"Christ During Crucifixion Discloses His Suffering"
Sermon on Psalm 22:1-2,6-8,12-18
Saint Mark's, Watertown
1:00 PM, April 10, 1998
Pastor Karl Walther
He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Amen.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." I bring you to the foot of the cross; in fact, I bring you into the mind of Christ on the cross. Psalm twenty-two, selected verses:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.
I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him."
Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.
Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me.
They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones.
People stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
This is the Word of God, and the mind of Jesus Christ.
Introduction: David Discloses Christ's Suffering During Crucifixion
Dear fellow Christians-- to whom Christ discloses his suffering, and for whom Christ's suffering enclosed him:
It was ten centuries before the time of Christ. Sometime at that time, early in the history of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the inspiration of God the Spirit came upon David. David composed a song (a psalm), he set it to the tune of "The Doe of the Dawn", and he handed it to the director of music at the Lord's central sanctuary.
This psalm, Psalm Twenty-Two, had twin parts. First, it had a certain man speaking of his horrendous humiliation. Secondly, it had a certain man speaking of his extraordinary exaltation. And even in the first part -- speaking of his horrendous humiliation -- this certain man's outcries of pain alternated with his outcries of faith.
On the one hand, David and Psalm Twenty-Two must have been a prophet and prophecy of which Peter would later speak; he said: The prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It's true: to some extent, this writing of David's must have puzzled him.
On the other hand, David must have looked at his Spirit-inspired composition -- Psalm Twenty-Two -- and known that in it, God the Spirit had revealed to him the mind of Christ himself.
Theme: Christ During Crucifixion Discloses His Suffering
You see, in Psalm Twenty-Two, it's true that CHRIST DURING CRUCIFIXION DISCLOSES HIS SUFFERING. That's our theme this afternoon. In fact, it's in a three-fold way that Christ During Crucifixion Discloses His Suffering: first of all, suffering INSIDE HIMSELF, secondly, suffering AT THE HANDS OF OTHERS, and thirdly and finally, suffering IN RELATION TO HIS FATHER.
Part #1: Jesus Suffered Inside Himself
Now, I mentioned before that the first part of this psalm -- Christ speaking of his horrendous humiliation -- alternates between his outcries of pain and his outcries of faith. It is, however, mostly the outcries of Christ's pain that we will focus on this afternoon.
And first of all, we want to look at the last group of paragraphs: where Christ During Crucifixion Discloses His Suffering ... inside himself.
Among those paragraphs Jesus speaks such words as these: I am poured out like water. Jesus is saying, "Much of my blood has drained from me. All of my energy has drained from me. I am as weak as water."
All my bones are out of joint, Jesus continues. "The downward pull of my body's weight is separating my forearms from my wrists, my upper arms from my elbows, and the rest of my body from my shoulders."
And Jesus goes on: My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. "To my inmost parts, weakness has permeated me-- and with it, discouragement."
My strength is dried up like a potsherd. "As much moisture as a dried clay pot has, so much strength do I have left-- namely, none."
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. "I'm choking for lack of a drink. I cry out, 'I thirst!'"
You lay me in the dust of death. "God, God of life and God of righteousness-- you are in the process of putting the life of your Righteous One into death's dust."
They have pierced my hands and my feet. "Besides all this, the downward drag of my body rips at my four limbs' wounds-- causing serious, searing pain."
I can count all my bones. "So misshapen is my form on this cross and so gaunt is my frame that my bones stick out abnormally-- and hurtfully."
Application #1: Jesus Suffered Inside Himself ... For You
Friend, there you have portrayed for you the physical pain -- the everlasting pain! -- that your sins have earned for you. You deserve the searing pain of those spikes nailed into you! (Can you feel them?) You deserve barely to breathe as your bones go out of joint! (Can you feel it?) You deserve the dust of death!
You deserve this punishment for every time you've misused your body. For every bit of gluttony, for every bit of drunkenness, for every lazy lack of exercise, for every rebellion against authority, for every harm you've done to another, for every lust-- you deserve this punishment.
You deserve it because your Heavenly Father, who created your body, is holy. His holiness demands that he hate sin, that he not tolerate sin, that he punish sin. After all, it's he that says: The soul that sins-- it shall die.
But it's here, against Christ on the cross, that God exercised his holy hatred for your transgressions. Through Christ, your sins are gone! In Christ, your punishment is done! With Christ, God actually protects your body and cares for it-- until he draws it to himself eternally. The Bible assures you: By his wounds, you are healed.
So, Jesus Suffered ... Inside Himself-- for you.
Part #2: Jesus Suffered At The Hands Of Others
Next, we want to look at those sentences where Christ During Crucifixion Discloses His Suffering ... at the hands of others. Some of those sentences are also in the last group of paragraphs.
Jesus says: Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan (the best of bull-feeding land)-- they encircle me. Jesus is saying, "Swirling at the foot of my cross are my enemies. And each of them is the picture of health."
Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me. "Their words are boisterous lies. Their wrong statements rip my flesh. Their false declarations devour me."
Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me. "Around me are my adversaries. They are devilish dogs. They are a congregation of criminals."
People stare and gloat over me. "Everybody considers me sinfully guilty."
They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. "I shiver; they play games. I wear a loincloth; they have extra clothing. I lose what little I had; they gain what they don't need."
And then the second set of paragraphs above all this, in its entirety, says the same.
I am a worm and not a man-- a maggot (it says) and not a man, scorned by men -- the scorn of mankind, and despised by the people-- the contempt of God's people. You notice the three little sentences there. Normal Hebrew poetry has only two elements. But it's three-fold here in order to emphasize the extraordinary affliction occurring.
All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. Again, the three-fold designation underlines the extra oppression.
These enemies mock and insult with the words: "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." You recognize the words of the passers-by at Christ's cross-- and especially the words of the Jewish leaders. They questioned God's delight in his Son. They scorned Christ's confidence in the Lord. And really, they ridiculed the Father himself.
Application #2: Jesus Suffered At The Hands Of Others ... For You
Friend, there you have portrayed for you the emotional pain -- the everlasting embarrassment! -- that your sins have earned for you. You deserve others gawking at your half-naked, entirely-ragged body! (Can you feel that embarrassment?) You deserve others aiming accusations against you! (Can you feel that shame?) You deserve others ridiculing your relationship to your Father!
You deserve this embarrassment for every time you've sinned against others. For every bit of greed, for every bit of lying, for every bit of theft, for every wrongful anger for every arrogance, for every envy-- you deserve this embarrassment.
You deserve it because your Heavenly Father, who placed you in relationship to others, is holy. His holiness demands that he hate sin, that he not tolerate sin, that he punish sin. After all, it's he that says: Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: ...many to shame and everlasting contempt.
But it's here, against Christ on the cross, that God exercised his holy hatred for your transgressions. Through Christ, your sins are gone! In Christ, your punishment is done! With Christ, God actually protects your reputation and cares for it-- until he draws you to himself eternally. The Bible assures you: You ... will shine like the brightness of the heavens, ...like the stars for ever and ever.
So, Jesus Suffered ... At The Hands Of Others-- for you.
Part #3: Jesus Suffered In Relation To His Father
And finally, we want to look at the first group of paragraphs: where Christ During Crucifixion Discloses His Suffering ... in relation to his Father.
In those paragraphs Jesus starts with such words as these: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
In all the years of the history of the earth, such a thing as this had never happened before and will not happen again. Never, before or since, has God forsaken one of his own people. David himself wrote in Psalm Thirty-Four: The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry. But that didn't happen here.
In fact: never, before or since, has God forsaken even a wicked person in the way the Father forsook perfectly righteous Jesus here Jesus himself had said: The Father in heaven ... causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. But that Father gave neither sunshine nor moisture to his Son here.
And even so, Christ's own confidence in his Father did not waver: O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent. Under sunshine, during the first three hours on the cross, Jesus kept crying out. Under darkness like that of night, during the last three hours on the cross, Jesus refrained from keeping silence. And although his Father kept forsaking him during those hours, Jesus' faith did not forsake his Father.
Application #3: Jesus Suffered In Relation To His Father ... For You
Friend, there you have portrayed for you the everlasting abandonment that your sins have earned for you. You deserve never to have God's sun shine on you! (Can you imagine it?) You deserve never to have God answer your prayers! (Can you picture it?) You deserve never to experience the presence of your loving Lord-- not now, not a year from now, not a century from now, not a million years from now, not a hundred trillion years from now, never: only the horrible horrors of hell!
You deserve this abandonment for every time you've abandoned the Lord. For every time you weren't willing to hear his Word, for every time you failed to pray, for every failure to fear God, lack of love for God, absence of trust in God-- you deserve this abandonment.
You deserve it because your Heavenly Father, who placed you in relationship to himself, is holy. His holiness demands that he hate sin, that he not tolerate sin, that he punish sin. After all, it's he that says: The wicked ... my soul hates.
But it's here, against Christ on the cross, that God exercised his holy hatred for your transgressions. Through Christ, your sins are gone! In Christ, your punishment is done! With Christ, God actually unites you to himself, now and eternally. The Bible assures you: The effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.
So, Jesus Suffered ... In Relation To His Father-- for you.
Conclusion: We Disclose Christ's Suffering During Crucifixion
That, brothers and sisters, is how Christ became what he was not -- sin, subject to death, a sufferer of hell -- so that you have become what you were not -- the very righteousness of God, in Christ Jesus.
Friend, believe this! Friend, live it! Love it! Friend, build your very existence upon this message! And share it! Amen.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Amen.