In this article
I would like first to link Psalms 22, 23, and 24 together and show the
connection that they have with each other, and then present some more detailed
thoughts on the first and last of these Psalms.
In the New
Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of as “the Good Shepherd” (John
10:11), “the Great Shepherd” (Heb. 13:20), and “the Chief Shepherd” (1 Pet.
5:4). Also, in Hebrews 9, three lines of truth—past, present, and future—
relating to Him in these aspects are unfolded. In verse 26, we read:“Once in
the end of the [age] has He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself”; this corresponds to Psalm 22, the past work of Christ “the Good
Shepherd” who gave His life for the sheep. In verse 24, Christ is presented as
having “entered … into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of
God for us”; this is the truth of Psalm 23, the present work of Christ
“the Great Shepherd of the sheep.” In verse 28, we read:“Unto those who
look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto
salvation”; this is Psalm 24, the future work of Christ “the Chief
Shepherd” who will yet come in glory.
We also may see
in these three Psalms The Cross, The Crook, and The Crown,
setting forth the symbols of the past, present, and future work
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Shepherd of the sheep and lambs of His flock. The
Cross shows His love unfolded in His sufferings to make propitiation for
our sins (Psalm 22). The Crook suggests His grace that flows out in the
loving, faithful care and ministry He carries on now (Psalm 23). The Crown
symbolizes the glory that He will yet reveal in His kingdom on earth (Psalm
24).
Psalm 22, The Cross
This Psalm is
divided into two sections. The first, verses 1-21, depicts the sufferings unto
death that Christ endured as the Sin-bearer. He suffered alone in an
agony of soul that the human mind can never fathom. The second section, verses
22-31, tells of His associating others with Him in His resurrection in the
victory He won by His death.
The most casual
reader will immediately identify this Psalm as being one of the several
referred to as Messianic; that is, it projects the Messiah of Israel in His
sufferings and coming glory. The very first words, “My God, My God, why hast
Thou forsaken Me?” were uttered by our Lord Jesus on the cross 1,000 years
after they were written by the Spirit of God through David. How marvelous to
see prophecy so accurately fulfilled as “holy men of God spoke as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21)!
Section I (Verses 1-21)
The Holy
Sufferer cries out, “Why?” as His God turns His back upon Him. In the daytime
and in the night seasons the words of His roaring are constantly uttered, but
there is no response—no help coming to Him (verses 1,2). He then answers His
own question as to why this is. He says, “But Thou art holy, O Thou who
inhabits the praises of Israel” (verse 3). The holiness of His God would not
permit Him to look upon sin, even upon His beloved Son who on the cross was
made sin, or a sin offering, to be consumed by the righteous judgment of God.
The answer to the Sufferer’s “Why?” in respect to ourselves is simply, “He was
forsaken that we might be accepted.” What grace is thus displayed to sinners in
perfect accord with divine righteousness in the work of this unique Sufferer!
He continues in
verses 4 and 5 to speak of the fact that the fathers in Israel in times past
cried unto God and were delivered; they trusted and were not confounded.
However, as for Himself, He says, “I am a worm and no man; a reproach of men
and despised of the people” (verse 6). The depth of humiliation into which He
entered is indicated here. The worm referred to is the cochineal, that insect
which was used to make the scarlet dye for the garments of the high priest and
for the curtains of the tabernacle. How graphically it depicts the sufferings
of Christ! As the worm was crushed and the dye extracted, so Christ was crushed
beneath the rod of God’s judgment against sin, and the blood which He shed is
that which has provided the beautiful garment of salvation to make the sinner
fit for God’s presence.
Another
prophecy concerning Calvary is seen in verse 8:“He trusted on the LORD that He
would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him.” The elders
and scribes reviled Him in this way on the cross, saying, “He trusted in God;
let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him; for He said, I am the Son of God”
(Matt. 27:43). However, the Holy Sufferer seeks refuge in the fact that from
the time of His birth He was the object of His Father’s care, and God was His
hope when He was upon His mother’s breasts. “Thou art My God from My mother’s
belly,” He says. “Be not far from Me; for trouble is near; for there is none to
help,” He pleads (verses 10,11). Surely such trust would not be unrewarded, but
before He is answered, His work of suffering for sin must be completed.
He then turns
to speak of those who beset Him round and gaped upon Him with their mouths open
like a roaring lion (verses 12,13). This no doubt symbolized the same high
priest, scribes, and elders who gloated over their innocent Victim and
repeatedly, hatefully cried out for Pilate to “crucify Him!”
Then, too, the
physical sufferings of the cross are further indicated in verses 13-17. Hanging
upon the cross, His bones were out of joint, His heart was melted, His strength
was dried up, His tongue stuck to His jaws for lack of water. All His bones could
be counted as they were gruesomely projected (a similar prophetic picture is
found in Isa. 52:14).
His suffering
at the hands of the “dogs”—the term used for the Gentiles—is spoken of in verse
16. It is said of them, “They pierced My hands and My feet.” This is a
remarkable prophecy concerning the manner of His death. Totally unknown to the
Jews, who punished by stoning to death, was death by crucifixion, practiced by
the Romans, and here prophesied by the Psalmist. But the Romans at the time of
this writing were not even thought of at all as an existing people, much less
as a powerful empire. What a testimony this is to the inspiration and
infallibility of the Old Testament Scriptures!
Verse 15 shows
that it was God who brought the Holy Victim “into the dust of death.”
According to God’s eternal counsel His beloved Son should suffer for sins. He
was truly the “Lamb without blemish and without spot … foreordained before
the foundation of the world” for this purpose (1 Pet. 1:19,20).
Another
Scripture fulfilled at Calvary is verse 18:“They part My garments among them,
and cast lots upon My vesture.” John, in referring to this, tells us, “These
things therefore the solders did” (John 19:24).
In verses 19-21
the Holy Sufferer appeals to the power of Jehovah to be delivered from the
power of the dog, the Gentile power, that had Him bound, scourged, and nailed
to the Cross. He also cries for deliverance from the lion’s mouth—from Satan’s
vicious devouring. And then, being confident that He was heard “because of His
piety” (Heb. 5:7 JND), He says, “Thou has heard Me from the horns of the
unicorn.” The unicorn was actually the aurochs, a wild horned beast upon whose
horns the criminal was often impaled to be carried about until death claimed
the victim. Thus He thought of His plight. But He was heard from the
horns of the aurochs! Though death was to be His portion, yet He was saved out
of it, and the next section of the Psalm reveals the results of His atoning
death. He was raised from among the dead and is no longer alone. The time of
His suffering is forever past, and He now identifies others with Him in His
triumph.
Section II (Verses 22-31)
The Holy
Sufferer is now the Triumphant Redeemer. In resurrection He declares the Name of
His God to His brethren. To Mary, in John 20:17, He says, “I ascend unto My
Father and your Father; and to My God and your God.” Taking His place in the
midst of the congregation, He Himself begins the praise—He leads the singing!
Verse 22 is cited in Hebrews 2 where the perfection of the Captain of Salvation
through suffering is declared. He was made a little lower than the angels in
order to suffer and taste death for every man. It was just like Him and His
love to do so. But now we see Him crowned with glory and honor, the Head of a
new creation, bringing many sons to glory to be eternally identified with Him!
What marvelous truth is unfolded in Heb. 2:9-12 and prophesied here in Psalm
22!
The Psalmist,
by the Holy Spirit, now turns to Israel:“You who fear the LORD, praise him;
all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all you the seed of
Israel. For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted
[One]; neither has He hid His face from Him; but when He cried unto him, He
heard” (verses 23,24). This tells of the acceptance of the death of the
afflicted One, and of the raising of Him from among the dead in triumph. This
is the foundation upon which Israel in a future day will be brought to
repentance and faith, to praise Him as their Messiah King.
This all points
to the time when not only Israel will be converted, but “all the ends of the
world shall remember and turn unto the LORD; and all the kindreds of the
nations shall worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the LORD’s:and He
is the Governor among the nations” (verses 27,28). Thus the 22nd Psalm
is linked with the 24th, which is a projection of the future Crown of Glory.
Meanwhile, however, “a seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord
for a generation” (verse 30). This seed shall come and bear witness of His
righteousness to a future generation—“unto a people that shall be born, that He
has done this” (verse 31). Actually, the message that shall be declared to Jew
and Gentile alike will proclaim, “He has finished the work!” How fitting that
this appears at the end of this Psalm, thus reminding us of His loud voice of
triumph on Calvary, after He had suffered for sins at the hand of a Holy
God—“It is finished.” The glory of the coming kingdom is truly based upon this
finished work, and will be the theme of praise of both the heavenly and earthly
saints. The earthly remnant of Israel and the multitude of Gentile nations
saved through the tribulation will enter His glorious kingdom praising the Lamb
whose blood had made their robes white for their eternal acceptance and
blessing.
Psalm 24, The Crown
Recalling that
Psalm 23 presents Christ as “the Great Shepherd” of the sheep in His
present work symbolized by The Crook, we pass on to consider Psalm 24.
Here He is seen as “the Chief Shepherd” wearing The Crown of
glory in the day of His kingdom.
His power and
glory as Creator are first declared:“The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness
thereof; the world, and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the
seas, and established it upon the floods” (verses 1,2). And who is it that
shall dwell with Him? “He who has clean hands and a pure heart” (verse 4). They
are those who have been cleansed from their sins and manifest their standing by
a practical state of purity and righteousness. These shall receive the blessing
from the LORD” as His gifts of grace, receiving a righteousness from God that
will enable them to live and stand with the King during His millennial reign.
Both the
remnant of Israel and the various tribes of the Gentiles are included in verse
6. Israel will turn and seek Him and He will be found of them as their
long-awaited Messiah. The Gentiles also will find Him through the testimony of
Israel. “O Jacob,” suggests the grace to Jacob which now makes him “Israel”—a
prince with God.” The Gentiles will realize that their blessings have come to
them through “Jacob” now restored and blessed by Jehovah. The grace that met
unfaithful, deceitful Jacob will meet the need of the Gentiles who turn in
repentance to Him. Revelation 7 gives both the 144,000 of the 12 tribes of
Israel and the multitude of the Gentile nations saved through the tribulation,
converted and brought to Christ to form His kingdom when “the King of Glory
shall come in!”
“Who is this
King of Glory?” He is “the LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle”
(verse 8). He is the same One the Apostle John writes of in Rev. 19:11, the
“Faithful and True,” the One who “in righteousness … does judge and make
war.” The Chief Shepherd, coming in glory, will bear the rod of judgment. He
will be victorious over the nations that have opposed Him. The writer of the
2nd Psalm graphically depicts it thus as the presumptuous kings of the earth
set themselves against Him:“He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD
shall have them in derision…. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou
shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” When He comes, He will
destroy the western powers and cast the political ruler—the “beast”—and the
antichrist alive into the lake of fire. He will also break the king of the
north and his armies—Israel’s inveterate enemy, the dragon, whom God will use
as His rod against Jerusalem and apostate Israel (see Isa. 10:5-12, 14:24,25;
30:31-33). Finally, He will destroy Russia who will come against Israel when
she is established in her land in peace (Ezek. 38,39). In all this Jehovah will
be acclaimed as the Mighty Deliverer of His people. He truly is “The LORD of
hosts.” This is “the King of Glory”!
Hence, as the
three Psalms bring Him before us, He was the Holy Sufferer, the Good
Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep on The Cross (Psalm 22); He is
the Great Shepherd of the sheep now caring for us with His Crook (Psalm
23); and He will be the Chief Shepherd wearing The Crown when He
comes to judge His enemies and set up His kingdom of power and glory (Psalm
24).
(From Words
of Truth, Vol. 24.)