A Crucifixion Described: Psalm 22

If you know the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion of Christ, especially as found in Matthew, a number of verses from Psalm 22 will sound strikingly familiar. The very first verse--"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"--was quoted by Jesus as he hung on the cross (Matt. 27:46). Verses 7 and 8 foreshadow the taunting by the chief priests and others (Matt. 27:39 ff.). Obviously these are unmistakable prophetic words.

There are others: the description of the soldiers gambling for Christ's clothing in verse 18 (see Matt. 27:35), and even the imagery in verses 14 and 15, which could easily apply to a thirsty Jesus hanging in agony with his weakened shoulders dislocated from bearing his weight--all these details bring to mind the picture of Christ in the six hours on that day we call Good Friday. What is amazing is that the psalm was written in about 1000 B.C., hundreds of years before the Romans would invent crucifixion!

Referring to this psalm, the ESV Study Bible has this to say:

(I)n view of its prominent place in the crucifixion story, Christian readers have found in it a description of the sufferings of Jesus. Many Christians have taken it as a straight prediction of Jesus' sufferings, as if the primary function of the psalm was to foretell the work of the Savior; others have read it as a lament in its OT context, with a "fuller meaning" revealed by Jesus' use of it. It is better to see the psalm as providing a lament for the innocent sufferer, and then to see how all the Gospels use this to portray Jesus as the innocent sufferer par excellence.

Regardless of how we approach the question of interpretation, the point is that there is something going on here that mere "coincidence" cannot explain. As believers in Christ, we can take from this a few things:

1. The Word of God is utterly dependable. It spoke prophetically of the crucifixion a millennium before God the Son would assume a physical body and undergo the agony of the cross. Therefore, it is just as dependable when it comes to prophetic words that have yet to be realized. The description of the return of the Lord in 1 Thessalonians 4 would be but one example. Jesus Christ is coming again.

2. When we suffer, we can know that God is "in it" for our good. He was most certainly in the sufferings of Jesus, and he is in our sufferings as well. He intends to work in them for our good.

3. Christ died for us as our Older Brother. There is another statement that is quoted, not in the Gospels, but in Hebrews. Psalm 22:22 ("I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.") appears in Hebrews 2:12, and that quotation comes on the heels of these words: "That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers." So we can know that Christ's becoming our older brother was never far from his mind, even as he hung dying for us. Understanding that, we can rejoice in the exclamation of verse 26: "May your hearts live forever!"

by Tim Bowditch