Psa 22:19 | KingComments | STEP | One last time, the Lord turns with all His trouble to God, His God. God, His only Support and Relief, has forsaken Him. All men, incited by satan, are full of mockery and hatred against Him. In His trouble He cries out and asks if God, Who is now so far off, will not remain far off ( ). He asks that God as His help will come to His assistance soon, with haste, to deliver and save Him. Here faith in God Who has forsaken Him speaks. Despite the reality of being forsaken He continues to trust in His God. He asks God to deliver “my soul”, that is He Himself in His deepest feelings, “from the sword” ( ). That sword weighs heavily upon Him. His unspeakable and indescribable loneliness He expresses by presenting Himself to God as “My only [life]”. Because of that loneliness He feels “the power of the dog”, the heathen powers, all the stronger. He feels Himself in “the lion’s mouth” ( ). Satan, he is that lion, and all his demons have stirred up the wicked mass of the religious people and brought them to the grossest expressions of mockery and defamation. Christ sees the people as “wild oxen” who have taken Him on their horns ( ). We see in these verses the demand for a threefold redemption: 1. From the sword ( ; cf. ), that is from God’s side. 2. From the violence of the dog ( ), that is from the side of man. 3. From the mouth of the lion ( ), that is from satan’s side. Christ’s demand for salvation is not the demand not to die. He had come to do the will of God and He fully knew what that meant. His question is not to be saved of death, but to be saved out of death, that is, that He would be raised ( ). That question was answered, as we hear in the last three words of : “You answer me.” Here comes the great turn in this psalm. The Lord’s prayer is answered in the resurrection ( ; ). In what follows, all of man’s sin is gone, for it has been judged in the three hours of darkness. The complaint has been changed into a song of praise. The lamentation has been changed into a psalm of praise. The suffering is forever behind Him. What follows in the next few verses shows that God dwells on the songs of praise of Israel. It is one great song of praise to God in the midst of an ever-widening circle, until from the whole earth one great song of praise rises to God. The grain of wheat that fell into the earth and died is now going to bear much fruit ( ). The suffering inflicted on the Lord by men results in judgment for men. The suffering done to Him by God results in reconciliation and blessing for man. In this psalm Christ is the sin offering, the sacrifice for sin. He was made sin, meaning that God made Him the very source of sin and judged it in Him ( ). What results from this is nothing but pure grace and blessing to man. He accomplished the work all by Himself, but in the results countless millions of redeemed share ( ). After Christ’s victory over sin, world and death, there is no judgment on the enemies, but blessing for His own. The ultimate result of the work of reconciliation is blessing for all mankind in the realm of peace and for all believers in eternity ( ). He is the Lamb of God Who, by virtue of His atoning work, will take away the sin of the world ( ). We must remember that between the transition from complaint to praise is a period of about 2000 years now. What is described up to took place at the first coming of Christ. What is described from onwards moves us to His resurrection and its consequences at His second coming. We move, so to speak, from the hill of Golgotha to the Mount of Olives.

‏ Psalms 22:19

Cry for Salvation

One last time, the Lord turns with all His trouble to God, His God. God, His only Support and Relief, has forsaken Him. All men, incited by satan, are full of mockery and hatred against Him. In His trouble He cries out and asks if God, Who is now so far off, will not remain far off (Psa 22:19). He asks that God as His help will come to His assistance soon, with haste, to deliver and save Him. Here faith in God Who has forsaken Him speaks. Despite the reality of being forsaken He continues to trust in His God.

He asks God to deliver “my soul”, that is He Himself in His deepest feelings, “from the sword” (Psa 22:20). That sword weighs heavily upon Him. His unspeakable and indescribable loneliness He expresses by presenting Himself to God as “My only [life]”. Because of that loneliness He feels “the power of the dog”, the heathen powers, all the stronger.

He feels Himself in “the lion’s mouth” (Psa 22:21a). Satan, he is that lion, and all his demons have stirred up the wicked mass of the religious people and brought them to the grossest expressions of mockery and defamation. Christ sees the people as “wild oxen” who have taken Him on their horns (Psa 22:21b).

We see in these verses the demand for a threefold redemption:

1. From the sword (Psa 22:20a; cf. Zec 13:7), that is from God’s side.

2. From the violence of the dog (Psa 22:20b), that is from the side of man.

3. From the mouth of the lion (Psa 22:21a), that is from satan’s side.

Christ’s demand for salvation is not the demand not to die. He had come to do the will of God and He fully knew what that meant. His question is not to be saved of death, but to be saved out of death, that is, that He would be raised (Heb 5:7). That question was answered, as we hear in the last three words of Psa 22:21: “You answer me.” Here comes the great turn in this psalm.

The Lord’s prayer is answered in the resurrection (Psa 22:21c; Psa 21:4). In what follows, all of man’s sin is gone, for it has been judged in the three hours of darkness. The complaint has been changed into a song of praise. The lamentation has been changed into a psalm of praise. The suffering is forever behind Him. What follows in the next few verses shows that God dwells on the songs of praise of Israel. It is one great song of praise to God in the midst of an ever-widening circle, until from the whole earth one great song of praise rises to God. The grain of wheat that fell into the earth and died is now going to bear much fruit (Jn 12:24).

The suffering inflicted on the Lord by men results in judgment for men. The suffering done to Him by God results in reconciliation and blessing for man. In this psalm Christ is the sin offering, the sacrifice for sin. He was made sin, meaning that God made Him the very source of sin and judged it in Him (2Cor 5:21). What results from this is nothing but pure grace and blessing to man. He accomplished the work all by Himself, but in the results countless millions of redeemed share (Jn 12:24).

After Christ’s victory over sin, world and death, there is no judgment on the enemies, but blessing for His own. The ultimate result of the work of reconciliation is blessing for all mankind in the realm of peace and for all believers in eternity (Col 1:20-22). He is the Lamb of God Who, by virtue of His atoning work, will take away the sin of the world (Jn 1:29).

We must remember that between the transition from complaint to praise is a period of about 2000 years now. What is described up to Psa 22:21a took place at the first coming of Christ. What is described from Psa 22:21b onwards moves us to His resurrection and its consequences at His second coming. We move, so to speak, from the hill of Golgotha to the Mount of Olives.