It is true to say that few were allowed to have fellowship with our Savior in the sorrows of Gethsemane. Of the 11 disciples that remained 8 were kept at a distance and only 3 were allowed to draw near. Yet even then the 3 weren’t able to truly enter into our Lord’s mysterious sorrow. Thus, He suffered alone. Which was a preview of what was coming, when all His own would abandon Him during His suffering and death.
Yet tonight, a text is before us for Good Friday, that does indeed bring us directly into the secret places of our Savior’s woe. What text is this? Psalm 22.
To put it briefly, Psalm 22 is a masterpiece that begins in trouble and ends in triumph. It has much to do about David, but is of course, well beyond David in its scope, for only Christ could be the One in view in these verses.[1] So as we work through it think of David’s words, yes, but more so think of Jesus.
It’s easily divided into two sections.[2] Trouble in v1-21 and triumph in v22-31. Tonight for Good Friday we’ll focus on the trouble, and Easter morning, fittingly, we’ll focus on the triumph.
Trouble (v1-21)
This first large section presents a back and forth pattern between David and God. This pattern will repeat three times, and each time it will get longer and more urgent in feel. What’s the back and forth about? On one hand we see David’s complaints and laments while on the other hand we see David’s confidence and prayerful pleading to God.
v1-5, “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. 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’s not merely struggling, he’s feeling abandoned by God. And in such abandonment and disorientation he asks God why He is remaining aloof in this urgent and pressing need. Even after crying out day and night, David believes he has heard no answer from God, so David has no rest. In this despairing state there is much for us to be encouraged with. That David feels such things is itself something to be encouraged with. Too often when we suffer we feel we’re suffering alone and because of that we feel we shouldn’t give voice to how we truly feel. People may ask us, ‘How are you?’ and we’re tempted to believe that if we answered honestly people would be so appalled at the state of our souls that they’d stop asking us how we’re doing. What a lie this is! See David suffer yes, but see him bring his sorrow straight to God! And in doing this don’t miss that David isn’t turning to false gods, idols, or other things in the midst of his suffering. He turns to God, why? Because he knows God doesn’t move. If God feels far from him, deep down David knows God hasn’t changed, but that David has changed and so he’s asks God to act and bring him back home.
David remembers in v3-5 that many of God’s people before him have felt this way too. In their own suffering they trusted in God and experienced the deliverance and rescue of God. David states that God is holy and worthy to be evermore enthroned on the praises of His people. This is hopeful for David to remember. Because I think he wonders, will God for me what God did for them?
David keeps on in v6-11 with language that returns to sorrow and increases in its intensity and urgency, “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!’ 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.”
He is low in v6. David views himself, not as a man made in God’s image and therefore deserving of dignity and honor and respect, but as a worm who’s scorned and despised by God and others. Now, I’m all for a low view of self. The Bible clearly states our sinful fallen condition is not one that leads us to a high view of self. We are sinners and to lessen this reality or to soften it is to reject plain truth. But here, David’s gone beyond healthy biblical bounds by seeing himself not just as dead in sin and under the just wrath of God, he sees himself as something less than human. A worm which is easily stepped on or thrown aside. And to add more onto this, David isn’t just attacked inwardly in v6 by his own thoughts he’s attacked outwardly in v7-8 by those around him. They mock him by cutting him down with their words and wag their heads at him because in his suffering David trusts the Lord and to these onlookers nothing could be more foolish.
In a sense David is experiencing a Job like sorrow where the attacks come from deep inside him and from others outside of him. Even so, in v9-11 David doesn’t bury his head in shame, he squares up and faces his mockers head on and turns to prayer. In this David recalls how he has ever been near God, with God, and upheld by God even in infancy when he wasn’t aware of God. I think the gist is this: just as God was David’s help and strength then, David yearns for God to be his strength still. So his plea remains firm and fixed in v11 because of his present trouble. Trouble so great that only God can help him, that’s what the end of v11 implies “Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.”
Now, as our text concludes tonight, we see the same pattern of lament and sorrow breaking through to prayer in v12-21, “Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. 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. But You, O LORD, do not be far off! O You my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion!”
This time David’s lament is long with language more extreme than we’ve seen so far in this Psalm.[3] He likens those seeking his life to be dangerous like wild animals: ravenous bulls, lions, and dogs. Against the power of these foes David feels powerless, as if he is shut in with no hope of escape.[4] It’s mentioned the bulls and lions are from Bashan, which are renowned for their strength. In v14-15 he transitions away from his outward fear to his inward frailty. Because of these foes David isn’t only worn out, he says he’s poured out, like wax, melted, dried up so much so his tongue sticks in his mouth, laid in the dust of death. And yet, it gets worse. In v16-18 his enemies are portrayed as dogs surrounding him…vicious, untamed, wild packs intending to divide and pull his flesh apart, consuming him once he dies. After such intensity, in v19-21a we find David returning to the theme of his prayer he began in v11. There he begged God to be near because trouble was near, now he begs again more fiercely asking God to come quickly to his aid and save his soul…from the enemies he’s just described. And just like that, the lament ends.[5]
Lord willing, we will pick back up with this on Sunday morning. But for now let me ask you this: what does Psalm 22 have to do with Jesus? Well, Jesus quotes it as He is suffering in the throes of death. Matthew 27:46 says, “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 your forsaken me?” What does this mean? When Jesus quotes v1 as He is suffering, He’s not just remembering the verse from all the Scripture He’s memorized in life, no. Rather I think He has the entire Psalm in view as He quotes Psalm 22:1 on the cross. He does this to tell us He’s experiencing all the pain and trouble and agony the Psalm expresses. So though it is from the pen of David, Psalm 22 is ultimately about the suffering of Jesus on the cross. This means Psalm 22 is to the ear, what the event of the crucifixion is to the eye.
So Church, when you look at the cross what do you see?[6] A tree that once had a man fastened to it with rusty iron? A bloody and gory symbol of suffering? This is true for many of us, yet how strange that this is the very image that gives us great comfort. Why so? Because as horrendous as the cross is, and as horrific as Psalm 22 describes the suffering to be, the cross is to us who believe the wood between the worlds. Do you know this phrase? It comes from C.S. Lewis and the Narnian books, about a place in those books where one could travel between various worlds. The phrase wonderfully describes what the cross is.
There is a world that is, and a world to come, and in between those two worlds, is the wood on which the Son of God was hung. The old world is a world characterized by sin and death, and this is the world Jesus came into. This is the reason for His death, to bear the sins of all who would ever believe. The new world is a world characterized by peace and righteousness, and this is the world Jesus brought with Him at His birth. This is also part of the reason why He died, to put to death to death so that life could reign in the hearts of all who believe. So on the cross these two worlds collide and a bridge opens between them. And so horrendous and horrific as the cross was, it was the place where God began to make all things new.
This brings us to our final point tonight. Because the cross is the place where God began to make all things new, the cross is also the place where you and I can be made new too. We who were born into this world of sin and death can indeed be made new and made whole once again by faith in this Savior who hung on the cross to bear our sins, in our place, as our substitute. But be reminded, the cross is no place of comfort. It is a place of death. It is a place where life comes to cease. But it’s also a place of hope. How can both of these be true? Because those who come to the end of themselves at the cross, by looking to Christ, will find eternal life. Or as Jesus Himself said, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35).
So you want to save your life? Lose it at the cross.
[1] Bruce K. Waltke and James M. Houston, The Psalms as Christian Worship: A Historical Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2010) 396-397.
[2] James A. Johnston, The Psalms: Rejoice the LORD IS KING – Preaching the Word Commentary (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2015) 234.
[3] Roger E. Van Harn and Brent A. Strawn, Psalms for Preaching and Worship: A Lectionary Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2009) 96.
[4] Waltke and Houston, 404.
[5] Van Harn and Strawn, 98.
[6] Brian Zahnd, The Wood Between the World (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2024) 5.