T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
August, 1937
296
The Messianic Psalms*
By W ILL IAM L. PETTINGILL Wilmington, Delaware
PART IV T h e T hree S hepherd P salms
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"The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."
O F t h e Messianic Psalms—the Psalms that are taken up and quoted in the New Testament and there applied to Christ—the fourth is Psalm 22. Psalms 22, 23, and 24 should be considered together, for they are all Shepherd Psalms. In the New Testament our Lord is presented as a Shepherd in three ways. In John 10 He is the Good Shepherd, giving His life for the sheep (John 10:11). In Hebrews 13:20 He is the Great Shepherd, “brought again from the dead . . . through the blood of the everlasting covenant,” who is now in resurrection power and glory caring for His flock. In 1 Peter 5:4 He is the Chief Shep herd who will one day appear to reward His undershepherds and take immediate charge of His sheep. All of these relationships are set forth in order in our three Shepherd Psalms. In Psalm 22 the Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep. In Psalm 23 the Great Shepherd is leading His sheep and caring for them. In Psalm 24 He is the King of glory, in His appearing at the end of the age. A. J. Gordon used to say that Psalm 23 is a suspension bridge, leading from the sufferings of Christ in Psalm 22 to the glories that shall follow, described in Psalm 24 (cf. 1 Pet. 1:11). Psalm 22 has been called “The Psalm of Sobs.” It is a picture of our Lord’s cruci fixion, written a thousand years before the event. We shall find as we go on with this study that this Psalm is frequently re ferred to in the New Testament, and that it is unmistakably applied to Christ. H uman S in and D ivine H oliness The Psalm opens with one of the seven words from the cross: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” In Matthew 27:46 we read that “ about the ninth hour
Shuhite was being solved, as set forth in Job 25:4-6: “ How then can man be justi fied with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?” The answer to Bildad’s question is that man is justified- with God through the. transaction of Calvary, where the Lamb of God shed His precious blood in order to make it possible for the right eous God to remain righteous while justify ing the believing sinner. It is the marvel of the gospel that God found a way by which “ he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). The sacrifice of Calvary does not appeal to the natural man. “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” (Psa. 22:7, 8). In Matthew’s account of the crucifixion we read that “they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in G od; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth” (Matt. 27:39-44). T he S tory of C alvary O ne T housand Y ears in A dvance In verses 9 and 10 the Sufferer rolls Him self upon Jehovah in His agony, and in
Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” In the consideration of these words, the question arises as to just why God did for sake His Son in that awful hour on the cross. The cry goes on: “Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou answerest not; and in the night season, and am not silent” (Psa. 22:1, 2, R. V .). ' The answer to this question may be found in the words of verses 3 to 6: “But thou art holy, O' thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were de livered: 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” (vs. 3-6). The holiness of God forbade Him to hear the cry of the Sufferer on the cross. Though that Sufferer was His own Son, and though the Son was doing the will of God in His suffering, yet the holy God could not look upon His own Lamb because that Lamb was there as a sin offering, and upon Him was laid the crushing burden of the sin of the world. The holy God cannot look upon sin with any degree of al lowance, and on the cross the Son of God was made sin for us, though He knew no sin, that we might be made the righteous ness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). This is a point that should be understood clearly. Jesus of Nazareth hung on the cross not as the Son of God, though of course He was the Son of God, and is. He hung there, however, as the embodiment of the world’s sin. He hung there as “ a worm, and no man.” It was from this em bodiment of sin that the holy God turned away. In that moment the problem of Bildad the
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