1. Psalm 22 is in two distinct parts. One preacher put it this way – the first part is a sob (vss. 1-21), and the second part is a song (vss. 22-31).
2. The key to the first part is found in verse 2, "but thou hearest not." The key to the second part is found in verse 24, "he heard."
3. If you take the time to study this great Messianic psalm, you will notice that there is a marked transition after verse 21.
4. First comes the cross, then comes the crown (vss. 27,28). The first part of Ps.22 deals with our Lord’s sufferings, and the second part, of the glory that should follow (I Peter 1:11).
5. It has truly been said that David, the Psalmist, gives a more vivid description of the sufferings of Christ on the cross than Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. The great British preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, said: "It is the photograph of our Lord’s saddest hours, the record of His dying words" and "Which shall we wonder at the most, the cruelty of man or the love of the bleeding Saviour?"
6. Psalm 22 is quoted at least seven times in the New Testament, all in reference to Christ – this is proof of the divine inspiration of the Bible.

I. OUR LORD’S DEATH WAS A FULFILLMENT OF O.T. PROPHECY.

1. Immediately we are aware that Psalm 22 is a Messianic prophecy because our Lord quoted verse 1 as He hung dying on the cross (cf. Matt.27:46). Keep your finger in Matt.27 because we will be looking at several other fulfilled prophecies from this Psalm.
2. Concerning Matt.27:46, Scofield says, "Ps.22:3 gives the answer to this significant and terrible cry."
3. This is certainly one of the most difficult verses in the Bible and calls for solemn thought and prayerful meditation. It has been truly said that when we read this passage of Scripture, we are standing on holy ground.
4. Verse 2 alludes to the periods of light and darkness the afternoon of the crucifixion (cf. Matt.27:45). What a picture – Jesus Christ, "the Light of the World" (John 8:12), "the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9), is suspended in darkness between heaven and earth.
5. Isaac Watts wrote that great hymn, "At the Cross" –

Well might the sun in darkness hide

And shut his glories in,

When Christ, the mighty Maker, died

For man the creature’s sin.

6. Psalm 22 vividly describes the mockers who gathered around the cross taunting our Lord (Ps.22:6-8,12,13; cf. Matt.27:39-44).
7. As He hung there on the cross, our Lord was thirsty (Ps.22:15; cf. John 19:28-30). When our Lord cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" – we see the anguish of His soul. Here in this cry we see the pain of His body. In order to pay the debt that we could not pay, i.e. the debt of our sins, Jesus experienced the full judgment for sin when He died on the cross.
8. In the Bible, "outer darkness" is a name for hell. And the Bible says that when Jesus died "there was darkness over all the land"(Matt.27:45).
9. Anguish of soul and physical pain – both these forms of torture await the unsaved in hell. Remember the rich man in hell (Luke 16:23-25). Unsaved friend, you have a choice – you can receive the water of life which Christ offers to those who believe or you can thirst forever in the horrible fires of hell (cf. Rev.22:17; 21:8; 22:14,15).
10. Bro. Capehart, missionary to Romania. He told a true story of a young man who was going to go for a swim at night in an indoor pool and as he stood on the diving board with his arms outstretched, getting ready to jump, he saw in the shadows a cross. He repented and got saved. As he got off his knees he realized that the pool had no water in it. God not only saved his soul, but also his life!
11. Getting back to Psalm 22, verse 16 clearly indicates that our Lord was crucified. When David wrote this psalm approximately 1,000 years before Christ, torture by crucifixion was unheard of to the Jews. It was not a Jewish form of execution, but originated with the Romans. And yet, the Roman Empire was not even in existence when David wrote Ps. 22.
12. Another prophecy is found in Ps.22:18 (cf. Matt.27:35). I am sure that these wicked soldiers had no idea that they were fulfilling Bible prophecy as they gambled for our Lord’s garments.

II. OUR LORD WAS FORSAKEN BY THE FATHER (PS. 22:1).

1. J. Vernon McGee said that our Lord’s cry was "the plaintive shriek and the wail of unutterable woe as our sins were pressed down upon Him."
2. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote a beautiful poem about this verse:

Deserted! God could separate from
His own essence rather;
And Adam’s sins have swept
between the righteous Son and Father;
Yea, once, Immanuel’s orphaned
cry His universe hath shaken –
It went up single, echo-less –
"My God, I am forsaken!"
It went up from His holy lips,
Amid His lost creation
That no believer e’er should use
Those words of desolation.

3. It is a fact that our Lord was forsaken by His Father. God the Son was literally and completely forsaken by God the Father during those three dark hours when He hung upon the cross.
4. Now, the obvious question is, "Why?"

1. God is holy, righteous and just, and this means that He must punish sin whenever and wherever He finds it. He cannot look upon sin (cf. Ps.22:3; Hab.1:13a).
2. Although the Lord Jesus Christ was absolutely sinless, He took upon Himself the sins of the whole world – this includes you and me (cf. II Cor.5:21; I Peter 2:21-24; 3:18).
3. Christ voluntarily paid the penalty of all our iniquities. The debt we owed was charged to Him and He became our sin-bearer.
4. God unleashed all the fury of His righteous wrath on His only begotten Son. The fierce torrent of divine judgment broke upon the sinless Son of God.
5. There were two college students who were as different as night and day. One loved God and served Him faithfully. The other was worldly and selfish. But one night at a revival meeting the worldly student got saved and told his Christian roommate that he was going to go to the next night’s meeting and burn all of his rock records, videos, porno books, etc. But at the last minute, his employer called him and he had to go to work. He asked his roommate to burn all of his wicked junk at the revival meeting.

III. OUR LORD SUFFERED TREMENDOUSLY FOR YOU AND ME.

1. He suffered at the hands of His fellow Jews, who are called here "strong bulls of Bashan" (Ps.22:12).
2. He suffered at the hands of the cruel Roman soldiers who are called "dogs" (vs. 16). They had the power of the "sword" (vs. 20); i.e. capital punishment.
3. God ordained capital punishment and He has given the government the authority to execute it (cf. John 19:10,11). Of course, Jesus was completely innocent and Pontius Pilot realized this (Matt.27:15-25).
4. These "dogs" spoken of here were not household pets but ravenous, unclean packs of wild vicious dogs which roamed the streets of that part of the world. Spurgeon described these human dogs as "the enraged and unpitying wretches who have hounded Him to His doom."
5. Like demon-possessed savages, the crowd opened their mouths wide to shout blasphemies at our Lord (Ps.22:13). Like roaring lions they desired to tear Him to pieces.
6. They were being driven by the fierce and "roaring lion" himself, Satan (cf. I Peter 5:8).
7. This horrible crucifixion was all according to God’s plan for our salvation. That is why the Psalmist says, "and Thou hast brought me into the dust of death" (Ps.22:15b; cf. Isa.53:6,10; Acts 2:23).

CONCLUSION:

1. In Ps.22:6, our Lord is called "a worm" because that is what wicked, worldly people think of Him. The word translated "worm" here is not an ordinary worm but a "scarlet worm."
2. The same word is translated elsewhere in the Bible as "scarlet" or "crimson" (cf. Ex.25:4; Isa.1:18). The reason for this is that the scarlet worm was crushed into a scarlet dye.
3. The Lord Jesus Christ was crushed on the cross for our sins. As He hung there and died, His blood stained the cross, just like a dead scarlet worm.
4. This was done in order to reconcile lost sinners to a holy God (cf. Col.1:20). Have you been reconciled to God?