Scripture Reading: Psa. 22; Matt. 27:45-46; Heb. 2:10-12
Ⅰ
The subject of Psalm 22 is the Christ who has passed through His redeeming death and entered into His church-producing resurrection.
Ⅱ
Psalm 22:1-21 gives a detailed picture of Christ in His suffering of death (cf. Isa. 53), as typified by David in his suffering:
A
The question in Psalm 22:1 was spoken by David in his suffering, but it became a prophecy concerning Christ in His suffering of His redeeming death.
B
Verses 6 through 8 display Christ's suffering unto death through men's reproach, despising, deriding, sneering, headshaking, and mocking.
C
Verses 9 through 11 show that while people were mocking Him and deriding Him, Christ trusted in God for deliverance, that is, for resurrection; He intended definitely to die and expected to be delivered from death, that is, to be resurrected from the dead—Luke 18:31-33; Heb. 5:7.
D
Psalm 22:12-18 depicts in vivid detail how Christ passed through His suffering of crucifixion—Mark 15:16-37.
E
God judged Christ and put Him into death for our redemption—Psa. 22:15:
１
On the one hand, man crucified the Lord Jesus; on the other hand, God killed Him:
ａ
In the first three hours that Christ was on the cross, He was persecuted by men for doing God's will.
ｂ
In the last three hours, Christ was our Substitute, He became sin on our behalf, and He died a vicarious death to redeem us from our sins and from God's judgment—2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 3:18; 1 Cor. 15:3.
２
All the sin of the world was laid on Christ as the Lamb of God; God judged Him and put Him into death for our redemption—Isa. 53:6b, 10a; 1 Pet. 2:24a; John 1:29.
F
On the cross Christ was forsaken by God—Psa. 22:1; Matt. 27:45-46:
１
While Christ was on the earth, God the Father was with Him all the time, but at a certain point in His crucifixion, God forsook Him—John 8:29; Matt. 27:45-46.
２
When the Lord Jesus died on the cross under God's judgment, He had God within Him essentially as His divine being; nevertheless, He was forsaken by the righteous and judging God economically—1:20; 3:16-17:
ａ
The Lord Jesus had been born of the Spirit; thus, the Spirit was one of the two essences of His being—1:20; Luke 1:35.
ｂ
Before the Spirit of God descended and came upon the Lord Jesus, He already had the Spirit of God within Him—Matt. 3:16.
ｃ
On the cross Christ, the God-man, presented Himself to God as the all-inclusive sacrifice through the eternal Spirit—Heb. 9:14.
ｄ
After God had counted Christ as a sinner to be our Substitute and had accepted His offering, God, as the Holy Spirit who had come upon Him, forsook Him—Matt. 27:46.
３
Although God as the Spirit left the Lord Jesus economically, Christ nevertheless died as the Son of God, a God-man; hence, in His death there is a divine and eternal element—Acts 20:28; 1 John 1:7; Heb. 9:12.
Ⅲ
After passing through His redeeming death, Christ entered into His church-producing resurrection—Psa. 22:22-31:
A
Verses 22 through 31 refer to Christ in His resurrection, as typified by Solomon in his kingly reign.
B
I in verse 22a is the resurrected Christ who declares the Father's name to His brothers—Heb. 2:12:
１
It was in His resurrection that Christ called His disciples His brothers, for in God's eternal view His disciples were regenerated and became God's sons in Christ's resurrection—John 20:17; Matt. 28:10; 1 Pet. 1:3.
２
In His resurrection Christ Himself was begotten to be God's firstborn Son (Psa. 2:7; Acts 13:33) and became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b), and all God's chosen and redeemed people were regenerated to be the many sons of God, the many brothers of Christ (Heb. 2:10-12; Rom. 8:29).
C
In Psalm 22:22b the assembly signifies the church, indicating that the Lord's brothers constitute the church; thus, His resurrection is the church-producing resurrection—Heb. 2:10-12:
１
The church is a living composition of the many sons of God, who are the many brothers of Christ, brought forth in His resurrection—vv. 10-12.
２
As the many brothers of Christ, we are the same as the firstborn Son; He is divine and human, and we are human and divine, and thus the church is both human and divine—an organism with two lives and two natures combined and mingled together—v. 11;1:6;Rom.8:29; cf.Lev.2.
D
In Psalm 22:22 You and Your refer to the Father:
１
In resurrection Christ declared the Father's name to His brothers and praised the Father in the church—Heb. 2:12.
２
The praise in Psalm 22:22 is the firstborn Son's praising of the Father within the Father's many sons in the church meetings—Heb. 2:10, 12:
ａ
It is not that the Son praises the Father apart from us and alone; rather, He praises within us and with us through our praising.
ｂ
When we, the many sons of God, meet as the church and praise the Father, the firstborn Son praises the Father in our praising—v. 12b; cf. Matt. 26:30.
E
The church ushers in Christ's kingdom for Christ to rule over the nations; the church, produced by Christ's resurrection, is the reality of the kingdom and a precursor to the manifestation of the kingdom in the millennium—Psa. 22:27-28; Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17.
F
Jehovah as Christ will rule over the nations in the millennial kingdom—Psa. 22:28; 2:8-9; Rev. 19:15; 20:4, 6.
G
The believers are the seed of Christ, and their declaring the Lord's righteousness (justification, salvation) to a coming generation refers to the preaching of the gospel—Psa. 22:30-31.