Day 209
2 Chronicles 21:1-23:21; Romans 11:13-36; Psalm 22:1-18; Proverbs 20:7
Vindication Through Christ
Psalm 22 graphically prophesies with an eerie accuracy the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus quotes the first verse of this Psalm as He hangs in agony on the cross (Matt. 27:46; Mk. 15:34). Did Jesus doubt God’s presence with Him in His time of suffering? Was He indeed forsaken by His Father? And can we draw from this Psalm as followers of Christ in light of our own lives?
Had God forsaken His only Son? Well, yes and no. Yes in that Jesus, at that moment on the cross, had taken the sins of the world upon Himself. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) and death for sin is separation from the source of life, which is God. Jesus had become the forsaken so that we can become the beloved (2 Cor. 5:21). However, the answer is also no in that God does vindicate Jesus… He does come to His aid; in fact, He vindicates His son completely in raising Him from the dead and exalting Him with a name above all names (Phil. 2: 8-11)!
Jesus teaches us that in this world we will face tribulation and persecution, but then tells His disciples (and us) to take heart because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). Psalm 22 and its use by Jesus should remind us that our hope, even in the light of suffering, is found in the vindication of God in Christ.
The Rev. Deke Miller