Trilogy Psalms (22.23.24) Psalm 22 – The Depths Behind Calvary – The Suffering Servant – What Calvary Meant To Jesus Christ Series

TRILOGY PSALMS (22.23.24) PSALM 22 – THE DEPTHS BEHIND CALVARY – THE SUFFERING SERVANT – WHAT CALVARY MEANT TO JESUS CHRIST

A Bible Study in Three Psalms – the Trilogy Psalms 22, 23, 24. Today we do only one of those – Psalm 22

INTRODUCTION - THE PSALM TRILOGY

Psalms 22, 23, and 24 are beautifully connected. They must be considered together but I am separating them to deal with each one separately to share what I get from them of comfort to me. These three Psalms outline the great treasures for Israel, spiritual treasures they do not cur-rently realise. They set forth the Good Shepherd but only because He redeemed the nation through His suffering at Calvary. Then we have the Shepherd of Israel in His full ministry. Lastly we have the King of Glory who will return at the Second Coming to reign forever. Thus we have Redeemer, Shepherd and Glorious King. With that introduction we now look at the first Psalm of the trilogy, Psalm 22.

PSALM 22 THE SUFFERING MESSIAH

This Psalm written 1000 BC is called a Messianic Psalm, which means that it is prophetic about the Lord Jesus Christ, or contains something directly about the Lord. There are 18 or more of these in the book of Psalms and all three of the Trilogy, here fall into that category. God does great wonders we often don’t ever realise, but when His word sheds light on something it can be a great joy. We would not have realised that Psalm 22 is a Messianic Psalm unless we knew the New Testament because it reveals this Psalm and lays it open.

On face value the Psalm outlines the experiences of David who underwent a terrible trial, possi-bly when under great threat of death from his enemies. However the language of the Psalm ex-tends beyond David as we can see the application to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Psalm is a prayer (possibly thoughts also) of the Lord while hanging on the cross. Different experiences are set be-fore us and much of them we can identify with our dear Lord Jesus, and some of this fits into the 3 hours of darkness when our sins were laid on the Lamb of God. It does not mean that every-thing in the psalm directly applied to the Lord but it is the strongest suffering psalm in the whole book.

There is a biblical principle of double fulfillment. I will give one brief example. In the Old Testa-ment there is a verse that says, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” That verse is speaking about the time when God called Israel out of Egypt’s bondage. However when the infant Lord was tak-en to Egypt by Joseph and Mary, then they returned, the same verse was applied to them. That is the double application. There are a lot of examples of that. What may have been partially true for David in Psalm 22 was fulfilled in Christ.

It is interesting that the Gospels in the New Testament provide the facts of pre and post Calvary but not one of them delves into the heart of Jesus throughout that time, especially the emotion-al trauma and deep spiritual suffering. The Old Testament does that in three key passages which are Psalm 22, Psalm 69 and Isaiah 52/53.

We shall now examine the Psalm. When studying a passage of Scripture it is important to con-sider how that passage fits into the context. We must look for the connection with what sur-rounds the passage. That is especially important in most books of the Bible but in the Psalms, each psalm is separate and the context rule is more relaxed. However when we examine this Psalm 22 passage, we are looking for how the Psalm fits into events of the time; what are the key happenings; who is being spoken of; what key promises can we claim; and what applications can be made to us? It is very important too, to notice the divisions. I am going to suggest to you a division for Psalm 22 and we will look at the verses as we go.

[[Verses 1 – 5. Among the points we have – personal emotions; spiritual truths; appeal to histo-ry. Most important you notice the language and the intensity.]]

VERSES 1-5

Verse 1 immediately sets this Psalm as a Messianic Psalm because it is applied to the Lord in the New Testament. It was His cry from the cross. At that point in the sufferings of the Saviour there had been a break in the fellowship between Father and Son, the one and only time that was to be. There are some who say the Father turned His face away but I don’t know if we can ever speculate that. What we know is that the Lord was abandoned to the cross, and while on the cross He groaned and knew deliverance was not going to be the case. He asked for deliver-ance at Gethsemane but committed Himself to the Father’s will.