The Victorious Sufferer

Matthew 27:45–50 ESV

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 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?” And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

Prayer

Today, we will be looking at a passage of Scripture in the New Testament and flipping back and forth to the Old.

So go ahead and turn with me to Psalm 22 but keep your finger here in Matthew 27.

I want to talk to you today about death scenes.

You know the scenes from every epic movie where the person dies.

We love and hate those scenes because they reveal something to us.

We love them for the heroism and the greatness of them, especially when the character responds well.

But we hate them because they seem unfair, especially when the character responds poorly.

Our secular culture genuinely does not know what to do with death.

It’s a unicorn for them.

They don’t know how to handle it and they don’t know how to process it.

Because in their vision of the world, everything is about progress.

So there to be an end to the progress is incomprehensible.

There is a reality that I want each of us to consider today: everyone of us will have a death scene in our story.

YOU WILL DIE.

There will come a day, whether it is 80 years from now or tomorrow, that death will come.

So a death scene is inevitable.

And how we live today is on par for how our death scene will go.

This is how Spurgeon describes Psalm 22.

It is the photograph of our Lord’s saddest hours, the record of his dying words, the container of his last tears, 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.… 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”

This Psalm is mentioned or alluded to twenty times in the New Testament.

The authors of the New Testament saw this Psalm as fundamental to the outworking of Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection.

In Acts 2, Peter in defending the resurrection and speaking of David says this...

Acts 2:30–32 NKJV

Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

Peter is saying that David prophesied about the coming Messiah.

He prophesied about the Anointed One that he would die.

And the way that he would sit on His throne forever was by being raised from the dead.

Psalm 22:1–2 (NKJV)

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

The Forsaken Worm (v. 1-11)

These first verses of Psalm 22 are the words that Jesus says from the cross.

Now as we consider this Psalm, I would argue that Jesus was not just thinking about these words while he was on the cross.

But he had the entirety of this Psalm in his mind as he prayed.

Psalm 22:1–2 NKJV

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent.

Now throughout this Psalm we will oscillate between David’s context and Jesus’ context.

David is speaking here of a time when he was pressed in by suffering.

He is experiencing suffering to the point of saying, “Why are you forsaking me?”

This is not the cry of someone who is having a lapse of faith.

David is NOT backsliding here.

He doesn’t have a broken relationship with the LORD.

This is the cry of someone who is disoriented to the presence of God.

David is disoriented from God’s protective presence.

All of us have a death bed scene.

Every single one of us will one day have a moment in time which will be our last.

But we all everyday have mini-death bed scenes.

Commentary on the Book of Psalms (Psalm 22)

There is not one of the godly who does not daily experience in himself the same thing. According to the judgment of the flesh, he thinks he is cast off and forsaken by God, while he apprehends by faith the grace of God, which is hidden from the eye of sense and reason; and thus it comes to pass, that contrary affections are mingled and interwoven in the prayers of the faithful.

What Calvin is talking about is the agony and anguish which comes from living in a fallen world.

Moments where we are disoriented from the presence of God.

Moments where we doubt and wonder if God has forsaken us.

Post-Eden Experience

We have many other Psalms which would focus on David’s sin, like Psalm 51, but thats not what David is doing here.

He is focusing on the results of his sin.

Psalm 22:2 NKJV

O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent.

Agony & Anguish

David is expressing in poetic form in Psalm 22, the agony and anguish of the results of the fall.

The results of the fall which create a separation from God’s presence.

David is not highlighting a specific sin, rather he is focusing on the results of sin.

The extreme physical and mental suffering which comes as a result of sin.

We as believers need this Psalm.

We need it because it gives language and categories for us to express our grief and anguish.

Since the fall of man, the human experience is one of experiencing grief and anguish.

And this cry we see from David, and then we see exampled in Christ on the cross is the cry of faith.

Now in spite of how David is feeling, listen to what he reminds himself.

Psalm 22:3–5 NKJV

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.

David reminds Himself of the way that the people of Israel have trusted God in the past.

He looks back and remembers all of the ways that God has delivered His people in the past.

Past Deliverances

David is bolstering his faith in the middle of a terrifying trial.

He feels as though the Lord has forsaken him altogether.

“You are Holy”

He reminds himself first of the character of God.

That God is not like us.

He is altogether separate.

“Our fathers trusted..”

Secondly he reminds himself of all that God has done.

David then returns to his current situation...

Psalm 22:6–8 NKJV

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

What does David mean by referring to himself as “a worm”?

When David says that he is a worm, he means that he is the lowliest of all the creatures.

So low that he considered himself a worm.

A creature that humanity walks over and its residence is in the earth.

Notice that it is his trust in the Lord which makes him the object of mockery.

Scorned Worm

Now notice back in the gospels the way the crowds regarded Jesus hanging on the cross.

Matthew 27:39–43 NKJV

And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”

You would think these crowds were intentionally quoting from Psalm 22.

What we see David experience in Psalm 22, is realized and fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

He experienced the agony and the anguish that came from our sins being placed upon Him.

He experienced the forsakenness of being cut off from the Father because of sin.

Being despised and rejected on behalf of sinners.

Since Christ has been forsaken, we shall be accepted!

Galatians 3:13–14 NKJV

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

On the cross, we see Jesus Christ forsaken by his friends.

But more importantly we see Jesus actually becoming a curse for me and you.

Christian

“The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”

Or as Isaiah has said...

Isaiah 53:3–6 NKJV

He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

This Anointed One, this Messiah, has opened the way to God by becoming a curse for us.

Non-Christian

As you consider your own death bed experience, what comes to your mind?

What defense will you have when you stand before God?

Now David goes on and remembers how the Lord has dealt kindly with him personally.

Psalm 22:9–10 NKJV

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.

David is saying that the Lord is the ONE who thrust him from his mother and since the time he was a baby, he trusted the LORD.

He is saying that just like the people of Israel have trusted you, so I have trusted You since I was born.

Even though all these enemies are all around, he remembers how the Lord has preserved Him.

Notice what David’s prayer is in this moment.

Psalm 22:11 NKJV

Be not far from Me, For trouble is near; For there is none to help.

And again in verse 19...

Psalm 22:19 NKJV

But You, O Lord, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me!

David’s prayer in the middle of being mocked and ridiculed is: “Don’t be far from me!”

Be near to me!

Let me sense the nearness of Your presence!

Dust to Death (v. 12-18)

Now this Psalm makes a turn at this point and clarifies what we have wondered about.

As one commentator said, “What David is describing here is not a description of illness, but of an execution.”

Calvary Experience

And the people doing the execution are described in strange poetic fashion.

Suffering Pictured

Psalm 22:12–13 NKJV

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.

Again in verse 16...

Psalm 22:16 NKJV

For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet;

We shouldn’t allow the strange images to derail us from what David is trying to express.

We see these beasts which David refers to as Bulls, Lions, Dogs, and Oxen.

These are all beastly images which are characteristic of people.

We need to see David saying that these beasts are creatures of strength and influence.

These metaphors are meant to bring to mind the feeling of “powerful, sharp-fanged, razor-clawed nature of those who oppose him.”

These words like, “encompass” “encircle” “staring and gloating over me”

They are pointing to the reality that David is completely cut-off from any help.

He is left to himself.

Suffering Experienced

These strong and influential creatures are typified in the enemies of the Lord Jesus as He hung on the cross.

What David prophesied about has come to pass in the Lord Jesus.

Psalm 22:16–18 NKJV

For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.

These dogs, these strong ones who are mocking His trust in God are all around.

Not only are they all around, they have pierced his hands and his feet.

Notice, even down to the casting of lots for his garments.

Matthew 27:35–36 NKJV

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.” Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there.

What David has described in this Psalm is exactly what the Lord Jesus experienced on the cross of calvary.

This Psalm culminates in a death scene.

Suffering Inflicted

Psalm 22:14–15 NKJV

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.

Now David likely did not actually die and rise again, what he is talking about is a near death experience.

And the imagery could not be any stronger and more pungent.

“I am poured out like water”

You can just picture a dry and earthen ground having water slowly poured out of it.

As it is poured out, it does not return again.

“all My bones are out of joint”

He is literally having his arms and legs town from his body in that way.

Weak and destitute.

“dried up like a potsherd”

A potsherd is a piece of broken clay pottery.

The kind that someone would spin on a pottery wheel and allow to dry out completely.

It is at this moment that all hope seems lost.

Everything seems hopeless.

It is even worse than it appears.

They proceed to lay Jesus in a tomb.

Matthew 27:59–60 NKJV

When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed.

Just like this Psalm, the scene begins to change.

It is in this moment that the Psalm begins to shift.

Psalm 22:19–21 NKJV

But You, O Lord, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me! Deliver Me from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog. Save Me from the lion’s mouth And from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me.

Even David recounts in verse 21, that God has answered him.

It is in these verses that the Psalm turns 180 degrees around.

What David was describing as a death experience, Jesus experienced in actual full realized death on the cross.

When David describes God answering his prayer, he couldn’t have imagined the gravity of what this meant for Jesus.

Matthew 28:1–8 ESV

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

And in one motion we see what David prophesied in Psalm 22 is fulfilled in the resurrection of our Savior.

Delivered to Hope (v. 19-31)

Psalms C. Petition—vv. 19–21

Was he delivered before death? No. Was he delivered out of death? Yes. Was he delivered on Good Friday? No. Was he delivered on Easter Sunday? Yes. It was a better time and a better way.

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 NKJV

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

Post-Resurrection Experience

Psalm 22:22–23 NKJV

I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. You who fear the Lord, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!

David is expressing that because God has delivered him from certain death, he will praise God’s name amidst the congregation.

Telling of Your Name

To tell of one’s name means that they will praise and worship the God who has redeemed them.

To tell of one’s name is to speak to one another of all that God has done on our behalf.

And friends, in light of the resurrection, this is what we as Christians have been doing for 2,000 years and forever after.

We speak to one another of all that God has done in Christ Jesus.

Since Christ has been raised, we must rejoice!

Psalm 22:24–26 NKJV

For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard. My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever!

David is saying that since God will will one bring about salvation for the Messiah, for the Anointed One, the whole world will benefit.

God’s promises to Abraham will be accomplished because of God’s salvation of His Messiah.

Psalm 22:30–31 NKJV

A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, That He has done this.

He Has Done It!

All generations will serve Him.

All generations will remember and recount what God has done.

And to a people in David’s day that were still unborn (which is YOU and ME).

They will tell of His righteousness.

Do you remember what Jesus’ last words from the cross were?

John 19:30 (NKJV)

He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

And brothers and sisters, we can stand and rejoice knowing that the work has been finished.

The way of salvation has been opened through God’s Victorious Sufferer.

Psalm 118:21–24 NKJV

I will praise You, For You have answered me, And have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.

We can know that we have a death scene coming, and rejoice.

In the middle of our death scene, we can have hope and confidence because Jesus Christ has been raised.

Because Jesus Christ has been raised, we have hope.

We have a future, and we have life in His name!

Do you know Him?

Have you turned from your sins and trusted Him?

What’s your death bed experience going to be like?