
26 The humble will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him. May your hearts live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will bow down before you,
28 for kingship belongs to the Lord; he rules the nations. 29 All who prosper on earth will eat and bow down; all those who go down to the dust will kneel before him— even the one who cannot preserve his life.
30 Their descendants will serve him; the next generation will be told about the Lord. 31 They will come and declare his righteousness; to a people yet to be born they will declare what he has done.
Now while it doesnt specifically state that Christ was resurrected but there are some indications we gather. There is a call for help and a call to rescue His life. There is a implied pause a period of time between the request and the answer, but we definitely note a change in the speakers tone - from prayer to praise with a glorious proclamation YOU ANSWERED ME!
I will proclaim Your name to my brothers and sisters - and we read from these verses a description of results that have come from the resurrection.
Jesus never referred to the disciples as brothers before the resurrection
17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus told her, “since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
11 For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12 saying: I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters; I will sing hymns to you in the congregation.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
Victory over sin and death!
20 But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man.
Victory over all the kingdoms
23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be abolished is death.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We must see both the greatness of our own sin and the greatness of Christ’s love. Our own sin sent Jesus to the cross, but it was His love for us that made Him willing to go to it.
The famous Dutch artist Rembrandt did a painting of the crucifixion. The focus of the painting of course is the Savior on the cross, but he also painted the crowd gathered around the cross. Standing there in the shadow at the edge of the picture, Rembrandt painted himself! Depicting himself as an active participant in Christ’s crucifixion!
How true it is and we must like Rembrandt put ourselves there as participants because it must be personal - It was MY sin that put Jesus on the cross. Do not minimize the sin that you have - it may not seem as egregious as others, but it still drove the nails.
47 Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.”
See your sin accurately and understand the hell Christ has saved you from and forgiven much you will in turn love Him much. The greatness of our sin was met with the greatness of His love as He was forsaken for us.
Communion
Communion
19 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
20 In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.