Prophecies about Jesus: He would experience intense suffering

Did you know that many aspects of the crucifixion of Christ are mentioned in the Old Testament?

When Jesus was about to die, He cried out in a loud voice “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt. 27:46; Mk. 15:34). About 1,000 years earlier David wrote Psalm 22, which says (NIV):

¹ 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.

David was rejected (v.6-8) and was subject to intense suffering (v.12-18). He was in anguish and in the process of dying (v., 15). The insults in v.7-8, which were used in Handel’s Messiah, were similar to what Christ experienced (Lk. 23:45; Mt. 27:39, 43). And the gambling for his clothes was also similar to what happened to Christ’s clothing (Mt. 27:35; Mk. 15:24; Lk. 23:34; Jn. 19:24).

“Bashan” (v.12) was an area in north-eastern Israel (now Syria), including the Golan Heights. It symbolised his Jewish enemies. His enemies were like bulls, lions and dogs (v.12, 13, 16). In the New Testament, a dog was the Jewish derogatory term for the Gentiles (Mt. 7:6; 15:26; Rev. 22:15).

So what David experienced was a foretaste or pattern prophecy of what Jesus experienced. They were both rejected and attacked. They both experienced intense suffering, although in David’s case it is exaggerated in a hyperbole.

Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1 – He was aware of the similarity. But the Roman soldiers who crucified Him on a wooden cross and cast lots for His clothes didn’t know that they were fulfilling a pattern prophecy. Jesus had no control over what they did. God ordained that the crucifixion would follow the pattern written long before by David.

Prayer

Father God, it’s amazing how many parallels there are between what David wrote and the suffering of our Saviour. We know that Jesus was rejected by the Jewish leaders who led the Jewish people in demanding that He be crucified. And then it was the Romans who carried out the crucifixion. Thank you for sending Jesus to be the Saviour of the world. In Christ’s name, Amen.