"Because of Thine indignation and Thy wrath" are words uttered by the Lord in Psalm 102, with reference to the reason of His death. How they can be reconciled with what He deserved, as His walk and His ministry show, Psalm 22 clears up. On the cross He bore God's wrath, but as the sinner's substitute.
That this Psalm treats of Him, the sin-bearer, who died upon the cross to make atonement, the New Testament makes plain. The first words of it were uttered by Him upon the cross, when for the first and last time they were used in all their fullness. The language of the 8th verse was the language of the chief priests to Him as He hung in agony on the tree, unconscious that they only made themselves the mouthpiece to express what David beforehand had declared the Lord's enemies would say. The action described in verse 18, we are expressly told, was fulfilled at the foot of the cross, when the soldiers parted His garments among them, and for His vesture, woven without seam, they cast lots. The first part of verse 22 was accomplished by the Lord Himself on the day of His resurrection, the historical account of which John gives us, and the doctrinal teaching of which the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews brings out to us (John 20:1717Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (John 20:17); Heb. 2:1212Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. (Hebrews 2:12)). None, with these facts before them, can doubt of whom the Psalm speaks-no, nor who it is who speaks throughout it; for one Person only, can we say, here speaks for the instruction of God's saints. He who cries out at the beginning, leads the praises of the redeemed in verses 22-25. He before whose eye the soldiers divided the garments, and whom the chief priests derided with their taunts, describes the grand results for Jehovah which would accrue from His death upon the cross. It was proper, we must admit, that the Lord Jesus should Himself proclaim to men and the universe the glorious results of His agony and death.
What a condition was that to which Messiah, God's well beloved Son, stooped! God's saints can find comfort in the remembrance, if called to suffer for the truth, that they have part in the sufferings of Christ (2 Cor. 1:55For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. (2 Corinthians 1:5); Col. 1:2424Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: (Colossians 1:24); 1 Pet. 4:1313But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. (1 Peter 4:13)); but He had to say that in one respect, in suffering for God, He stood alone. "They trusted," He says of saints at a former epoch, "and Thou didst deliver them.... But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people." It was indeed so when servants of the chief priests buffeted Him, and soldiers of the Roman governor mocked Him. He was made an object of contempt and ridicule for the multitude—every feeling of a man outraged, every right of a man violated. These were ingredients in that cup in which bodily suffering was added to mental trial.
Besides all this, and far deeper than all these sufferings, He experienced what no human language can portray, for no human thought can conceive the agony which drew from His lips the cry with which the Psalm opens, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Here, and only here, in the whole Bible, have we any clue to what He must have passed through when dealt with by God as the sinner's substitute; yet it is but a feeble clue after all, for the negative manner of expressing His greatest suffering cannot convey to our minds the positive agony that He then underwent. Just enough is conveyed by the words to teach us that those sufferings were inexpressible, and inconceivable by man, though real, and really borne. For it was not as anticipating something which lay in His path, that He uttered that cry on the cross; but, as having already experienced it, He thus cried out. The extent, intensity, and character of His sufferings, men knew nothing about till just at their close.
Of both suffering from God in making atonement, and suffering from man, the Psalm speaks, but in markedly different terms. Of the former the Lord has to say, "So far from helping Me." Of the latter He cried, "Be not Thou far from Me, 0 LORD: 0 My strength, haste Thee to help 'Me."
v. 19. He sought no respite from sufferings needful to be endured to make atonement; He asked deliverance from sufferings from men who took advantage of His condition in grace, and received it. The Lord heard Him and delivered Him. From what formed no needful part of the momentous work He came to perform, He asked for help, and, we learned, received it; but from that which could not be averted, if God's will was to be done, and man's salvation to be secured, He shrank not, nor received relief.
"That all was done, that all was borne,
Thine agony, Thy cross, can tell."
The Psalm then divides itself into two parts in verse 21. Throughout the first part we meet with turmoil, discord, rage, and enmity—men attempting and accomplishing all they desired, in putting Him out of the world who was the object of their unrelenting hatred. In the second part we meet with an atmosphere of peace and blessedness. Throughout the first part the Lord is passive, suffering from God, and from His creatures; throughout the second He is active. Men's thoughts, motives, and desires are disclosed in what they did to Him. His thoughts and actions are told out in His own words. But, though in the second part all is peace and quietness, there is no silence. The din of this world's discord had been heard when He hung on the tree, beset by the bulls of Bashan, and taunted in His bodily agony by those who professed to be leaders and teachers in Israel. All that quieted down by the death of the object of their hatred, the noise of men's opposition giving way to the wailing of the women and others who lamented Him. Night set in, and the darkest day which the world had ever seen became a thing of the past. His enemies returned to their homes and to their families, to resume, when the sabbath was past and the feast was ended, their wonted occupations. His body was laid in the tomb, the stone rolled to the door, and all seemed secure. The guard of soldiers kept watch over the grave of Israel's Messiah. Men had done all they could, pursued Him to the latest hour of His life on earth, and only stopped because death effectually barred all further action against Him.
The silence which ensued on His death He first broke, and thereby showed what was in His heart. "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee." Not a word of judgment, not a thought of vengeance, only love, and a desire for God to be known, we learn, then occupied His thoughts. Love was manifested in thinking of others, and the desire to make God known was expressed in the resolution to praise Him openly. "Both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare Thy name unto My brethren" (Heb. 2:11, 1211For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. (Hebrews 2:11‑12)), tells us what the Psalm does not-something of the personal excellence of Him who hung upon that cross. "All of one"; that is, one lot or company, as men, He is not ashamed to call them brethren. Marvelous grace, that such a statement should be made in God's Word, connecting together those who were otherwise wide as the poles asunder- the Sanctifier and the sanctified. He first declared it, and the Holy Ghost, by the Apostle, enlarged on it. It is not, however, universal brotherhood, embracing all the race, that we here read about. Such a tenet is foreign to Scripture, and only betrays gross ignorance as to God's nature and man's condition. This brotherhood is only predicated of the Sanctifier and the sanctified—terms suggestive of man's condition by nature, which needs that he should be sanctified, as well as of the nature of Him who sanctifies those otherwise unsanctified; for, what a mere man, however holy, could never effect, He does, and provides that they should know it at the earliest possible opportunity.
On earth, before the cross, He had proclaimed in what close relationship to Himself He would regard all those who heard and did God's will (Luke 8:2121And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it. (Luke 8:21)). To His disciples He had said that He was their Master, and all they were brethren (Matt. 23:88But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. (Matthew 23:8)). Now, after His resurrection, He first addressed them as His brethren, being not ashamed thus to describe them. To Mary first (John 20:1717Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (John 20:17)), then to the company of women returning in haste from the sepulcher to announce the Lord's resurrection (Matt. 28:1010Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. (Matthew 28:10)), He entrusted a message to His brethren. To whom were they to deliver it? What class of people could this be? They all knew without a doubt, and carried the message without hesitation to His disciples, who now were His brethren. At that time, therefore, there were those on earth whom He thus owned, and the women recognized them as such. Are there any still? Thank God there are. For all who hearken to God's Word are born of God, and are of that class styled by the Lord as His brethren.
Found on earth in the company of the saints (Psa. 16), acknowledging a common position with them even after His resurrection (Psa. 40), He here announces that they stand in the closest relationship with Him, for His Father is their Father; His God is their God. As God's Son from all eternity, He might have said, "My Father and your Father," without any implication (doctrinally) of having taken human nature; but as a man born of the virgin, He adds, "My God and your God." Between Him and the saints the difference is immense, and must ever remain so; but the relation to God is similar. His words tell of a distinction while declaring the relationship-My Father, My God, your Father, your God.
Now that the relationship is confessed, and the saints declared to be His brethren, we learn what He would make known. He would tell God's name to them. His public ministry ceased when the Jews finally determined to crucify Him. But death and resurrection could not separate Him from His brethren. On the very day that He rose, He was found in their company in Jerusalem. The doors were shut for fear of the Jews, but this could not hinder intercourse between Him and His own. He stood in their midst and taught them the fulfillment, by His death, of the written Word of God. None but His disciples did He then, or afterward, own as the saints of God or the assembly of God. The Jews had cast Him out; but outside of Judaism, and apart from the temple ritual, in the room where His disciples assembled, He was found. A company, whom the chief priests and scribes, with the Pharisees and Sadducees would disown, He acknowledged, and to them He declared God's name; that is, what He is, evidenced by what He says and does. The Jews thought they knew about God; His name, however, was to be declared by Christ, and that only to His own brethren. That company, to be afterward known as the sect everywhere spoken against, had a special interest for Him, and has still. To those composing it, He declared what God is; that is, His name. And besides this, in their midst, the only congregation which God could then, as now, own, He was to praise God. How contrary was all this to men's thoughts! Those who seemed but fit subjects for the executioner's weapon, unworthy to live, to proscribe whom and to persecute whom even unto strange cities was an act, it was thought, well pleasing to God, these were the only people, after the Lord's resurrection, among whom He would be found, and to whom He would declare or tell out God's name. "Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live" (Acts 22:2222And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. (Acts 22:22)), lets us into the thoughts of the Jews about the disciples of the Lord Jesus. And yet it was to this class alone that the Lord Jesus here says He would address Himself, and among them strike the keynote of praise.
The songs of Zion might resound through the temple courts, but the keynote of praise, to which God could now hearken, was struck elsewhere. First struck by the risen Savior, it has never yet died out. From age to age, from country to country, has this song of praise spread, and heaven itself will forever ring with the full, rich melody flowing forth from each one, and the unbroken harmony of countless voices uniting in praise to God and to the Lamb. In the Church, an assembly gathered on new ground apart from Jewish ordinances, the true note of praise was first raised by Him, who came from God and went to God. Praise for the heavenly people was rightly started by Him who belongs to heaven. At the Red Sea, Moses and the children of Israel, with Miriam and the women with their timbrels, praised God for their deliverance. In this Psalm, He who is Jehovah, as a man, leads the songs of the redeemed.
There is a reason for this. He has suffered and has been delivered; therefore He can sing, leading His people in their songs of worship, because of God's mercy and God's delivering power. As having experienced it, He can sing of it, and thus teach His people the suited language to use before God. He states in Psalm 40 that His deliverance would be an encouragement to others; in Psalm 102, God's answering the prayer of the destitute is to be instruction for a future generation; but in Psalm 22, it is not encouragement for others, nor instruction for a future age, but the suited language for God's saints now, that He would illustrate by His own example.
The deliverer has been Himself delivered; their Savior has known God's salvation for Himself (v. 24). His song, therefore, His people can join in. But here we are taken beyond Judaism to the sheep outside the fold—the two flocks, as we know elsewhere, now made one, composed of believers from among the Jews and from among the Gentiles. Into depths greater than they ever have sunk, Christ has gone down, and from them has been brought up, the witness to them that God answers prayer; the witness too, by His resurrection, of the perfect acceptance of that work because of which He had to cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
But a time is coming when the praises, led by Him, of the congregation of God's saints, as at present owned by God, will cease to be heard upon earth. Caught up to be with the Lord in heaven, their place and their service will be found no more on this globe. Will praise on earth then forever cease? No; Israel will again be brought forward as God's earthly people, and praise will ascend from the godly remnant of them, manifested as the people that Jehovah has formed for Himself. Who will lead them in praise? The Psalm answers this question. Christ will do it. Again will He strike a keynote, and God's earthly people will respond to it: "My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation: I will pay• My vows before them that fear Him." v. 25. He alone has been in circumstances similar to those they will pass through; but having gone down into death for them, died "for that nation" (John 11:5151And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; (John 11:51)), their deliverance is secured, who will have experienced a trial similar to His, anticipating the outpouring of God's wrath-in their case deserved, in His case endured as the substitute and the sin offering.
That we are here on the ground of the earthly people is clear, for the next verse (the consequence of what is celebrated in verse 25) tells of the meek eating and being satisfied, which will only take place when the Lord appears to reign. Contrast verse 26 with verse 24. In the latter we have the consequences of the Lord's deliverance, which saints now can share in. In the former we have what will only be made good to those who shall inherit the earth. Then follows the full result as it affects the whole globe:
"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. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before Him: and none can keep alive his own soul. A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He hath done this."
Thus the counsels of God about the kingdom will be made good; and in this Psalm, which shows us the depths into which the King in His grace descended, we have announced for certain and full accomplishment of all that God has purposed about this earth. Dying on the cross, all might appear lost; so here, where the former is set forth, the latter is also reaffirmed. Not one thing has failed, Joshua could say. "Not one thing shall fail," we can add. All will be done, the kingdom be Jehovah's, and His Son be the King, who is Jehovah; for "the word of our God shall stand forever."