#281 The Test of the Dream Psalm 105.19 Part 2
May the tenacity of the love of our Savior live in our hearts
“They afflicted his feet with fetters, he himself was laid in irons; until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.” Psalm 105:18-19 This was the experience of Joseph, as the word of the dreams that God gave him seemed impossible to be fulfilled. (Genesis 37:5-11; 18-36; Genesis 39; 40:1-7, 8-23; Genesis 41) And this was the experience of the greater than Joseph, Jesus Christ our Lord.
A soldier placed the wooden cross beam on Jesus shoulders and led him to the place of his death. Two criminals also followed, carrying their crosses. The spectators who lined the streets were great in number due to the Passover Feast. This made it difficult for the procession to make their way through the narrow roads that twisted and turned. Some were coldly curious, some outwardly belligerent, and others were grieved at the impending punishment that awaited the three. John 19:17
The evening of overwhelming emotion, the night of sleepless anxiety and suffering, the three trials and three sentences of death he received before the Jewish officials, the endless scene before Pilate, then Herod, the mockings and the beatings, then the final verdict of the people and the final scourging had totally sapped Jesus of his physical strength. (The Life of Christ by Frederic Farrar 634)
For six hours Jesus experienced ‘excruciating pain, dizziness, cramping, fever, mortification of untended wounds, and a raging thirst, all intensified just up to the point at which they can be endured at all, but all stopping just short of the point which would give to the sufferer the relief of unconsciousness.’ (Farrar 641) He fought to make room in his lungs for each breath as he lifted the entire weight of his body by painfully pushing himself up on the small board that supported his nail-spiked feet, only to sag back down with his weight entirely on his arms and shoulders when he exhaled.
Psalm 22 prophetically describes the anguish of the cross. Jesus uttered the first verse of this Psalm. “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34 He also spoke a form of the last words of the Psalm in his last moments of life on earth. “…that he has performed it” Psalm 22:31b. “It is finished”. John 19:30 Until his resurrection these words of God and the God given Dream and Vision of blessing and reconciliation tested him.
This Psalm also gives us strong inspiration as we witness the thoughts of the Son of God, our Savior, as he recalled and recited the words of this Psalm on the cross.
O my God, I cry by day, but Thou dost not answer; and by night, but I have no rest. Yet Thou art holy,
O Thou who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel. Psalm 22:1-3 NASB
He held onto the Vision of his Holy God in the midst of unimaginable pain. He kept the dominion of God in his heart through praise, remembering the past deliverance of God in the history of Israel. Psalm 22:4-5
I will tell of Thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise Thee. You who fear the LORD, praise Him; all you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel.
For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has He hidden His face from him;
But when he cried to Him for help, He heard. Psalm 22:22-24
In pure faith, Jesus knew that this anguish and humiliation would work out for the glory of the Father, when his disciples and believers throughout this age would understand and experience his resurrection power. In the midst of abject shame and humiliation, and in the face of emotional despair and exhaustion Jesus held the conviction that he was heard. His desire was to reveal the character of His Heavenly Father to both spiritual and natural Israel. He did not let go of the Vision that through his expression of the love of the Father, we would stand in awe of God.
All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the Lord’s and He rules over the nations.
He never let go of the far reaching Vision of the blessing of all the families of the earth through his resurrection power and his Truth. Isaiah 2:2-4; 53:13-15; John 5:28-29 NASB; Zech 14:8-11
O Heavenly Father, we have no words to express our appreciation for the unspeakable gift of Your Son.
May the tenacity of the love of our Savior live in our hearts, that we may never let You go, nor the Vision of Truth You have gifted us through him.
May the tenacity of the love of our Savior live in our hearts
“They afflicted his feet with fetters, he himself was laid in irons; until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.” Psalm 105:18-19 This was the experience of Joseph, as the word of the dreams that God gave him seemed impossible to be fulfilled. (Genesis 37:5-11; 18-36; Genesis 39; 40:1-7, 8-23; Genesis 41) And this was the experience of the greater than Joseph, Jesus Christ our Lord.
A soldier placed the wooden cross beam on Jesus shoulders and led him to the place of his death. Two criminals also followed, carrying their crosses. The spectators who lined the streets were great in number due to the Passover Feast. This made it difficult for the procession to make their way through the narrow roads that twisted and turned. Some were coldly curious, some outwardly belligerent, and others were grieved at the impending punishment that awaited the three. John 19:17
The evening of overwhelming emotion, the night of sleepless anxiety and suffering, the three trials and three sentences of death he received before the Jewish officials, the endless scene before Pilate, then Herod, the mockings and the beatings, then the final verdict of the people and the final scourging had totally sapped Jesus of his physical strength. (The Life of Christ by Frederic Farrar 634)
For six hours Jesus experienced ‘excruciating pain, dizziness, cramping, fever, mortification of untended wounds, and a raging thirst, all intensified just up to the point at which they can be endured at all, but all stopping just short of the point which would give to the sufferer the relief of unconsciousness.’ (Farrar 641) He fought to make room in his lungs for each breath as he lifted the entire weight of his body by painfully pushing himself up on the small board that supported his nail-spiked feet, only to sag back down with his weight entirely on his arms and shoulders when he exhaled.
Psalm 22 prophetically describes the anguish of the cross. Jesus uttered the first verse of this Psalm. “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34 He also spoke a form of the last words of the Psalm in his last moments of life on earth. “…that he has performed it” Psalm 22:31b. “It is finished”. John 19:30 Until his resurrection these words of God and the God given Dream and Vision of blessing and reconciliation tested him.
This Psalm also gives us strong inspiration as we witness the thoughts of the Son of God, our Savior, as he recalled and recited the words of this Psalm on the cross.
O my God, I cry by day, but Thou dost not answer; and by night, but I have no rest. Yet Thou art holy,
O Thou who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel. Psalm 22:1-3 NASB
He held onto the Vision of his Holy God in the midst of unimaginable pain. He kept the dominion of God in his heart through praise, remembering the past deliverance of God in the history of Israel. Psalm 22:4-5
I will tell of Thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise Thee. You who fear the LORD, praise Him; all you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel.
For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has He hidden His face from him;
But when he cried to Him for help, He heard. Psalm 22:22-24
In pure faith, Jesus knew that this anguish and humiliation would work out for the glory of the Father, when his disciples and believers throughout this age would understand and experience his resurrection power. In the midst of abject shame and humiliation, and in the face of emotional despair and exhaustion Jesus held the conviction that he was heard. His desire was to reveal the character of His Heavenly Father to both spiritual and natural Israel. He did not let go of the Vision that through his expression of the love of the Father, we would stand in awe of God.
All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the Lord’s and He rules over the nations.
He never let go of the far reaching Vision of the blessing of all the families of the earth through his resurrection power and his Truth. Isaiah 2:2-4; 53:13-15; John 5:28-29 NASB; Zech 14:8-11
O Heavenly Father, we have no words to express our appreciation for the unspeakable gift of Your Son.
May the tenacity of the love of our Savior live in our hearts, that we may never let You go, nor the Vision of Truth You have gifted us through him.
