Psalm 22 Sermon – From Suffering To Victory
Introduction
Psalm 22 is one of the most famous Messianic psalms in Scripture. That means that many of the events described by the writer point forward to the life and experiences of the coming Messiah. While David was describing his own feelings and situation to some extent, at the same time he was being inspired by the Holy Spirit to write about the future Messiah. That future Messiah would be David’s descendant and often called “son of David.” (Luke 18:38). David’s life pointed to his.
As we study through this Psalm, we will see many things which were real in David’s life, but which Jesus experienced even more intensely.
As you read this Psalm, the name, “Jesus!” yells at you from the pages. It is almost impossible to read this Psalm without thinking, “this sounds like Jesus.” Many skeptics work overtime to try to deny the prophetic implications of this Psalm because they know it points to Jesus.
In this Psalm, the Holy Spirit points us to God’s redemptive work that will be accomplished on the cross around 1000 years later.
On this Psalm Martin Luther said the following, “This is a kind of gem among the Psalms, and is peculiarly excellent and remarkable. It contains those deep, sublime, and heavy sufferings of Christ, when agonizing in the midst of the terrors and pangs of divine wrath and death which surpass all human thought and comprehension.”
I. God’s Servant Forsaken (1-2)
Psalms 22:1-2 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.
A. David
David felt that God had abandoned Him. There were many times in his life he faced serious trials. Often, he was on the run for his life. He had been anointed as king of Israel, and yet things didn’t go smoothly right away. Things got worse. Even later after he was king, he fought many battles. His own son attempted a coup and started a civil war. That civil war was followed by another civil war.
At some point during all of this, David cried out to God in confusion. He felt that God had forsaken him. He couldn’t see God answering His prayers. He didn’t feel God’s presence. David lacked peace and couldn’t sleep well at night.
We should also take note of David’s heart. It wasn’t primarily the trial which was discouraging him. David had been through many trials. It was his perceived distance from God. The Lord was his comfort, his shield, and his refuge.
The fool says “there is no God.” (Psalm 14:1). He would be happy that God was far away. But real believers want God’s presence.
Moses once told God that he didn’t want to go anywhere without God’s presence with them.
Exodus 33:15 – And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.
David desperately desired to feel God’s presence with Him. At that moment, he couldn’t feel it. It hurt.
Was David forsaken? Keep that question in the back of your mind as we go forward and try to find the answer.
B. Jesus –
Many of the feelings and sufferings of David in this psalm were experienced by Jesus even more intensely. That is why this is called a Messianic psalm. It foreshadows the life and in this psalm, the death, of Christ.
While Jesus was hanging on the cross, he quoted Psalm 22:1.
Matthew 27:46 – 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?”
Jesus never did anything randomly. Why did He say these exact words at this exact time? Part of it was to call attention to the fact that He was fulfilling the prophecies made about the Messiah even in the Old Testament. Saying these words was a way to point all onlookers to Psalm 22. He was basically saying, “Look at Psalm 22! Don’t miss it! I fulfill it!”
This phrase shows us the intense agony that Jesus felt on the cross. The worst part of the crucifixion for Jesus was not the pain of whip or the nails or even the scoffing he endured. It was His separation from the Father. Jesus took on to Himself the filthy, vile sins of humanity.
2 Corinthians 5:21 – For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
On the cross, our sin was imputed to Jesus. When the Father looked at Him, He saw our sin on Him. As a result, the Father poured out His wrath on Jesus.
For eternity past, the Son had a perfect relationship and perfect communion with the Father at all times. On the cross, this was broken. For the first time in a Googleplex raised to the infinite power of years, that relationship was not there. It wasn’t a neutral thing or just the Father being absent. The Father was angry. The judgment for sins was poured out on Jesus. Before the Son only experienced love, encouragement, support from the Father. Now He was receiving judgment and wrath.
We can never fully comprehend how Jesus felt. The closest illustration we could probably come up with would be a perfect marriage. Imagine you were married to the most perfect and loving saint for your whole life. After 75 years of marriage, one day you face a deadly peril. Your spouse is right there and can save you. But you sense anger in his eyes. He could save you, but instead turns away and lets you die.
Jesus felt forsaken by the Father.
Both David and Jesus felt this way.
C. Application Us–
Do you ever feel like this? Perhaps you have prayed for something fervently and haven’t seen an answer? Perhaps you have faced a trial for years and do not see light at the end of the tunnel.
When you feel confused, you should do as David did and take it to God in prayer. The Psalms are filled with prayers like this. David and the other writers often felt discouraged and confused. The beginning of these psalms shows their intense struggle. But as they take these feelings to God, their attitudes start to change and the end of their prayer is very different than the beginning. The same will be true in this chapter. Praying changes us.
So was David forsaken? Are you forsaken?
The answer is “no” (if you are a believer). Real believers are never forsaken.
Deuteronomy 31:6 – Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.
Believers are held safe in His hands.
Jesus was forsaken so that you don’t have to be. He took your sin onto Himself so that you don’t have to bear it. When Jesus asked “Why have you forsaken me?” to the father, the answer is “so that I never have to forsake anyone else again.” Jesus is the way to the arms of the Father. And once you are safe in His arms, He will never let you go.
John 10:27-28 – My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Know that however you may feel and whatever trials you are experiencing, Jesus faced far worse on your behalf. If your flesh cries out to God asking why He has abandoned you and doesn’t you, remember the truth. The truth is, He loves you. He does not forsake you. And that truth was proven on the cross. You might feel like you are abandoned, but feelings lie to us all the time.
II. God’s Servant’s Faith (3-5)
Psalms 22:3-5 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.
David –
David did not allow his feelings to take him off the deep end. As soon as he shared with God his confusion about his current situation, he immediately came back to the foundational truth, “yet you are holy.”
David held on to what he is sure of. He doesn’t attack God’s character. He knows God is holy and good. He repeats this to himself.
And in verses 4-5, he acknowledged that God has been faithful in the past. He has answered prayers. He has not abandoned His people. That knowledge gave David renewed faith and confidence in the Lord.
Jesus –
How was Jesus able to go forward with this plan and sacrifice Himself?
He knew the Father. He knew the Father’s goodness. He knew this redemptive plan was the best plan, a perfect plan. These were rock-solid truths that Jesus could hang onto and truly say, “Your will and not my will be done.”
Us – David gives us a good model of prayer here. It is good to take our confusion to God. But we should not remain in a questioning posture for a long time. When our feelings make us question God’s plans, we should review the truths we know about Him. We should repeat back His promises. We should recall how He has been faithful in our lives in the past. We should make declarations of faith in God’s goodness. It can be helpful to take our eyes off of the immediate troubles surrounding us and lift them up to gaze at God. When we do, the potency of those troubles will fade.
HOLD ON TO WHAT YOU KNOW.
III. God’s Servant Scoffed (6-8)
Psalms 22:6-8 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!”
David
David felt dehumanized by many of the things he faced. He wasn’t even treated like a man, much less like a king. A worm does not defend itself. It is trampled on, cast aside, and ignored. A worm is not valued or respected. It is despised.
Perhaps this written when David was running from Saul or Absalom. His enemies scoffed him. He was a joke, a laughingstock.
They knew about his faith in the Lord. They mocked that too.
Psalms 22:8 – “He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
Jesus
These verses also point to Jesus. He was despised, disrespected, rejected, cast aside, and trampled. The cross dehumanized Him, robbing Him of His dignity as he hung there naked.
The word in Hebrew for worm here refers to the kermes worm. The kermes worm is small and seemingly insignificant. But in ancient times, it was a source of crimson dye. The word crimson itself comes from the word “kermes.”
Its process for giving birth was very interesting. A female kermes worm would attach itself to a tree. Once attached, it wouldn’t leave. Its own body would protect its eggs. After they were hatched, the new larvae would feed on their mother’s body. After she died, crimson fluid would stain her body and leave a mark on the tree. It was from these dead bodies that scarlet dyes could be extracted in the ancient world. Finally, the body itself will turn white and fall to the ground like snow.
It is as if God put in nature a visible sign pointing to Jesus’ work on the cross.
Isaiah 1:18 – “Come now, 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 become like wool.
While on the cross, the people continued to mock Him.
Matthew 27:40 – And saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
Their logic is flawed. They believe that suffering is evidence of either God’s absence (that God does not exist) or God’s indifference. This is not the case.
Application Us –
Important machinery is often put through a stress test to check for flaws that need to be fixed. The NASA Orion space vehicle went through many stress tests.
• Vibration test
• Shock test
• Vacuum chamber test
• Acoustic stress test
• Temperature resilience test
These tests are designed to reveal weaknesses. Rigorous tests sometimes reveal flaws. Only after they are revealed can they be fixed.
God also puts His people through stress tests. The goal is to expose and then refine weaknesses. Real believers will learn more about themselves and be able to seek God’s help to grow. Sometimes these tests also sift the chaff from the wheat. Those without a real relationship with God may fail the test and turn away from Him. Even this result is good because it takes away their false sense of security and shows them their lost condition. Without knowing they are lost, they would not look to God for salvation.
IV. God’s Plan For His Servant (9-11)
Psalms 22:9-11 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.
David
David’s prayer is like an inner debate or dialogue.
First, he brings his confusion and despair to the Lord. Then he says, “yet you are holy.” He held on to what he knew was true.
Next he prayed about some of his trials and the rejection he faced from those around him.
After that, we see the same transition word, “yet.” He says, “yet you are he who took me from the womb.” David comes back to the solid truth that God has been faithful to him, even from the womb. That fact is true. He could lean on it in times of discouragement.
David trusted that God had a plan for him from before his born. He couldn’t always see it. But he knew God would protect him in order to bring His plans for David to fruition.
Jesus
God used David. He had a plan for him from when he was in the womb.
That is even more evident in the life of Jesus. From before the beginning of the world, salvation was planned to come through Jesus. That would not work if something happened to Jesus and He lost His life before He could fulfill that purpose.
Therefore God protected Him. He was protected from having to grow up without a father in the home. And he was protected from Herod’s plot to kill all the male babies in Bethlehem. In both cases, God supernaturally protected him by giving a dream to key people. God was faithful to protect Jesus so that He would be able to fulfill every single aspect of God’s purpose for His life.
Application US –
Someone once said that we are immortal until God’s time for us is up. That is true. This fact should help us to remember that God is sovereign. He has a purpose for you even in the midst of trials (Romans 8:28).
Next time you face trials which dishearten you, remember that God has a purpose for your life and that as long as you have breath, he is not through with you.
V. God’s Servant Persecuted (12-18)
In the Bible, bulls are often used metaphorically for strong people. Strong and powerful people had allied themselves against David.
They looked at him with evil intent like lions who are stalking their prey.
Even the dogs were against him. Dogs are not as powerful as bulls or lions. It shows that even many common people were against him.
Take a look at verses 14-18.
Psalms 22:14-18 – 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.
What does that look like to you?
To me, it looks like a description of Jesus’ crucifixion.
Most likely, David was using these words to poetically describe his own situation. He felt weak and faint. He felt like he was being ripped in two by outside forces. His heart felt like it was going to give way. He had no strength.
What he was describing as something that he felt, literally happened to Jesus. The Spirit led David to write these inspired words which would point to the cross.
Jesus
• I am poured out like water – It refers to Jesus’ lack of strength on the cross. Even while carrying the cross up the hill, Jesus could not carry on as He was too exhausted.
• All my bones are out of joint – A crucifixion does not generally rip bones out of joint, but it can. Certainly, he was wracked on the cross. And hanging from his hands and having to breath would pull him in two directions. This could be hyperbole or it could have happened to Him.
• My heart is like wax – God’s wrath came upo