Old Testament Prophecies Regarding the Messiah - Part Ten (Psalm 22)

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?" - Psalm 22:1

When I was living in New York City, I had the opportunity to meet Jewish people from every walk of life and from every nation of the world. One of my favorite people was David who I met through a God-ordained happenstance. After meeting him and confirming that he had received Jesus as Messiah, I asked him what was one of the factors that led him to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. This Israeli businessman looked me straight in the eye and said Psalm 22.

David said the words of Jesus on the cross (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34), which is a direct quotation from Psalm 22, would have been instantly recognizable to the Jewish people and leaders at Golgotha and they would have known exactly what Jesus was stating about God and himself when he cried out these words. According to my friend David, Jesus was stating that not only was he a descendant of King David but that He was fulfilling the prophetic words of David that the true King would have to suffer for the sins of the people (cf. Isaiah 53). For my friend David this was proof that Jesus is the Messiah for the Jewish people as well as the Gentiles.

For indeed this Psalm is replete with prophetic overtones. Verse 14 speaks of someone's bones being forced out of joint; verse 16 speaks of one having your hands and feet pierced; and verse 18 speaks of having one's garments gambled away by lots. For a believer in Jesus these seem to be obvious references to what Jesus experienced during His crucifixion. However, Jewish people who do not yet believe in Jesus attempt to negate these overtly (and I would say obvious) Messianic overtones through the retranslation of verse 16 to read - "Dogs surround me; a pack of evil ones closes in on me, like lions [they maul] my hands and feet."

Great discussions and many theological papers argue for which is the best translation of verse 16 (and by the way, the best translation is the traditional Christian version), but please note that this is not the point of the verse or the Psalm. The point is that an innocent man is suffering through no fault of his own, he is being attacked and maligned and even though this is a Psalm of David, none of these things actually (physically) happened to him.

For while the David of the Old Testament was undergoing persecution and hardship when he penned this song, his words of lament and loss also were to be a foreshadowing of the Great King to come. And whether the hands are pierced or mauled, the truth is that Jesus suffered and was victorious over death for our salvation. This reality is very true for my friend David and our prayer must be that one day soon it will be true for Jewish people in New York City, Detroit, Philadelphia, Paris, London, Dallas, and even in towns as small as Tyler, Texas.

Over the last ten "Tzedakah Moments," we have seen ten Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. There are dozens more because Jesus is the Messiah for all people - Jews and Gentiles!

Next Week (NEW SERIES) ...Romans 1:16