Introduction
When
Jesus was being crucified, he cried out in Aramaic (his native tongue), "Eloi,
Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—"My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?" People misunderstood these words at this time, thinking he was calling
for Elijah to rescue him.
People still misunderstand them today.
Some say that Jesus lost his faith in God at this moment. He had been convinced
that God would raise him up to defeat Israel's enemy (Rome) and establish God's
kingdom. But instead, Israel rejected him as a false Messiah and Rome crucified
him as an insurrectionist. So he cries out, "Why have you forsaken me?
I thought I was fulfilling your plan, but I was wrong."
Nothing could
be further from the truth. When Jesus uttered these words, he was not admitting
that he missed God's purpose; he was announcing his fulfillment of God's purpose!
Because this statement is the first verse of Psalm 22, on of the most amazing
passages in the Bible. It was written by David in 1000 BC. Let's read the first
21 verses . . .
The first thing we need
to understand about this psalm is that it is not about David. Unlike most of his
psalms, which describe incidents in his own life, the most important details of
this psalm cannot be fitted into the events of his life. For example:
This
person has fallen completely into the hands of his enemies (vs 11,12,16). This
never happened to David even in his darkest hour.
This person dies (vs 15)
in complete humiliation and agonizing physical torture (vs 13-17). David
died of old age in his own bed (1 Kg. 2:10).
Rather, David, as
a prophet, was supernaturally enabled by God to see and feel what it would be
like for the Messiah to die over 1000 years before this occurred. Therefore, I
call this psalm "the view from the cross." Let's take a closer look . . .
His
desperate plight (22:1-21)
Even the style of the Hebrew in this section
fits that of a dying man. The sentences are short, abrupt—almost gasp-like.
Like a camera lens that slowly comes into focus, this section is a progressively
detailed description of what this man is experiencing. It begins with only a vague
picture, but by the last paragraph we see in startling and brutal detail what
he is actually enduring.
In 22:1-2, he begins with a lament
expressing the agony of his soul that God seems to have forsaken him despite his
cries for help. Yet, like Ps. 42, he reminds himself in 22:3-5 that God will
be faithful to him as he has always been faithful to his people, Israel.
In
22:6-8, the lens begins to come into focus so that we start to understand the
nature of his plight. He is reproached and despised by "the people,"
the Jews. They are delighted that he is suffering this fate (whatever it is) because
it refutes his claim that God delights in him.
Yet he reminds
himself in 22:9,10 that he does indeed have a unique relationship with God. He
has consciously trusted God from the womb. (In contrast, David acknowledges in
Ps. 51:5 that he was "conceived in sin" and "brought forth in iniquity"—separated
from God at birth.)
Then in 22:11-18, the lens comes into focus
to reveal with horrifying clarity the true nature of his plight.
He
is at the mercy of a band of powerful Gentile evildoers. He describes them figuratively
as "strong bulls of Bashan" (22:12), and "dogs" (22:16) who
are actually "a band of evildoers."
They are executing him by
crucifixion. Note six specific features of death by crucifixion, which was the
most painful ("excruciating") and humiliating form of execution ever
devised.
"I am poured out like water" (22:14a) and
"my strength is dried up like a potsherd" (22:15a) both describe his
complete physical exhaustion. Crucifixion victims became physically exhausted
by having to keep lifting themselves up to inhale (which also caused searing pain
in the nerves of their wrists and feet).
"All my bones are out of joint"
(22:14b) describes the dislocation of limbs caused by slamming the cross into
the hole, and the stretching and eventual snapping of ligaments from having to
support their body weight for hours and even days.
"My heart is like
wax . . . melted within me" (22:14c) may simply speak
of his despair, but more likely (immediate context is physical agony) describes
the severe heart trauma caused by exertion in spite of decreased blood and oxygen.
Some crucifixion victims evidently died of ruptured hearts, and the mixture of
water and blood in Jesus' case (Jn. 19:34) suggest this happened to him.
"My
tongue cleaves to my jaws" (22:15b) describes the severe dehydration which
caused the tongue to swell, making breathing even more difficult.
"I
can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me" (22:17). Crucifixion
victims were stripped naked to humiliate them.
"They pierced my hands
and my feet" (22:16) describes the unique aspect of crucifixion—no
other form of execution involves this. This is so clear that some opponents
to Christianity have charged that Christians altered the text. The Jewish Bible
(using the Masoretic text) says "like a lion, they are at my hands and
my feet." The Hebrew
word for "they pierced" is karah. The word for "like
a lion" is ka'rî. The only difference is the length of the stem
of the last letter. Did the Christians alter the text to help their cause? Two
reasons say this is not so.
First,
the phrase "like a lion, my hands and my feet" makes no sense. "They
are at my" is not in the Masoretic text, and even if one assumes those words
the image of a lion being at someone's hands and feet makes no sense.
Second,
the Septuagint (LXX), authored by Jewish scholars in 250 BC, translates "they
pierced." This means their Hebrew text was karah. Therefore, ka'rî is
a scribal error or alteration.
This is incredible when you
consider that crucifixion wasn't even invented until roughly 600 BC!! It was invented
by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians at that time, from whom the Romans got it.
Normal capital punishment for Jews was stoning. No Jew was crucified until sometime
in the late inter-testamental period. Yet here, several centuries earlier, David
describes it in vivid detail.
22:18 adds another amazing detail:
"They cast lots for my clothing." So certain is this victim's death
that his executioners are already dividing up his clothes. This seemingly insignificant
detail is one of many which Jesus would not have been able to deliberately fulfill,
and the Roman soldiers who fulfilled it would have been unaware of this prophecy.
What
would it have been like to put Jesus on the cross, then use this to mock his claim
to be Messiah—and then hear him quote this psalm to you from the cross?
What
are the odds that this psalm was humanly originated and fulfilled by chance? Doesn't
that explanation require blind faith? Isn't it more reasonable to conclude that
this is exactly what Jesus told his disciples it was—God's proof that Jesus
is indeed his Messiah, and that his death on a cross was God's plan (22:15 - "you
lay me in the dust of death")?
Why did God do this?
If you're
wondering why God would orchestrate his own Son's execution, you are asking the
question that takes you to the heart of the Bible's message. And you don't have
to leave the Old Testament to answer it. Because just as Ps. 22 predicted the
manner of Messiah's death, Isa. 53 explains the reason for
his death. Let's read a section of it (read Isa. 53:4-6,10,11).
Why
did God do this? He did it because he is both righteous and loving. Because he
is righteous, God cannot overlook sin—he must punish it with death. Because
he is loving, he provided a sinless substitute to bear our sin and to take God's
wrath for us.
This is the meaning of the Old Testament sacrificial system.
But those sacrifices were only pictures that looked forward to fulfillment in
a Person, as this passage makes clear. This is why John the Baptist introduced
Jesus as "the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world" (Jn. 1:29).
This is why Jesus said that as God's Son, he did "not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mk. 10:45). Jesus
came to die on a cross because there was no other way that a holy God can be reconciled
to sinful people like you and me. And to make sure that we would know this was
his plan, he predicted centuries before he did it.
Now that you know this,
what are you going to do with this knowledge? It's not enough just to understand
it, or even to believe it is true in some general and abstract sense. You have
to act on this knowledge by personalizing it. Explain Rembrandt's "Raising
of the Cross." Have you acknowledged to God that you have gone astray
and turned to your own way? Have agreed with God that your sins put Jesus
on the cross? Have you told God that you trust in Jesus' death as the
only payment for your sins? This action is what makes this knowledge life-changing.
The moment you call out to God in this way, he will forgive you of all your sins,
and give you eternal life, and begin a relationship with you by indwelling you
through his Spirit. Do you want this? Then make your move!
The
results of this death (22:22-31)
Beginning in 22:22, the tone and content
completely change because God has answered his plea for help (2:21b). In contrast
to the short gasps of 22:1-21, the sentences of 22:22-31 are full and complete
(read). This is what Jesus was thinking about in his last moments on the cross,
and the last phrase "he has performed it" may be translated "it
is finished" (Jn. 19:30).
He tells us that his obedience
and God's deliverance will be the source of blessing for all of humanity who turn
to him.
Not only will Jewish people glorify God because of this
(22:23), but people from every ethnic group on the face of the earth turn to the
Lord because of it (22:27). This is the blessing to every people-group that God
promised though Abraham's seed (Gen. 12:3).
Not only will the afflicted
and those at death's door find salvation through this (22:26,29), but also those
who are prosperous and powerful (22:29).
He tells us that we
have the privilege of declaring this message to others (22:31). This is what we
have done today, and this is our number one priority as a church—to take
this wonderful message all over the world.
Footnote
See
H. C. Leupold, Exposition of the Psalms (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House,
1969), p. 207.