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The Good Shephe Knowing Jesus through Psalm 22 Introduction Psalms 22-24 are often called the Shepherd Psalms. • Psalm 22 – the good shepherd who died for his sheep • Psalm 23 – the good shepherd who cares for his sheep • Psalm 24 – the good shepherd who is coming for his sheep David wrote this psalm 1,000 years before Christ came to this earth. He writes as a historian and as a prophet (Acts 2:29-39). This psalm speaks of David’s current events and Christ’s future events. David’s words in this psalm are transcending his own events and pointing to the events of Christ. For instance, does Psalm 22:18 refer to David or to Jesus? They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. David’s words are surpassing his actual events and are pointing to the events of Christ. In this psalm, David paints a portrait of our Lord’s saddest hour. When we read this psalm, we should take off our shoes for we are treading on holy ground. Spurgeon said, “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.” Transition: How can we know Jesus from a passage that was written 1,000 years before He came clothed in flesh? As we read this psalm, we realize that it testifies to Christ. It testifies to certain aspects of His life or character. We find in verses 1-18 that it testifies of His suffering. I. We know the Suffering of Christ in Psalm 22 (1-18) A. His suffering was Divine (1-5) We can only understand a small measure of what Jesus went through on the cross because his suffering was divine. The opening cry is the words Jesus spoke from the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? (Psalm 22:1) God in the flesh screamed these words with agonizing pain. Storm clouds billowed in His eyes. He was a flower quickly fading. Darkness surrounded the cross for the past three hours. God is there, but hidden. God’s presence was near and tender as ever, but the human consciousness of Jesus lost the awareness of His presence. The fact that Jesus was forsaken of God is a mystery too profound for us to comprehend. We are not surprised that the disciples forsook Him, but we are awestruck to consider that God forsook Him. John Row says, “Here is the comfort to deserted souls, Christ Himself was deserted; therefore, if thou be deserted, God dealeth no otherwise with thee than He did with Christ. Thou mayest be beloved of God and not feel it; Christ was so, he was beloved of the Father, and yet had no present sense or feeling of His love.” (Spurgeon Commentary) God permitted Jesus human nature to undergo the dreadful torments of being forsaken of God. I have been guilty of saying that God turned His back on Jesus. Did He? Do we have a chapter and verse to prove this? If I had a dollar for every time I heard this statement, I could pay off the national debt. We know that God forsook Jesus, but what does that mean? It does not mean that God plugged His ears, turned his back, and hid behind the throne so He would not see the crucifixion of Jesus. Forsaken means that God did not answer Jesus, not that he ran from Jesus. O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. (Psalm 22:2) For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard. (Psalm 22:24) God heard the prayers of Jesus, but chose not to answer so that sinful beings could come into fellowship with God. Jesus said that the sun and the moon are witnesses of His suffering. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. (Psalm 22:3) In the midst of Jesus’ suffering He recognized that God is just (3). Jesus throws Himself on the character of God. He praises His holiness. The praises of the saints build the house for God’s presence (3). The sufferer turns to history for comfort (4-5). God has delivered His people in the past. He is a covenant God. He keeps His promises. The sufferer recognized that their cry brought deliverance, but His is bringing silence. Israel trusted three times and God delivered them, but this was not the experience of the Lord Jesus. He was not delivered; He was forsaken. Sometimes we feel ourselves sinking in the deep waters that others are delivered from. It is a poor comfort to know that others are swimming where we are drowning. The divine sufferer pleads God’s past dealing with Israel as a reason He should not be left alone. What a transaction took place! The righteous died for the guilty. Jesus became sin. We took His righteousness and He took our sin. No! We took His righteousness and He became our sin. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (II Cor. 5:21) B. Jesus’ suffering was human (6-18) Thousands of people faced the agonizing pain of crucifixion under the Roman rule. Jesus was one of them. What made His crucifixion so different? Not the human suffering, but the divine suffering. However, we should not ignore that Jesus faced divine and human suffering. Verses 1-5 reveal Jesus’ divine suffering, and verses 6-11 reveal His human suffering. He faced spiritual suffering and physical suffering. i. He suffered verbal abuse (6-11) In verse six, Jesus again takes up His complaint. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. His words reveal His suffering. Jesus came to earth robed in flesh. He became man. At the crucifixion, he became lower than a man. He became an animal, a worm actually. He had been made a little lower than the angels; now he is made a little lower than man. He is a worm, the lowliest of animals. Jesus said “I AM” a worm. This is the forgotten “I am.” We are familiar with other “I AM” statements such as • I am the light of the world • I am the way, the truth, and the life • I am bread of life, but we must never forget this I AM. The hymn says, “Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and would my sovereign die, would he devote that sacred head, for such a worm as I”. Many hymnbooks no longer have the word worm. They replaced it with sinner. They think we are not worms anymore. We are just sinners. Jesus had no problem calling Himself a worm and identifying with this worm (point to myself). The Son of God became a worm so that we worms could become the sons of God. Spurgeon said, “He felt himself to be comparable to a helpless, powerless, down- trodden worm, passive while crushed, and unnoticed and despised by those who trod upon him. He selects the weakest of creatures, which is all flesh; and becomes, when trodden upon, writhing, quivering flesh, utterly devoid of any might except strength to suffer.” The word worm is “Towla” in the original language. This is a worm that produces a red dye when crushed. Rahab’s thread would have been dyed scarlet by crushing this worm. Jesus like a worm was crushed under the hands of sinful men to produce cleansing blood that washes away a believer’s sin. As Jesus cried, the Jews mocked, but the angels adored. He became a jest, the punch line to a joke. Passerbies walked by the cross laughing. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. (Psalm 22:7-8) Jews, Gentiles, rich, poor, soldiers, and civilians all entered into the scoffing taunt. Their words like bullets hit Jesus with scorn. They shook their heads and said, “What a fool to think God would deliver Him.” They would not permit Him to die in peace. They would mock, “If God loved you, He would save you.” What a contradiction! Why would God allow suffering to happen to someone He loves. Jesus was doing the Father’s will, yet it involved suffering. It was the will of God for Jesus to suffer. (9-10) God protected Jesus from the womb. Evil men tried to kill Him during the massacre at Bethlehem, but now trouble seems closer than God. Jesus’ human suffering involved both verbal abuse and physical abuse. ii. He suffered physical abuse (12-18) Evil men like bulls surrounded Jesus looking for an opportunity to gore Him (12-18). Other men like lions, waited for an opportunity to pounce. He hung there helpless, dehydrated, with bones protruding from His skin. In paintings of the crucifixion Jesus is clothed. For propriety’s sake this is the way it should be, but in reality Jesus hung on the cross unclothed.
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