Psalm 22 is presented as a profound Messianic prophecy that vividly describes the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, written over a thousand years before the practice was common. The sermon explores three interpretations: symbolic, messianic, and literal. Symbolically, the 'hind of the dawn' is depicted facing five enemies—the bull (Jewish leaders), the unicorn (the mob), the dog (Gentiles/Pilate), the lion (Satanic power), and ultimately the sword (divine justice)—all leading to death. The messianic interpretation highlights four titles of Christ: the 'worm' (humility and humanity), 'my darling' (deity), 'leader of praise' (in the church), and 'governor among nations' (future reign). Literally, the psalm details the suffering on the cross, from the cry 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' to the triumphant declaration 'It is finished,' underscoring the atoning and voluntary nature of Christ's death as the foundation of Christian faith.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 1.90 → restored 4.00
He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him, let him deliver him, saying he delighted in him. But art he that took me out of the womb, thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breast. I was cast upon thee from the womb, thou art my God from my mother's belly. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed me, strong bulls of dish, and have beset me round. They hissed upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wet. It is melted in the midst of my balls.
My strength is dried up like a pot-shirt, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands on my feet. I may tail all my bones. They look and stared upon me. They parked my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. But be not thou far from me, O Lord. O my strength, haste me to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mud, for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn.
I will declare thy name unto my brethren. in the midst of the congregation, will I praise thee. And then verse thirty. A seed shall serve him. It shall be a concert to the Lord for a generation. They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born. That it is finished. That he has done this. Psalm twenty-two is one of the gritts of the Messianic Psalms. It described death by crucifixion. And it's a remarkable thing that it was written before crucifixion as the method of capital punishment was invented by the Roman army.
It was written one thousand and fifty years before Christ, and you'd almost think it had been written beneath the cross. Paul of Psalm twenty-two refers to the Lord Jesus. I don't think that there's any portion of it can refer to David himself. He must have been in very close touch with God when he wrote this beautiful psalm. Actually, there are four psalms that speak of death, the death of Christ. But this is the only one that describes this method, the method of crucifixion. The death of Christ upon the cross, as atoning the carrier's death, is one of the great themes of Holy Scripture. Every section of the Bible, presented to us in a different way.
The first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch, we get the foreshadowing of Calvary. It's type and picture. In the book of Psalms, we get it as the feelings of Calvary, the thoughts that were in the mind of the Lord Jesus and the feelings where he was upon, when he was upon the cross, are brought before us in the twenty-second Psalm. In the four Gospels, the four accounts of the death of Christ, we get the facts of Calvary. again presented in a fourfold way. When we look at the epistles of the New Testament, the letters of the Apostle Paul, we get the fragrance of Calvary. And then when we turn over to the final book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, we get the fruit of Calvary.
So every part of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, we get the death of the Lord Jesus right before us. Now his life is important. That holy, sinless life here below is important. We have already been speaking about his incarnation from the fortieth Psalm. But while his life among man is important, his death upon the cross is supremely important, here we get the great foundation of our faith. This is the one that we would like to consider for a few moments. I would like to take the twenty-second Psalm and speak about it in a three-fold way, or three interpretations of the Psalm.
The first one I would like to speak about is the symbolic interpretation of the song. It's the title of the beginning that gives us the key to the symbolic interpretation. We're told that it was for the chief musician upon ijellis shahar. Now these two Hebrew words ijellis shahar means the hind of the dawn. The hind is a female deacon on a generally seen sunrise. behind it, possibly, one of the most beautiful creatures that God has made. Tripping along the forest glades in the early morning, flicking the dew of the leaves, taking a bite here and a bite there, it's only in the early dawn of sunrise that it's in the scene.
It's a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus. And we find in the psalm itself it has five enemies that bring a dawn into the dust of death. First of all, we read of the bull. the bull of vision. Then we read of the unicorn or the wild ox. The third animal that's mentioned is the dog. On them we find the lion, but it's the sword that brings a dawn into the dust of death. So I think that the symbolic interpretation of the Psalm, the hind of the dawn, the female deer, and the five enemies that bring a dawn into the dust of death would indicate a symbolic interpretation to the Psalm.
Now the second way I would like to look at it is a messianic interpretation. There are four great titles or offices of the Lord Jesus in the Psalms. First of all, he's called a worm. That speaks of his humility and of humanity. Then he's called my darling, or the only one. Nubly translates it that way, this word brings before us is complete essential deity. He's also called the leader of praise in the congregation. And finally, he's called the governor among the nations. These four great messianic offices of titles brings before us the messianic function of the Lord Jesus.
Messianic prophecy concentrated in these four magnificent titles of the Lord Jesus. And then I'd like to speak for a few moments about the literal interpretation of the Psalm. looking at it carefully and comparing it with the New Testament. They are conscious given of the death of Christ in the Gospels. There are seven items, details concerning his death. It commences with a cry amid the darkness of Golgotha. My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? And it ends with another. They shall come and declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born. That it is finished.
but he has done this. And between these two cries of Christ upon the cross, there are five details of his sufferings upon the cross. So these are the three interpretations of the Psalm. First of all, the symbolic, the hind of the tongue, and the five enemies. And then the messianic, the four magnificent titles of Christ, and then the literal interpretation, describing a death by crucifixion. Shall we think just for a moment of the symbolic interpretation? I think that the hind and the heart that are mentioned in the poetical book, both of them bring before us a beautiful picture on sight of the Lord Jesus.
The most beautiful creature that God has created is a female deer, and generally a thing in the early dawn. From the party of Saul we were speaking about the different types and pictures of the Lord Jesus and the Levitical system in the animals that were offered upon the altar in sacrifice. There was the son of the herod, the firstborn bull of the herod that was offered in the burnt offering. And then there was the ram offered in the trespass offering and also the consecration of the fruit. Then there was the lamb that was offered at the Passover. And then there were the two ghosts that were offered in the sin offering on the midday of atonement described in Leviticus chapter sixteen.
And then we read of two charcoal doves or two young pigeons. These were all offerings that were placed upon the elders, speaking of the work of Christ, in different aspects. Now we don't get this in the poetical books of the Bible, but we do get the heart on the hind, the male and the female deer. of these beautiful animals are types and pictures of the Lord Jesus. Now in the Psalm we find that the hind of the dawn are five enemies that bring it down into the dust of death. The first one is the bull. It's the bull of Bashan. Now we don't need to use our imagination to interpret this term. In Amos chapter four in verse one we're told that the bull of Bashan is a type and picture of the leaders of the Jewish nation.
Those that condemned the Lord Jesus to death and an illegal trial in the middle of the night. He was God before the Son of Eden. Not only was he accused of blasphemy against God and calling himself the Son of God, but he is also accused of treason against the Roman power by saying that he was the king, the king of the Jews. On a such illegal trial in the middle of the night described so graphically in the Gospels the Lord Jesus was condemned to death. Some would rank to exonerate the Jewish nation for a responsibility for the death of their Messiah. That cannot be done. They said, His blood be upon our head, and upon none of our children, and there it remains till the present day.
We have no feeling at all of anti-Semitism, but the Jewish people are responsible for the death of the Messiah, who refuse to accept this claim, and that took them out to Calvary, and to crucify them upon that cross. they were responsible for it. The bull of Gatian is the first enemy. But then we read of the unicorn or the wild ox. This animal is what we call in our lives today the buffalo, possibly the most dangerous animal in creation, especially if it's in a herd, none of its wounded. The unicorn speaks of the mob. But suit our pride, Pilate's judgment hall, and cried, Away with him, away with him.
Crucify him, crucify him. We will not have this man to reign over us. I don't think that there's anything more dangerous than a mob out of control, a lynching mob, of the unicorn or the wild ox, the buffalo. It speaks of that mob that harmed the Son of God through the cross. But then we read of the dog. The dog and Holy Scripture... usually refers to the Gentile. And they think of a man who sat upon a bench. The Roman, the representative of Roman justice, Pontius Pilate, again and again after hearing the evidence, he said, I find no fault in this man. He called him an innocent man.
And after being warned by his wife, you remember he takes a basin of water and he washes his hands and he said, see you to it, I am innocent of the blood of this just man. Now that was his, these were his own words. But at the same time, on account of fear, he sent them to his death. Oh, the dog was there. The Gentile is responsible, equally with the Jews. You remember, after being condemned to death, he was taken outside the walls of Jerusalem, and four Roman soldiers, again the representatives of the executive power of the Roman Empire, the nail of cruelly to a cross.
Here is the God. But then there's the lion. And again, we don't need to use our imagination to interpret this word. The lion speaks of Satanic power. We must realize that the Lord Jesus, before he went to the cross, he said, This is your hour on the part of darkness. And while he suffered physically at the hands of men, he suffered divinely at the hands of God. Here were the mysterious sufferings of the Lord Jesus upon the cross of the hand of Satan. There is a very mysterious passage in the epistle of the Colossians, chapter two, that speaks about principalities and powers that surrounded the Son of God when he was upon the cross.
Here is the climax of the conflict of the ages. Here is the seat of the servant and the seat of the woman in deadly conflict. We know the result of that conflict. Satan's head was bruised, his power was enough, but he was there. The lion was there, satanic power amid the darkness, and he had the Son of God to suffer while he was upon that cross. But notice that none of these animals, on the interpretation of them in the Jews, and on the mob, on the Gentiles, on Satan, that brought the Son of God down into the dust of death, it was the sword. In Zechariah chapter thirteen, we read these words.
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn my hand upon the little one. We find here a sleeping sword, the sword of divine justice, and that sword awoke, and it was plunged into the heart of the hind of the da, our blessed Lord. The good shepherd who died upon the cross, He did not die at the hand of man. It was a divine work. It was a divine transaction. That transaction too clicked between the various members of the Godhead. God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost were there at the cross.
And the Lord Jesus, when he died, he died of voluntary death. He said himself, No man taketh my life from me. I lay it gone of myself. no man had the power to take away his life he laid it on voluntarily and vicariously upon the cross but thank god victoriously he died upon the cross but it was a divine transaction he voluntarily laid on his life for you and for me oh how glorious that is we look at the symbolic interpretation of the song the key to this interpretation is hanging at the door i jealous shahar the hind of the dawn.
Thank God he died. He died for the sins, the sins of mankind. And thank God he's gloriously written again. Now not only do we find a symbolic interpretation but also a messianic interpretation. There are four words in the psalm that describe messianic function. Now the first term is the worm. Now this term worm is one that's used very frequently in the Old Testament scriptures. It's not an earthworm, as we think of it. It's a word that's used thirty-one times in the Old Testament scriptures, and often it's translated scarlet. Some of the versions point out the difference between an earthworm on this little creature.
It was a little creature that was found around the Mediterranean. It was put in a mortar, pounded with a pestle, And the complete essence of this little creature was used for dying the scarlet vestments of the high priest. And also those beautiful coverings of the tabernacle. From it came an indelible dye. And that scarlet dye was used for the dying of the vestments of the high priest. Now this is the word the Lord Jesus uses. He said, I am a worm. He's thinking of that little creature that was put in the mortar and was crushed to death. Oh, how the speech of this humanity and the humility of our blessed Lord.
He said, I am a worm and no man. That means a nobody. In contrast to a somebody. It wasn't that he wasn't a man because he was. But he takes the place of utter humility upon the cross. Oh, how wondrous this is. The complete manhood of our blessed Lord. His humility, his humanity is indicated by the word one. But then he uses another word, and he speaks of my darling. Now, in the Septuagint version, that is the Greek version of the Old Testament, the word is monogini, the only one.
The only begotten one. Five times in the New Testament scriptures John uses it. He speaks of the only begotten son, the only one of the father. And this is the word that you hear, my darling. Now, if the word speaks of its humanity, this lovely term, my darling, the only one, that speaks of its complete essential duty, under one balance with the other. The one who died upon the cross was a God-man. On the one hand, a real man. But on the other hand, God, a very God, who becomes responsible for the sin of man. Then he speaks of being the leader of praise.
In the midst of the congregation, will I sing praise unto thee. In the epistle to the Hebrews, the writer there uses the word church. In the midst of the church, will I sing praise unto thee? How wonderful it is that the Lord Jesus is the leader of praise among his people. I often think of that night in which he was betrayed. The only time that we read of the Lord Jesus singing was at the table. and as he instituted the feast, as he takes the bread and wine in his hands, and he said, This cup is a New Testament in my blood, which is given for you for the remission of sins. That night in the upper room, the final act, before he went out to his death, were read after they had sung a hymn, that he went out to the Mount of Olives.
He went to the Garden of Death, Ammon. I wonder how the Lord Jesus finds. what kind of a voice he has. One day we're going to hear that voice. And in the gathered multitude, in a coming day, when earth has passed, that wonderful theme described in Revelation chapter five, the one who will have the baton in his hand, and who will be the leader of praise in the great congregation, is the one who died upon Calvary's God. In the midst of the congregation will I sing praise unto thee. And then finally he's called the governor among the nations. This is his political title. One day he's coming back, and the one who died upon the cross with a crown of thorns upon his head, with the imperial diadam on the priestly mitre upon his head.
He will come back in glory, and he will reign for one thousand years from the sea to the end of the earth, from the river to the end of the earth. And thank God on that day, he will be the governor among the nations. So taking these four titles together, We get four offices of the Lord Eve. Now, just a word about the literal interpretation. It commences with the word, My God, my God, why, has thou forsaken me? The only time in the life of our Lord, for he uses that word, why, was upon the cross. Why, has thou forsaken me? Well, now, the reason for that we know today, he died upon the cross.
for the sins of mankind. His death was voluntary. His death was victorious. But his death was victorious. And when he said, why did God protect me, the reason for it was that he was assuming responsibility for sin. He died for men. He died for you. He died for me upon the cross. This is the great foundation of our faith. And then at the end of the passage we read, they shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born. Without it you and me. That it is finished. Thus he hath done this.
It is exactly the same word in the Greek version of the Old Testament as what we find in John chapter nineteen. We read that when it came to that moment of dissolution, just before he died he cried for the victorious voice. It is finished. And he bowed his head and he gave up the door. So the poem twenty-two commences with a cry amid the darkness, and Manuel's orphan cry. But it ends with a word of victory. It is finished. And in between, we get five items, five items of crucifixion. Read here, first of all, of the mockery in verse eight.
The identical words are quoted in Matthew twenty-seven in verse forty-three. Read of the stripping of the garments in verse eighteen. again described in John chapter nineteen. We read of the piercing of his hands and feet in verse sixteen. Then we read of the dehydration of the thirst, for he said, I thirst, and for the giving of the vinegar on the cross. And then we read of the weakness on this location of bones, one of the products of death by crucifixion. We get that in verse fourteen. or has vividly this brings before us the death of Christ upon the cross. And as we look at it, he's