"No Plan B"
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Why are you so far away when I groan for help? (Psalm 22:1 NLT)
These are the familiar words that Jesus cried out on the cross. Many people talk about this verse as God turning his back on his son. But could there be more to it here?
If you read all of Psalm 22 it is quite clear that it is about Jesus. We know that all of the Bible is about him. This Psalm is about David's personal experience but the detail here is also about Jesus. Consider verses 15-18:
"My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead.
My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs;
an evil gang closes in on me.
They have pierced my hands and feet.
I can count all my bones.
My enemies stare at me and gloat.
They divide my garments among themselves
and throw dice for my clothing."(Psalm 22:15-18 NLT)
His hands & his feet being pierced along with his garments being divided provide us with amazing detail that happened at the cross. And, what's amazing about this is, this Psalm was written hundreds of years before.
How do we explain this? The Bible is about Jesus. This Psalm not only reflects the experience of David but speaks of a coming one that would suffer in this way as well, his suffering having much greater consequences than David's. In fact, these verses point to the nations & future generations knowing the Lord because of his suffering.
"The whole earth will acknowledge the Lord and return to him.
All the families of the nations will bow down before him.
For royal power belongs to the Lord .
He rules all the nations.
Our children will also serve him.
Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord.
His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born.
They will hear about everything he has done."
(Psalm 22:27, 28, 30, 31 NLT)
David, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote this Psalm about a suffering servant. Jesus knew his Bible. He knew Psalm 22. The thing is, in the first century they didn't have the Psalms numbered. The way you referred to a Psalm was by the opening verse.
What this means for us is that Jesus was indeed feeling the weight of the sin of the world & the wrath of God being poured out on him. He was feeling forsaken! Did God turn his back on him? I don't think so. In fact, the Bible seems to teach that God poured all his wrath out on his son and, as Isaiah 53 says, "It pleased the Lord to crush him."
What then is going on here? When Jesus said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me," he was saying Psalm 22, Psalm 22!! He was saying, this must happen to me. It was written about me hundreds of years ago! This is not an accident! This is the design, plan, & will of God! My hands had to be pierced. My clothes have to be divided. All of this must take place so that the nations can come to know God. All of this must take place so that future generations might know me. Jesus is saying, "Psalm 22 proves I am who I say I am." Psalm 22 reveals the plan & heart of God in his crucifixion. Jesus was crucified before the foundation of the world. This was always God's plan & there is no plan B.
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