Psalm 22
The cry of dereliction in verse 1, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? is recorded in both Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34. Jesus, the eternal Son who had forever enjoyed perfect, unbroken fellowship with the Father, experiences a rupture in that relationship. This forsakenness was the very purpose of His mission. The Apostle Paul explains this in 2 Corinthians 5:21: God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus, in bearing the full weight of humanity’s sin, experiences the holy wrath of the Father against that sin. This is the cup Jesus dreaded in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39). He truly embodied the role of the forsaken sufferer, taking upon Himself the curse of separation from God that we deserved, as stated in Deuteronomy 21:23 and Galatians 3:13. By quoting the first line of the psalm, Jesus was saying: THIS IS THE MOMENT FORETOLD.
Psalm 22:16, Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. The term dogs was a common Jewish pejorative for Gentiles, and indeed, it was a band of Roman soldiers who encircled Jesus at His arrest and crucifixion (John 18:3, Matthew 27:27-36). Crucifixion, a Roman practice, was not a Jewish form of execution. Jewish law prescribed stoning or hanging. The psalmist, writing centuries before crucifixion was even invented, describes its core mechanic: the piercing of the extremities to affix the victim to the cross. The Gospel of John highlights the reality of Jesus’ wounds when the resurrected Christ appears to Thomas and says, Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side (John 20:27). The Apostle John also sees a vision of the glorified Christ in Revelation, describing Him as a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain (Revelation 5:6), eternally bearing the marks of this piercing. He was pierced for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:5).
Psalm 22:18 states that; They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. John 19:23-24 reads: Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said, therefore, among themselves, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,’ that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:
‘They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.’
Therefore, the soldiers did these things.
The soldiers’ actions occurred specifically to fulfill this scripture. Jesus was stripped of His dignity and possessions, fulfilling the prophecy of a sufferer whose very clothes are plundered by His executioners, emphasizing His total humiliation and poverty for our sake. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).
The fulfillment of Psalm 22 moves from the internal, spiritual agony of being forsaken by the Father, to the external, physical torment of crucifixion, to the act of soldiers gambling for clothes. Every aspect of the cross was part of God’s predetermined plan. Jesus did not simply recite Psalm 22; He enacted it.
Prayer Points
- Thank Jesus for enduring the Father’s wrath and the agony of being forsaken so that we might never be separated from God.
- Pray that God may give you a deeper understanding of the grace demonstrated through Christ.
- Pray that the reality of the crucified and now-glorified Lamb, who still bears the marks of His love, move us to a life of wholehearted worship and devotion.
Soli Deo Gloria – to God alone be the glory! Rev. Luke Haisa
