Scenes of the Cross - Psalm 22

Since Jesus cited Psalm 22 in the final moments before “it is finished”, I think we should pay particular attention that that text.   When you read through Psalm 22, you’ll find Scenes of the Cross, written centuries before by King David. 

Spiritual agony of the Cross

“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” - Psalm 22:1

This is the direct quote of Psalm 22 that Jesus makes from the cross as recorded by Mark 15:34 and Matthew 27:46.  Jesus begins “My God”, showing His obedience and divine relationship to the Father remain intact.  Yet in crying out the agony of being forsaken, we see the crushing weight of sin upon the Son of God.  Jesus willingly experienced the separation from God the Father that our sin deserves. 

Both Gospel accounts record Jesus speaking these words in Aramaic.  This was the language most familiar to Him and understood by the watching crowd. In extreme distress, Jesus used the language of His everyday life to voice the words of the Psalm from the depths of His suffering.

Emotional agony of the Cross

All who see me mock me;…“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him!” - Psalm 22:7-8

Beyond the spiritual agony, Jesus also bore the reality of a public and humiliating execution.  King David wrote those words in Psalm 22, and then the crowds on Good Friday made these comments:

“Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!”

“He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” - Mark 15:29-32

This is one of those places that is so on-the-nose, it would strain my intellect to call it a coincidence.  This is divine prophecy.  David prophesied not just mockery, but specific mockery of the Messiah’s trust in the Lord for deliverance.  Yet there Christ hung, and there He remained.  Not incapable of action, but in obedience to the Father. 

Physical Agony of the Cross

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; they have pierced by hands and feet - Psalm 22:14-17

There is a chapter in Lee Strobel’s seminal work, “The Case for Christ” that medically describes what happened to a human body during a crucifixion.  It was awful in ways we cannot imagine and in ways King David would not have understood from the perspective of western medicine.   Yet, Psalm 22 gets it right.

They have pierced my hands and feet (v16)

Again, this is so on-the-nose.  David writing about pierced hand and feet a thousand years before Christ, shows that this has been God’s plan now fulfilled in Christ Jesus.

Strobel compares the pain of nails going through hand and feet with bumping your funny bone.  We’ve all done that and experienced that tingling pain.  Strobel said, “now imagine gripping that nerve with needle-nose pliers and twisting until it snaps”.  That was the experience of nails being driven through the extremities of Jesus’s hands and feet. 

Poured out like water, heart like wax.  (v14)

The death of crucifixion was a very slow suffocation.  As breathing became more difficult, there would have been a build-up of watery fluid around Christ’s heart and an irregular heartbeat.  The gospel of John records blood and water pouring out from the spear-thrust of the Roman guard into the side of Jesus. 

Bones are out of joint (v14)

Whether in the moment of being forcibly nailed to the cross-beam, or later as fatigue set-in, it is quite likely that the shoulders of Christ would have slipped out of socket as they bore the weight of his body pulling up in an attempt to breathe. 

My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws (v15)

John 19 records Jesus saying that He is thirsty.   A nasty mixture of liquid on a sponge is offered to him.  Dried up strength, and sticky tongue shows dehydration and thirst. 

A company of evildoers encircles me (v16)

Jesus was flanked on either side by condemned criminals, with the Roman officials, and Jewish leaders watching on.   Surrounded by those who wished evil against Him. 

Details of the Cross

They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots (v18)

This is such a specific scenario.  Not only what happens to clothes but how they get distributed.  Yet here it is at the crucifixion in Mart 15:24.  Roman executioners dividing up Jesus’ clothes and rolling dice to see who gets what.   Not only does this fulfill prophecy it adds to the humiliation of the Cross.  If Jesus’ clothes were being divided up, then He was hanging naked, exposed, deserted. 

Hope of the Cross

But the Cross is not the end.  Sunday is coming.  A grave will be empty.   Psalm 22 ends by declaring victory. 

He has done it. (v31)

The “He has done it” that concludes this Psalm echoes in Christ’s words of “It is finished”.   Sin is atoned for.  Sin no longer reigns but Christ reigns in victory. 

The hope of the cross is not merely in prophetic parallels—it is in the eternal plan of redemption God established from the beginning. He revealed this plan through the prophets and brought it to fulfillment in Christ. The cross was not God’s last-ditch effort, but His eternal path of salvation.

So we can confidently say that Christ died and rose again according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15), and in Him we have eternal life.

-John Day, Worship Pastor