"You can't handle the truth! ... I'll be back ... to infinity and beyond ... run, Forrest, run." Quotes sound like so much nonsense, unless you know their context and meaning. Unless you know that the quotes I've shared are from popular contemporary movies, they likely mean little to you.
So, what about a quote used by a man in the throes of death? If you don't know that his words are a quote, rather than words of despair in the face of death, you miss the point entirely. When He said, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?", we need to understand that Jesus was quoting from Psalm twenty-two and indicating His fulfillment of the words written there.
At first glance, the twenty-second Psalm sounds like a cry of anguish by the writer. But, upon closer examination, it's easy to see a much deeper meaning through the life and suffering of Jesus Messiah. Consider how these words are mirrored in His experience on the cross:
"All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, 'Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.'" (vss.7,8)
"I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint ; My heart is like wax ; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws ; And You lay me in the dust of death." (vss.14-15)
"They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me;They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots." (Psalm 22:16-18)
In His dying moments, Jesus earnestly sought to make known His true identity through a famous quote from Psalm 22. And that appeal is still being made today: all who compare His suffering on the cross with the remarkable words of Psalm 22, written so many years earlier, will see an uncanny parallel and fulfillment.
Most readers will recognize my opening quotes from movies they have seen. It's far more important that we trace Jesus' words on the cross back to their original source, and understand and believe in who He really is. Do you know Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of all who will believe? Are you getting to know Him better today through what is revealed of Him in passages such as the twenty-second Psalm? I pray that you are.
Steve
© 2011, Steve Taylor
So, what about a quote used by a man in the throes of death? If you don't know that his words are a quote, rather than words of despair in the face of death, you miss the point entirely. When He said, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?", we need to understand that Jesus was quoting from Psalm twenty-two and indicating His fulfillment of the words written there.
At first glance, the twenty-second Psalm sounds like a cry of anguish by the writer. But, upon closer examination, it's easy to see a much deeper meaning through the life and suffering of Jesus Messiah. Consider how these words are mirrored in His experience on the cross:
"All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, 'Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.'" (vss.7,8)
"I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint ; My heart is like wax ; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws ; And You lay me in the dust of death." (vss.14-15)
"They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me;They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots." (Psalm 22:16-18)
In His dying moments, Jesus earnestly sought to make known His true identity through a famous quote from Psalm 22. And that appeal is still being made today: all who compare His suffering on the cross with the remarkable words of Psalm 22, written so many years earlier, will see an uncanny parallel and fulfillment.
Most readers will recognize my opening quotes from movies they have seen. It's far more important that we trace Jesus' words on the cross back to their original source, and understand and believe in who He really is. Do you know Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of all who will believe? Are you getting to know Him better today through what is revealed of Him in passages such as the twenty-second Psalm? I pray that you are.
Steve
© 2011, Steve Taylor
posted by steve @ 8:34 AM
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