Foreshadowings #4 - Psalm 22

Scriptures Psalm 22, John 19:24 God provides remarkable glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament.  Psalm 22 speaks to our hearts – when we feel abandoned by God. Psalm 22 speaks to our minds – foretelling the suffering of Jesus 1,000 years beforehand. Psalm 22 is all about Jesus' suffering but also about His triumph. What happened to Jesus at His crucifixion is the fulfillment of prophesy. Jesus fulfilled all that was written about the Messiah in the Old Testament. John, an eyewitness, the only one of the apostles who was there when Jesus was crucified, witnessed His cry from the cross, witness the agony Jesus suffered. The very things that that we read in Psalm 22 are witness by John and we read that in John 19. Take a look at John 19:24, "'Let's not tear it,' they said to one another. 'Let's decide by lot who will get it.' Now look at Psalm 22:18 which was written 1000 years earlier, "'They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.'" This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled. Psalm 22 is a remarkable word, prophetic words, and they truly do foreshadow Jesus' suffering. But the good news is they don't just foreshadow His suffering they also foreshadow His triumph. Listen to the way this Psalm ends. Psalm 22:24, speaking of this One who has cried out, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?", speaking of this anguished sufferer who says that a company of evildoers have surrounded him, that they have pierced His hands and His feet, speaking of this One of whom it is said, "They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.", it says of this despised sufferer, "He has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one." In other words, God has not despised Jesus. He has not hidden His face from Jesus, but has listened to His cry for help. Verse 25, "From you comes the theme of My praise in the great assembly; before those who fear You I will fulfill my vows." Then, verse 27, "All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD, and He rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him – those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve Him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim His righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn; He has done it!"  A quote from Dr. Michael Brown, "In Psalm 22, we see God answering the cry of the anguished sufferer with a deliverance so extraordinary that it results in 3 things:     1.    Worldwide praise and adoration     2.    The testimony of God's saving power     3.    Turning of gentile nations to God" Looking at these words from Psalm 22, anyone with an open mind who knows anything about the Lord Jesus would just naturally say, "Wow! This seems to be talking about Him." Over the years I've had the opportunity to share these words with other people, people who had no idea where they came from, uniformly the response from Gentile and Jew alike has been, "Oh my, those words are talking about Jesus, aren't they?" Then people are astonished when they find that they came from the Old Testament and they were written 1000 years earlier. This is a remarkable foreshadowing and it is not simply an object of academic interest.  This has profound impact for you and for me, because it simply means that all along God has known what has laid ahead. It  means all along He was planning for the Messiah to suffer as He did on that cross, bearing in His own body the penalty for us all. It means that God knows how desperately you and I need forgiveness, that only a perfect sacrifice can bring. It means that without Jesus we have nothing, but that with Him we have everything. What a foreshadowing, what a Savior, and what a powerful word from God. Psalm 22 shows us the measure of God's love and that is powerful! Jesus desperately wants you to know Him, and He invites you to receive Him by faith and to experience the joy of His presence and the Power of His Holy Spirit. Watch the video from our website https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE. Watch via our app. Text HELLO to 888-364-4483 to download our app. We invite you to join us for our Sunday service every Sunday at 9:30am CT (live or on demand) here: https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service