April 9, 2003 Psalm 22:14-16
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.
In 520 B.C., King Darius learned that the temple at Jerusalem was not being built as the previous king had decreed nearly twenty years beforehand. Therefore, he ordered that this building continue, with an added incentive: Ezra 6:11 11 Furthermore, I decree that if anyone changes this edict, a beam is to be pulled from his house and he is to be lifted up and impaled on it. The Assyrians would take a man from his house in the middle of the night, remove a doorpost from the house, sharpen it, and plant it in the ground. Then they would throw the man on the pointed post so it would catch him under the rib cage. He would be left to hang until he died. This cruel act of impalement by the Assyrians seemed to be the precursor to what we now know as the crucifixion. History shows us that crucifixions were not practiced until the Persians came to power 330 years before Christ. Yet it was 1000 years before Christ was born, that David wrote this Psalm, which makes a direct reference to crucifixion. That’s what makes this verse of Psalm 22 so incredible, as in it we will see a direct prediction that -
Jesus Would Be Crucified
I. Melting his strength
Gold, copper, and steel are some of the strongest substances known on earth. Yet even these strong substances have what they call “melting” points. When exposed to extreme heat, they melt under the fire, becoming malleable substances that can be shaped the way you want it. You might compare steel to a man’s courage. Some men have great courage to face the worst of problems - kind of like Job. But every man has his breaking point. Maybe you’ve faced it - after several nights of the flu, or several financial disasters, or the continuous cry of a child. We all have points where our courage or strength turns from solid steel to liquid metal.
This Psalm of David vividly describes that breaking point that Jesus had to go through. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. Water has different stages - it can be as hard as ice, as thin as steam, and as runny as water. When it is in the form of water, it has no real substance to it. If someone throws a bucket of water at you, it will just run off. You can be traveling thirty miles an hour on waterskis and fall in the water, and you won’t get hurt most of the time, because the water is soft - malleable. The same goes with wax - at times it is very strong. But when you burn it, it can melt, becoming as soft and pliable as can be.
David used these visual aids to predict what would happen to Jesus’ heart - his strength. Slowly but surely, it would melt away within him. How would this happen? If you just take a quick review of the night Jesus was betrayed, you can see how this happened.
Matthew 26:38-43 Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me." 39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." 40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. 41 "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." 42 He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." 43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy.
His disciples were already worn out at this point - late at night after they had taken the Lord’s Supper - so worn out that they couldn’t stay awake, no matter how hard they tried. Jesus was already so mentally worn out that he sweat blood. But this was only the beginning of Jesus’ night. After this, Jesus was arrested and taken to Annas. (Annas used to be the high priest and then appointed Caiaphas his son in law to take over.) The reason for this meeting seemed to be just to pass time until the Sanhedrin members could be summoned from their homes during the Passover to come to the high-priestly palace. After this waste of time, Annas then sent Jesus to Caiaphas - before the chief priests, elders and scribes. Once again, they tried to find a valid reason to sentence Jesus to death. So Jesus had to sit there and wait while many false witnesses tried to come up with some evidence against Jesus. But none of their stories corroborated. Finally, Caiaphas stepped forward and just asked Jesus if he was the Son of God. Finally, they had something to convict Jesus on, or so they thought. As a result they covered Jesus’ face with a cloth, spat on him, and hit him.
Matthew 27:1 says, 1 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. So Jesus had spent the whole night in trials, which culminated in the physical abuse of his accusers. But His trials weren’t done yet. Early in the morning, the council then proceeded to send Jesus to Pilate for trial, because they didn’t have the power to put Jesus to death. So then, once again, Jesus had to sit and wait as the Jews accused him of being a rebel against the state and that he had claimed to be an earthly king. Pilate pulled Jesus aside privately, and found out that Jesus was claiming to be a spiritual king not an earthly one. Therefore, Pilate went outside, declaring that Jesus was innocent. But the Jews still were calling for his head. At this point, technically, Pilate should have let Jesus go. But the people became more agitated at this judgment. So Pilate sent Jesus to Herod Antipas, who happened to be in Jerusalem at the Hasmonean Palace, about four blocks from the praetorium - for his advice. Once again, Jesus spent the morning being questioned then by Herod, without giving answer to any accusations. Since Herod didn’t know what to do, his bodyguards mocked Jesus and then sent him BACK to Pilate. At this point, Pilate met again with the council, telling them that he had no basis for Jesus to be punished. It was the time of year to release one prisoner, according to tradition. He thought this would be a way out of the situation - hoping that the people would ask for Jesus instead of Barabbas. Pilate then had Jesus flogged - in hopes to evoke some sympathy from the crowd. Instead, they were incited all the more. Instead of asking for Jesus, they asked for Barabbas. After this, Pilate had Jesus led into the fortress to be beaten by the soldiers, who also mocked and made sport of him. Finally, after a total of five trials before Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate, Herod, and Pilate, Jesus was handed over to be crucified.
Some of you may remember the effect that the continuous questioning had on President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. By the end of the day, they looked like they were completely worn out. What Jesus went through was much worse. Not only did he go through questioning, but also physical abuse - all night. By this point he must have been exhausted. It is no wonder that he could not carry the 100 pound cross bar of the cross all the way to Golgotha. You could see why his strength would be melting.
Now it was time for Jesus to fulfill the worst prediction of Psalm 22. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. Here we have a direct prediction as to what would happen to Jesus. At least 700 years prior to the crucifixion, David predicted that Jesus would be crucified. We cannot imagine the extreme pain and anguish that Jesus must have faced on the cross. I read an interesting commentary on the crucifixion by a Professor Erich Kiehl of Concordia Seminary who did a study on the crucifixion. Take it for what it’s worth -
A person was usually scourged first. The scourge had a short handle and several long leather thongs, which were either single or braided together. Small metal balls or sharp pieces of one were attached to the end of these thongs. The person being flogged was stripped of his clothing, tied to an upright post, and beaten on his back, buttocks, and legs. It cut into the muscles and tore ribbons of flesh loose. The extreme pain and loss of blood could cause the victim to go into shock. Severe flogging could result in an early death on the cross.
Carrying the heavy crossbeam afterward involved much pain. After arriving, an iron spike was driven through the middle part of each wrist between the carpal bones. The loss of blood was moderate since the spike did not penetrate a major artery. However the trunk of the median nerve was seriously injured in the process; the result was great pain.
They then raised the victim from the ground and securely fastened the crossbeam to the upright. This in itself entailed incredible anguish. The feet were then nailed to the upright, one on top of the other, through the metatarsus. Injury to the nerves in this area caused intense pain.
Crucifixion also seriously interfered with the breathing process. Because of the weight of the body and muscular contractions caused by the arms being nailed to the cross, air inhaled into the lungs could not be properly exhaled. The victim soon learned that he could exhale by using his feet to push his body up and by flexing his elbows and shoulders. But this would result in muscle cramps and searing pain in the wrists and feet. Each effort to inhale and to exhale caused agony and increasing weariness. The victim would be soaked with perspiration and experience great thirst. The pain and shock often led to mental impairment. The two main causes of death were shock and suffocation, both of which brought on asphyxia - too little oxygen and too much carbon dioxide in the blood.
Imagine Jesus having to go through this after a night’s worth of beatings and lack of sleep. This is why the Psalmist predicted, My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; Like fragile pottery that absorbs water that evaporates quickly, Jesus’ strength had been taken to the limit. His wounds had given him a thirst that made him cry out “I thirst.”
This is what happened the day that we honor every year called “Good Friday.” There isn’t much good about it, is there? Jesus went through an excruciating punishment from men and an even more excruciating punishment from God. He suffered in a way that none of us could even imagine. But the humiliation wasn’t done.
II. Taking his life
Finally, the suffering was too great, as Jesus breathed His last on the cross saying, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” This once again fulfilled Psalm 22. You lay me in the dust of death. David was predicting that Jesus would face the same fate - the dust of death - that sinful human beings would have to face - as God told Adam in Genesis 3:19 - for dust you are and to dust you will return. It was bad enough that Jesus would have to go through the embarrassment of being crucified with some criminals half naked on the cross, but now His body would even have to lay in a grave as a dead corpse.
Whose fault was this? David says, “YOU lay me in the dust of death.” Who is Jesus referring to? None other than God Himself - the same God who had forsaken him on the cross. Some would like to blame the Jews for what happened to Jesus - they even said, “let his blood be on us.” But we understand that God was using their hatred to condemn Jesus to death. For Peter told the Jews at Pentecost, Acts 3:17-18 17 "Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer.” God was in control of the whole thing - the trials before Herod, Caiaphas, and Pilate - the method of Jesus’ death - He controlled everything. Even Jesus’ burial was under God’s control. It was predicted hundreds of years before it ever happened. Isaiah 53:9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Why would God do this? Isaiah 53 tells us why: But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. On the cross, Jesus became the object of God’s wrath and the instrument to our good relationship with God. When Jesus was crucified, in God’s eyes, He was really crucifying us. When Jesus was buried, in His eyes, our sinful natures were buried. (Romans 6) He wasn’t trying to do away with Jesus - He was trying to do away with our sin. So really, it was our fault that Jesus had to go through this.
So why do we call the fulfillment of these predictions “Good Friday”? This prediction assures us that we no longer have to face the wrath of God. When we or a loved one have to go through the pain of death, we know that this is not a result of God’s wrath over their sin. God’s wrath has already been placed on Jesus on the cross and left in the grave. That’s the only reason that we can call this next Friday so “Good.”
Many people today tune in to the so called Psychic Hotlines to try and find out their futures. And usually they will be told vague things about the good future they have ahead of them. Imagine how people would react if their palm readers would tell them, “you’re going to die a terrible and painful death in two days!” Nobody would ever go back to them. Jesus predicted His own future in today’s text - and it wasn’t a cheery one. He would be crucified and put to death. Yet Jesus didn’t run away from His future. He faced in head on, and went to the cross. Because Jesus faced His future, we can also future. It’s much brighter. Jesus tells us our future in John 11:25 He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; What a future Jesus has given us through his suffering and death on the cross! Amen.
