Psalm 22 Foreshows the Crucifixion

April 5, 2023

Psalm 22 is a Psalm written by David. It could have been before or after his anointing of King. He wrote it at the time when he was experiencing great distress. In a time of extreme hardship. The amazing thing about Psalm 22 is that it’s one of those beautiful passages that can describe a present time while pointing to a future event. This Psalm with great accuracy prophesies and describes Christ’s great suffering on the cross. It uses similar language, physically agony and emotional distress. But what David was rescued from, Christ died for 1,000 years later.

Below is a brief description of the Psalm 22 verses that foreshadow Jesus’ death on the cross. Don’t let the details in these verses pass by. Sit and reflect on each verse. The crazy, over-the-top chances that what David wrote to God 1,000 years earlier came true in the crucifixion.

This is not coincidence. This is God planned. God fulfilled.

Read: Psalm 22 and Matthew 27:27-54

Verse 1: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

David used the same cry out to God as Jesus did on the cross. A cry of deep longing and question, of hurt and despair. Two men longing for their Father.

Verse 6: Scorned by mankind and despised by the people.

Verse 7: All who see me mock me

As cruel men mocked David in his distress , they did so Jesus in His greatest hours of agony on the cross as he hung there for them.

Verse 8: He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue him.

They questioned if David truly trusted the Lord as he awaited His rescue. Mockers spat this same insult at Jesus on the Cross, wondering why God had not rescued Him. Or why Jesus doesn’t call down Angels to rescue Him. “If he truly is the Son of God…”

Verse 12: Reference of Bulls

Bulls - describes the people tormenting him. The Bulls of Bashan are known to be large animals with brutal strength and trample anything before them.

Spurgeon describes the Religious leaders as bulls bellowing around the cross full of strength and fury, stamping and foaming around the Innocent One longing to gore him to death with their cruelties.

Verse 14-15: Bones out of joint, tongue clings to jaw.

David describes his physical extremity of the time but unknowingly prophesies the future suffering of Jesus on the cross. The awkward and strained position of a crucified man - hanging, bones out of joint, suffering from extreme thirst as they gasp for breath.

Verse 15: Dust of death

While David was saved from the dust of death, Jesus bore the sting of Adam’s curse. “Dust you are and dust you shall return” Genesis 3:19

Verse 16: Dogs encompass me, evil doers encircle me

David felt as if his enemies surrounded him. His humility and suffering put on public display. Christ suffered this same reality as his haters, scoffers and mockers surrounded him at the foot of the cross hurling insults at him.

Verse 16: Pierced hands and feet, count all my bones

While David reflected on his physical reality? He points to Christ’s physical suffering on the Christ. Pierced hands and feet as the Romans hung him on the cross yet not a bone was broken by God’s great mercy.

Verse 18: Divide my garments and cast lots.

Another sign of humiliation for David as it points to Jesus’ reality on the cross as he was striped nearly naked as he watched the Roman soldiers cast lots or gamble for his clothes

Lastly the Psalm ends with “he has done it” in verse 31 a foreshadowing of Jesus crying out “It is finished”. Both Jesus and David pour out their soul in agony. They feel forsaken, they are bruised, battered and weary. But while David cries out “he has done it” as an answer to prayer, Jesus cries out “it is finished” as the plan for salvation since the beginning of time is now complete. He has delivered His people. One man redeemed, the other one who redeems.

My God, My God… we thank you.

We love you.

We sit and remember, we reflect.

This is not by chance that you fulfilled this prophesy but your plan. What a spiritual blessing this is to us. What a beautiful way to showcase integrity of the written Word. May we use this to fuel our joy and firm foundation in your Holy Word to us.

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Isaiah 53 Explained

April 3, 2023

Isaiah was a prophet 700+ years before the birth of Jesus. Isaiah 53 tells of Jesus’ death. A death that hasn’t even been “invented.” To die on a cross, didn’t even exist in Isaiah’s time. Yet, Isaiah 53 gives us an extremely detailed account of his death and in every aspect of his death. He shows us the Messiah was to be a Suffering Servant. The idea that the Messiah would suffer was extremely foreign to the Jewish people. They saw the messiah as a conquering hero. In fact, Isaiah starts out verse 1 by essentially saying, “you’re not going to believe this...”

There is so much packed in to Isaiah 53 that I want to break it down. Our explanation will be concise and quick so this blog post doesn’t take you hours to read and my fingers don’t grow numb from typing. If there is a verse that stirs you, dive deeper! This passage is powerful and will be worth your time.

Passage to Read: Isaiah 53:1-12

Who has believed what he has heard from us?

- You are not going to believe this. It’s contradictory to the belief of the Messiah.

And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

- Arm of the Lord is seen as strength, power and might. Yet this passage seems odd since it talks about a Messiah who is portrayed as weak and suffering.

Yet we have the privilege to know and see Jesus as strong and powerful in the midst of his suffering.

For he grew up before him like a young plant,

- Young plant is tender and Jesus came as a baby and matured as a child

and like a root out of dry ground;

- Jesus grew up in Galilee an area see as “dry” and boring. It was nothing special. Dry in the areas of spiritual, political and standard of living.

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

-Jesus’ outward appearance was nothing special.

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;

- Because he was fully man, who knew what it felt like to be sad. He had full human emotion.

and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

- Jesus was not “fancy” Men did not esteem him. They saw him as plain thus rejecting him as their Messiah. They wanted their Messiah to be a conquering hero like the Kings of their day – Full of physical beauty and a charismatic character. A man of high status and power.

Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows;

- This Messiah, Jesus took our pain upon himself. He literally carried our sorrows on his back as he walked/carried his cross to be crucified.

yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

- Seen as stricken and afflicted by God because they couldn’t fathom “why” the Messiah would carry our sin.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

- Here Isaiah explains why he was stricken. It was for us, for our sin. The Messiah suffered for us and took our place on the cross. And why? Because it brought us peace.

and with his wounds we are healed.

- A few translations use stripes. The stripes and wounds refer to the beatings. We have healing because of Christ’s sufferings. It is through Jesus’ death on the cross that we have full healing and atonement. (atonement? read this post, https://sixnotesclothing.com/blog/sacrificeandatonement)

All we like sheep have gone astray;

- we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

we have turned-every one-to his own way;

- we all walk away, chosen our own path even though God has placed a path before us.

and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

- God laid this on Jesus for us. Synonyms for iniquity are wickedness, sinfulness and immorality.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth;

- he stood silent, never standing up for himself, never rebuking false claims against him. Thy will be done he uttered in the garden. He knew this was the only way we could be made right with God so he stood silent. Ready to take on the sin of the world for our redeeming salvation.

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

- Jesus was willing to be the final and ultimate sacrifice for all time. So he stood, taking in all the hate and abuse with not a single retaliation.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

- Generation refers to no children. Cut off foreshadows that the Messiah would die.

stricken for the transgression of my people?

- He does not suffer for himself but for the sins of people.

And they made his grave with the wicked.

- He died in the company of the wicked. A criminals death.

and with a rich man in his death,

- laid in the tomb of a wealthy man.

although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

- Because he had done no violence. He never sinned and he remained holy.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief;

- God was in control. His sovereign hand controlled the priests, Pontius pilot and the Roman Soldiers. This was not by mistake. God allowed man to crucify Christ all for His redemptive purpose and plan.

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

- We will dive into Jesus as the final sacrifice on another day. But he was and we now are made right with God.

he shall see his offspring;

- Spiritual descendants.

he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

- life after death with the glory of God

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

- He will look back on his suffering and it will all be worth it.

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

- We are justified before God when we know/believe in the Messiah because of who he is and what he did on the cross for us.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

- We will divide the goods with those who share in his suffering, those who are followers of Christ, you and me, heirs to his throne.

because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors;

- He gave it all. He poured out all of himself on the cross.

yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

- He identified himself with us, a sinner, and here Isaiah states again He took our sin upon himself and we are now made holy through the Messiah.

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Christian Playlist - Remembering His Glory - The Body and Blood

March 31, 2023

Easter Sunday brings us so much hope and life. Yet the road to Easter is somber. Full of questions and goodbyes, sacrifice and loss, and the giving up of our own wills. Come and sit in this playlist and remember the “body and blood” of Jesus. The sacrifice that was given so we can come and stand before Him one day ready to live with Him forever.

preview below or play in spotify - be sure to click the “heart” and save for later.

Read and pray this:

“The work you can do for God starts with believing in the One He has sent. The bread of God is the One who came out of heaven to give His life to feed the world. I alone am this living Bread that has come to you from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna in the desert and died. But standing here before you is the true Bread that comes out of heaven, and when you eat this Bread you will never die. Come every day to me and you will never be hungry. The living Bread I give you is my body, which I will offer as a sacrifice so that all may live.” Then taking the cup of wine, He gave thanks to the Father, He entered into covenant with them. “This is my blood. Each of you must drink it in fulfillment of the covenant. For this is the blood that seals the new covenant. It will be poured out for many for the complete forgiveness of sins. The next time we drink this, I will be with you and we will drink it together with a new understanding in the kingdom realm of my Father. Unless you eat the body of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have eternal life. Eternal life comes to the one who eats my body and drinks my blood, and I will raise him up in the last day. For my body is real food for your spirit and my blood is real drink. The one who eats my body and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him. The Father of life sent me,and he is my life. In the same way, the one who feeds upon me, I will become his life. I am not like the bread your ancestors ate and later died. I am the living Bread that comes from heaven. Eat this Bread and you will live forever!”

Dive Deeper by opening your Bible to these verses:

John 6 TPT
Matthew 26 TPT

These playlist are created by a local musician - Legend Ozoro. Find her music here.

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A Prayer For When Tragedy Strikes

March 29, 2023

I was reading in my Psalms for Praying book today and read the prayer below. It felt very fitting in lieu of recent events and wanted to share. In all honesty, when dark tragedies like these strike, you lose words. You don’t know how to prayer and that’s all you want to do. It’s okay to find those guided prayers. Prayers of lament and frustration. Open up your Bible and turn to Psalms and Lamentations; a perfect place to go to.. Then just be still in the silence and sit in the frustration, sadness and even hope and longing for our eternal coming.

more guided prayers:

Putting Sin To Death

March 27, 2023

My morning read the other day was from James Bryan Smith in his book Hidden In Christ. It was about putting sin to death. To mortify it. He gave the example mortifying sin with his experience with the swimsuit addition from a very popular sports magazine. Guessing you all know that one. He talked about his guilty conscience with it as a young kid before he knew Christ. Then as he gave his life to Christ, the struggle became greater. He struggled for years whether to look or just throw it away. Finally he put the temptation to look away and walked straight to the trash bin and put that sin to death. He know longer allowed it to be a temptation.

He also gave another example of a teacher and her struggles with gossip in the teacher’s lounge. She worked to mortify that sin by redirecting the conversations if it turned to gossip. If the redirecting didn’t work, she would leave the lounge. She was fleeing from her temptation thus putting sin’s temptation to death.

So I got to thinking about my sin as I like to self reflect and challenge myself with Jesus during my morning devotion. Quickly anger came to mind. If you know me, I’m pretty chill but every once in a while I explode and it’s usually my kids and their fighting that cause the volcano to erupt. But when they are fighting I can’t exactly throw them in the trash, I can try redirecting which rarely works and then I can’t just walk away while it escalates into something bigger. So I was stumped for a while on how to put this sin of anger to death.

Then He brought Ephesians 4:2 to mind. Humble, gentle, patient. I can flee this sin and put anger to death in this situation by putting on the armor of God - His word. By simple training myself to say a quick “breath prayer” it will slow my heart enough, fix my eyes on Jesus, and see the situation as a teaching moment to mold their hearts a little more. And you know what, most of the time this works. And when it doesn’t, I start to hum the “I love you Lord” song and my kids now know that’s my last straw or attempt to stay calm :)

And if that still doesn’t work, I just throw them in the trash.

I kid…

But think about this. We all struggle with sin in our life. But it’s how we deal with our sinful desires that form us into who we are. Do we tempt the waters? Sin a little and then ask for forgiveness and just rely on the grace of God? Or do we flee from these moments, the temptations and shift our focus and heart to God.

My challenge to you is to be honest with yourself. We are a work in progress. But we need willing hearts for the change to happen.