Stand and look up at Christ upon the cross, and look upon these words, as his. He himself is the best exposition of this wondrous psalm.
Psalms 22:1-2. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
Gethsemane! there is the key a prayer unanswered at that time: «If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.» It was not possible. He must drink it. «In the night season I am not silent.»
Psalms 22:3. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
No hard thoughts of God, even when he was forsaken. A forsaken Christ still clings to the Father, and ascribes perfect holiness to him.
Psalms 22:4-6. Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man: a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
How low did Christ descend for our sakes not only low as man, but lower still! Never was godly man forsaken of God, and yet Jesus was; so he is lower than we are while he hangs upon the tree «a reproach of men, and despised of the people.»
Psalms 22:7-8. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him, let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
Was not this just what they said at the cross? Ah, little did they know that he saved others; himself he could not save, because a matchless love held his hands there, as with diamond rivets.
Psalms 22:9-10. But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.
He remembers his wonderful birth. He was God's, indeed, from the very first.
Psalms 22:11. Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. They have all gone. Peter and all the rest have fled. There is none to help.
And there stand the Scribes and Pharisees, and the great men of the nation.
Psalms 22:12-14. Many bulls haw compasssed me; strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water,
All dissolved nothing could hold together quite spent and gone.
Psalms 22:14. And all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax:
He felt the inward sinking fever brought on him by the wounds he had upon the cress. «My heart is like wax.»
Psalms 22:14-16. It is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd: and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws: and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me:
There they are the cruel multitude thrusting out the tongue and hooting at him. «For dogs have compassed me.»
Psalms 22:16. The assembly of the wicked have inclosed me:
The hind of the morning is now surrounded by the dogs. He cannot escape.
Psalms 22:16-17. They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
Horrible, to the tender, modest soul of Jesus, were those vile stares of the ribald multitude as they gazed upon him.
Psalms 22:18-22. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. Save me.from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
The sun that was darkened, now shines again.
The Saviour's griefs are o'er.
A calm is spread over his mind. He is about to say, «It is finished!» and his heart is comforted. We leave that passage there.