From Bethlehem To Golgotha: A Christmas Story In The Psalms Series

To prepare our hearts and minds for Christmas, we are tracing the Old Testament predictions of the Messiah. These are often called the Messiah predictions. I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 22.

Today, we continue a series entitled The Essence of Christmas, which just happens to be the title of a small book I wrote earlier this year.

We are giving it away to guests, so please swing by to see me after this service.

After church, yes, I would love to meet with our first-time guests in the hallway, where I have a small gift for you. So, please take a moment to come by to say hello.Today’s Scripture

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

All who see me mock me;

they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;

“He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him;

let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

my strength is dried up like a potsherd,

and my tongue sticks to my jaws;

you lay me in the dust of death.

For dogs encompass me;

a company of evildoers encircles me;

they have pierced my hands and feet—

they divide my garments among them,

and for my clothing they cast lots.

I will tell of your name to my brothers;

in the midst of the congregation I will praise you” (Psalm 22:1, 7-8, 15-16, 18, 22).

Christmas may sneak up on you. Even the first Christmas surprised many people. But God has been preparing for Christmas for a long, long time. God had been getting His people ready for the first Christmas.

Psalm 22 is a Messianic Psalm. The early believers returned to this psalm to confirm their suspicion that Jesus was indeed the Christ. Experts point to 300 references to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and, yes, His birth is even predicted in the Old Testament.

Two Horizons

Psalm 22 has two horizons. On the first horizon, you’ll quickly see it refers to King David, who wrote the psalm around 3,000 years ago.

The first 18 verses depict a plight so dire (Psalm 22:1–13) that the psalmist despairs of life itself (Psalm 22:14–15). Then you have an unidentified group of enemies has surrounded him and attacked him (Psalm 22:16–18).1 Truth be told: we know of no time in the life of David that even comes close to the events described here. If David wrote Psalm 22 about his experiences, the language of the psalm is probably poetic in places.2

But the second horizon for Psalm 22 is the life of Jesus. Psalm 22 is quoted 13 times in the New Testament. But, the highest concentration is around Jesus’ death and His suffering where Psalm 22 is quoted 9 times alone.

Psalm 22 has been referred to as the Old Testament Calvary. It’s a psalm that was written around 1,000 years before Jesus. But it sounds as if it was written at the foot of the cross.

The psalm has a rich history. African churches sang Psalm 22 during the celebration of Easter in the late 300s.3 This psalm is associated more with Easter than Christmas.

Maybe you’ll think I’m like the man who was asked to play the bagpipes for a graveside service in the backwoods of Texas for a pauper’s cemetery. The man wasn’t familiar with the backwoods, so he got lost; and being a typical man he didn’t stop for directions. He finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guys had evidently gone, and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew remaining, and they were eating lunch. He felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. He went to the side of the grave and looked down to see that the vault lid was already in place. Not knowing what else to do, He started to play. The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. He played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. He played like He’d never played before for this homeless man. As He played “Amazing Grace,” several workers began to weep.

When he finished, he packed up his bagpipes and started for his car when he finished. As he opened the door to my car, he heard one of the workers say, “Good Lord, have mercy. I’ve never seen anything like that before, and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for 30 years.”4 Yes, I know it’s Christmas. But Christmas won’t mean that much without Easter.

Over the next few moments, follow Jesus on His journey from the cradle of Bethlehem to the cross of Golgotha. I want to use three words to guide us this morning. You can think of these three as pictures.