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¹ The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it;
² for he founded it on the seas
    and established it on the waters.

³ Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
⁴ The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol
    or swear by a false god.

⁵ They will receive blessing from the Lord
    and vindication from God their Saviour.
⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him,
    who seek your face, God of Jacob.

⁷ Lift up your heads, you gates;
    be lifted up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
⁸ Who is this King of glory?
    The Lord strong and mighty,
    the Lord mighty in battle.
⁹ Lift up your heads, you gates;
    lift them up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
¹⁰ Who is he, this King of glory?
    The Lord Almighty –
    he is the King of glory.

I felt that I had to go back to psalm 24 one more time. So I tried to re-read it slowly, with an open heart, asking, ‘What is it you want to say, Lord?’ Here’s the challenge I felt: ‘How much holiness do you really want?’ By sheer grace and mercy we have this positional holiness in God’s sight, but how much practical, every day holiness do we desire? How far do we want to travel down the highway of holiness? To what extent are we prepared to be changed?

Someone said that, as a general principle, in the Christian life you tend to get what you go for. That is, so long as it is God’s clearly revealed will for us. There is no doubt that our personal holiness falls into this category. (See, e.g. 1 Thess.4:3).

Dr. J. Sidlow Baxter was a well-known and effective Bible teacher, and gifted writer. His life spanned most of the twentieth century (1903-1999). Not too long before he died at the age 96, he was visited by a younger friend who asked him, ‘How can I pray for you?’ I find his reply deeply moving, ‘Pray that I would be more holy.’

Prayer: Lord, I confess that there is still so much ‘Jacob’ (6) in me, but I long to be part of that blessed generation who seek you. Help me to lift up every gate and door, that I know the reality of ‘the King of glory’ within.

¹ The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it;
² for he founded it on the seas
    and established it on the waters.

³ Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
⁴ The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol
    or swear by a false god.

⁵ They will receive blessing from the Lord
    and vindication from God their Saviour.
⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him,
    who seek your face, God of Jacob.

⁷ Lift up your heads, you gates;
    be lifted up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
⁸ Who is this King of glory?
    The Lord strong and mighty,
    the Lord mighty in battle.
⁹ Lift up your heads, you gates;
    lift them up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
¹⁰ Who is he, this King of glory?
    The Lord Almighty –
    he is the King of glory. NIVUK

‘The Cross, the Crook, the Crown’.

‘Psalm 22 points to our Lord’s grace in dying for us, and Psalm 23 explains His goodness in caring for us. This psalm reveals His glory in coming for us.’ Warren Wiersbe. He goes on to say about verses 7-10: ‘These verses may originally have celebrated David’s return to Jerusalem from a great victory, but they speak to us of our King of glory. When He rode into Jerusalem, Jesus came in humility and tears (Luke 19:29-44); but when He comes again, it will be in power and great glory (Matt.24:29ff). Your Shepherd is the King of glory!’

But we must not miss the challenge of holiness we find at the heart of the psalm (vv.3-6). Jesus taught: ”Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” Mt.5:8. Of course, Jesus is the only Person in history who perfectly fits the picture of the holy individual in verse 4. Only He has the right to be in the Father’s holy presence. But the wonderful, miraculous doctrine of justification by faith teaches us that when we trust in Christ for salvation, Jesus’s righteousness is imputed to us. God no longer sees us in our sin, but in His Son. He sees us as Holy as His Son So in Jesus we have freedom of access to the Father (see e.g. Eph.2:18). Furthermore, He puts His Holy Spirit inside us, and by His presence and power we are increasingly transformed into the likeness of Jesus. We gradually, progressively, become (practically) what we are (positionally). Through Jesus’ sacrifice we become a part of ”the generation” who seek God’s face (vv.5,6).

How do these thoughts fit together? Well, throughout the New Testament, the truth that the King is coming is proclaimed with a call to practical holiness. As someone put it, the doctrine of Christ’s second coming is meant to be a ‘sanctifying edge’ in our experience.

Here is just one example of this New Testament call:

”See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ² Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³ All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. NIV

^1-3 God, my shepherd!
    I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
    you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
    you let me catch my breath
    and send me in the right direction.

⁴ Even when the way goes through
    Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
    when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
    makes me feel secure.

⁵ You serve me a six-course dinner
    right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
    my cup brims with blessing.

⁶ Your beauty and love chase after me
    every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
    for the rest of my life. The Message

If Psalm 22 points to the Cross, Psalm 23 speaks of the crook. Jesus died, but is now risen, and has returned to Shepherd His church:

” Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, ²¹ equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20,21 NIV

In my younger years I had a number of books written by Iain Barclay, who at the time was an Anglican Vicar. He was very well-known, and a frequent Bible teacher at conventions and festivals such as ‘Filey’ and ‘Spring Harvest.’ I heard him speak at both. I also had his book on Psalm 23: a devotional commentary entitled, ‘He is everything to me.’ I think that title beautifully encapsulates the central truth of this most famous psalm.

The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 1:3:

” Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” NIVUK

Also in Colossians 2:9,10:

”For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.” NIVUK

In Jesus we have everything we could ever need, for this life and the next.

How does this psalm speak to you today?

I will declare your name to my people;
    in the assembly I will praise you.
²³ You who fear the Lord, praise him!
    All you descendants of Jacob, honour him!
    Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
²⁴ For he has not despised or scorned
    the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
    but has listened to his cry for help.

²⁵ From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
    before those who fear you I will fulfil my vows.
²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied;
    those who seek the Lord will praise him –
    may your hearts live for ever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth
    will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
    will bow down before him,
²⁸ for dominion belongs to the Lord
    and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
    all who go down to the dust will kneel before him –
    those who cannot keep themselves alive.
³⁰ Posterity will serve him;
    future generations will be told about the Lord.
³¹ They will proclaim his righteousness,
    declaring to a people yet unborn:
    He has done it! NIVUK

‘He has done it!’ God has raised Christ from the dead. Jesus is alive and He is Lord.

He will do it! As the gospel goes out to all the world, people from every tribe, tongue and nation will fall at the feet of Jesus (27-31, see Phil.2:9-11).

Here is an important point of contact between Is.52:19- 53:12 and Psalm 22: in both passages we ‘stand at the foot of the Cross’ centuries before Jesus died, and in both the Lord also comes through the suffering of death and into the place of ultimate triumph.

^25-26 Here in this great gathering for worship
    I have discovered this praise-life.
And I’ll do what I promised right here
    in front of the God-worshipers.
Down-and-outers sit at God’s table
    and eat their fill.
Everyone on the hunt for God
    is here, praising him.
“Live it up, from head to toe.
    Don’t ever quit!”

^27-28 From the four corners of the earth
    people are coming to their senses,
    are running back to God.
Long-lost families
    are falling on their faces before him.
God has taken charge;
    from now on he has the last word.

²⁹ All the power-mongers are before him
    —worshiping!
All the poor and powerless, too
    —worshiping!
Along with those who never got it together
    —worshiping!

^30-31 Our children and their children
    will get in on this
As the word is passed along
    from parent to child.
Babies not yet conceived
    will hear the good news—
    that God does what he says. The Message

Let’s not forget, though, that although Psalm 22 is prophetic of Jesus, it had its origin in some personal situation (suffering) of David’s (possibly, more widely, of the people of Israel in general). Derek Tidball helpfully points out that the experiences of both ”touch one another as much in the latter part of the psalm as in the first. Both experience the deliverance of God. Both the psalmist and Jesus come through their times of suffering and are restored to full life and health. But there is a difference we should note. As Peter Craigie says, ‘The psalm concludes with praise because the sufferer escaped death; Jesus died.’ The psalmist is delivered from death, whereas Jesus is delivered through death. The deliverance experienced by Jesus, then, was total. For the psalmist, death was merely postponed. One day it would come knocking on his door again. For the Christ, death was defeated.”

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from my cries of anguish?
² My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
    by night, but I find no rest.

³ Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
    you are the one Israel praises.
⁴ In you our ancestors put their trust;
    they trusted and you delivered them.
⁵ To you they cried out and were saved;
    in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man,
    scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock me;
    they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
⁸ ‘He trusts in the Lord,’ they say,
    ‘let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
    since he delights in him.’

⁹ Yet you brought me out of the womb;
    you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
¹⁰ From birth I was cast on you;
    from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

¹¹ Do not be far from me,
    for trouble is near
    and there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls surround me;
    strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
¹³ Roaring lions that tear their prey
    open their mouths wide against me.
¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
    it has melted within me.
¹⁵ My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
    and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
    you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶ Dogs surround me,
    a pack of villains encircles me;
    they pierce my hands and my feet.
¹⁷ All my bones are on display;
    people stare and gloat over me.
¹⁸ They divide my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.

¹⁹ But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
    You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
²⁰ Deliver me from the sword,
    my precious life from the power of the dogs.
²¹ Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
    save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

Psalms 22,23 and 24 have been characterised as ‘The Cross, the crook, the crown.’ Warren Wiersbe adds to this, saying: ‘Psalms 22, 23 and 24 are sometimes called the ”Shepherd Psalms” because they speak of Jesus Christ in His shepherding ministry. In Psalm 22, the Good Shepherd dies for the sheep (John 10:11). In Psalm 23, the great Shepherd lives and cares for the sheep (Heb. 13: 20-21). In Psalm 24, the Chief Shepherd returns in glory for the sheep (1 Pet.5:4).’

Following on from this, he says about verses 1-21 of our psalm: ‘Because he was a prophet (Acts 2:30), David was able to write about the Messiah centuries before He came. Crucifixion was not a Jewish form of capital punishment, yet David described it accurately. As you read, you see Jesus at Calvary: His cry to the Father (v.1; Matt.27:46); the period of darkness (v.2; Matt.27:45); the ridicule of the people (vv.6-8; Matt.27:39-44); His thirst and pain (vv.14-15; John 19:28); His pierced hands and feet (v.16; Luke 24:39); and the gambling for His clothes (v.18; John 29:23-24). Remember, He endured all these things for you.’

I understand that thirteen Old Testament texts are quoted in the gospel passion narratives, of which nine come from the psalms. Of those nine, five are found in Psalm 22. So exactly does it portray the suffering of Jesus that it has been called ‘the Fifth Gospel’. So, as when we were studying Isaiah 53, I suggest we need to pause here, and remove our shoes, and consider the wonder of it all: the wonder that, like Isaiah, it was as though David stood at the foot of Jesus’ Cross, hundreds of years before it happened; but even more the wonder that it happened. Our God was ”contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man” (Charles Wesley), and He died in our place. As Wesley also in wonder exclaimed: ”Amazing love, how can it be, that thou, my God, should’st die for me?”

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from my cries of anguish?
² My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
    by night, but I find no rest.

³ Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
    you are the one Israel praises.
⁴ In you our ancestors put their trust;
    they trusted and you delivered them.
⁵ To you they cried out and were saved;
    in you they trusted and were not put to shame. NIVUK

Before we look any further into Psalm 22, I want to make an observation about the balance we find in the psalms (and in Scripture as a whole). Hard on the heels of two psalms which underline the power of prayer, and build faith-filled expectation of answers to prayer, here we find David wrestling with the issue of unanswered prayer. He knows God has answered prayer in the past, but where is he now?

Verses 1-11 read like this in ‘The Message’:

^1-2 God, God . . . my God!
    Why did you dump me
    miles from nowhere?
Doubled up with pain, I call to God
    all the day long. No answer. Nothing.
I keep at it all night, tossing and turning.

^3-5 And you! Are you indifferent, above it all,
    leaning back on the cushions of Israel’s praise?
We know you were there for our parents:
    they cried for your help and you gave it;
    they trusted and lived a good life.

^6-8 And here I am, a nothing—an earthworm,
    something to step on, to squash.
Everyone pokes fun at me;
    they make faces at me, they shake their heads:
“Let’s see how God handles this one;
    since God likes him so much, let him help him!”

^9-11 And to think you were midwife at my birth,
    setting me at my mother’s breasts!
When I left the womb you cradled me;
    since the moment of birth you’ve been my God.
Then you moved far away
    and trouble moved in next door.
I need a neighbour.

As we will go on to see, Psalm 22 is wondrously prophetic of Christ on the Cross. Derek Kidner has said ‘No Christian can read this psalm without being vividly confronted with the crucifixion.’ It is not a description of a sickness, but of an execution.

Nevertheless, the first layer of application seems to be something immediate in David’s circumstances. However, ‘If, as may be the case, some personal experience of suffering prompted the psalm, David multiplies it by infinity in order to plumb something of the suffering awaiting his Greater Son. Yet, at the same time, what arose from suffering, and then prophetically explored a unique suffering, can now reach down to our often desperate trials.’ Alec Motyer

I also find these words of Derek Tidball to be helpful. They come from his excellent book, ‘The Message of the Cross’: ‘If anyone fitted the description of a righteous man who struggled with the absence of God as he endured the sufferings others inflicted on him and which led him to his death, it was Jesus. The psalm was certainly written about others, but it was supremely written about him. It is a human composition and a divine inspiration…But it is true that the note of trust remained. The God who had apparently deserted Jesus was still his God. The cry of dereliction was a reaching out to God and a cry for help. It is a cry which, both for the psalmist and for Christ, was eventually answered, if in different ways.’

¹ The king rejoices in your strength, Lord.
    How great is his joy in the victories you give!

² You have granted him his heart’s desire
    and have not withheld the request of his lips.
³ You came to greet him with rich blessings
    and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.
⁴ He asked you for life, and you gave it to him –
    length of days, for ever and ever.
⁵ Through the victories you gave, his glory is great;
    you have bestowed on him splendour and majesty.
⁶ Surely you have granted him unending blessings
    and made him glad with the joy of your presence.
⁷ For the king trusts in the Lord;
    through the unfailing love of the Most High
    he will not be shaken.

⁸ Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies;
    your right hand will seize your foes.
⁹ When you appear for battle,
    you will burn them up as in a blazing furnace.
The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath,
    and his fire will consume them.
¹⁰ You will destroy their descendants from the earth,
    their posterity from mankind.
¹¹ Though they plot evil against you
    and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed.
¹² You will make them turn their backs
    when you aim at them with drawn bow.

¹³ Be exalted in your strength, Lord;
    we will sing and praise your might.

This is prayer after the battle. When David showed up on the battlefield, the God to whom he had prayed also showed up (see v.9a). In fact, He was there first! It’s been pointed out that in verse 3 the verb ‘to get there ahead of/get there first’ is used of the Lord ‘anticipating’ our needs. Where we maybe expected trouble, He meets us with ”rich blessings”. Also note that what is life for the king (God’s presence on the field: compare verse 6 – it’s the same word) is death to his foes.

In answering David’s prayer God gave him a form of glory as king (5). But the thrust of this psalm is David and all the people saying, ‘To God be all the glory.’ Read through the psalm again, and you will see that the emphasis is totally upon the Lord and what He has done. For sure, David played his part, but all that he did was in the ”strength” of his divine enabler (1,6).

May we never neglect to give the Lord the thanks and glory that are due to His Name (Lk.17:11-19).

May the Lord answer you when you are in distress;
    may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
² May he send you help from the sanctuary
    and grant you support from Zion.
³ May he remember all your sacrifices
    and accept your burnt offerings.
⁴ May he give you the desire of your heart
    and make all your plans succeed.
⁵ May we shout for joy over your victory
    and lift up our banners in the name of our God.

May the Lord grant all your requests.

⁶ Now this I know:
    the Lord gives victory to his anointed.
He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary
    with the victorious power of his right hand.
⁷ Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
⁸ They are brought to their knees and fall,
    but we rise up and stand firm.
⁹ Lord, give victory to the king!
    Answer us when we call! NIVUK

Make the king a winner GOD; the day we call, give us your answer. (9) The Message

It is evident that the writer of this psalm (David again) believes in the power of prayer because he believes in the prayer-answering God (see e.g. vv.6/9). The whole psalm exudes confidence in the Lord. David has the assurance that he and his armies will be victorious in ”the name” of the LORD (1,5,7). The ‘Name’ represents all that God is.

It is believed that this psalm is a prayer before battle. ‘David was going out to battle, and he and his people gathered to pray. His secret of victory was in the name of the Lord (v.1)…’ Warren W. Wiersbe.

Alec Motyer makes the important point regarding verse 3 that ‘Prayer must happen in the context of the sacrifices God has authorized, i.e. for us, prayer resting on Calvary.’

What battles lie ahead of you this day? You can pray before you enter them, and trust God to be with you. He has a good Name – a great Name – and He will not let you down.

‘In the Name of Jesus we have the victory.’

By them your servant is warned;
    in keeping them there is great reward.
¹² But who can discern their own errors?
    Forgive my hidden faults.
¹³ Keep your servant also from wilful sins;
    may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
    innocent of great transgression.

¹⁴ May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
    be pleasing in your sight,
    Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. NIVUK

In the ‘New Bible Commentary’, Alec Motyer provides this outline of Psalm 19:

• The voice of creation: paradox (1-6). This paradox is that ‘The notion of a Creator is conveyed but there is not the verbal revelation we need’;
• The voice of the word: perfection (7-10);
• The voice of the sinner: praying (11-14). He says, ‘Here is one who has come under the influence of the divine word.’

I find myself keeping company with David in this nineteenth psalm:

• I need forgiveness: I can say that I am aware of sin (sins) in me, or potential sins, the thought of which is distressing to me. But I also have other sins that are currently hidden from me. I’m not aware of them; but God is, and I need His forgiveness for every sin. We can thank Him that 1 John 1:9 is true: ” If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”;
• I need freedom: Not only do I need cleansing for what I am, for what I have done, and do, I also need the freedom to live differently. Freedom from sin’s penalty, certainly. But also freedom from its power. I need God’s grace imparted so that I don’t persist in doing what I ought not to do. This freedom is ours in Christ. See, e.g. Rom.6:12-14: ”Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”

As the psalm ends, we can see that a fundamental element of the pursuit of godliness involves a heart soaked in God’s written revelation.

” Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Rom.12:2

You may want to use this prayer as your own today:

”There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger
    and directs us to hidden treasure.
Otherwise how will we find our way?
    Or know when we play the fool?
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
    Keep me from stupid sins,
    from thinking I can take over your work;
Then I can start this day sun-washed,
    scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
These are the words in my mouth;
    these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them
    on the morning altar,
O God, my Altar-Rock,
    God, Priest-of-My-Altar.” The Message