Reasons why this may be my favorite thing Jesus ever said:
It shows where His true motivations were. What He TRULY cared about, above all else.
It is the Gospel message, in a nutshell. “a holy transaction” was taking place. our sin, on His head. God’s good and loving plan of redemption, fulfilled here.
It shows surrender, the deepest, truest kind. (MY God, MY God…his confusion/anger wasn’t against men)
It’s so, so humble. He’s not demanding anything, or throwing his accomplishments in God’s face. He’s asking a question.
It’s REAL. Human. Shows that we can be real and human and ask questions of God.
It shows what Jesus had been putting INTO his soul…because whatever you put in, determines what comes out in times of crisis.
Psalm 22:
3 levels to this passage. David, the sons of David, and the Son of David.
“O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear”: David cried out to God for YEARS…the people of Israel cried out to God for years…Jesus cried out to God on the cross, but He had turned His face from Him."
Here’s what I love about the Psalms though…there’s almost always a remembrance of God’s nature and prior help, which is what I think we are missing a lot of times. WORSHIP as a discipline brings us back to that.
I can name times in my life that I doubted, and yet still had a baseline of faith through it. I generally think of myself as not that faith-filled. Until I look back through my life and compare a little bit. I look at my siblings or my friends I grew up with…I had faith where they didn’t. I went through CRAZY situations, but my faith was never in my church leaders, or my parents, or the church in general. It’s in GOD. It’s why I stuck around, I think, when others didn’t. And ultimately, I think, well, God’s got this. HE is my protector. HE is my provider. I don’t really have any choice but to trust Him.
“Here is the triumph of faith – the Saviour stood like a rock in the wide ocean of temptation. High as the billows rose, so did his faith, like the coral rock, wax greater and stronger till it became an island of salvation to our shipwrecked souls. It is as if he had said, ‘It matters not what I endure. Storms may howl upon me; men despise; devils tempt; circumstances overpower; and God himself forsake me, still God is holy; there is no unrighteousness in him.’” (Stevenson, cited in Spurgeon)
“We may not question the holiness of God, but we may argue from it, and use it as a plea in our petitions.” (Spurgeon)
vs. 14, “I am poured out like water” I feel that deeply in my soul sometimes.
vs. 17, “I have counted all my bones” the pattern of the passover lamb. No bones broken! John 19 carefully notes that Jesus had no broken bones. This fact fulfilled this prophecy, as well as Psalm 34:20 and the pattern of the Passover lamb as described in Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12.
Vs. 22-31….even in ALL OF THIS ^^, we worship. We praise. We give thanksgiving. We get our eyes back on the Provider, the Deliverer, the Healer!
Notes about prophecy:
Prophecy is best understood AFTER it comes true. My personal philosophy about it is that it’s main intent is to prove that God is God. Humans can’t know the future like that, but God can. Before it comes true then, our purpose with it is to watch and wait. Not to figure it out 100%.
Prophets are a gift given to the church…one of the five-fold ministry gifts found in Ephesians 4:11-13, which exist to “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of fullness of Christ”! They have an important job of testifying God’s will, preparing us for the future, helping us to live happily, and guiding us according to God’s will, but—the bible also talks A LOT about false prophecy.
It can come from anywhere. The spirit gives prophetic words and not JUST to the “office” of the prophet. Joel 2, “I will pour out my spirit on all people…your sons and daughters will prophesy..” (NT prophesy is different from OT) Acts 2 also quotes this passage word for word.
Beware of false prophecy. Matthew 7:15-20. Judge by the fruit (takes time)!
Prophecy should strengthen, encourage, and comfort. It’s for believers. Prophets should exercise self-control. 1 Corinthians 14. Love should always be the highest goal, as we see in 1 Corinthians 13. What good is prophecy without it? (In the New Testament, we recognize that even in small house churches, like those in Corinth, prophecies had to be evaluated each week (1 Cor 14:29). That suggests that those prophecies remained fallible and not all of them passed muster in all their details. Prophecy in Corinth, where the believers were just two or three years old in the Lord, had to get vetted through a process of peer review. In the OT, senior prophets often mentored junior prophets, probably supervising their prophesying (1 Sam 19:20; 2 Kgs 2:3-7; 4:38). That is, there was also a process of review as younger prophets were maturing. (It was considered noteworthy when a prophet arose like Samuel, none of whose words failed—1 Sam 3:19; or Moses, who talked with God face to face—Num 12:6-8.)
I think of it sort of like practicing medicine, or practicing law. You can have experts on the subject, but even the experts sometimes get it wrong. It’s the rebellious and proud ones that you have to look out for.
Always must measure up to the standard of the Word, of course.
Did it come true? Deuteronomy 18:21-22. (radical difference between OT and NT prophecy)
It should all come back to Jesus. Revelation 19:10. “For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus.”
(I also look for specific prophecy.)
We should all desire the gift of prophecy.
Pray for humility like Jesus.
Pray for the gift of prophecy.
Study Psalm 22.