Psalm 22:22-25 - From Suffering to Glory

The first 21 verses of Psalm 22 give us a powerful prophecy of the Good Shepherd suffering for the sheep! In those verses we can clearly see the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual suffering of Jesus as He hung on the cross, and during the last three hours of darkness He experience His own Father forsaking Him as the wrath of God was poured out on Him for our sins!   The suffering and death of Christ on the cross was as much for God as it was for us!  God is a righteous, just, and holy God and could never forgive us of our sins simply because He loves us!  There had to be a punishment, a judgment for our sins that God could accept. And the only acceptable substitute and sacrifice was the Perfect, unblemished Passover Lamb of God, Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19).  Jesus “Himself became the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2).  Propitiation means “in the place of”.  Jesus satisfied the wrath of God, in our place for our sins, and God’s righteousness was satisfied. Now in Psalm 22:22-31, we move from suffering to glory, from prayer to praise (vv. 22, 23, 25, 26). In verses 1-21, Jesus "endured the cross," but now He enters into "the joy that was set before him" (Heb. 12:2). He had prayed to be delivered out of death and that prayer was answered. “Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:7-9). Jesus sang a Passover hymn before He went to the cross (Matt. 26:30; Mark 14:26), and according to Hebrews 2:12, the risen Christ praised God in the midst of His people after His resurrection (see Matt. 18:20). We should note that in His song, our Lord deals with the expanding outreach to both Jews and Gentiles through the atoning work He finished on the cross. According to Hebrews 2:9-18, it was Jesus who sang praise to God before the great assembly (vv. 22-25). For years as a part of my morning devotions I quoted these verses from Hebrews 2:9-18 to begin my prayer time. I trust you will read them and be as blessed by them as I have over the years! “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: "I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You." And again: "I will put My trust in Him." And again: "Here am I and the children whom God has given Me." 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. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.” God bless!