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Up Close and Personal: Christ Crucified

FEBRUARY 10, 2008

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. ... Be not far from me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help. Many bulls have surrounded me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open wide their mouth at me as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water. And all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. And You lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me. They divide my garments among them; and for my clothing they cast lots, (NASB).
Psalm 22:1, 11–18

We begin the season of Lent by going to the cross. No one can read Psalm 22 without seeing in it the suffering, crucifixion, and death of the Savior. Though it was written by King David 1000 years before the birth of Christ, nevertheless, one cannot escape the feeling that the speaker is the pre–incarnate Christ. Indeed, in the first verse, we have the very words of Jesus as he cries out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”1

We can read about Christ’s death in the Gospels. They record the last seven utterances made by Jesus from the cross. Psalm 22 adds something the Gospels don’t. It tells us of the actual thoughts running through his mind. This Psalm takes us inside our Savior’s head, as it were, so we can see his mental anguish, fatigue, pain, sorrow, and terror as he is encircled by evildoers.

Our text describes the hateful shouts of Jesus’ enemies as they mock him. We read: “Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encircled me ... I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me.”2 With a howl of delight, Christ’s enemies, here called “dogs,” did, indeed, surround him on the cross. They saw him powerless at last! This invincible and clever Rabbi who had stymied all their clever plots, who had thwarted all their crafty plans, who had often been able to pass right through their hands (as though he were a spirit), was now fastened to the cross. He couldn’t escape! So, now is the time for these dogs to howl, to growl, and to party.

These evil dogs bark and growl. Their scornful yapping continued from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon. How it must have pained Jesus when they snarled with demonic glee, saying to him,

He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him, for he said “I am the son of God.”3

How these shouts must have pierced his heart! Didn’t they know? Didn’t they know that it was precisely because he came to save them (and you and me), that he could not—and would not—save himself? And we shouldn’t think that it was easy for Jesus to remain on the cross. I have often wondered how much their taunting catcalls for him to come down from the cross served as a source of temptation for him.

“Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encircled me,” says Jesus through the lips of King David. Anyone confronted by a gang in a dark alley knows something of the terror of that moment. But unless that gang proceeded to mug you, beat you, and torture you with fiendish delight for six long hours before killing you, you don’t even know the half of what Jesus went through. You see, the dogs that surrounded Jesus had a bite every bit as bad as their bark.

In the 16th verse of our text, we have a most remarkable statement. We read: “They have pierced my hands and my feet.”4 We see, here, that King David predicts that the Messiah’s hands and feet would be pierced. Even a first–grader knows what event this refers to. Clearly, David is speaking of Christ’s crucifixion.

This prophecy is stunning. You see, King David lived 1000 years before the birth of Christ.5 In David’s day, crucifixion was unknown to the world. In fact, crucifixion wasn’t introduced into human history until the Persians invented it in the 7th century B.C.6 Yet, David speaks of it as though he knows what would happen to the Messiah. How could he know about something that wouldn’t even come into existence for another four centuries? There is only one way he could have known. And that would be if the LORD God had revealed it to him. Indeed, with this predictive prophecy, we are led to see what the Bible teaches, namely, that “all Scripture is inspired by God.”7

But this Psalm reveals even more. It allows us to enter once again into the very mind of our Savior. We hear him thinking to himself, saying, “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.”8 In other words, he can feel his strength being drained away moment by moment. It takes every ounce of his strength just to take a breath, for the muscles of the rib cage soon become fatigued and weak. Moreover, this unnatural position, this awful weight on his arms and the constant strain on his back has buckled his body out of joint. His limbs are cramping. The muscles of his back spasm.

Again, he says, “My heart is turned to wax; it has melted away within me.”9 “I am burning up with fever.” “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws.”10 Yes, he has a raging thirst that won’t be quenched. Indeed, no angel will be sent to rescue him. Only his mother Mary, the other women, and the apostle John weep tears of sorrow and grief beneath the cross. But the dogs keep up their scornful howling.

But it gets worse, for his spiritual agonies are far greater than his physical pain and torment.

God would now become his enemy. Try to wrap your mind around that! It is beyond the limits of my reason. As “the Lamb of God,” he must suffer the fate of all Passover lambs, i.e., he must be killed. The prophet Isaiah says of Christ, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him [Christ] the iniquity of us all!”11 God lays upon the sinless one, the sins of all humanity. To him, God charges all the penalty and guilt of our sin. He must bear all sin for all people for all time. Thus, laden with all our sins, Jesus became, by imputation, the world’s most wretched and reprehensible sinner. True, in him was no sin at all, but on him were the sins of all. In fact, he was so covered with the filth and slime of humanity’s sin that, in God’s sight, nothing else was visible, for it is written, “God made him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”12 Yes, God made him to be sin for us and a curse for us.13

This being true, it follows that the wrath of God rested upon him. Yes, God forsook Jesus, turned his face from him, abandoned him, and threw his soul into the fire of hell. Hear him cry from the fiery abyss: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”14 This depth of suffering on the part of our Redeemer is beyond our comprehension. Oh what agony! Here, Jesus feels the full fury of divine wrath over against a trillion–fold sins. He is hurled to the bottomless abyss to taste of the second death. Just think of it, the eternal Son of God is in the eternal depths of hell! Why? He suffers all of sin’s wages that we might not have to suffer for any of them!

But at last, Jesus had paid for all sin. So he cries out, “It is finished!”15 thereby affirming that he has finished the work of our redemption and salvation. Now, at last, the suffering is over. Then crying out with a loud voice he said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!”16 And with that, he breathed his last.

How do we fit into the picture?

According to the Law, we made him suffer so. We drove those cruel nails into his hands and feet. We killed him, for every one of our sins was laid upon him.

But according to the Gospel, when he died with our sins on his own body, God counts it as though we suffered and died for our sins.17 Because Jesus is our Substitute, we died for our sins when he yielded his soul to his Father. If we but trust that his death reconciles us to God, all is ours, forgiveness, life and salvation. And the Gospel says, “We maintain that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”18

So, then, we are all sinners. And sin makes us all equal in God’s sight. The opposite is also true, the cross makes all believers equally forgiven and saved.

Sometimes we have trouble with that. Let me explain. A young woman came to trust in Jesus as her Savior. Her former life had been rough, involving alcohol, drugs, and prostitution. But she was a now a changed woman. She soon became a faithful church member and became very much involved in her church’s outreach ministry. It was not very long until this faithful young woman had caught the eye and heart of the pastor’s son. The relationship grew and they began to make wedding plans. That’s when the problems began. You see, about half of the church did not think that a woman with a past such as hers was suitable for a pastor’s son.

The church began to argue and fight about the matter. So they decided to have a meeting. As the people made their arguments and tensions increased, the meeting was getting completely out of hand.

The young woman became very upset about all the things being brought up about her past. As she began to cry, the pastor’s son stood to speak. He could not bear the pain it was causing her. So he stood up to speak. He said, “My fiancée’s past is not what’s on trial here. What you are questioning is the ability of the blood of Jesus to wash away sin. Today you have put the blood of Jesus on trial. So, does it wash away sin or not?” The whole assembly gasped. To a man, none had realized what was at stake, namely, the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ.

It is true, you know. The Bible says, “The blood of Jesus his [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin.”19 Please understand: It cleanses from all sin, from the greatest to least. There is no sin so great that it cannot be forgiven. Peter, who denied Christ three times, received forgiveness. Paul, who persecuted Christ’s church, received forgiveness. King David, a murderer and adulterer, received forgiveness. Therefore, beloved, bring your sins to the cross. Yes, God has never seen a sinner he couldn’t save. That would include you and me. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Endnotes

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