Psalm Twenty-two - (A Meditation)

by Jarvis, A. G. | Category: General | Dec 1972

In prophetic reference to the Lord Jesus this psalm begins with the crisis moment, towards the end of the three hours of darkness, when He uttered the cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" When the Lord stood at the grave of His friend Lazarus, in the presence of death, "He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled" (John 11:33). But the Cross experience was far deeper and more terrible; nothing like this had happened before, nor will it ever happen again. When Abram prepared and offered the prescribed sacrifices necessary for the ratification of the covenant, "a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him" (Gen. 15:12). At this moment in the sufferings of our Lord upon the Cross - the greatest moment of all eternity - in the deepest and most awful sense "an horror of a great darkness fell upon Him" who is "the brightness of the eternal glory".

Since the advent of sin into this once fair and happy world, the forlorn cry "Why?" has often been heard. From myriads of despairing broken hearts the cry has risen only to be echoed back. Job in his desolation, when all seemed gone, cried "Why?" three times (Job 3:11,12). Jeremiah, too, exclaimed, "Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable?" (Jer. 15:18). But these records of physical pain, soul cast down, and brokenness of spirit, cannot be compared with the cry of utter loneliness that came from the heart of the stricken Man of Sorrows. For three hours the earth was darkened, but surely there can be no time-measure of the darkness that settled upon Him who was made sin for us. Even in ordinary human experiences there are times when moments seem like hours. But these experiences of our Lord, as expressed in that awful anguished cry, were unique; no human experience can be compared with them.

We find, in verse 3 of the psalm, the Lord's own answer to His cry, "Why?" - "but Thou art holy". He, too, was holy, sinless? pure, as even the demons confessed, "Thou are the Holy One of God". It was this consciousness of absolute sinlessness and essential holiness that made the realization of being made sin for us so fearful. The anticipation of it was the cause of the blood-like sweat in Gethsemane's midnight hour.

The words, "Why are Thou so far from helping Me?" (v.1) gather fresh meaning in the light of the words of Psalm 103:12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us". All this was foreshadowed on the day of atonement, when the scapegoat took "all the iniquities ... all their transgressions, even all their sins". Then, "the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a solitary land" (Lev. 16:21,22). This is but a shadow of the great event upon which we are seeking to meditate.

In verses 4 and 5 the psalmist recalls the goodness of the Lord to "our fathers" who "trusted in Thee". Thus far his spirit has been looking upward and backward, but in verses 6 to 13 he begins to look out on the scene around, typifying the thoughts of the Lord Jesus immediately preceding the darkness at Golgotha. He recalls the reproach, the derisive laugh of scorn - they shoot out the lip" - the shaking of the head, and then the bitter taunt, "Commit Thyself unto the LORD; let Him deliver Him".

Then turning from these bitter thoughts, He recalls how He had been made to trust when He was upon His mother's breasts. He considers the throng that surrounded Him, likening them to "strong bulls of Bashan". How fearful must that experience have been "They gape upon Me with their mouth". There He hung, looking for pity but finding none. How much His tender purity shrank from the coarse brutality of those staring men we shall never know.

Verses 14 to 21 speak mainly of the physical sufferings through which He passed: "All My bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels. My strength is dried up ... My tongue cleaveth to My jaws... They part My garments among them, and upon My vesture do they cast lots". Thus His mind went back to the earlier three hours, even back to the first event of that fearful ordeal when, "they pierced My hands and My feet". Then He cried, "Be not Thou far off, 0 LORD: 0 Thou My succour, haste Thee to help Me. Deliver My soul from the sword; ... save Me from the lion's mouth". Once more the light bursts forth as He says, "Yea, from the horns of the wild-oxen Thou hast answered Me".

Yes, when He offered up strong crying and tears, He was "heard for His godly fear. Though He was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered; and having been made perfect, He became unto all them that obey Him the Author of eternal salvation" (Heb. 5:7-9). How little do we or can we enter into "the things which He suffered"!

May we learn to ponder reverently and prayerfully the psalms of the Christ, telling of His sufferings and the glories which shall follow. He suffered with men in His lifetime; "He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows". He who came to bind up the broken-hearted must Himself know a broken heart, "Reproach hath broken My heart", He suffered for men on the Cross, bearing our sins "the righteous for the unrighteous that He might bring us to God".

From the "Holy, holy, holy", ever echoing on high,

Down to earth's blaspheming voices, and the shouts of "Crucify",

Once the Lord of brilliant seraphs,

Winged with love to do His will,

Now the scorn of all His creatures,

And the aim of every ill.

Who shall fathom that descending

From the rainbow-circled throne,

Down to earth's most base profaning,

Dying, desolate, alone?

Jarvis, A. G. | Dec 1972
General