Sermon Tone Analysis

The Psalm of The Cross

Psalm 22

I. Introduction

A. If I were to say to you, "What is the most important event in world history," what would be your answer?

1) There is no doubt what the answer is to this question.

It is the day that Jesus Christ, God's Son, hung on a cross outside Jerusalem.

I'm sure that many that day failed to realize that this event would be the focal point of all history.

But to us who are saved, we understand.

2) 1 Corinthians 1:18-19 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

B. 1 Peter 1:10-11 10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

C. Psalm 22 is a fascinating psalm because it is written as if the writer is sitting at the foot of the cross watching the events unfold.

Yet it was written 1,000 years before Christ died and before crucifixion became a form of capital punishment.

D. Psalm 22, James Montgomery Boice called, “the best description in all the Bible of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion.”

E. Luther called it a “gem among the Psalms”

F. Spurgeon said, “This is beyond all others the psalm of the cross… 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”

G. Calvin said, “in this psalm the heavenly Father intended that in the person of His Son those things should be visibly accomplished which were shadowed forth in David”

H. Psalm 22 are the words of a man enduring execution.

I.

Many have observed how Psalms 22-24 constitute a magnificent trio, each emphasizing a particular aspect of the Lord’s Anointed, the Messiah-King.

In Psalm 22 we have a portrait of our suffering king.

In Psalm 23 we have a portrait of our shepherd king.

In Psalm 24 we have a portrait of our sovereign king.

J.

It is also instructive to read Psalm 22 in light of what precedes it in Psalm 20 and 21.

K.

A psalm of lament containing both prayers of petition and praise, we are confronted immediately with the cry of the Righteous Sufferer.

In the psalm there is no confession of personal sin for He has none.

L. Putting these clues together, we can be fairly certain that Jesus was meditating on the Old Testament during the hours of his suffering and that he saw his crucifixion as a fulfillment of Psalm 22 particularly.[1]

M. The four gospels incorporate texts from the Psalms more than from any other Old Testament book in their presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

No psalm is quoted more in the gospels than Psalm 22[2]

II.

Meditate on the Suffering Savior (22:1-18)

Psalms 22:1-2 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? 2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent.

A. The Savior’s Cry

1) The psalm begins with a three-fold cry to El, a cry that is recorded as the 4th saying of Jesus on the cross in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34.

i. Matthew 27:46 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?”

2) To emphasize the isolation and separation He is experiencing he brings to God’s attention the fervency of His prayer life (v.

2).

3) According to the teaching of the New Testament, Jesus was indeed forsaken by God while he bore the sin of his people on the cross.

4) This is the very essence of the atonement—Jesus bearing our hell in order that we might share his heaven.[3]

5) Augustine also implies that it is our cry with which Christ identifies, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

It is sin that alienates us from God.

So argues Augustine, “This psalm is written about me.”

Christ has interceded on my behalf, “and has made my sins his own, in order to make his righteousness ours.”[4]

6) Why did God the Father have to forsake Christ on the cross (vs.

1)?

Why couldn't the Father help him and come near?

Can God fellowship with sin?

7) Absolutely not - and Paul reveals several years later, that Christ became sin on the cross.

i. 2 Corinthians 5:21 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Psalms 22:3-5 3 But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.

4 Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them.

5 They cried to You, and were delivered; They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.

B. The Memory of the Past

1) Then in vs 3-5, the Righteous Sufferer turns in confidence as he recalls the character of God and the faithfulness of God.

Note the phrases “But You, in You, to You and in You.”

2) The fathers knew this and trusted (3X) in you.

They trusted and were delivered (2X).

3) But this was not the experience of our Lord Jesus.

He was shamed more than any man.

He was not delivered, He was forsaken.

Psalms 22:6-8 6 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.

7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8 “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”

C. The Mockery of the Crucifixion

1) The first three hours (9 to12) that Christ suffered on the cross, He suffered physically at the hands of sinners.

Psalm 22 details many of the events years

before they happened.

2) Verse 6 - Christ said, "I am a worm."

Illustration: the tola worm

i. Usually in the Bible, the Hebrew word for a worm is “rimmah”, which means a maggot – but the Hebrew word Jesus used here for worm, is TOLA’ATH, which means “Crimson worm” or “Scarlet worm”.

Both scarlet and crimson are the colors of blood – deep red.

ii.

After three days, the dead mother Crimson worm’s body loses its crimson color and turns into a white wax which falls to the ground like snow

iii.

Isaiah 1:18 18 “Come now, and 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 be as wool.

3) Verse 6 - Christ's visage was so marred, He didn't look like a man.

4) (v.

8).

These words, as well as the gestures that accompanied them, were reproduced precisely at the crucifixion:[5]

i. Matthew 27:38-43 38 Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left.

39 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads 40 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.”

41 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, 42 “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.

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

5) Verses 6-8 - Christ was a reproach of men and despised of the people.

He was stripped naked, beaten, mocked, reviled, and taunted while He hung on the cross

Psalms 22:9-11 9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother's breasts.

10 I was cast upon You from birth.

From My mother's womb You have been My God.

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

D. The Memory of My Past

1) This suffering King did trust in Jehovah.

In vs 9-11 He notes 4 times the sovereign and providential activity of His God in His life from its beginning.

2) But here the sufferer has moved forward a notch in his thinking, since his memory now is not of God’s faithfulness to those others only but of God’s former faithfulness to himself.[6]

3) Will God not continue to be faithful to me now?[7]

Psalms 22:12-18 12 Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. 13 They gape at Me with their mouths, Like a raging and roaring lion.

14 I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death.

16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.

They pierced My hands and My feet; 17 I can count all My bones.

They look and stare at Me. 18 They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.