Psalm 22:6-21 - Despised and Rejected by Men

“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!" David is writing this Psalm and he is personally crying out to the Lord for help in a very desperate time in his life. But at the same time, we can’t help but see that much of what David is saying and praying for could not be actually happening to him personally. David is describing Someone dying by crucifixion. In David’s day the punishment of death was carried out by stoning. Crucifixion was something that the Romans devised almost a thousand years later to publicly and torturously put a criminal to death. David prophetically is seeing the details of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. “But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.” These words especially apply to our Savior. "I am a worm and not a man" is a forgotten "I am" statement that speaks of how little value the leaders of Israel and the Roman officials placed on Jesus of Nazareth. A worm is a creature of the ground, helpless, frail, and unwanted. Isaiah predicted that Messiah would be terribly disfigured by His enemies and not even look human. “Just as many were astonished at you, So His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men” (Isaiah 52:14). “I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6). Even before Jesus crucifixion, He was so terribly beaten in the face with fists and rods, and His body with 40 lashes of a Roman whip, that you could not tell He was human. Isaiah also predicted that Messiah would be a reproach, despised and rejected by men. “He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him” (Isaiah 53:2-3). This is exactly what happened to our Savior that day as He was crucified. David went on to write: “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!"  Matthew’s Gospel tells us: “And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified…And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross." Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.' " Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.” (Matthew 27:28-44) My friend, Jesus willingly took this rejection, abuse, and reproach, for you and me! We should be willing to bear the same for His name’s sake today! God bless!