The Meaning of the Cross

Sue Pyke | April 5, 2023

Our journey through Lent has brought us at last to Holy Week and the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus. One of the great benefits of studying scripture is being able to see connections among the parts that form the whole story of the bible. Using cross-references to other passages of scripture deepens the meaning of the verses we are studying. An example for Holy Week is Psalm 22. In the lines of this psalm, we find both prophecy of the drama of the crucifixion in the New Testament and echoes of the history that brought us to it from Genesis.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (v.1)

Psalm 22 looks ahead to when Jesus will cry out with these words on the cross. Though we hear Christ’s humanity in these words, they are so much more than a relatable expression of human suffering. In Christ’s cry of forsakenness on the cross, the sinless One is feeling the anguish of God’s full judgment against sin on our behalf. The only righteous man and Son of God dying for love of sinful humanity cries out in his agony of separation from his Father. Because of the cross, when we cry out in suffering and seeking God we are never abandoned or forsaken by him. (MaV. 27:46; Mark 15:34; Luke 23:40-41, 47)

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. (v. 15)

This verse in the middle of the psalm connects both prophecy of the crucifixion and history from Genesis. It points to Jesus’ cry on the cross: I thirst (John 19:28). We hear in this not only a physical thirst, but the deep longing of our souls. We thirst. We try to quench our parched souls through everything in this world except the living water that Jesus promises. On the cross he is thirsting so that our soul-thirst may be satisfied.

Through Jesus’ death, we are no longer under the ultimate punishment for sin. Here is the echo from our history that led to the crucifixion. When Jesus is laid in the dust of death, he takes on the curse God pronounced on Adam and Eve acer their sin in Eden, for dust you are and to dust you will return (Gen. 3:19). Christ’s death frees us from the death sentence of sin. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

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! (v. 30-31)

Even as death consumes him, Jesus asserts the victory of redemption accomplished on the cross in his final cry, It is finished! (John 19:30). He followed his Father’s will to completion in perfect obedience. Yet, as these verses foreshadow, what looks like the end of the story is the seed of a new future for humanity and all creation. That seed bursting forth in glorious bloom is the risen life of Christ that we celebrate on Easter. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3)

For further study:

1. Notice other details of the crucifixion that are prophesied in Psalm 22. These verses express the unjust treatment of those who are obedient to God by those who reject him.

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.” (v. 7 & 8/ Compare to Matthew 27:39-43.)

They pierce my hands and 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. (v. 16b – 18/ Compare to Matthew 27:35; John 19:23, 24.)

2. Psalm 22 uses the imagery of predatory animals to describe the devil’s vicious spiritual attack and the forces of evil arrayed against Christ on the cross. Followers of Jesus will experience forms of spiritual attack as we seek to faithfully follow him.

Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me.
Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

(v. 12-13; 21/ Compare to Job 1:7-8; 1 Peter 5:8.)

3. Find additional prophecy of Christ’s suffering and death in Isaiah, chapter 53. This chapter makes many connections with the centrality of the biblical message that Jesus died for our salvation.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.