Scripture

Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me.

~Psalm 38:2, NIV

Quote

I believe that a man can find nothing more glorious than these Psalms; for they embrace the whole life of man, the affections of his mind, and the motions of his soul.

~Athanasius {296-373}

There are fifteen references in this Psalm to the pain which the writer feels due to his sin and God’s wrath on sin. We all know Jesus did not sin, and yet He died because of sin; not His, but ours. When I read through the Psalm the other day, I saw the parallels clearly.

• Jesus suffered God wrath in our behalf on the cross where He was pierced [v.2]
• Jesus took all the guilt for all sins for all time upon Himself and He was crushed by that extreme guilt. [v.4,8]
• My back was filled with searing pain [v.7]
• It was a time of utter darkness [v.10]
• His friends and companions abandoned him [v.11]
• Those who wanted to kill Him set a trap for Him: they wanted to do Him harm and ruin His name [v12]
• Jesus was like a mute. He refused to defend Himself. He was lead like a sheep to the slaughter [v. 13-14]
• His enemies gloated over Him [v.16]
• He suffered agony because of sin [v.18]
• They sought evil against Him even though all He had done was good [v.20]