Daily Devotional for Friday, June 21

Jesus’ Crucifixion and Coronation

“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.

There was a gameshow called “Name That Tune” that ran during the 1950s and had several later iterations over the years wherein contestants would hear the first few bars of a melody of a song and they would try to guess the name of the song. To a non-music person, it amazed me that they could pick out a song from just one little sound or two, but because they knew music so well, they could do it. They knew their music.

Something similar was happening here. David wrote this psalm concerning his own distress and persecution. This Messianic Psalm, however, points forward to the crucifixion of Jesus. As Jesus hung on the cross, He cried out the first line of this psalm. This shows how Jesus used the Scripture to voice His agony and pain, but even more, it pointed His followers to what was actually happening. When those who surrounded the cross that day heard Him cry out the opening line to Psalm 22, it was almost as if He had announced that Psalm 22 is what you see before your eyes. Verse 8 was spoken by the crowd. Verses 12 and 13 were carried out by spiritual forces. Verse 16 was brutally enacted against Him, and the guards around Him carried out verse 18. He cried out the opening line, and those around Him could see His agony and see the fulfillment of prophecy.

This psalm does not end with the crucifixion. It ends with the resurrection and the enthronement of Jesus. Verse 22 is quoted in the book of Hebrews, and verses 27 and 28 speak of the rule of Jesus over all nations. His cry from the cross began with agony but led to victory.

REFLECTION
The way of the cross is harsh but leads to resurrection and reigning with Christ. Cry out to God, but remember our destiny

Jason Rutherford