The Sufferings of Christ (Psalms) 20230402 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
04/02 Lent; The Sufferings of Christ; Psalms [Palm Sunday] Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20230402_sufferings-of-christ.mp3
In the weeks leading up to Good Friday, we have been examining Jesus’ claim that all the Scriptures are all about him. In Luke 18, to his twelve disciples on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus said:
Luke 18:31 ...“See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”
After the crucifixion, to his despairing disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus said:
Luke 24:25 ...“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Then to his disciples gathered in Jerusalem, Jesus said:
Luke 24:44 ...“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
The Law of Moses, the Prophets, the Psalms; the three divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures, all point to Jesus; specifically to his sufferings.
Two weeks ago we looked at the five books of Moses, how it all points to Jesus. Last week we looked at the prophets, how they point us to Jesus.
The Prophets testify that we are engraved on the palms of his hands (Isaiah 49:14-16; John 20:25, 27). That the heavens would be clothed in blackness, that he would be scourged and shamefully spit upon (Isaiah 50:3-7; Luke 9:51; Matthew 26:67; 27:26, 30, 45; John 19:1). That he would drink the cup of God’s wrath (Isaiah 51:17-23; Matthew 26:39, 42). That we would be redeemed without money (Isaiah 52:3; 1 Peter 1:18-19). That he would be high and lifted up (Isaiah 52:10-15; John 3:14; 12:32). That he would bear our griefs; carry our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4). That he would be pierced for our transgressions; crushed for our iniquities; that our chastisement would fall upon him (Isaiah 53:5). That YHWH would lay on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). That he would be stricken for the transgression of my people (Isaiah 53:8). That YHWH would crush him as an offering for guilt and would be satisfied with his offering (Isaiah 53:10-11). That it would be by his righteousness that many would be counted as righteous (Isaiah 53:11; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; John 19:30; Colossians 2:13-14).
Today, I want to turn to the Psalms, how they point us to Jesus. Understand, when Jesus referred to the second division of the Scriptures as the Prophets, that included more than what we class as prophetic books. It included Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. Similarly, when Jesus referred to the Psalms, he was referring to the third division of the Scriptures, which began with the books of Psalms, but included the other wisdom literature, as well as books like Ruth, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles. We obviously don’t have time this morning to cover all that ground together, so we will limit ourselves to the book of Psalms.
As early as Psalm 2 we see the leaders conspiring against the Lord’s Anointed, the Messiah
Psalm 2:1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
We also see that this Anointed Messiah is the only begotten Son, destined to rule the nations. [Acts.4:25-26; 13:33; Heb.1:5; 5:5]
Psalm 2:6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
We are warned of coming judgment, and we are encouraged to take refuge in the Son.
Psalm 2:11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Palm Sunday; Hosanna!
Jesus quoted Psalm 8 on Palm Sunday in reference to the children crying out ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’ [Mt.21:16]
Psalm 8:1 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
What was on the lips of the crowd that day as they welcomed the King with palm branches comes from Psalm 118;
Psalm 118:19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD. 20 This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it. ...24 This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD. 27 The LORD is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! [Matthew 21:9; 23:39; Mark 11:9; Luke 13:35; 19:38; John 12:13]
Zeal For Your House
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, he drove out the money changers, and his disciples remembered [John 2:17] that it is written in Psalm 69
Psalm 69:9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, ...
Hated Without Cause; False Witnesses; Betrayed by a Friend
But Psalm 69 starts out this way:
Psalm 69:1 Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. 2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. 3 I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. 4 More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?
... 7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face. 8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons.
Jesus was hated without cause [Jn.15:25]; even his brothers did not believe in him [Jn.7:5]. Psalm 35 also speaks of his enemies without cause plotting to take his life, and malicious witnesses rising up against him [Mt.26:59-60].
Psalm 35:7 For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life. ...11 Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know. 12 They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft.
Psalm 41 speaks of his betrayal by a friend, one who ate bread with him. [Jn.13:18]
Psalm 41:5 My enemies say of me in malice, “When will he die, and his name perish?” 6 And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad. 7 All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me. 8 They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies.” 9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
Scourged
Of his scourging, Psalm 129 says:
Psalm 129:3 The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.”
Sour Wine
When Jesus thirsted on the cross, they gave him sour wine to drink, fulfilling Psalm 69.
Psalm 69:14 Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. 15 Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me. 16 Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me. 17 Hide not your face from your servant; for I am in distress; make haste to answer me. 18 Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies! 19 You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you. 20 Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. 21 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. [Matthew 27:34, 48; Mark 15:36; Luke 23:36; John 19:28-29]
The Emotional Anguish of the Cross
In the Psalms we get a taste of the emotional anguish of the cross, the sense of utter abandonment, the despair. It is striking that the details of the phyisical trauma of scourging and crucifixion are absent from the gospels.
Matthew’s gospel records Pilate releasing to the crowds Barabbas, and we are simply told:
Matthew 27:26 ...and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.
The soldiers in the Praetorium stripped him, put a scarlet robe and crown of thorns on him, a reed in his right hand, and mocked him, spit on him and beat him, then put his own clothes back on him and led him away to crucify him (27-31). Verse 35 simply states ‘when they had crucified him…’
Mark records the same sequence of events, and says in 15:24 “and they crucified him...”
Luke records:
Luke 23:33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.
Anyone familiar with crucifixion would understand the excruciating agony; (crucifixion is where we get our word excruciating). But Jesus was not the only one to be crucified. Luke’s account tells us that there were at least 3 men crucified that day. History tells us that tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people were executed in this way.
The Scriptures focus not on the physical torment, but on the meaning of Jesus’ death. They answer the question ‘Why?’
Psalm 22
And the Psalms give us insight into the heart of Jesus, his emotions, what he was feeling. Jesus quoted the opening words of Psalm 22 from the cross, inviting us in to his experience.
Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.
Jesus received no answer, no salvation, a dark and desperate distance from his Father; he was abandoned; he was forsaken, so that we could be rescued, reconciled, received. Jesus experienced the death, the separation from the Father that our sins deserve.
Verse 3-5 go on to affirm the holiness, the trustworthiness of God.
Psalm 22:3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4 In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
This confident assertion of God’s faithfulness can make the experience of abandonment even more difficult; God rescued others, why is he not rescuing me? They were not put to shame, yet I am being put to shame. Why? They deserved to be put to shame, Jesus carried their shame. The mocking, the scorn, the
Psalm 22:6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 “He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
His accusers even throw his trust in God back in his face; if God truly delights in him, as he claims, why is he not delivering him now, in his greatest moment of need? The leaders of Israel take verse 8 on their lips in Matthew 27:43. Even a convicted criminal on an adjacent cross joins in the mocking. Jesus, God come in the flesh, is dehumanized, reduced to the lowest life form; a worm writhing in pain. The truth is that in order to save others, Jesus could not save himself (Mk.15:31).
Psalm 22:9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother's breasts. 10 On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother's womb you have been my God. 11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.
Jesus always lived in complete dependence on his Father. Now, when every human friend has forsaken him, even his Father seems far off.
Psalm 22:12 Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; 13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; 15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— 17 I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
Nails driven through flesh into wood. Cross lifted up, dropped into place, jarring every bone out of place. But we are reminded in Psalm 34:20 [John 19:36] that not one bone was broken.
The one who said to the woman of Samaria,
John 4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
This one experienced unquenchable thirst, so that we could drink of his living water and never be thirsty forever.
Extreme fatigue, exhaustion, dehydration, exposure to the sun, searing pain in each effort to take a breath. Suspended naked while the soldiers gambled for this clothing. Jesus was exposed and vulnerable, so that our shame would be covered, so that we could be forever clothed in the robes of his perfect righteousness.
‘My heart ...is melted with in my breast.’ When the soldier pierced his heart with a spear, we are told [Jn.19:34] that immediately blood and water gushed out.
Psalm 22:19 But you, O LORD, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! 20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! 21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
The physical torture was nothing compared to the anguish of being separated from his Father. Separated so that we could be brought near.
The remainder of Psalm 22 celebrates and worships in response to God’s salvation. And the Psalm concludes with the words ‘he has done it’; akin to what Jesus uttered from the cross after those hours of darkness ‘It is finished!’
And then in the words of Psalm 31:5 [Luke 23:46] ‘into your hand I commit my spirit!”
***
2023.04.02 Sermon Notes
The Sufferings of Christ – Jesus in the Psalms
Luke 18:31-33; Luke 24:25-27; Luke 24:44-48
Conspiring against Messiah; the Only-Begotten
Psalm 2:1-3, 6-8, 11; [Acts.4:25-26; 13:33; Heb.1:5; 5:5]
Palm Sunday; Hosanna!
Psalm 8:1-2; [Matthew 21:6]; Psalm 118:19-27;
[Matt.21:9; 23:39; Mark 11:9; Luke 13:35; 19:38; John 12:13]
Zeal for Your House
Psalm 69:9; [John 2:17]
Hated without cause; betrayed
Psalm 69:1-8; 35:7-12; 41:5-9;
[John 7:5; 13:18; 15:25; Matthew 26:59-60]
Scourged
Psalm 129:3; [Matthew 27:26]
Sour Wine to Drink
Psalm 69:14-21;
[Matthew 27:34, 48; Mark 15:36; Luke 23:36; John 19:28-29]
The Emotional anguish of the Cross
Psalm 22:1-21; [Matthew 27:26-36; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:33]
***
Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org