July 24 2025

Thursday July 24

The Psalm of the Cross

Luke 23 & Psalm 22

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Welcome to Pastor's Chat today. Before we complete our chats in Luke 23 and move on to Luke 24 and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I felt impressed this morning by the Holy Spirit to take some time to go back to an Old Testament passage, Psalm 22, and talk about the suffering of Christ on the cross. As we looked in Luke 23, we saw the trial of Christ before Pilate and before Herod. We saw and heard the crowds mocking Jesus Christ during the first three hours His crucifixion in the morning light from 9:00am to 12:00. Then from 12:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon there was the power of the three hours of darkness as Christ hung on the cross, And that's where Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Then shouted, “It is finished" and prayed His last prayer on the cross, “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit”.

Now let’s go back to Psalm chapter 22 which has been called by many as “The Psalm of the Cross”. There are two passages I really want to encourage you to take time over the next few days to look at, and that's Psalm 22 and also Isaiah 53. Both of these are Messianic passages that prophecy and tell us about the sufferings of Christ. Psalm 22 was written by David 1,000 years before the crucifixion of Christ. The Bible calls him both a king and a prophet (Acts 2:30). And here he looked ahead one-thousand years and clearly saw the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross.

David begins the psalm with these words, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Jesus quoted these very words on the cross (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). As you read through this psalm, you find that many verses are directly related to the cross of Jesus Christ. In verses 6 through 8, Jesus on the cross experienced this: "But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me. They shoot out the lip. They shake the head, saying He trusted in the Lord. Let Him rescue Him. Let Him deliver Him since He delights in Him." This is fulfilled in Matthew 27:39-44 and what we just studied in Luke 23.

Psalm 22:16, "They pierced My hands and My feet." This was fulfilled in Matthew 27:35 when they nailed Him to the cross and pierced both His hands and His feet. Remember later in John 20:20-27, Jesus would say to Thomas, "Touch and see the scars in My hand and My side”. John 19:23 records the fulfilment of Psalm 22:17, "They divided My garments among them and for My clothing they cast lots."

I believe Psalm 22:12-18, describes the mental and spiritual sufferings of Christ during the three hours of darkness as the devil and the demons of hell attempted to destroy Him and God turned His back on His Son. David wrote, "Many bulls have surrounded Me. The strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. They gape upon Me with their mouths like a raging and a roaring lion. I'm poured out like water. All My bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within Me." When you understand what took place in the crucifixion, literally the bones of Christ, when they put that cross into the ground with a thud and He's hanging there, it's like it put all His bones out of joint. His heart is poured out like wax as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.

And He says in verse 16, "For dogs have surrounded Me. The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierce My hands and My feet. I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me." Jesus was flogged before the cross. And literally His bones actually could be seen as He was hanging on the cross. In verse 18 we read: "They divided My garments among them and for My clothing they cast lots."  Jesus hung naked on the cross in shame and suffering.

Oh, my friend, some believe that Jesus possibly quoted this entire psalm on the cross at some time when He cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Yes, we see both the darkness of the cross and the glory of the cross, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. I also encourage you to read Hebrews 2:9-18. It begins with: "But we see Jesus who is made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death." Psalm 22 is quoted in Hebrews 2:12.

Hebrews 2:14-15 describes the purpose of Christ death and suffering: “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

Today we should be so thankful for a Savior who suffered so much for you and I that we could be set free from the guilt and the penalty of our sins. Please meditate on these things.

God bless!