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“For dogs have compassed Me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed Me: they pierced My hands and My feet” (Psalm 22:16).
The expression “dogs” used here refers to the Romans — the Gentiles, who were the actual ones who crucified the Lord Jesus. They drove the nails into His hands and feet, and hung Him on a cross to die. It was a cruel death, and a shameful death too.
But in this verse it does not say that they pierced His side, although a Roman soldier did that too, to make sure that He was really dead. Why does it not mention His side? It is because piercing His side was part of the work of redemption, and this was necessary so that you and I could be saved. God allowed this, for it was the blood from our Lord’s side that put away our sins. This is clear from John 19:34, where it says that from His side “came there out blood and water.”
Man must take responsibility for crucifying the Lord Jesus, but God was there too, and saw to it that the blood was shed which puts away our sins.
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