Today is a day unlike any other. Today is the whole reason why there is a Christian Church in the world today, and today is the only reason why we Christians can have hope in a world where sin abounds within us and around us. Today is Easter, Resurrection Sunday, and that means rejoicing is in order. So I say to you on this morning…
“Death and darkness have now left packing, nothing to man is now lacking. Satan’s triumphs have ended, what Adam marred is now mended.”[1] The fall plunged man into death and pain, but now through Christ, life eternal, we gain! “Pluck the harp and sound the horn, do you not know, tis Easter morn! Crowded may His worship be, praise the Holy Trinity! Hope has returned for man in his sinful plight, through Christ’s powerful resurrection might! “Where is hell’s once dreaded king? Where O death is your sting? Hallelujah’s to Christ we now sing!”[2]
As we begin allow me to remind you of what we covered a few days ago on Good Friday, because it has everything to do with this morning and what we’ll cover here today. On Friday night we lingered on the first half of Psalm 22, specifically v1-21a where David expresses the great trouble he experienced and gave voice to his concerns and his cries to the Lord for rescue and help.
He felt forsaken by God, as if the same God who had helped and rescued and given rest to so many in ages past wasn’t too keen to him in the current trouble. He felt attacked outwardly as if he were surrounded by an angry mob likened to ravenous beasts, shouting for his demise, wagging their heads at him, and eager to see him ripped to pieces. And David felt attacked inwardly as he was plagued by thoughts he couldn’t seem to turn off. Thoughts of his own folly, thoughts of his weakness and feebleness, and thoughts of an unbiblical low self image.
It was encouraging to see David’s heart in distress and what he did in that moment, taking it all to the Lord. But it was even more encouraging to see how Psalm 22 pointed on far ahead beyond David himself to the One who is both David’s Son and David’s Lord, the Lord Jesus. Jesus, after all, quoted Psalm 22:1 on the cross in the midst of His own suffering, not just to show us that He had some good verses tucked away and memorized for a moment fit for suffering, no. Rather He quoted v1 of Psalm 22 because He truly intended us to learn that all of Psalm 22 is ultimately about Him.
So we ended Good Friday in the somber trouble of Christ on the cross. But contrary to what most believe, Psalm 22 is not just a Psalm of trouble. It’s a Psalm that moves through trouble to triumph. We see the turn in the middle of v21. There we read the conclusion of David’s trouble in the first half of the verse as he says, “Save me from the mouth of the lion!” But, and here’s the great turn, the back half of the verse says, “You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!”
In a mysterious, unexpected, inexplicable way, God shows up and brings rescue long sought after and desired! v1-21a is full of danger, despair, and distress, and such darkness that you don’t want to keep reading to see the end of the Psalm because how could it be happy? But as v21b happens, we learn – this darkness has passed, a new dawn has come, and from it being so dark the light now shines out all the clearer.
So, we’ve seen the trouble in the first half of Psalm 22, let’s now finish it out as we see the triumph.
Triumph (v22-31)
“I will tell of Your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise You: You who fear the LORD, praise Him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him, all you offspring of Israel! For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and He has not hidden His face from him, but has heard, when he cried to Him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear Him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek Him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and He rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before Him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve Him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.”
Simply put: David was wrong. I think we can say that. In his suffering he truly believed he was forsaken by God, but He was not. God was not far off. God’s face was not hidden. God’s eye was not closed. God’s ear was not shut. The lies brought by suffering are now seen to be what they are, lies! God was near, God did know, God had heard, and God powerfully saved. David thought he was in the dust of death, but he now knows himself to be one voice among all the nations praising the Lord in a global assembly. Because of God’s work, trouble has truly given way to triumph!
Do not miss that David’s redemption brings so much more than David into view. In v22-26 David does mention what he himself does. There are very personal words here. He that he will tell of God’s name to God’s people, and praise God in the midst of God’s people! But notice, he then expands out to those people including them all in this praise. And more, in 27-31 nothing less than the nations are included in this praise! Which means, the structure of flow of this Psalm is stunning to see. What began as a personal lament and cry for help has now moved to a global assembly of praise.
This brings us back to Israel’s history. Once all the Israelites were outsiders and foreigners enslaved in Egypt. And when God redeemed them out of slavery He commanded them to show kindness to outsiders. This was to be a reminder to them, of what they once were in Egypt. But do you see this kindness to foreigners as more than a mere reminder? It was also a preview of what David speaks of here. A global ingathering, a worldwide assembly of saints from all nations praising God! And more so, this worshipful gathering David speaks of is so expansive it includes all kinds of people from all walks of life: the fat, the lean, the poor, the rich, the Israelite, the foreigner, the living, the dead, and it even extends to those not yet born!
So don’t miss it. How good for us to to see…at the center of this global gathering of praise to God stands the very one who first sang a lament in despair in v1.[3] With him then we have gone from trouble to triumph.
But no surprise, while Psalm 22 is about David it far surpasses David. Think about it. David suffered in his life sure, and he might have thought he was going to die from his suffering more than a few times in his life, but he didn’t. Rather he died of old age. These words of Psalm 22 then must fit and must belong to someone other than David. Though David was the sweet singer of Israel, we can look beyond David and see a greater and truer Singer in view, with a higher and more nobler song to sing. If you look beyond David we see none other than the One who quoted Psalm 22 in His death, Jesus Christ. Just as a single line or lyric of a song can be so well crafted and so well delivered that to hear just the one verse is to experience the whole of it, so too, all of Psalm 22 comes into view as Jesus quotes its first lyric.[4] This means the language, the agony, the suffering, the despair, the lament, the prayerful pleading, and the death in view was the experience of Jesus on the cross. v1-21 was His trouble where the secret places of our Savior’s woe on the cross is laid out for us to see.
But don’t stop there, keep on pulling this thread and see the rest of the Psalm. Since the trouble of v1-21 truly belongs to Jesus, so does the triumph of v22-31!
God the Father did not abandon Christ the Son to the grave, for after Good Friday came Easter morning.[5] So if we can say v1-21 describes the cross of Christ, we can also say v22-31 describes the resurrection of Christ. And as we saw the quick redemptive shift in v21 with David, we can see the same with Christ. In a mysterious, unexpected, inexplicable way, God’s own Son hasn’t only become one of us, but He bore our sin, in our place, as our substitute as He died for us. And joy upon joy three days after dying His heart began beating and His lungs began breathing as His triumphant life defeated and mocked the world, the flesh, and the Devil. This is why Hebrews 2:12 quotes Psalm 22:22 also, saying it is now Jesus’s great joy to praise His Father among the assembly of His brothers and sisters He died to save!
You who are Christians, do you see yourself like this? Do you see yourself as one individual among a global assembly spanning all of history praising the Lord for who He is and what He has done? Do you then understand that there is One in our midst who rises above all of us because of His saving work for us? How good is it for us to see…at the center of the global gathering of praise to God stands the victorious Christ who first sang a lament in despair in v1.[6] With Him the whole global host has gone from trouble to triumph. Yes, there was a heavenly choir of angels over the shepherds singing praise to God at the birth of Christ. Now after the hush of heaven at the death of Christ comes the great heavenly and global congregation gladly singing over this Christ as He comes forth from death to conquer.
And we have great hope in this, in three ways.
First, we find hope in Psalm 22. We’ve seen Christ walk through the trouble and agony of the cross only to wonderfully come into the triumph of the resurrection. All of that is here to see in Psalm 22, in bright vivid display.
Second, this then leads us to Psalm 23. Because Christ went through the trouble and triumph of Psalm 22, He now sitting at God’s right hand, is able to lead us His people as the Shepherd He truly is. So whatever is going on in our lives, the Lord is evermore our Shepherd who always leads us to green pastures.
Third, this then leads us to Psalm 24, and more praise of God. Knowing how Christ was the sufferer and victor of Psalm 22, knowing how Christ is the Shepherd of Psalm 23, leads us to ring out our praise with the words of Psalm 24, “Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory!”
Conclusion:
So Church, know this.[7] In an ancient, arid city, one event occurred that unleashed a movement so compelling, so enduring, so influential, so unstoppable that two thousand years and billions of adherents later, it still grows faster than ever, while the mighty empire that witnessed its birth lays in ruins. This movement has shaped nations, spanned oceans, birthed universities, launched hospitals, transformed tribal peoples in the world’s remotest places as well as urban peoples in the world’s most populated places. This event is now spoken of, read about, and sung out in more languages than any other religious movement on the planet by far. That singular event that changes everything is the moment when Jesus of Nazareth walked out of his tomb. So began the single most influential movement in history.
Some of you don’t believe this. I’m not unaware of you. Easter, like Christmas, is a time when many kinds of people come to church. Is that you? Did some of you just feel like it was the right thing to do to be here today? Or were you invited by a friend? If so, I’m glad you’re here. Ask yourselves: what do you think of the resurrection? Do you see it as a made up tale that a group of people manufactured to start a religion? Maybe you think the resurrection’s as fanciful a story as the Easter bunny? Whatever you think, think on the resurrection honestly, thoughtfully, and just try to answer one question: did Jesus really walk out of the tomb? The more you look at it, the more you’ll see the truth. That something astonishing really did happen that day, and that after every attempt to refute it or squash it, it is not the stuff of legends nor lies. It is historical objective fact witnessed firsthand by many.[8]
Coming to this conclusion prompts a new thought, ‘Since Jesus did walk out of the tomb, everything He said must be true, and since everything He said was true, He must be who He said He was, and since He is who He said He was, you must no longer continue in unbelief, you must believe.’
Ponder the angels’ words, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen” (Luke 24:5-6).
[1] Henry Vaughan’s Easter Hymn, quoted in R. Kent Hughes, The Pastor’s Book, page 120.
[2] Thomas Scott Angels, Roll the Rock Away, quoted in R. Kent Hughes, The Pastor’s Book, page 118-119.
[3] Kidd, 83.
[4] Van Harn and Strawn, 99.
[5] Johnston, 234.
[6] Kidd, 83.
[7] Jon Bloom, The Single Most Important Day in History, accessed via desiringgod.org, 4/31/18.
[8] I do believe this. Evidence abounds for the validity of the Resurrection, thus, our hope abounds as well.