Please read Psalm 22 (31 verses)

This Psalm begins with great suffering, humiliation and rejection. It is the song of the suffering Messiah and is devided into two parts. The first part is full of prophecies about what will happen to the Messiah as He suffers for the sin of the world. It so very specific and full of pathos and much woe. He will suffer great ignominy and exclusion from the well-being of God and man. The prophesies are very specific and cannot be confused with a vague predication about what will happen to the Messiah. They tell us He will be forsaken and made a reproach to everyone, despised and rejected by all. The prophesy tells us that His bones will be out of joint and He will suffer great thirst. The suffering Saviour is surrounded by the congregation of the wicked and suffers great personal loss in His life and dignity as a person. They will pierce His hands and his feet and cast dice for His clothing. His suffering will be as the goring of the wild bulls of Bashan, the baying of the hungry lion who waits to tear his prey apart. This is suffering on a terrible scale, inflicted on the one who is so lowly and gracious and takes His place among the lowest people.

But the Psalm changes and becomes a song of praise to the Lord for His deliverance of the suffering one from the clutches of sin and death. The Messiah has overcome death and has paid the price of sin and is now exalted above the heavens. We are called upon to praise Him for He has not despised the lowly but identified Himself with them in His death. When the afflicted have cried out, the Saviour has heard them and has answered them in all their need by paying the price required. The ends of the earth shall remember Him and turn to Him as the only Saviour. Every family will worship Him for He is the King of all the nations. All posterity will honour Him because of what He has done. Rich and poor alike will bow down before Him, for He holds their destiny in His hands. God will declare His righteousness to those not yet born and it will be the work of God.