I have spent a couple weeks discussing Psalm 22, which is one of the most powerful chapters in the Old Testament with a view of Jesus on the cross. The other Old Testament chapter known for a prophetic look at the life of Jesus is Isaiah 53. Let's start by reading it in full:
Chapter 53
1 Who has believed our report?And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,And as a root out of dry ground.He has no form or comeliness;And when we see Him,There is no beauty that we should desire Him.3 He is despised and rejected by men,A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefsAnd carried our sorrows;Yet we esteemed Him stricken,Smitten by God, and afflicted.5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,He was bruised for our iniquities;The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,And by His stripes we are healed.6 All we like sheep have gone astray;We have turned, every one, to his own way;And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,Yet He opened not His mouth;He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,So He opened not His mouth.8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,And who will declare His generation?For He was cut off from the land of the living;For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.9 And they made His grave with the wicked--But with the rich at His death,Because He had done no violence,Nor was any deceit in His mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;He has put Him to grief.When You make His soul an offering for sin,He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,For He shall bear their iniquities.12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,Because He poured out His soul unto death,And He was numbered with the transgressors,And He bore the sin of many,And made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53:1-12 (NKJV)
There are many prophecies of Jesus, but there is something special about this chapter in Isaiah. It is always worth looking a little in advance of where a chapter begins as man added the verse numbers and chapter breaks to facilitate us finding the passages. The end of Chapter 52 obviously goes with this. Let's start with Isaiah 52:14:14:
Just as many were astonished at you,So His visage was marred more than any man,And His form more than the sons of men;15 So shall He sprinkle many nations.Kings shall shut their mouths at Him;For what had not been told them they shall see,And what they had not heard they shall consider.
Isaiah 52:14-15 (NKJV)
His visage was marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men. Basically, this is saying that Jesus didn't even look like a man anymore after they had beaten Him. After watching "The Passion of the Christ," many wondered if the beating and crucifixion were worse than had really happened when in all actuality, they were much less than had really happened. We know that they even plucked out His beard:
6 I gave My back to those who struck Me,And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.
Isaiah 50:6 (NKJV)
No wonder His disciples had trouble recognizing Him when He reappeared to them after His resurrection! His body was broken and even His face looked different. So now let's dig into Isaiah 53:
Who has believed our report?And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Isaiah 53:1 (NKJV)
The Old Testament Scriptures had revealed the Messiah to all who read, but when He came, they did not recognize Him. We were told in advance He would be born of a virgin, would be born in Bethlehem, would flee to Egypt, would live in Nazareth, would heal the blind, etc. They didn't know Him when He came because they expected Him to come as a warrior vanquishing all of their enemies. Instead, He came in love.
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,And as a root out of dry ground.He has no form or comeliness;And when we see Him,There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
Isaiah 53:2 (NKJV)
Jesus shall grow up before God the Father as a tender plant. He is the Master Gardener, who prunes us all. This verse tells us that Jesus would grow up in lowly circumstances. The Jews thought He would sit on the throne of David, but that will not happen until He comes the second time. There were no markings of royalty on His life as a man. Hollywood always portrays Jesus as a wimp, usually very American looking with blue eyes. Don't forget, He was a Middle-Eastern Jew and looked like a Middle-Eastern Jew. He worked as a carpenter, and was certainly not a wimp. But this verse also tells us more about the physical presence of Jesus than we learn in the Gospels. He had no form or comeliness and when we see Him, there is no physical beauty. Why would God not have His Son come to earth as the most handsome of men? Because if we are to truly follow Him, we will be drawn to His inner beauty. It would be too easy to gravitate to a silver-tongued charmer. That, not so ironically, is the description of the antichrist!
3 He is despised and rejected by men,A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Isaiah 53:3 (NKJV)
Not only was He rejected by the people He came to save, they hated Him. He felt what the pains of this earth were like. Though He never walked in sin, He felt the brokenness of this world and even felt the brokenness of sin when all of ours were cast upon His shoulders on the cross. If you ever feel like Jesus has no idea what you are going through or what you are feeling, know that He does, and not just from an intellectual perspective. He has felt that pain. Think back to the two times Jesus cried in the Gospels. He cried when Lazarus died. He knew that He was going to bring Him back to life, but still, Jesus felt the pain of a friend's death. Then the week before His crucifixion, while overlooking Jerusalem, He wept for the city filled with all the people He came to save who did not see Him. He was heartbroken.
4 Surely He has borne our griefsAnd carried our sorrows;Yet we esteemed Him stricken,Smitten by God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:4 (NKJV)
It is interesting that this is written in past tense, though it is a future event. It reminds us that God is outside of time. When He died on the cross, He carried all of my sins, even the ones I have not committed yet. He carried our grief and our sorrow. And with all He did for us, we treated Him with disdain, instead of with great honor and thanks. He carried our sins...the cause of our sorrows.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,He was bruised for our iniquities;The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,And by His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV)
Jesus became the scapegoat for our sins. He was beaten and bruised so brutally, that crucifixion didn't take multiple days as it normally did. He died on the cross within hours of being placed there. But the last verse in this passage is the key to our lives. "By His stripes, we are healed." He took our pain for us. I remember a story I once heard about the days in a one-room schoolhouse. A new teacher had come to town and was trying to set the stage by making rules and forcing the children to adhere to them. A major offense carried the punishment of 10 strokes with a paddle. One day, a little boy stole someone's lunch. The teacher found out who had done this. Sadly, he also found out why. The boy hadn't eaten all week. His family was very poor and rather than ask for help, he stole. The teacher knew the reason for the crime, but still felt like he had to punish the little boy. Another boy in the class asked the teacher if he could take the punishment for the boy who had stolen the lunch and the teacher agreed. While being whipped, the tears in the boys' eyes were partly from the pain, and partly from knowing what he was doing for someone else. The boy who stole the lunch appreciated what his friend did for him. Multiply this times a billion and take away the appreciation of the act and it gives you a small glimpse into what Jesus endured on that day.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;We have turned, every one, to his own way;And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6 (NKJV)
This verse describes our world so well. Sheep are not smart animals. They can't defend themselves, and without a shepherd, frequently find themselves in dire circumstances. Many times in the Bible, people are described as doing what is right in their own eyes.
15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,But he who heeds counsel is wise.
Proverbs 12:15 (NKJV)
Instead of following the laws of God, we decide the difference between right and wrong. We take the 10 Commandments away from the courthouses and take the Bible out of the school. We wouldn't want to offend someone who has a different belief system. In case you haven't figured it out yet, our ways don't work! God placed our sins on the shoulders of His Son, and there were a lot of sins to place there!
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,Yet He opened not His mouth;He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,So He opened not His mouth.
Isaiah 53:7 (NKJV)
Jesus went before a trial with Caiaphas, had false witnesses testify against Him, went before Pontius Pilate, and didn't try to end the events of the day by defending Himself. He let the procedures continue as it was what He came to do. He also knew the time was when it was designed to happen. He was the Passover Lamb and was slaughtered. As badly as He was beaten, He held His tongue. When the nails went through His hands and feet, He held His tongue.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,And who will declare His generation?For He was cut off from the land of the living;For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
Isaiah 53:8 (NKJV)
This verse takes me back to my trip to Israel and reminds me of the Antonio Fortress. He was killed, for the sins of God's people. Daniel 9:26 also refers to Messiah being cut off.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked--But with the rich at His death,Because He had done no violence,Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Isaiah 53:9 (NKJV)
Jesus had no home...He was not a rich man. He died with poor criminals, beside Him on the cross. But Joseph of Arimathea placed Him in a rich man's grave, just below Golgotha. Even people who do not believe in Him as the Son of God still refer to Jesus as a good man who lived. He was not a violent man. Even his burial is prophesied here!
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;He has put Him to grief.When You make His soul an offering for sin,He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
Isaiah 53:10 (NKJV)
I always come back to this verse. Because the Father knew that this was the only way any of us could know Him, He took pleasure in the crucifixion of His only begotten Son. The Father made Jesus' soul an offering for our sin, for my sin. The seed of this event will extend through all of time, as many people have been forgiven from their sins because they asked for that forgiveness. God's pleasure is in seeing each one of us follow Him.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,For He shall bear their iniquities.
Isaiah 53:11 (NKJV)
Jesus sees the effect that this labor accomplished, and He is satisfied. It was worth it. Jesus justifies us. What is justification? It is the daily process of us becoming more like Him...part of us dying each day and more of Him living in us. Though we become a new creation when we come to Him, we do not completely change as the old memories remain, as does the sin nature. But through the Holy Spirit, God reminds us of what is right in His eyes. "Justified" is easy to remember if you know that it is "just if I'd never sinned!"
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,Because He poured out His soul unto death,And He was numbered with the transgressors,And He bore the sin of many,And made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53:12 (NKJV)
We are included in the inheritance that God gives to Jesus. He divides the spoil with us who follow Him. This verse even tells us that He would be crucified with others, not alone, and one of them will share the inheritance, too. He bore our sins and made intercession for sinners. Jesus is the intercessory High Priest. That began on the cross when He asked the Father to forgive us and told Him we did not know what we were doing, and it continues in heaven. Let's look at a verse to see that:
25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Hebrews 7:25 (NKJV)
and
24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
Hebrews 9:24 (NKJV)
So, what do you think about Isaiah 53? Isn't it awesome?
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Saturday, June 9, 2007
The Blood Avenger
The Blood Avenger!
My Bible reading this week had me in the book of 2 Samuel. David is certainly one of the most interesting people to read about in all of the Bible. He is certainly not one of the individuals who has only glowing accolades to describe them. David was certainly fallible. He had many wives and concubines, though by God's designs, a man is to be the husband of one wife. Any sexual relations outside of that marriage is sin, so we know that much of David's life was filled with sin. Additionally, King David had sexual relations with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of the commanders of David's army. Unable to cover that sin by coercing Uriah to sleep with the pregnant Bathsheba, David had Uriah killed. So in addition to being an adulterer, David was a murderer. That is comforting to me. Why? Because in 1 Samuel 13:16, David is described as being a man after God's heart!
How could a man so filled with sin be a man after God's heart? Read Psalms and you will discover the answer! David, with all of his failings and frailties, was a man of prayer and worship. God doesn't expect us to be perfect, though He does expect us as Christians to try and follow His laws. The moment when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and ask for His forgiveness, He removes our past, present and future sin as far as the east is from the west. We are no longer clothed in the filthy rags of our sinful lives, but are clothed in His righteousness, covered by the innocent blood of the Lamb of God. So many people don't want to go to church, for they say that the church is filled with hypocrites. The biggest difference between believers and unbelievers isn't in the lack of sin in the lives of Christians...it is in the fact that the Christians' sins are forgiven.
As Christians, we should have different lives than the ones we had before coming to Christ, but those changes are not made instantaneously. Remember the comments of John the Baptist. He (Jesus) must increase and I must decrease. Every day as a Christian, a little more of Jesus should be alive in me and a little more of the old man should be dead. This passage in Ephesians speaks of that transition:
17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:17-24 (NKJV)
Notice where the sin begins -- in the mind. The sin goes from the mind to the heart, and as the heart grows hard, the actions become sinful. In the Bible, the number 6 symbolizes man. Interestingly, there are six descriptions here of the characteristics of a person without the presence of God in their lives.
Having their understanding darkened
Being alienated from the life of God
Because of the ignorance that is in them
Because of the blindness of their hearts
Have given themselves over to lewdness
To work all uncleanness with greediness
It sure sounds a lot like what I see in people all around me and in the media, though this was written many years ago! According to this passage, the following questions can be answered. What have we learned? Christ! What have we heard? Christ! Who taught us about Christ? Christ! Where is the truth? In Christ! He is everything! Verse 22 is the key verse of the section. Notice that there are behaviors that we are responsible for and there is a response by God. What are we responsible for doing? Put off the former conduct and put off the former man. So what will God do? Notice what the following verse says, "be renewed in the spirit of your mind." It doesn't say that you need to renew your mind. It says "be renewed!" Who does the renewing? God does!
Another verse I came across this week sent me in an entirely different direction:
Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him.
2 Samuel 14:14 (NKJV)
That is exactly what God did by sending Jesus to die for our sins. He devised a means, in fact, the only one possible, that we as banished ones are not expelled from Him. In the Old Testament, there was a term called the Blood Avenger. You can read about it in Numbers 35:19-27. That signified a person who takes revenge on another person who killed or hurt someone dear to them. In 2 Samuel, Absalom murdered Amnon, who had raped their sister Tamar. Absalom then flees to Geshur. When giving the Law to the Israelites, God had designated six cities as cities of refuge. There were three cities east of the Jordan River and three cities west of the Jordan River. In the case of second-degree murder or manslaughter, the person responsible for the crime was allowed to remain in the city unhurt as long as the high priest was alive.
'So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and he shall remain there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.
Numbers 35:25 (NKJV)
The designation for whether or not people were first-degree murderers or second-degree murderers had to do with premeditation, just as it does today, and whether or not they committed the murder or had someone else do it for them. In the case of Absalom, he commanded his servants to strike and kill Amnon.
Why is this important in our lives? Each one of us is responsible for the brutal death on the cross of Jesus, as He died for the sins that each of us have committed. Are we first-degree murderers or second-degree murderers? That would be a hard question, if Jesus had not given us the answer:
34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."
Luke 23:34 (NKJV)
Jesus did not hold us accountable for knowing that our sins would kill Him. We know by His words that we are not directly responsible. That makes us guilty of manslaughter. So, just as in the model of the Old Testament, we are allowed to flee to the city of refuge. If we are Christians, where do we dwell? We live in Christ Jesus and He lives in us! And we can remain there until the High Priest dies. Who is the High Priest? Jesus, who will never die, according to Hebrews 6:20. Comforting, to say the least!
Psalm 23 and the 7 Redemptive Names of God
Psalm 23:
This is probably the best-known passage in the Old Testament, and just as the rest of the Bible, there is so much more to it than meets the eye. Here is an amazing study on the redemptive names of God and how they apply to the 23rd Psalm. Let's start by learning about those names:
1. JEHOVAH-ROHI:
"The Lord Our Shepherd"
Psalm. 23, from "ro'eh" (to pasture) and also Ezekiel 34:11-15.
11 'For thus says the Lord GOD: "Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. 12 "As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. 13 "And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel , in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 "I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel . There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel . 15 "I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down," says the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 34:11-15 (NKJV)
2. JEHOVAH-SHALOM:
"The Lord Our Peace."
"Shalom" is translated "peace" 170 times and it means "whole," "finished," "fulfilled," "perfected." This is related to "well" and to "welfare." Look for it in
24 So Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it The-LORD-IS-PEACE. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Judges 6:24 (NKJV)
3. JEHOVAH-ROPHE:
"The Lord Who Heals"
Exodus 15:22-26. From "rophe" ("to heal"); it implies spiritual, emotional as well as physical healing. See it in Jeremiah 30:17, Jeremiah 3:22; and Isaiah 61:1. God heals body, soul and spirit; all levels of man's being.
22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea ; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" 25 So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them. And there He tested them, 26 and said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you."
Exodus 15:22-26 (NKJV)
4. JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU
"The LORD our Righteousness."
See it in Jeremiah 23:5-6 and Jeremiah 33:16. From "tsidek" that means straight; stiff; balanced, as on scales; full weight; justice; right; righteous; and declared innocent.
5 "Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD,
"That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;
A King shall reign and prosper,
And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
6 In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell safely;
Now this is His name by which He will be called:
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Jeremiah 23:5-6 (NKJV)
5. JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH:
"The Lord is There"
Find it in Ezekiel 48:35. This is a primitive particle meaning "there" (transferring to time).
"All the way around shall be eighteen thousand cubits; and the name of the city from that day shall be: The LORD Is There."
Ezekiel 48:35 (NKJV)
6. JEHOVAH-NISSI:
"The Lord Our Banner."
Find it in Exodus 17:15. God on the battlefield, from a word which means "to glisten," "to lift up." See also Psalm 4:6.
And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-LORD-IS-MY-BANNER; 16 for he said, "Because the LORD has sworn: the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation."
Exodus 17:15-16 (NKJV)
7. JEHOVAH-JIREH:
"The Lord will Provide."
Genesis 22:14. From "jireh," which means "to see" or "to provide," or to "foresee" as a prophet. God always provides adequately when the times come. When is the time? Remember, it is His time, not ours!
14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-WILL-PROVIDE; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of The LORD it shall be provided."
Genesis 22:14 (NKJV)
Amazingly, all of those redemptive names of God fit perfectly into the 23rd Psalm. I have placed a number at the point in the passage that refers to the names listed above. Refer back if needed.
Psalm 23
The Lord the Shepherd of His People
A Psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want. (1)
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters. (2)
3 He restores my soul; (3)
He leads me in the paths of righteousness (4)
For His name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me; (5)
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (6)
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over. (7)
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD
Forever.
Psalms 23:1-6 (NKJV)
Isn't that awesome? I didn't come up with that study, but whoever the Holy Spirit shared it with initially must have been blown away. Here is the 23rd Psalm explained in a different way:
The Lord is my Shepherd
That's Relationship!
I shall not want
That's Supply!
He makes me to lie down in green pastures
That's Rest!
He leads me beside the still waters
That's Refreshment!
He restores my soul
That's Healing!
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
That's Guidance!
For His name's sake
That's Purpose!
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
That's Testing!
I will fear no evil
That's Protection!
For Thou art with me
That's Faithfulness!
Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me
That's Discipline!
Thou prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies
That's Hope!
Thou anoint my head with oil
That's Consecration!
My cup runs over
That's Abundance!
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
That's Blessing!
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
That's Security!
Forever
That's Eternity!
This is probably the best-known passage in the Old Testament, and just as the rest of the Bible, there is so much more to it than meets the eye. Here is an amazing study on the redemptive names of God and how they apply to the 23rd Psalm. Let's start by learning about those names:
1. JEHOVAH-ROHI:
"The Lord Our Shepherd"
Psalm. 23, from "ro'eh" (to pasture) and also Ezekiel 34:11-15.
11 'For thus says the Lord GOD: "Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. 12 "As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. 13 "And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel , in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 "I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel . There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel . 15 "I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down," says the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 34:11-15 (NKJV)
2. JEHOVAH-SHALOM:
"The Lord Our Peace."
"Shalom" is translated "peace" 170 times and it means "whole," "finished," "fulfilled," "perfected." This is related to "well" and to "welfare." Look for it in
24 So Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it The-LORD-IS-PEACE. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Judges 6:24 (NKJV)
3. JEHOVAH-ROPHE:
"The Lord Who Heals"
Exodus 15:22-26. From "rophe" ("to heal"); it implies spiritual, emotional as well as physical healing. See it in Jeremiah 30:17, Jeremiah 3:22; and Isaiah 61:1. God heals body, soul and spirit; all levels of man's being.
22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea ; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" 25 So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them. And there He tested them, 26 and said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you."
Exodus 15:22-26 (NKJV)
4. JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU
"The LORD our Righteousness."
See it in Jeremiah 23:5-6 and Jeremiah 33:16. From "tsidek" that means straight; stiff; balanced, as on scales; full weight; justice; right; righteous; and declared innocent.
5 "Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD,
"That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;
A King shall reign and prosper,
And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
6 In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell safely;
Now this is His name by which He will be called:
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Jeremiah 23:5-6 (NKJV)
5. JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH:
"The Lord is There"
Find it in Ezekiel 48:35. This is a primitive particle meaning "there" (transferring to time).
"All the way around shall be eighteen thousand cubits; and the name of the city from that day shall be: The LORD Is There."
Ezekiel 48:35 (NKJV)
6. JEHOVAH-NISSI:
"The Lord Our Banner."
Find it in Exodus 17:15. God on the battlefield, from a word which means "to glisten," "to lift up." See also Psalm 4:6.
And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-LORD-IS-MY-BANNER; 16 for he said, "Because the LORD has sworn: the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation."
Exodus 17:15-16 (NKJV)
7. JEHOVAH-JIREH:
"The Lord will Provide."
Genesis 22:14. From "jireh," which means "to see" or "to provide," or to "foresee" as a prophet. God always provides adequately when the times come. When is the time? Remember, it is His time, not ours!
14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-WILL-PROVIDE; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of The LORD it shall be provided."
Genesis 22:14 (NKJV)
Amazingly, all of those redemptive names of God fit perfectly into the 23rd Psalm. I have placed a number at the point in the passage that refers to the names listed above. Refer back if needed.
Psalm 23
The Lord the Shepherd of His People
A Psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want. (1)
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters. (2)
3 He restores my soul; (3)
He leads me in the paths of righteousness (4)
For His name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me; (5)
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (6)
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over. (7)
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD
Forever.
Psalms 23:1-6 (NKJV)
Isn't that awesome? I didn't come up with that study, but whoever the Holy Spirit shared it with initially must have been blown away. Here is the 23rd Psalm explained in a different way:
The Lord is my Shepherd
That's Relationship!
I shall not want
That's Supply!
He makes me to lie down in green pastures
That's Rest!
He leads me beside the still waters
That's Refreshment!
He restores my soul
That's Healing!
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
That's Guidance!
For His name's sake
That's Purpose!
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
That's Testing!
I will fear no evil
That's Protection!
For Thou art with me
That's Faithfulness!
Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me
That's Discipline!
Thou prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies
That's Hope!
Thou anoint my head with oil
That's Consecration!
My cup runs over
That's Abundance!
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
That's Blessing!
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
That's Security!
Forever
That's Eternity!
Psalm 22 and the Seven Last Statements of Jesus
Psalm 22 is one of the most amazing chapters in the Bible. Though we learn much in the New Testament about the life of Jesus, Psalm 22, written many years before, tells us the most about the death of our Lord. Psalms 22, 23 and 24 should be grouped together. The 22nd Psalm shows us the cross; the 23rd Psalm depicts Jesus as the Good Shepherd, and noted Bible scholar J. Vernon McGee described that chapter as "the crook," signifying the end of a shepherd's staff; thirdly, the 24th Psalm gives us the perspective of Jesus as King, so "the crown" is a way to remember that chapter.
I still have trouble believing that people struggle with belief in God. Other than the Bible, no other religious document predicts events. Neither Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius nor the rest could pull off what God did with prophecy (from the Greek "pro" meaning before and "phanei" meaning to speak). The 22nd Psalm gives us all of the final seven statements of Jesus on the cross. Remember, the number seven is significant in the Bible, as it stands for completeness. Let's look over those verses in Psalm 22 and see how they apply to the statements on the cross.
The first statement is identical as the Holy Spirit wanted to ensure that we could see that significance:
1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
Psalms 22:1 (NKJV)
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
Mark 15:34 (NKJV)
This verse is one of the most powerful in all of the Bible! When Jesus was on the cross, for the only time in His existence, He felt separation from His Father. Why? Because the sins of the world had been cast upon His shoulders and sin separates us from Him. Jesus states the phrase twice..."My God, My God." Why? Because He is referring to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He didn't need to talk to Himself, or there would have been a third "My God." The other important issue to notice is that for the only time, Jesus does not refer to God as "My Father." As I mentioned before, because of our sins on His shoulders, the relationship was temporarily gone. That was anguish to Jesus, but He had to only endure it for a short period of time. The saddest part is that hell will be an eternity filled with the anguish of that separation. The Bible tells us in Philippians 2:9-11 that 'every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.' At the Judgment, every non-believer and every atheist will have to confront the Lord they chose to ignore. They will have to live eternally without Him and that separation will be horrible.
Here is the second statement:
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 "He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!"
Psalms 22:7-8 (NKJV)
34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." And they divided His garments and cast lots.
Luke 23:34 (NKJV)
The Holy Spirit describes here in detail the scene at the cross. Jesus not only endures the physical pain of the cross, devised as the most painful death imaginable, but also the humiliation of ridicule from the same people He came to save. And still, in the Gospels it tells us that He asked the Father to forgive "them" for not knowing what they were doing. The reason I highlighted the word "them" is because we were in that mob. He died for our sins, too, and we would have been the same as the rest, who gave Him an illegal trial, crucified an innocent man, threw rocks at Him, spit at Him. Don't ever forget that we were there, too! I mentioned this in another blog entry, but He could have stopped the process at any moment. He chose to endure this for us. If you want an additional point of view, read the blog entry about the Avenger of Blood, and it will show you the importance of this statement in another way. It shows that we are only second-degree murderers, as we didn't know what we were doing. That makes us eligible from the Law of the Old Testament to flee to a City of Refuge. Next is the third statement our Lord made on the cross:
9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother's breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother's womb
You have been My God.
Psalms 22:9-10 (NKJV)
26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!"
John 19:25-26 (NKJV)
There were people present at the cross who did not hate Him. One of those people was His mother, Mary. Don't forget, an angel of the Lord told her before she was pregnant that she was going to bear the Son of God. What a daunting task for a young girl, who could have been stoned to death by the Law for becoming pregnant out of marriage! At the wedding in Cana, she wanted Him to reveal Himself for who He was, but He told her, "Woman, my time is not yet come." Now, His time is come, and His mother looks on with a broken heart. We know the perspective of mothers, who would do anything to take away the pain of their children. The pain He is experiencing is worse that what anyone has endured. To me the most special part of this is that even when He is in agony, He is still thinking of others. The New Testament tells us that Jesus had brothers and sisters, but He assigned His disciple John to take care of His mother.
This verse in Psalm 22 encompasses the fourth statement:
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
Psalms 22:15 (NKJV)
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!"
John 19:28 (NKJV)
The verses following this in the Psalm tell us more of the agony of the cross. This reminds us that Jesus is fully God and fully man. The aspect of Him that is fully man was thirsty on the cross. Have you ever experienced severe pain? Your mouth dries up like at no other time. He knows our pain! In the Book of John, Jesus is described as the Living Water. Once we drink from that Water, we will never thirst again. It is hard to imagine the Living Water being thirsty. Once again, He died this death on the cross so that we don't have to. Those of us who have asked Him into our hearts will be judged for the perfect life He lived as He was judged for the sinful lives that we have lived.
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)
Here is His fifth statement:
25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;
I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
Those who seek Him will praise the LORD.
Let your heart live forever!
Psalms 22:25-26 (NKJV)
43 And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."
Luke 23:43 (NKJV)
It says here, "I will pay my vows." He made a vow to the thief on the cross that "Today, you will be with me in Paradise." That statement showed us a lot as crucifixion could take many days to complete. The criminal would not bleed to death, but would basically suffocate as they could not sustain their own weight. One of the most difficult documents to read is a medical description of the death in a crucifixion, for it lets us know in graphic terms the suffering of our Savior. But Jesus knew, as He was 100 % God that He would die that day. The other aspect of this statement that is the most comforting is that Jesus doesn't require that we live a godly life. It doesn't matter what your sin in. He has the ability and the heart to forgive that sin, even in your last dying breath. That doesn't mean that you should put that decision off, though, for there are no guarantees that we will have the same opportunity as the thief on the cross. A severe heart attack could take your chance away to ask for forgiveness. More importantly, He died so we could live more abundantly. If you have never walked with the Lord as a Christian, you are missing the most joy!
Here is His sixth statement:
19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me;
O My Strength, hasten to help Me!
20 Deliver Me from the sword,
My precious life from the power of the dog.
Psalms 22:19-20 (NKJV)
46 And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, 'into Your hands I commit My spirit.' " Having said this, He breathed His last.
Luke 23:46 (NKJV)
Jesus felt the separation from His Father, but knew that was only temporary. He asks here in the Old Testament that the Father not be far from Him. We have been looking at this from the perspective of Jesus, but don't forget the perspective of the Father. If you are a father, you know the love you have for your children. Can you imagine how difficult it must have been for God the Father to allow Jesus to endure this event? Can you imagine how hard it was to look away. Isaiah 53, the other incredible description of the cross in the Old Testament tells us:
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
Isaiah 53:10 (NKJV)
Wow! It pleased God the Father to have His Son tortured in this manner. Why?! Because He knew what we would receive because of it! Without the spilling of innocent blood, there can be no forgiveness of sin. God created us so that we might know His love. Is there a better example of love for us than Jesus laying down His life for us? If you ever seem to be overwhelmed by the cares of this world, take them to the cross and remember what has been endured for you!
And finally, His last statement on the cross:
31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born,
That He has done this.
Psalms 22:31 (NKJV)
30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
John 19:30 (NKJV)
This is summed up in the Gospels by Jesus' final statement, "It is finished!" He did what He came to do. He knew what He had to do. He knew the pain that He would feel, and the physical pain was nothing compared to the heartache of not feeling the presence of His Father. But his heart broke as the people He came to save would not receive Him or His love. Jesus said repetitively, "If there is any other way, let this cup pass from Me." There was no other way, but we can tell from those statements how heavy the burden was on Him. I love this word in the Greek..."Tetelesti!" It is finished. When a prisoner had served his sentence, he was given a piece of paper with this statement written on it to prove to people that he had paid his debt to society. Though we translate "tetelesti" to mean "it is finished," it specifically meant "paid in full." We have an enormous sin debt that has been paid by Jesus. For all of these people who think that it is about us and our good works, Jesus summed it up by telling us that we don't need to do anything because He has done it all for us. Which part of all do we not understand. Don't confuse this with a license to sin, as when He comes into our hearts, He cleans us up. But you have to catch the fish before you can clean it! As McGee said, His righteousness will satisfy a Holy God. Our little good works wouldn't even get us a step forward without what Jesus did for us. Receive the gift. It is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
I'll finish by posting the 22nd Psalm so you can put it all in perspective~
Psalm 22
The Suffering, Praise, and Posterity of the Messiah
To the Chief Musician. Set to ""The Deer of the Dawn.'' A Psalm of David.
1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in You;
They trusted, and You delivered them.
5 They cried to You, and were delivered;
They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
6 But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 "He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!"
9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother's breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother's womb
You have been My God.
11 Be not far from Me,
For trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded Me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.
13 They gape at Me with their mouths,
Like a raging and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.
19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me;
O My Strength, hasten to help Me!
20 Deliver Me from the sword,
My precious life from the power of the dog.
21 Save Me from the lion's mouth
And from the horns of the wild oxen!
You have answered Me.
22 I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
23 You who fear the LORD, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from Him;
But when He cried to Him, He heard.
25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;
I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
Those who seek Him will praise the LORD.
Let your heart live forever!
27 All the ends of the world
Shall remember and turn to the LORD,
And all the families of the nations
Shall worship before You.
28 For the kingdom is the LORD s,
And He rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth
Shall eat and worship;
All those who go down to the dust
Shall bow before Him,
Even he who cannot keep himself alive.
30 A posterity shall serve Him.
It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,
31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born,
That He has done this.
Psalms 22:1-31 (NKJV)
I still have trouble believing that people struggle with belief in God. Other than the Bible, no other religious document predicts events. Neither Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius nor the rest could pull off what God did with prophecy (from the Greek "pro" meaning before and "phanei" meaning to speak). The 22nd Psalm gives us all of the final seven statements of Jesus on the cross. Remember, the number seven is significant in the Bible, as it stands for completeness. Let's look over those verses in Psalm 22 and see how they apply to the statements on the cross.
The first statement is identical as the Holy Spirit wanted to ensure that we could see that significance:
1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
Psalms 22:1 (NKJV)
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
Mark 15:34 (NKJV)
This verse is one of the most powerful in all of the Bible! When Jesus was on the cross, for the only time in His existence, He felt separation from His Father. Why? Because the sins of the world had been cast upon His shoulders and sin separates us from Him. Jesus states the phrase twice..."My God, My God." Why? Because He is referring to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He didn't need to talk to Himself, or there would have been a third "My God." The other important issue to notice is that for the only time, Jesus does not refer to God as "My Father." As I mentioned before, because of our sins on His shoulders, the relationship was temporarily gone. That was anguish to Jesus, but He had to only endure it for a short period of time. The saddest part is that hell will be an eternity filled with the anguish of that separation. The Bible tells us in Philippians 2:9-11 that 'every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.' At the Judgment, every non-believer and every atheist will have to confront the Lord they chose to ignore. They will have to live eternally without Him and that separation will be horrible.
Here is the second statement:
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 "He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!"
Psalms 22:7-8 (NKJV)
34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." And they divided His garments and cast lots.
Luke 23:34 (NKJV)
The Holy Spirit describes here in detail the scene at the cross. Jesus not only endures the physical pain of the cross, devised as the most painful death imaginable, but also the humiliation of ridicule from the same people He came to save. And still, in the Gospels it tells us that He asked the Father to forgive "them" for not knowing what they were doing. The reason I highlighted the word "them" is because we were in that mob. He died for our sins, too, and we would have been the same as the rest, who gave Him an illegal trial, crucified an innocent man, threw rocks at Him, spit at Him. Don't ever forget that we were there, too! I mentioned this in another blog entry, but He could have stopped the process at any moment. He chose to endure this for us. If you want an additional point of view, read the blog entry about the Avenger of Blood, and it will show you the importance of this statement in another way. It shows that we are only second-degree murderers, as we didn't know what we were doing. That makes us eligible from the Law of the Old Testament to flee to a City of Refuge. Next is the third statement our Lord made on the cross:
9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother's breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother's womb
You have been My God.
Psalms 22:9-10 (NKJV)
26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!"
John 19:25-26 (NKJV)
There were people present at the cross who did not hate Him. One of those people was His mother, Mary. Don't forget, an angel of the Lord told her before she was pregnant that she was going to bear the Son of God. What a daunting task for a young girl, who could have been stoned to death by the Law for becoming pregnant out of marriage! At the wedding in Cana, she wanted Him to reveal Himself for who He was, but He told her, "Woman, my time is not yet come." Now, His time is come, and His mother looks on with a broken heart. We know the perspective of mothers, who would do anything to take away the pain of their children. The pain He is experiencing is worse that what anyone has endured. To me the most special part of this is that even when He is in agony, He is still thinking of others. The New Testament tells us that Jesus had brothers and sisters, but He assigned His disciple John to take care of His mother.
This verse in Psalm 22 encompasses the fourth statement:
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
Psalms 22:15 (NKJV)
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!"
John 19:28 (NKJV)
The verses following this in the Psalm tell us more of the agony of the cross. This reminds us that Jesus is fully God and fully man. The aspect of Him that is fully man was thirsty on the cross. Have you ever experienced severe pain? Your mouth dries up like at no other time. He knows our pain! In the Book of John, Jesus is described as the Living Water. Once we drink from that Water, we will never thirst again. It is hard to imagine the Living Water being thirsty. Once again, He died this death on the cross so that we don't have to. Those of us who have asked Him into our hearts will be judged for the perfect life He lived as He was judged for the sinful lives that we have lived.
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)
Here is His fifth statement:
25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;
I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
Those who seek Him will praise the LORD.
Let your heart live forever!
Psalms 22:25-26 (NKJV)
43 And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."
Luke 23:43 (NKJV)
It says here, "I will pay my vows." He made a vow to the thief on the cross that "Today, you will be with me in Paradise." That statement showed us a lot as crucifixion could take many days to complete. The criminal would not bleed to death, but would basically suffocate as they could not sustain their own weight. One of the most difficult documents to read is a medical description of the death in a crucifixion, for it lets us know in graphic terms the suffering of our Savior. But Jesus knew, as He was 100 % God that He would die that day. The other aspect of this statement that is the most comforting is that Jesus doesn't require that we live a godly life. It doesn't matter what your sin in. He has the ability and the heart to forgive that sin, even in your last dying breath. That doesn't mean that you should put that decision off, though, for there are no guarantees that we will have the same opportunity as the thief on the cross. A severe heart attack could take your chance away to ask for forgiveness. More importantly, He died so we could live more abundantly. If you have never walked with the Lord as a Christian, you are missing the most joy!
Here is His sixth statement:
19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me;
O My Strength, hasten to help Me!
20 Deliver Me from the sword,
My precious life from the power of the dog.
Psalms 22:19-20 (NKJV)
46 And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, 'into Your hands I commit My spirit.' " Having said this, He breathed His last.
Luke 23:46 (NKJV)
Jesus felt the separation from His Father, but knew that was only temporary. He asks here in the Old Testament that the Father not be far from Him. We have been looking at this from the perspective of Jesus, but don't forget the perspective of the Father. If you are a father, you know the love you have for your children. Can you imagine how difficult it must have been for God the Father to allow Jesus to endure this event? Can you imagine how hard it was to look away. Isaiah 53, the other incredible description of the cross in the Old Testament tells us:
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
Isaiah 53:10 (NKJV)
Wow! It pleased God the Father to have His Son tortured in this manner. Why?! Because He knew what we would receive because of it! Without the spilling of innocent blood, there can be no forgiveness of sin. God created us so that we might know His love. Is there a better example of love for us than Jesus laying down His life for us? If you ever seem to be overwhelmed by the cares of this world, take them to the cross and remember what has been endured for you!
And finally, His last statement on the cross:
31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born,
That He has done this.
Psalms 22:31 (NKJV)
30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
John 19:30 (NKJV)
This is summed up in the Gospels by Jesus' final statement, "It is finished!" He did what He came to do. He knew what He had to do. He knew the pain that He would feel, and the physical pain was nothing compared to the heartache of not feeling the presence of His Father. But his heart broke as the people He came to save would not receive Him or His love. Jesus said repetitively, "If there is any other way, let this cup pass from Me." There was no other way, but we can tell from those statements how heavy the burden was on Him. I love this word in the Greek..."Tetelesti!" It is finished. When a prisoner had served his sentence, he was given a piece of paper with this statement written on it to prove to people that he had paid his debt to society. Though we translate "tetelesti" to mean "it is finished," it specifically meant "paid in full." We have an enormous sin debt that has been paid by Jesus. For all of these people who think that it is about us and our good works, Jesus summed it up by telling us that we don't need to do anything because He has done it all for us. Which part of all do we not understand. Don't confuse this with a license to sin, as when He comes into our hearts, He cleans us up. But you have to catch the fish before you can clean it! As McGee said, His righteousness will satisfy a Holy God. Our little good works wouldn't even get us a step forward without what Jesus did for us. Receive the gift. It is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
I'll finish by posting the 22nd Psalm so you can put it all in perspective~
Psalm 22
The Suffering, Praise, and Posterity of the Messiah
To the Chief Musician. Set to ""The Deer of the Dawn.'' A Psalm of David.
1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in You;
They trusted, and You delivered them.
5 They cried to You, and were delivered;
They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
6 But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 "He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!"
9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother's breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother's womb
You have been My God.
11 Be not far from Me,
For trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded Me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.
13 They gape at Me with their mouths,
Like a raging and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.
19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me;
O My Strength, hasten to help Me!
20 Deliver Me from the sword,
My precious life from the power of the dog.
21 Save Me from the lion's mouth
And from the horns of the wild oxen!
You have answered Me.
22 I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
23 You who fear the LORD, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from Him;
But when He cried to Him, He heard.
25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;
I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
Those who seek Him will praise the LORD.
Let your heart live forever!
27 All the ends of the world
Shall remember and turn to the LORD,
And all the families of the nations
Shall worship before You.
28 For the kingdom is the LORD s,
And He rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth
Shall eat and worship;
All those who go down to the dust
Shall bow before Him,
Even he who cannot keep himself alive.
30 A posterity shall serve Him.
It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,
31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born,
That He has done this.
Psalms 22:1-31 (NKJV)
A Closer Look At Psalm 22
(June 3, 2007) More About Psalm 22
I wrote about Psalm 22...specifically, the seven last statements of Jesus while on the cross. Psalm 22 is such an amazing chapter, that I decided to stay on that subject longer. As most of you already know, the Bible is separated into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament contains the Law, the 10 Commandments, and the sacrificial system that went along with the Law. The New Testament began a new sacrificial system. It discusses the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and how all of those have created a new sacrificial system for us all. In Galatians, Paul writes to us about the purpose of the Law:
19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Galatians 3:19-25 (NKJV)
To us, the sacrificial system seems archaic, but it was God's way of giving us forgiveness of sin. Even as far back as the first book of the Bible, Genesis, God covered sin with the spilling of innocent blood. When Adam and Eve sinned, God sent them from the Garden of Eden, but first He gave us a model of what was to come.
21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. 22 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"-- 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:21-24 (NKJV)
It doesn't tell us what kind of animal God killed to make the tunics for Adam and Eve, but it doesn't take a professor of logic to decipher that it would have been an unblemished male lamb, a ram. Why do I think this? Because later in the Book of Genesis, another father was asked by God to sacrifice his son on the same spot where years later Jesus would die on the cross. That is the story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22. These two models in the Old Testament are also tutors for us of what was to come. When Jesus died on the cross, He was sacrificed for our sins. He was unblemished, having committed no sins, and was the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. It was the only way for our sins to be covered by the spilling of a man's innocent blood, as Jesus was the only innocent man to ever live. He was the only One without sin. He was brutally sacrificed. Remember, salvation is a free gift, but by no means did it come cheaply. The cost was one we will not grasp until we stand in front of Jesus, and even then, I doubt we will ever fully grasp it all.
As I was saying, the Old Testament shows us the specifics of the Law, but there are places in the Old Testament where we see more about the life and death of Jesus than in the New Testament. Psalm 22 is one of those places. Many of the verses I touched on in the last blog entry, but others seemed to slip through the cracks. Instead of letting that happen, I will comment on those here. In verse 2, we see that Jesus cried day and night. Why? He knew what He came to do. He knew how difficult it would be. And He knew that those He came to save would reject Him. He was heartbroken.
Verse 3, 4 and 5 highlight that He came to save the Israelites.
"Our Fathers trusted in You; They trusted and You delivered them."
This Psalm was written by King David, and his fathers were Jewish people of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
6 But I am a worm, and no man;A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
Psalms 22:6 (NKJV)
I think this is an interesting juxtaposition. In Genesis, Satan was a snake, who caused Adam and Eve (and the rest of us) to fall into sin. Jesus is described as being a worm, and no man. Think of the attributes of a worm. I can't think of a creature in a lower form, crawling on its belly in the dirt. That is the same as a snake, and we know God punished the serpent by taking away its ability to walk for causing Adam and Eve's sin. But how is a worm different from a snake? A snake bites, but a worm has no bite, even if you step on it by mistake. Jesus had no bite! He did nothing wrong, and still, was a reproach of men and despised by the people. We discussed verse 7 in the last statements of Jesus on the cross, in another blog.
8 "He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him;Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!"
Psalms 22:8 (NKJV)
For those of you who don't believe in the triune nature of God, or have trouble comprehending it, this verse might lose you. Try reading it this way:
"Jesus trusted in God the Father, let God the Father rescue Jesus; Let God the Father deliver Jesus, since God the Father delights in Jesus."
Don't get lost in the pronouns. God the Father could have rescued Jesus. Jesus could have rescued Jesus, but never forget, as much as God delights in Jesus, He also delights in us, and without the death of our Lord on the cross, there was no relationship for us with God! I discussed verses 9 and 10 in the previous blog, too.
11 Be not far from Me,For trouble is near;For there is none to help.12 Many bulls have surrounded Me;Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.13 They gape at Me with their mouths,Like a raging and roaring lion.
Psalms 22:11-13 (NKJV)
Jesus knew that trouble was near. It was approaching Him for most of His ministry, as the Pharisees kept trying to lay hands on Him to harm Him. God kept allowing Jesus to escape as "His time had not yet come." At the cross, His time had come, and the bulls of Bashan have encircled Him. Bashan was east of the Jordan River. This fertile land of giants was known for the physical strength of its people. What a great description of the people crucifying our Lord (Us!) as being like raging and roaring lions. They wanted to tear Him to pieces, and once again, He could have rescued Himself from the lion's den as He rescued Daniel!
14 I am poured out like water,And all My bones are out of joint;My heart is like wax;It has melted within Me.
Psalms 22:14 (NKJV)
Take a bucket of water and it has many uses. You can drink from the bucket. You can wash in it. You can carry it anywhere you want. But if you empty the contents of that bucket by pouring it out upon the ground it seeps away and has only one use. It can water the seeds. Jesus felt like that water, though His life continues to water the seeds in our lives even to this day. His bones were all out of joint. They had beaten Him so badly, that I'm sure every part of His body hurt. Crucifixion was devised as the most painful death imaginable. His heart was like wax. His heart was broken, melted, soft. Our Savior's heart is still soft to this day. He loves us so much. Verse 15 is in the last blog's discussion.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me;The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.They pierced My hands and My feet;17 I can count all My bones.They look and stare at Me.
Psalms 22:16-17 (NKJV)
How can anyone look at this verse and not see Jesus? "They pierced My hands and My feet." When Jews read this Scripture, they attribute this to David, thinking He is speaking figuratively of a great difficulty in His life. They are right, but the Holy Spirit had a much greater purpose in this verse, seeing Jesus many years in advance. Jesus could count all His bones, and could probably see most of them, as His skin was no longer covering them. In Isaiah 53, we see that none of those bones were broken. They stared at Him, naked on the cross, in an attempt at the worst humiliation.
18 They divide My garments among them,And for My clothing they cast lots.
Psalms 22:18 (NKJV)
The Roman soldiers cast lots for His clothing. I have stood in the Antonio Fortress in Jerusalem where the games these Roman soldiers played so often are etched into the stone. The stone used to be outdoors and now is indoors--you can tell by the striations on the rock to prevent slipping in wet conditions. Another importance of this prophecy is that it involves other people. There are many unbelievers who think that Jesus knew the Bible so well that He merely was acting it out in a self-fulfilling prophecy. So how did He get the soldiers to cast lots, involving them in the "conspiracy?" Crucifixion didn't even exist when the Psalm was written, describing the piercing of his hands and feet. I guess for many people, it is harder to believe the truth for that would involve believing in a God who will judge their sin. Many people believe Jesus was a good man who walked the earth, but don't believe in Him as God. Really, if you have any logic in your brain, it is one way or another. Either He is who He says He is, or He was a raving lunatic! He claimed many times to be God! He made those claims because He is God!
19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me;O My Strength, hasten to help Me!20 Deliver Me from the sword,My precious life from the power of the dog.21 Save Me from the lion's mouthAnd from the horns of the wild oxen!You have answered Me.22 I will declare Your name to My brethren;In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.23 You who fear the LORD, praise Him!All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
Psalms 22:19-23 (NKJV)
Jesus is approaching death. He has endured the cross, and all He came to do. He is thinking about His restoration to glory. Don't ever forget, He voluntarily left His place beside God the Father to endure this for us. And though He returns to glory, He retains the wounds for all of eternity. I can only imagine what it will be like to look on the face of our Savior and look on His wounds, the same wounds Thomas put his hands into. They will be the only man-made thing in heaven! Jesus has declared the Father's name to His brethren, to us! Verse 23 highlights God's chosen people, those Jesus came to save. If you forget who the descendants of Jacob are, just remember the name that God gave to Jacob...Israel.
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;Nor has He hidden His face from Him;But when He cried to Him, He heard.
Psalms 22:24 (NKJV)
This verse tells us that God did hear the cries of Jesus. As I said in the previous blog, both were heartbroken, but it was the only way for us all to have a chance at salvation. There is a similar verse in Isaiah 53, but I think I will talk about that in a blog next week.
25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;Those who seek Him will praise the LORD.Let your heart live forever!27 All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the LORD,And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You.
Psalms 22:25-27 (NKJV)
Jesus speaks of God the Father. The Holy Spirit always points to Jesus. They are all God. It sure isn't about what this world has to offer. Jesus tells us that the poor shall eat and be satisfied. Food that we eat here never satisfies. We are always hungry. He is the Bread of Life and when we taste of the food He has to offer, we will never hunger again. In the Millennium, Jesus will reign on earth and at least in the beginning, every single person on this earth will love Him and worship Him. As children will be born in that time, some of them will choose not to follow Him. That's kind of hard to imagine, if you know Him like I do!
29 All the prosperous of the earthShall eat and worship;All those who go down to the dustShall bow before Him,Even he who cannot keep himself alive.30 A posterity shall serve Him.It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born,That He has done this.
Psalms 22:29-31 (NKJV)
We know that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. Who is "Even he who cannot keep himself alive?" I can keep myself alive! Guess how I did it? I asked Jesus into my heart as my Lord and my Savior. Because of that one act, I might know a physical death, but I will never know a spiritual death. Ever heard of being born again? The Bible speaks of it when Jesus teaches Nicodemus. If you have been born twice, you will only die once. If you are only born once, you will die twice. If you have trouble understanding that, email me and I will explain it to you!
Tetelesti! Maranatha!
I wrote about Psalm 22...specifically, the seven last statements of Jesus while on the cross. Psalm 22 is such an amazing chapter, that I decided to stay on that subject longer. As most of you already know, the Bible is separated into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament contains the Law, the 10 Commandments, and the sacrificial system that went along with the Law. The New Testament began a new sacrificial system. It discusses the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and how all of those have created a new sacrificial system for us all. In Galatians, Paul writes to us about the purpose of the Law:
19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Galatians 3:19-25 (NKJV)
To us, the sacrificial system seems archaic, but it was God's way of giving us forgiveness of sin. Even as far back as the first book of the Bible, Genesis, God covered sin with the spilling of innocent blood. When Adam and Eve sinned, God sent them from the Garden of Eden, but first He gave us a model of what was to come.
21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. 22 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"-- 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:21-24 (NKJV)
It doesn't tell us what kind of animal God killed to make the tunics for Adam and Eve, but it doesn't take a professor of logic to decipher that it would have been an unblemished male lamb, a ram. Why do I think this? Because later in the Book of Genesis, another father was asked by God to sacrifice his son on the same spot where years later Jesus would die on the cross. That is the story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22. These two models in the Old Testament are also tutors for us of what was to come. When Jesus died on the cross, He was sacrificed for our sins. He was unblemished, having committed no sins, and was the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. It was the only way for our sins to be covered by the spilling of a man's innocent blood, as Jesus was the only innocent man to ever live. He was the only One without sin. He was brutally sacrificed. Remember, salvation is a free gift, but by no means did it come cheaply. The cost was one we will not grasp until we stand in front of Jesus, and even then, I doubt we will ever fully grasp it all.
As I was saying, the Old Testament shows us the specifics of the Law, but there are places in the Old Testament where we see more about the life and death of Jesus than in the New Testament. Psalm 22 is one of those places. Many of the verses I touched on in the last blog entry, but others seemed to slip through the cracks. Instead of letting that happen, I will comment on those here. In verse 2, we see that Jesus cried day and night. Why? He knew what He came to do. He knew how difficult it would be. And He knew that those He came to save would reject Him. He was heartbroken.
Verse 3, 4 and 5 highlight that He came to save the Israelites.
"Our Fathers trusted in You; They trusted and You delivered them."
This Psalm was written by King David, and his fathers were Jewish people of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
6 But I am a worm, and no man;A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
Psalms 22:6 (NKJV)
I think this is an interesting juxtaposition. In Genesis, Satan was a snake, who caused Adam and Eve (and the rest of us) to fall into sin. Jesus is described as being a worm, and no man. Think of the attributes of a worm. I can't think of a creature in a lower form, crawling on its belly in the dirt. That is the same as a snake, and we know God punished the serpent by taking away its ability to walk for causing Adam and Eve's sin. But how is a worm different from a snake? A snake bites, but a worm has no bite, even if you step on it by mistake. Jesus had no bite! He did nothing wrong, and still, was a reproach of men and despised by the people. We discussed verse 7 in the last statements of Jesus on the cross, in another blog.
8 "He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him;Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!"
Psalms 22:8 (NKJV)
For those of you who don't believe in the triune nature of God, or have trouble comprehending it, this verse might lose you. Try reading it this way:
"Jesus trusted in God the Father, let God the Father rescue Jesus; Let God the Father deliver Jesus, since God the Father delights in Jesus."
Don't get lost in the pronouns. God the Father could have rescued Jesus. Jesus could have rescued Jesus, but never forget, as much as God delights in Jesus, He also delights in us, and without the death of our Lord on the cross, there was no relationship for us with God! I discussed verses 9 and 10 in the previous blog, too.
11 Be not far from Me,For trouble is near;For there is none to help.12 Many bulls have surrounded Me;Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.13 They gape at Me with their mouths,Like a raging and roaring lion.
Psalms 22:11-13 (NKJV)
Jesus knew that trouble was near. It was approaching Him for most of His ministry, as the Pharisees kept trying to lay hands on Him to harm Him. God kept allowing Jesus to escape as "His time had not yet come." At the cross, His time had come, and the bulls of Bashan have encircled Him. Bashan was east of the Jordan River. This fertile land of giants was known for the physical strength of its people. What a great description of the people crucifying our Lord (Us!) as being like raging and roaring lions. They wanted to tear Him to pieces, and once again, He could have rescued Himself from the lion's den as He rescued Daniel!
14 I am poured out like water,And all My bones are out of joint;My heart is like wax;It has melted within Me.
Psalms 22:14 (NKJV)
Take a bucket of water and it has many uses. You can drink from the bucket. You can wash in it. You can carry it anywhere you want. But if you empty the contents of that bucket by pouring it out upon the ground it seeps away and has only one use. It can water the seeds. Jesus felt like that water, though His life continues to water the seeds in our lives even to this day. His bones were all out of joint. They had beaten Him so badly, that I'm sure every part of His body hurt. Crucifixion was devised as the most painful death imaginable. His heart was like wax. His heart was broken, melted, soft. Our Savior's heart is still soft to this day. He loves us so much. Verse 15 is in the last blog's discussion.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me;The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.They pierced My hands and My feet;17 I can count all My bones.They look and stare at Me.
Psalms 22:16-17 (NKJV)
How can anyone look at this verse and not see Jesus? "They pierced My hands and My feet." When Jews read this Scripture, they attribute this to David, thinking He is speaking figuratively of a great difficulty in His life. They are right, but the Holy Spirit had a much greater purpose in this verse, seeing Jesus many years in advance. Jesus could count all His bones, and could probably see most of them, as His skin was no longer covering them. In Isaiah 53, we see that none of those bones were broken. They stared at Him, naked on the cross, in an attempt at the worst humiliation.
18 They divide My garments among them,And for My clothing they cast lots.
Psalms 22:18 (NKJV)
The Roman soldiers cast lots for His clothing. I have stood in the Antonio Fortress in Jerusalem where the games these Roman soldiers played so often are etched into the stone. The stone used to be outdoors and now is indoors--you can tell by the striations on the rock to prevent slipping in wet conditions. Another importance of this prophecy is that it involves other people. There are many unbelievers who think that Jesus knew the Bible so well that He merely was acting it out in a self-fulfilling prophecy. So how did He get the soldiers to cast lots, involving them in the "conspiracy?" Crucifixion didn't even exist when the Psalm was written, describing the piercing of his hands and feet. I guess for many people, it is harder to believe the truth for that would involve believing in a God who will judge their sin. Many people believe Jesus was a good man who walked the earth, but don't believe in Him as God. Really, if you have any logic in your brain, it is one way or another. Either He is who He says He is, or He was a raving lunatic! He claimed many times to be God! He made those claims because He is God!
19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me;O My Strength, hasten to help Me!20 Deliver Me from the sword,My precious life from the power of the dog.21 Save Me from the lion's mouthAnd from the horns of the wild oxen!You have answered Me.22 I will declare Your name to My brethren;In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.23 You who fear the LORD, praise Him!All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
Psalms 22:19-23 (NKJV)
Jesus is approaching death. He has endured the cross, and all He came to do. He is thinking about His restoration to glory. Don't ever forget, He voluntarily left His place beside God the Father to endure this for us. And though He returns to glory, He retains the wounds for all of eternity. I can only imagine what it will be like to look on the face of our Savior and look on His wounds, the same wounds Thomas put his hands into. They will be the only man-made thing in heaven! Jesus has declared the Father's name to His brethren, to us! Verse 23 highlights God's chosen people, those Jesus came to save. If you forget who the descendants of Jacob are, just remember the name that God gave to Jacob...Israel.
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;Nor has He hidden His face from Him;But when He cried to Him, He heard.
Psalms 22:24 (NKJV)
This verse tells us that God did hear the cries of Jesus. As I said in the previous blog, both were heartbroken, but it was the only way for us all to have a chance at salvation. There is a similar verse in Isaiah 53, but I think I will talk about that in a blog next week.
25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;Those who seek Him will praise the LORD.Let your heart live forever!27 All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the LORD,And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You.
Psalms 22:25-27 (NKJV)
Jesus speaks of God the Father. The Holy Spirit always points to Jesus. They are all God. It sure isn't about what this world has to offer. Jesus tells us that the poor shall eat and be satisfied. Food that we eat here never satisfies. We are always hungry. He is the Bread of Life and when we taste of the food He has to offer, we will never hunger again. In the Millennium, Jesus will reign on earth and at least in the beginning, every single person on this earth will love Him and worship Him. As children will be born in that time, some of them will choose not to follow Him. That's kind of hard to imagine, if you know Him like I do!
29 All the prosperous of the earthShall eat and worship;All those who go down to the dustShall bow before Him,Even he who cannot keep himself alive.30 A posterity shall serve Him.It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born,That He has done this.
Psalms 22:29-31 (NKJV)
We know that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. Who is "Even he who cannot keep himself alive?" I can keep myself alive! Guess how I did it? I asked Jesus into my heart as my Lord and my Savior. Because of that one act, I might know a physical death, but I will never know a spiritual death. Ever heard of being born again? The Bible speaks of it when Jesus teaches Nicodemus. If you have been born twice, you will only die once. If you are only born once, you will die twice. If you have trouble understanding that, email me and I will explain it to you!
Tetelesti! Maranatha!
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