How Jesus Endured the Cross, Part 2 | The Meaning of Easter

Psalm 22:1-21

As Jesus hung on the cross, did he personally deserve to be there? Yes or no? Okay, you pass. You’re right. No. He did not deserve to be there. He was sinless, utterly sinless. And being sinless, guiltless, having fulfilled the will of God in every way possible, Jesus had every right to expect God’s protection and blessing. He had every right to expect protection from his enemies, and there is a sense in which God should have protected him, should have delivered Jesus from the power of ungodly men.

 The fact that God handed Jesus over to them, that he did not deliver him on this occasion, it means one of three things. First, it could mean that God had ceased to be true to his good character. That he ceased to be God. Well, we know that’s not true. Second option, God was unable to deliver Jesus from the power of men. Also untrue. Well, that forces us to consider a third option, one that we know is true from reading the Scripture and seeing the character of God, that he’s good and he’s powerful. So what’s going on, here? God had a good and wise purpose in this trial.

In this evil of handing Jesus over to ungodly men, God had a good purpose to fulfill. That’s why he didn’t deliver Jesus from that dreadful hour. And that’s why Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He’s calling attention from everybody surrounding him, and now to us because it’s recorded in here in Scripture, he’s calling attention to the fact that God had a divine purpose in his suffering. Jesus could have prayed that prayer silently, but even in his final minutes of life, with his final breath, he pointed his nation to the true purpose of his death on the cross. He was not dying for his own sins, but for theirs. The quote from Psalm 22 would help them discover the truth about his death on the cross. He died to save his people from their sins.

But Jesus also, he wasn’t just teaching. This is a genuine prayer of sorrow. This is a prayer that’s coming from the heart, and notice his prayer is Scripture. You want to pray well? Pray the Word of God. Jesus prayed the Word of God from the heart. He was longing, here, for a close fellowship with his father, and this psalm, Psalm 22, it captures his thoughts on the cross. It records what he was thinking and what he was feeling with divine precision. As we read, we find the purest and most profound expression of faith in God. This was an example to the entire nation of Israel, and to us as well, now, of how a genuine believer clings to God even in the greatest of trials. He clings by faith.

Let me take a couple minutes to read the entire psalm just so you can see it for yourself. As we read David’s psalm, you’re going to see three sections, here. One from verses 1-10, we hear his complaint. And then from verses 11-21, we hear his request. And then finally we hear his confident praise. So as David works out his worries, his anxieties before God in prayer, he comes from complaint to request to praise. That’s how all prayer in the moment of anxiety and trial and worry and pressure that’s how it all should flow, right? So follow along as I read.

This is “to the choirmaster, according to the doe of the dawn, a psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; ‘He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!’

“Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and 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 my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

“But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.

“From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.”

Powerful psalm, isn’t it? We don’t know the exact circumstances of David’s travail, but most commentators place the setting of this psalm as arising out of David’s conflicts with King Saul. What, what David expressed in graphic figures of speech, for Christ the language is even more fitting, even more appropriate. So this psalm of David is prophetic, a type of Christ’s coming suffering. It’s amazingly accurate, too, isn’t it? Keep in mind it was written 1,000 years before Jesus hung on that cross, fulfilling all the types and the figures that are recorded here and elsewhere.

As we noted, the first 10 verses, they’re about Jesus’ right and proper expectation of divine protection. Notice the complaint; it starts in verses 1-2. It says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.” That’s actually only one question, there, in the original Hebrew. The opening line is a question, but the second line is not a question. Literally, he’s saying, “Far from saving me.” So the salvation on the one hand, and it’s very far from the words of his groaning.

There’s no connection between his words and his coming salvation. So this isn’t a question; it’s just a statement of fact. In fact, David had cried out by day, by night, no answer from God, no rest, just constant turmoil. No relief. Like David, Jesus had also cried day and night, but God had withheld his deliverance. In fact, the cry from his own lips using this language of Psalm 22:1, that cry, remember, came in the ninth hour, right? At the end of a three-hour period of darkness, Jesus had literally cried out to God by day, by night.

No answer, no rest, continuing agony as he’s abandoned to suffering and torment. But notice how Jesus, just like David before him, how he affirmed the truth that he knew about God even while expressing his complaint, there in verse 3. He continues; he says, “Yet you are holy.” Look at that in there. “Enthroned on the praises of Israel.” Listen, the pain of this severe trial, it did not diminish the holy character of God in any way at all. God remained, God continued to be holy, kadosh, set apart. He’s distinct; he’s separate from all that’s common and profane. No matter what we face, God remains God. He is holy, enthroned on the praises of his people. Like David, Jesus knew the history of God’s people. He’d read.

Verses 4-5, “In you our fathers trusted. They trusted; you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued. In you they trusted and were not put to shame.” That’s a summary of the history of Israel, isn’t it? God demonstrated his holiness time and time again, and that was the basis of Israel’s trust. It was the fountainhead of Israel’s praises. David pictures God, there, enthroned, seated upon, enthroned, perched upon the praises of Israel, perched atop those praises because he alone is deserving of all glory and honor due his name.

Listen, this affirmation of the truth about God’s nature, that he is holy, that he is faithful, that he is worthy of trust, that he is worthy of all the praise for his deliverance, that might seem to contradict the current silence, right? In fact, the lack of an answer in the face of a very sincere and helpless plea of a suffering believer, that makes the silence even more deafening, even more profound, more painful. If God is known and praised for delivering his people, why does he not deliver now, when I most need him? But where else can a suffering believer turn in times of trouble? Is there any other deliverer? Is there anyone else worthy of the sufferer’s trust? Money? Power? Legislation?

For David, for Jesus, there’s only one place to turn, only one source of deliverance. The silence did not deter him from crying out; it, it only caused him to pray more fervently. “Jesus cried out with a loud cry.” Three times David says of his forefathers, “They trusted,” “They trusted,” “They trusted.” So if they trusted then God’s rescued, if the testimony of all history points to the trustworthiness of God, and if God is God, never changing, always faithful, then no matter how long he delays, he remains the only hope in times of trouble. We must stay fixed on that truth. David knew that to be true, and so he hoped in God and in God alone. Jesus also knew that to be true, and hoped in God to the very end. That, folks, is how Jesus endured the cross. And that is how all of us endure trials as well, by trusting in God to the trial’s very end. We outlast the suffering by continuing in our faith in God.

Listen, the fact that David trusted in God but no deliverance came, the fact that Jesus trusted and God abandoned him to bitter, unimaginable suffering, this leads to an even more concrete expression of complaint, as we see clearly how the self-righteous were tormenting him. Look at verses 6-8. David continues; he says, “I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads. ‘He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!’” Just a mocking.

It’s amazing how the most religious can become the harshest persecutors. They are so self-righteous, so quick to justify themselves that they are absolutely unable to see the inherent contradiction between their own sinful speech and behavior and then the charges that they make. There’s Jesus, hanging on the cross, bleeding and dying, the victim of the greatest injustice that’s ever been perpetrated on any human being throughout all history. Why? Because he was sinless; because he didn’t deserve that. And the religious leaders of Israel, they surround him, they taunt him, they mock him, and they lead others in condemning him. It’s so utterly cruel, so heartless, so evil. And yet they believed themselves to be doing God’s work.

By referring to himself as a worm, here, two things about that. A worm: weakness and revulsion, right? But it’s also small and powerless. It’s utterly debased. So not only people in looking at a worm, naturally inclined to scorn him as a worm, they feel no restraint in scorning him. I mean, what’s a worm going to do when he’s scorned? Nothing, right?

There’s no consequence for despising a worm; slimy, vile little worm can’t even defend itself and everybody around you shares your same sentiment. In the same way, no one felt any sense of compunction about mocking the dying Christ on the cross. No fear from him. He’s hanging there; what can he do? Isaiah 53:3 says, “He was despised, rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.” Without hesitation, with no check of conscience, Jesus’ enemies mocked him, they sneered at him, they wagged their heads.

“‘He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!’ They said, ‘Save yourself! Come down from the cross. Let the Christ, the king of Israel come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.’” That’s all we want. We just want to believe. We’re open-hearted, we’re open-minded. Just show us. Such blasphemy! Not even, like I said, not even a common sense of human decency could restrain the hatred.

Jesus didn’t resist. He lived out what had been prophesied about him in Isaiah 50 verse 6, “I gave my back to those who strike and my cheeks, to those who pull out the beard. I hid not my face from disgrace and suffering, spitting.” Jesus endured all of that, and he endured much more. “And when he was reviled, he did not revile in return,” right? 1 Peter 2:23. When he suffered, he did not threaten. How did he do that? Most of us can’t even endure the slightest offense, the mildest of insults, whether real or perceived. We’re so thin-skinned, right? How did he do this?

How did he endure such cruelty when he was absolutely righteous in the matter? How did he endure such hostility from sinners, and without a word? Peter finished that thought in 1 Peter 3:23; he answers our question. “When he was reviled he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued in trusting himself to him who judges justly.” Who’s that? Jesus entrusted himself to God, to the one to whom he cried out, “My God!”

Take a look at verses 9-10 of Psalm 22. Jesus is simply living out his constant habit of depending wholly upon God. Though all of mankind scorned him, and though he was despised by all people, mocked and insulted by young and old, rich and poor, great and small, Jesus entrusted himself to God. Yet, verse 9, “You are he who took me from the womb. You made me trust you at my mother’s breast. On you I was cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.”

Look, in truth all of us are that helpless in the world. We are at God’s mercy with each and every step, and the way we enter the world, as helpless babies, totally dependent on our mother’s tenderness, you know, that lesson ought to instruct us sufficiently our whole lives through. We’re always that helpless. We just don’t often realize it. It’s actually the manifestation of our sin nature, from very early on, that as we grow, we become self-sufficient. We become independent, as if by our own strength we can handle life on our own, by our own wisdom, our own ingenuity, our own knowledge, our own learning, our own education, our own accomplishment, our own achievement, our own strength. We can handle it. Very early on we start trusting ourselves, don’t we?

Jesus testifies here, and as the only one in all of humanity to be born without a sin nature, he testifies that he had trusted God from his mother’s womb onward. “From my mother’s womb, you have been my God.” It didn’t matter what men thought of him. It didn’t matter what situation he was in, what station in life, what his circumstances were, whether he was a helpless infant, whether he was a writhing worm, whether he was a dying Christ on the cross, Jesus knew, he trusted that God cared for him, and that was enough. He trusted implicitly and utterly in God and that’s where this section of complaint ends, with an affirmation of his trust in God.

What prompted the psalmist’s prayer, what provoked his cry to God, it is ended with this strong affirmation of trust, and that is how David endured the persecutions of King Saul. That’s how Jesus endured the cross, humanity’s severest trial, by putting all of his trust in God. And that is how all believers endure all their trials, just as the believing fathers of Israel did. They trusted, they trusted, they trusted. We may not see all things clearly. We may not know how or when the trial is going to end. We may not ever know its purpose. But we trust God wholly. As Francis Havergal wrote in 1876, “Every joy or trial falleth from above, traced upon our dial by the Son of Love. We may trust him fully all for us to do; they who trust him wholly find him wholly true.”

Jesus trusted because he looked carefully at God’s written Word, and there he found words of promise over and over, some written in Isaiah guaranteeing the final outcome. Isaiah 41:14, “Fear not, you worm of Jacob.” Remember, he said, “I am a worm, not a man.” “‘Fear not, you worm of Jacob. I am the one who helps you,’ declares the Lord. ‘Your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.’” Isaiah 49:7, “Thus says the Lord, the redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, ‘To one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers, this is what the Lord says: “Kings shall see and arise, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”’”

Look, Jesus trusted God to do what he said. That’s what faith is: believing God will do what he said. Jesus trusted him to fulfi1ll all that was written and spoken about the Messiah. He entrusted himself to the care of God. He handed himself over to God’s care. Even though everything appeared to be hopeless, even though he’s surrounded by mocking enemies, and even as he hoped in God while enduring the suffering of the cross, and his faith was turned into an object of ridicule by those enemies and Jesus remained steadfast. That’s precisely why God should rescue Jesus from the cross.

It was fitting, it was appropriate, it was righteous, even, for God to respond to Jesus’ cries with deliverance. But God didn’t do that. He let him suffer, hanging there for all men to gaze upon him. He became an object of scorn, a sign to be opposed, “for cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree,” Galatians 3:13. It comes from Deuteronomy 21:23, “A hanged man is cursed by God.” Why was he cursed? Clearly, for no reason found in himself. The sinless one trusted God. He bore the sin of many, and he was abused for it. That’s what Psalm 22 teaches us. That’s why Jesus quoted from it on the cross. He wanted people to look here, Psalm 22. He wanted people to see him there and to find salvation by looking there, to him.