Luke 24:1-12
You’ve heard the story. This is a
big deal! Christ the Lord is risen today! The story is now more than 2,000
years old. Nothing new can be said about it. All we can do is make sure that
the meaning of the story doesn’t get lost in culture or crusted over by
traditions. For example, I saw this on Facebook the other day and I like to say
it, “Silly Rabbit, Easter is for Jesus!”
It’s a love story. And love should never die. It can get comfortable
like an old shoe. But it should also be new every morning like a bright new
sunrise.
As I wrestled in my heart about the best way to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection today, a way that would really touch our hearts and minister to our soul’s needs, I felt woefully inadequate to have any words that could pierce our spiritual blindness, or soften hearts hardened by suffering that makes us doubt true faith. Then I thought that the Scripture itself is sharper than any two edged sword. God himself has already said everything that can be said and that needs to be said for his beloved children to understand the height and depth and breadth of his amazing love for us and to call us to himself.
So, in order to fully appreciate the love of God as seen in Christ on the cross, let us go back to an old, old song. Actually I am talking about Psalm 22 in the Old Testament. It was written by David. So we know that the song must be somewhere around one thousand years old by the time that Jesus employed it while he hung on the cross. Apparently it was written during a time of great suffering in which David used powerful language to describe his own distress.
Surely he could have felt this way during the time that he was running from the murderous King Saul. He must have wondered why the God who had anointed him to be king was also allowing him to be hunted down like a criminal when he should have been on the throne. So he feels that God has forsaken him. But when he says that he was pierced and that he could count his bones he must have been exaggerating, using these words of extreme physical suffering to most fully express his genuine emotional misery and psychological distress.
And yet, the song has a unique fulfillment as a prophetic utterance when it is seen as a very accurate depiction of what Jesus actually suffered on our behalf. David could not have known anything about crucifixion, or Roman practices of torture, or habits with regard to prisoner’s clothing. But by inspiration, he expressed his own misery and suffering in terms that exactly match Jesus’ real suffering. It was no accident that the psalm was written this way. God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, had it laid down in history so that Jesus, who is God the Son, could employ it in his agony and thus show the world that his suffering was no accident, but part of a deliberate plan to show everyone in the world just how much he loves us. It is not beyond reason to imagine that Jesus meditated on the entire psalm during his time on the cross. Even if he did not speak its every word, we know that he spoke the opening verse at the beginning of his suffering on the cross and the closing verse, “It is finished.” Came just before he died.
The psalm starts with the words that we hear Jesus utter as he hung on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.” This is a picture of Jesus experiencing a separation from God that must have felt like an eternity, the breaking of a sacred relationship that resulted in terrible isolation and loneliness. Since Jesus became sin for us and sin cannot exist in the presence of God, the Father must have torn himself away from the Son, and turned his back on Jesus during these hours.
Jesus the Son, understood why this was necessary and had already accepted it in the Garden of Gethsemane several hours earlier when he prayed to have the cup of sorrow and suffering removed if possible, but had also willingly submitted when he said, “Nevertheless Father, not my will, but yours be done.” And now his human body, mind and soul were experiencing what had been decreed as necessary. But though he feels forsaken, yet he himself will not forsake. His cry is, “My God, My God.” As if he holds tight with both hands to the Father God he adores and to whom he submits. Even on the cross, the Lord is praying to his Father God! How much more then, should we learn to pray and never give up, no matter how hard our circumstances.
Even on the cross, Jesus worships the God of the Holy Covenants, whose will is for the redemption and restoration of Israel and for the blessing of all the Gentiles. How poignant it is to hear the one who is on the cross to complete this work express His trust in the one for whom he is working. “Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.”
Then he turns again to describe the horrors of the situation he is in and how low he has stooped in order to do this work, “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.” And from the record in the New Testament we know that the Pharisees and other mockers said exactly that! Jesus’ tormentors unwittingly quoted this psalm 22 and add to our wonder that the Spirit so moved David to write this prophetic psalm.
“Yet you brought me out of the womb;” Here is an amazing reference to the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus! “You made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.” This is more true of the sinless Lord Jesus than of any other human who has ever lived! And so he can appeal to God on the basis of his own faithfulness, “Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.” Invincible faith cries out again in fervent prayer.
Now David prophetically describes the enemies who stand around the cross. “Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.” There’s a picture word for the mighty ones, the priests, elders, scribes and Pharisees, rulers and captains bellowing round the cross in all their cruel anger, like raging bulls, eager to gore him with their cruelty. Jesus was bound to the tree helpless, exposed and alone in their midst. Similarly for the next line, “Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me.”
Then more of Jesus’ suffering: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.” Bones out of joint is quite literally one of the results of crucifixion. “My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. 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.”
“Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.
It is as if Jesus himself has described this whole scene at the cross. And now we see he has done it only to amplify his need of God to answer his prayers. So hear the prayer. “But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.” I know that I have been among the mockers. There was a time that I did not believe this gospel, did not serve God and did not care at all about his commandments or his love. I cannot tell you how happy I am to now know the Lord and understand all that has been accomplished on his cross, for me and for anyone who believes this gospel.
“I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! 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.
From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him—may your hearts live forever!”
See how he expresses his faith that all is not in vain. Though he is dying on the cross he knows that his resurrection will come and he knows what it will accomplish for his glory and for our benefit. He declares, “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, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.” Indeed, every knee shall now and evert tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Today we celebrate that resurrection and joyfully confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!
“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.” None of us can keep ourselves alive, but Jesus can and will if we believe in him. “Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!”
Jesus died to show his love and offer forgiveness for all. Even the Roman soldier who literally drove the nails into Jesus’ wrists and feet could have asked forgiveness and he would have been pardoned. In fact they were all forgiven before they were done. For as they were at that gruesome work Jesus said, “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” And maybe some of them did accept Jesus’ offer and we will meet them in heaven.
That has happened! Christ is risen! His death is his victory over sin and death and evil. His resurrection is the proof that death could not hold him or keep him down. Jesus has arisen the victor! And here we are hundreds of generations after the facts of these events, still proclaiming and worshipping Jesus. And we are still declaring it so that the next generations of people yet unborn will also hear the same message if the Lord does not return soon.
As I wrestled in my heart about the best way to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection today, a way that would really touch our hearts and minister to our soul’s needs, I felt woefully inadequate to have any words that could pierce our spiritual blindness, or soften hearts hardened by suffering that makes us doubt true faith. Then I thought that the Scripture itself is sharper than any two edged sword. God himself has already said everything that can be said and that needs to be said for his beloved children to understand the height and depth and breadth of his amazing love for us and to call us to himself.
So, in order to fully appreciate the love of God as seen in Christ on the cross, let us go back to an old, old song. Actually I am talking about Psalm 22 in the Old Testament. It was written by David. So we know that the song must be somewhere around one thousand years old by the time that Jesus employed it while he hung on the cross. Apparently it was written during a time of great suffering in which David used powerful language to describe his own distress.
Surely he could have felt this way during the time that he was running from the murderous King Saul. He must have wondered why the God who had anointed him to be king was also allowing him to be hunted down like a criminal when he should have been on the throne. So he feels that God has forsaken him. But when he says that he was pierced and that he could count his bones he must have been exaggerating, using these words of extreme physical suffering to most fully express his genuine emotional misery and psychological distress.
And yet, the song has a unique fulfillment as a prophetic utterance when it is seen as a very accurate depiction of what Jesus actually suffered on our behalf. David could not have known anything about crucifixion, or Roman practices of torture, or habits with regard to prisoner’s clothing. But by inspiration, he expressed his own misery and suffering in terms that exactly match Jesus’ real suffering. It was no accident that the psalm was written this way. God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, had it laid down in history so that Jesus, who is God the Son, could employ it in his agony and thus show the world that his suffering was no accident, but part of a deliberate plan to show everyone in the world just how much he loves us. It is not beyond reason to imagine that Jesus meditated on the entire psalm during his time on the cross. Even if he did not speak its every word, we know that he spoke the opening verse at the beginning of his suffering on the cross and the closing verse, “It is finished.” Came just before he died.
The psalm starts with the words that we hear Jesus utter as he hung on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.” This is a picture of Jesus experiencing a separation from God that must have felt like an eternity, the breaking of a sacred relationship that resulted in terrible isolation and loneliness. Since Jesus became sin for us and sin cannot exist in the presence of God, the Father must have torn himself away from the Son, and turned his back on Jesus during these hours.
Jesus the Son, understood why this was necessary and had already accepted it in the Garden of Gethsemane several hours earlier when he prayed to have the cup of sorrow and suffering removed if possible, but had also willingly submitted when he said, “Nevertheless Father, not my will, but yours be done.” And now his human body, mind and soul were experiencing what had been decreed as necessary. But though he feels forsaken, yet he himself will not forsake. His cry is, “My God, My God.” As if he holds tight with both hands to the Father God he adores and to whom he submits. Even on the cross, the Lord is praying to his Father God! How much more then, should we learn to pray and never give up, no matter how hard our circumstances.
Even on the cross, Jesus worships the God of the Holy Covenants, whose will is for the redemption and restoration of Israel and for the blessing of all the Gentiles. How poignant it is to hear the one who is on the cross to complete this work express His trust in the one for whom he is working. “Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.”
Then he turns again to describe the horrors of the situation he is in and how low he has stooped in order to do this work, “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.” And from the record in the New Testament we know that the Pharisees and other mockers said exactly that! Jesus’ tormentors unwittingly quoted this psalm 22 and add to our wonder that the Spirit so moved David to write this prophetic psalm.
“Yet you brought me out of the womb;” Here is an amazing reference to the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus! “You made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.” This is more true of the sinless Lord Jesus than of any other human who has ever lived! And so he can appeal to God on the basis of his own faithfulness, “Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.” Invincible faith cries out again in fervent prayer.
Now David prophetically describes the enemies who stand around the cross. “Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.” There’s a picture word for the mighty ones, the priests, elders, scribes and Pharisees, rulers and captains bellowing round the cross in all their cruel anger, like raging bulls, eager to gore him with their cruelty. Jesus was bound to the tree helpless, exposed and alone in their midst. Similarly for the next line, “Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me.”
Then more of Jesus’ suffering: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.” Bones out of joint is quite literally one of the results of crucifixion. “My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. 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.”
“Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.
It is as if Jesus himself has described this whole scene at the cross. And now we see he has done it only to amplify his need of God to answer his prayers. So hear the prayer. “But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.” I know that I have been among the mockers. There was a time that I did not believe this gospel, did not serve God and did not care at all about his commandments or his love. I cannot tell you how happy I am to now know the Lord and understand all that has been accomplished on his cross, for me and for anyone who believes this gospel.
“I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! 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.
From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him—may your hearts live forever!”
See how he expresses his faith that all is not in vain. Though he is dying on the cross he knows that his resurrection will come and he knows what it will accomplish for his glory and for our benefit. He declares, “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, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.” Indeed, every knee shall now and evert tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Today we celebrate that resurrection and joyfully confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!
“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.” None of us can keep ourselves alive, but Jesus can and will if we believe in him. “Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!”
Jesus died to show his love and offer forgiveness for all. Even the Roman soldier who literally drove the nails into Jesus’ wrists and feet could have asked forgiveness and he would have been pardoned. In fact they were all forgiven before they were done. For as they were at that gruesome work Jesus said, “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” And maybe some of them did accept Jesus’ offer and we will meet them in heaven.
That has happened! Christ is risen! His death is his victory over sin and death and evil. His resurrection is the proof that death could not hold him or keep him down. Jesus has arisen the victor! And here we are hundreds of generations after the facts of these events, still proclaiming and worshipping Jesus. And we are still declaring it so that the next generations of people yet unborn will also hear the same message if the Lord does not return soon.
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