Pasto Andy Davis preaches a verse-by-verse expository sermon on Psalm 22:22-31. The main subject of the sermon is how death is a portal to glory.

So Easter morning, 1994, my wife Christy and I were serving the Lord as missionaries in Japan, and we had the privilege of partaking in a sunrise Easter service, which was tough to get up early in the morning. It was still dark, and it was a little bit cold, but there was a special incentive. And as we assembled there for the sunrise service, we came to realize, or we were made to realize by our Japanese brothers and sisters in Christ, to remember this, Japan was the land of the rising sun, and we were among all the Christians on the face of the earth, privileged with the blessing of getting to proclaim the resurrection before any of the other Christians were even awake. All of you folks were still sleeping that morning when we got up early to celebrate in the land of the rising sun, to celebrate the risen Son Jesus Christ. And that was exactly the phrase our brothers and sisters used, and we were rejoicing in that. And so we get to celebrate now, and we’re really late in the relay race that the sun has been going from time zone to time zone, reminded that our brothers and sisters in China have already celebrated the resurrection, and so it has spread, and now it comes to us, and now it’s our turn. Amen?

And we are here to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And we are here to celebrate 2,000 years of gospel advance, Christ going forth. Christ is risen. Death has been defeated. Sin is fully atoned for. The blood has been shed. We shall not be condemned, but we shall be welcomed into Heaven. We will not be cast out. We have been adopted, and we are sons and daughters of the living God. Physical death is no longer to be feared, but now physical death is a portal, a doorway into the presence of eternal joy in the presence of God. It’s a day of celebration, a day of victory in Jesus, a day to rejoice and be glad, a day to gather with the people of God and to celebrate, and all of this in anticipation, no matter how great our joy may be today, it is as nothing, it’s like the light of a candle, compared to the full light of the sun, when at last we see his face, and we are delivered from all of the things that afflict us in this life, delivered at last, and there where there will be no more death and no more mourning, and there will be no more crying, and there will be no more pain, and we will be free at last, and we will be raised from the dead. 

Death has had enough tyranny. Amen? It’s had long enough reign, and for death to be killed by Jesus, that’s the centerpiece of the message that we have. “Death [has] reigned,” it says in Romans 5:14, “from the time of Adam to the time of Moses.” And then a few verses later, it uses the same verb again, “Just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.” Sin and death and Satan, or a tyrannical power with its foot on our necks, the necks of our hopes and joys and energy and future, and Christ has broken that tyrannical reign forever by his resurrection.

I often think for myself on Easter Sunday, and probably every Easter Sunday, I go in my mind to Luke 24, and those two incredibly blessed disciples of Jesus, whoever they were, we don’t know, but they had the blessing of walking with the resurrected Christ, unbeknownst to them, walking with the resurrected Christ and having that conversation. And by the time Jesus started breaking open the Scriptures to them and showing how all of this had been predicted, how all of this had been foretold, the death of Christ had been foretold, the shedding of the blood on the cross had been foretold, and his resurrection victory had been foretold centuries before any of it happened, how this stranger on the road was just unfolding these things in there, and later, after they broke bread and their eyes were opened, and they realized who it was, Jesus the resurrected Lord, and he was gone, taken from their sight, and they couldn’t see him, he was just gone, they then said these incredible words, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he opened the Scriptures to us?” Oh, may that happen again. I pray that God by his Holy Spirit would make your hearts burn within you, as you see in Psalm 22, the clear prediction of the crucifixion, but we’re gonna emphasize even more the resurrection of Christ today, clear in prophecy that all of this was laid out in the mind of God before the foundation of the world.

I. Suffering, Then Glory

I’m gonna call your attention to 1 Peter Chapter 1:10-11. You don’t have to turn there, but just listen to what the Apostle Peter says, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.”

Now, I’m gonna take that as a two-part outline to Psalm 22, a massive two-part outline to Psalm 22, right from Peter talking about the prophets, the sufferings of Christ, in verses 1-21, and the glories that would follow, verses 22-31. Now, my emphasis this morning is on the glories that would follow, but we cannot understand the glories without the suffering. We cannot understand the joy of our salvation without knowing the cost of that salvation.

“We cannot understand the joy of our salvation without knowing the cost of that salvation.”

A number of years ago, I had the privilege of going to a very expensive restaurant with my parents. Thank goodness, my father was there to foot the bill because it was one of those fancy restaurants in a major metropolitan area where there are no prices on the menu. Be afraid. Be very afraid. When the prices are not on the menu, they’re saying, “If you need to ask, you don’t need to be here. Trust us. We’ll charge the right amount.” Now, I saw that my father had the prices. He blanched a little, but we were there, and so we were gonna go ahead with it. I never knew the cost of that meal. I don’t wanna know the cost of that meal ’cause there were something like 12 of us there, and so it was very, very expensive.

Friends, can I tell you right now, we don’t know the cost of our salvation, not fully. We don’t know what it cost Jesus. We have an idea. We have an idea, but we don’t really know, do we, what it cost him to save our souls, and you will not know until you see the glories and the holiness of God, and you see, at last, yourself and how much you needed him to do this, how much you needed him to die for you. That’s when you’ll understand the cost that was paid for your salvation, cost to someone hidden from you like it was for me that night. That was a feast. I enjoyed that food, but Jesus is spreading a banquet for us. That’s very much the language, the image laid for here. There’s a banquet being spread for us, a banquet of glorious worship, for all eternity, and he’s spreading it, but it has a price, and that price was his sufferings in blood for us, for our sins. 

Without that, we could not sit at table with God. Do you understand that? Without the shedding of his blood, there could be no forgiveness of sins, and without the forgiveness of sins, we would not be “qualified,” to use the language of Colossians, to sit at table with God. And so very quickly, in verses 1 through 21, we have delineated for us the sufferings of Christ, and then in verses 22 through 31, the glories that would follow those sufferings. And in the white spaces between verse 21 and Verse 22, we have the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That’s what we celebrate. It’s clearly laid out for us in Psalm 16, “You will not let your Holy One see decay.” It was told to us that Christ would not stay in the tomb. He would not decay. It’s told directly in Psalm 16. It’s not even mentioned here, but it is assumed. Christ is risen, but the death of Christ is very clearly portrayed here. 

It begins with the famous words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” There Christ, the eternal Son of the living God, was forsaken by his Father. And why? Because He was our sin-bearer. He was our substitute. He stood in our place like a lightning rod. He took the strike of God’s wrath for us and carried it safely away from us, but he was abandoned in some mysterious way by his heavenly Father, because the guilt of the sins of all of the elect of the world were laid on him, and he suffered for them.

And then in very clear detail, he lays out in verses 12 through 18 the specifics of his death. He uses language of the animal world, but he’s talking about people. Bulls and lions and dogs. These are strong soldiers. These are powerful men who are there for one purpose, and that is to take his life, there to kill him. They’re like beasts, ravenous beasts surrounding him. Listen to verse 12, and following, “Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions tearing their prey open, their mouths wide against me.” And then he gets into the details of how he’s dying, “I am poured out like water.” Dehydration. “…All my bones are out of joint,” he says. “My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.” And then he gets even more specific. He says, “Dogs have surrounded me; A band of evil men has encircled me.” This is Psalm 22:16. This was written 1,000 years before Jesus was born. “They have pierced my hands and my feet.”

That’s centuries before the Assyrians, those wicked people, even invented crucifixion. What was David thinking about? I don’t know. I don’t think he knew. He just wrote those words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Peter says, it was revealed to him. He wasn’t serving himself but us. And so the prophecy was given, and I don’t think David fully understood what he was writing, but it was for us who now look back on the Christ event, and we know that it was all predicted, the piercing of the hands and the feet by which Jesus would die on the cross. He says, “I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” And so he is poured out unto death on the cross. Friends, those are the sufferings of Christ, but then like I said, in the white space between verses 21-22, we have the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and then in verses 22-31, we have the glories that would follow, and we’re gonna spend our time there, dear friends. That’s where we’re gonna spend our time, on the glories that would follow.

And it’s not just the glories of the resurrection of Christ, but it’s in the spreading of the fruit of that victory around the world for 20 centuries, at least, the spreading of the gospel of Christ, so that people from every tribe and language and people and nation will be invited and will actually come and sit at table and feast with God. Those are the glories that would follow and so that’s what we’re looking at. Now, I don’t deny that this Psalm had some kind of setting, original setting, that David was an actual man. He was a king. He lived a thousand years before Jesus, he in his life and his sufferings in his kingdom, that certain events of his life pre-figured Christ. He was an ancestor of the human side. The human nature of Christ came through David. He was a Son of David, genuinely a human being and a descendant of David, and he suffered attacks, and he cried out to God, and he had deliverance, and that sudden deliverance led to praise of Almighty God. I don’t deny all those things, but I deny that the fullness of Psalm 22 is fulfilled in the life of David the King, because it wasn’t.

It’s not David’s glories that are spreading to the ends of the earth. It’s not David’s victories that we are sitting down to celebrate in the Kingdom of Heaven forever, but it’s the Son of David. It’s Jesus. And David said of him, called him, “My Lord.” As Jesus pointed out, “Why does he call him, ‘My Lord’ when he calls him in Psalm 1:10, ‘My Lord?’” And so it’s David’s Lord that we’re celebrating here today. Christ’s deliverance. David’s deliverance came, being delivered, so he didn’t die. That was his deliverance. His enemies were defeated, and he didn’t die in battle. Jesus’ deliverance came after he died. God delivered him from death through resurrection, and in that way comes his deliverance in that victory for all time. As was said of Jesus as he was dying on the cross, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself.” Well, Christ did save others, but in order to save others, he could not save himself. He had to die on the cross. He had to suffer crucifixion. And so, not from the cross, but from the grave, God delivered him, and that’s what we’re celebrating here today.

II. Joyful Declaration to the Brothers

And so look at verse 22, at the joyful declaration that Jesus makes to the brothers. When I say “I,” I believe the psalmist is speaking for the Messiah. He’s speaking in Christ’s name, and so this is Jesus saying this to us. “I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.” And so the messenger here is Jesus. In resurrection glory, in resurrection power, he appears to the brothers, and he proclaims the praises of God. Jesus is the messenger. And what an awesome time that would have been to be in that upper room in Jerusalem, as depicted in John 20 on Resurrection Day, and the doors are all locked for fear of the Jews, and there they all are trembling, wondering about the message that’s already come from the women who have been to the tomb. Peter and John had been there and seen the physical evidence, but still they’re not sure what’s going on. “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you!’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. [Where his hands were pierced. Where his side was pierced.] And the disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.” 

So Jesus is there to declare God’s name to the brothers. That was the first audience. It was the first declaration. Jesus the messenger, and there they were the brothers together. And Jesus declares God’s glories in his name to them. The writer to the Hebrews picks up on this and quotes it directly in Hebrews Chapter 2: 10-12. I think, Daniel, this was the text you used, isn’t it, brother, when you spoke to our congregation? So sweet. But listen to this, Hebrews 2:10-12 it says, “In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says, ‘I will declare your name to my brothers; In the presence of the congregation, I will sing your praises.’” So that’s a beautiful text of Jesus singing. I was thinking about that just a moment ago ’cause I knew I was gonna preach on this. I said, “Oh, Lord, by your Spirit, sing again. Sing through me.”

But Jesus sang the praises of God. I don’t know if he literally sang there in the upper room, but wouldn’t that have been something to hear? I imagine he had a perfect pitch. What do you think? A perfect singing voice, but to sing the praises of God. And he appears to his brothers, it says, the sons and daughters of the living God adopted into his family, and he’s not ashamed to call them brothers. Not all of his Jewish kinsman received him gladly. You understand that? Not every physical descendant of Abraham could be called a son or a daughter of the living God. It says in John 1:11, it says, “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” Those were the Jews. They did not receive him. “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” If that describes you, then you are one of his brothers or sisters. You’re one of the sons or daughters of the living God.

But that’s not true of everybody. Not everyone has received Christ. Not everyone has believed in his name. I know on Easter Sunday many come to church who have not received Christ. Many come to church who have not yet believed in his name. If I’m speaking to you, and you’re in that condition, oh, I plead with you, don’t leave this room still in that condition. You don’t need to go anywhere. You don’t need to do anything. You just need to hear and listen and believe that Christ is the Son of God, and that he shed his blood for sinners like you, and that you are a sinner, and that you hate that sin, and you wanna turn from that sin and trust in Christ. And if you do, if you believe that God’s Son died in your place and that God raised him from the dead, and you confess him as your Lord and call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved. And Jesus will welcome you as a brother or a sister forever.

And it’s beautiful in John’s gospel, how we have a progression. We were on the outside. We were serving Satan. We were children of the Devil, he uses in John 8, “You are of your father, the Devil.” But there’s a progression. We’re on the outside. We’re in the cold. We’re in the dark serving Satan, and then at some point then, he calls them servants, and they are servants of his. They are now serving God. But then he goes beyond that in John 15:15, He says, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

But after the resurrection, we go beyond friends. What does he call them? “Go instead to my brothers and tell them ‘[I’ve risen from the dead.] I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” And it’s exactly the same, the same relationship I have with my Father, you will have through me. He is my God, and he is your God through adoption. And so, he is not ashamed to call us brothers. We are adopted. The Spirit of Christ is in our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father,” and by that Spirit, it is testified to us, we’re children of God. 

Now, this messenger Jesus comes and proclaims God’s name to the brothers. He even sings it to them. He’s going to declare God’s name to the brothers. He’s going to sing the praises of God. Jesus praises the Father in front of them. He praises the compassion of God. Look at verse 24 of the Psalm, how God “…has not despised or disdained the sufferings of the afflicted; he has not hidden his face from him, he has listened to his cry for help.” So God is compassionate when you’re afflicted, and you need deliverance, and you need help. He’s compassionate. Not only is he compassionate, but he’s powerful to deliver you from whatever chains are binding you, from whatever is enslaving you. He is powerful to deliver you. Remember how God said to Moses at the burning bush, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey… And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go [Moses]. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

“God is compassionate when you’re afflicted, and you need deliverance, and you need help. He’s compassionate. Not only is he compassionate, but he’s powerful to deliver you from whatever chains are binding you, from whatever is enslaving you. “

God is compassionate, and God is powerful, and he is able to deliver slaves. But isn’t it marvelous that our deliverer is someone greater than Moses? And yet, we needed that because our bond is just something greater than the Jews were experiencing in Egypt. And the power that held us down is far greater than Pharaoh’s power. It’s the power of Satan. The power of sin. The power of death and hell holding us down, and we needed a powerful deliverer, and so we are sent somebody who’s not just a servant in God’s house. We are sent someone who is a son over God’s house. And He is our deliverer, and he is there to proclaim to us, “How great is our God?” 

You know what’s so marvelous? Jesus says, “I have revealed you, Father, to them, and I will go on revealing you.” You know how long Jesus is gonna be revealing the Father to us? Forever. Forever, he will be revealing the greatness of God to us. And we will drink in that greatness as Jesus, as Jesus reveals him ’cause he is the radiance of the glory of God. And He’s gonna be shining in us, like Moses’ face was shining after that time with God. We will shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father. And so he is going to reveal God forever and ever. And so, in verses 23 through 26, based on this resurrection victory, he commands the Jews to come and feast. He commands the sons of Abraham, the descendants of Jacob, to honor him. Look at Verse 23, “You who fear the Lord, praise Him; all you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, [Honor Him, Revere Him], and stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel.” This is very much Jewish language. You remember how the Apostle Paul said, “To the Jew first, and then to the Gentile.” So Jesus’ in the upper room. Everyone in that room was a Jew. Everyone. And he goes to the Jew first, and He proclaims the greatness of God, the resurrection of God, to the descendants of Jacob, the descendants of Israel. 

And he commands them to praise the Lord and to honor the Lord and to revere him. And he commands them, “Come and feast.” Look at verses 25-26, it says, “From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.” verse 26, “The poor will eat and be satisfied…” Now, back in the Old Covenant era, when they were doing animal sacrifice, the worshipper would bring an animal, and the animal’s blood would be poured out, and the sacrifice would be burned up to God, and there would be meat left, and that meat would be eaten. And so a lot of times when you fulfill a vow to God, when you fulfill a vow, there is a feast to be had after that. So up to God goes to sacrifice, and then we get to sit and feast. And so that’s what’s going on here. I’m gonna fulfill my vows, and we’re gonna feast. We’re going to eat. We’re gonna have a banquet. And so again and again we have this feast language in Christ’s teachings. He says in Matthew 8:11, “…Many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” We’re gonna sit at table with him. Or in Matthew 22, “The Kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.” The big problem for many Jews, the banquet has been spread, their Messiah has come, he has been raised from the dead, and they’re being invited to come and eat, but they don’t wanna come. It’s a feast of worship of Almighty God. “You who fear the Lord,” verse 23, “praise Him; all you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel.” This is the nature of the feast. It’s a feast of worship. Praise him. Glorify him. Stand in awe of him. And it’s a command. It’s not a suggestion. People are commanded to come, but yet many are still refusing to enter the feast. And friends, this is a feast that satisfies. Amen? It’s a feast that deeply, richly satisfied. If you sit at Christ’s table and you eat, you will never be hungry again. If you drink the water that Christ gives, you will never be thirsty again. He satisfies you. 

No earthly feast can ever satisfy. Look at verse 26, “The poor will eat and be satisfied.” You see that? Satisfied. And they who seek the Lord will praise him. And what is the poor? Who are the poor here? The poor? Well, we’ll start with this, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” The poor people who know they’re poor. They know that they’re wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked, and they have no chance to survive Judgment Day. They have no righteousness on their own. They have nothing in their hands that they can offer to God, and they come, and they say, “Oh Lord, I’m a sinner. Will you please save me?” But also, there are a lot of economically poor people in Christ’s kingdom. Amen? There are a lot of physically poor people, so James says, “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world?” Those are just poor people. “To be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised to those who love Him.” And so the poor are all types, rich poor and poor poor, are gonna come, and they’re going to feast forever. And it’s an eternal feast. It says in verse 26, ” …your hearts will live forever.” So you’re gonna feast forever, live forever, sing forever, praise forever, and you’ll never grow weary of it.

III. Confident Prediction about the Gentiles

Now, in verses 27-31, we turn to the Gentiles. That’s where we come in. I’m not Jewish, but I’ve been engrafted into a Jewish olive tree, and I’m kind of an honorary Jew now, kind of an honorary son of Abraham, just like you if you’re a child of God. And so we have been grafted in. Salvation comes from the Jews, but it doesn’t stop there. It’s “..to the Jew first,” but that’s not the end of the line, “And then to the Gentile.” And so 27-31 is the ends of the earth being invited to sit at the banquet table, too. And this was always God’s plan. This isn’t Plan B. It’s not like the Gentiles are an afterthought. It was through Abraham that all peoples on earth would be blessed. It was from the very beginning of the call of Abraham, God intended to do this. But look verse by verse with me, look at verse 27, “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him…”

Do you see missions here? Do you see the Great Commission, the advance of the gospel? Do you see Gentiles who are so distant from the Jews, to the distant islands like Irian Jaya or in Thailand, or East Asia, in China, Vietnam, even here in the US? You can think how distant North America would have been to the Jews living there in Jesus’ time. And all the ends of the earth, they’re going to remember and turn to the Lord. Remember, we’re continually thinking about Christ, and we keep remembering and turning to the Lord. We hear the gospel. Generally, you don’t believe the first time you hear. You generally don’t. It could happen, but it’s just like, little by little, then it comes. We remember Jesus. He died on the cross. They’ll remember in their darkest night that Christ rose from the dead, and they’ll believe. And they’re gonna turn to the Lord. And the families of nations will bow down before him. They’re going to worship Christ. Verse 28, why should they do that? Because “…dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.” It has to do with a kingdom. Jesus is a mighty king. His dominion extends to the distant lands.

He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and he rules over all things. You know, the essence of the gospel advance is that former rebels lay down their weapons of rebellion, and they submit to the yoke, the kingly yoke of Jesus, and they follow him for the rest of their lives. And He becomes their king and their Lord, and they serve him. And that’s what happens when the Kingdom of Heaven advances, when the gospel is preached, and you hear these words, “Come unto Me. Turn to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Take that stiff rebellious neck of yours and put it under my kingly yoke, and you will have rest for your souls. You’ve been serving a harder yoke.“ I’ve already talked about it, the yoke of Satan, the yoke of sin, the yoke of death, and the yoke of Hell. It’s a crushing burden that you can’t bear, and you’ve been trying to serve, but it has crushed you. Throw it off and take Jesus’ light yoke upon you, the yoke of realizing he’s the king and you’re not. His will be done, not yours. His law is not your rebellion now. You’re gonna follow him, and how beautiful and how sweet is that?

“For dominion belongs to the Lord.” You know what that sounds like to me? The Great Commission. “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of people who learn that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” That’s the lesson. They go and learn that I’m the king. The Kingdom of God is spreading. Verse 29, “All the rich of the earth will feast and worship.” We were talking about poor a minute ago. Hey, anybody can come. As I said, rich-poor can come, and poor-poor can come. But you know, as soon as they come, they’re not poor anymore. You know what happens to them? They become heirs of the world. Read about it in Romans 4. Heirs of the world. You’re gonna get it all, all the stuff they’re fighting over, all this stuff they’re scrapping over, you’re gonna get it. You’re gonna be an heir of the world. “Blessed are the meek,” for what do they get? “They will inherit the earth,” but not this groaning, dying, corrupted earth, the New Earth, the resurrected Earth. That’s what you’ll inherit. How magnificent will be that be? And it’ll be yours forever. How sweet is that?

And they’re gonna come, the rich of the earth will come, and they will feast and worship. Those who go down to the dust will kneel before him, those who cannot keep themselves alive. Any of you able to keep yourself alive? Any of you able to face the ICU unafraid, (without Jesus now) unafraid? And you can face any disease or illness. You know why? “Because medical science has taken us so far, and we’re able to.” Can you keep yourself alive? You can’t keep yourself alive, but there is someone who can raise you from the dead. There is someone who can raise you up out of the grave. And so look what it says here in verse 29, “…all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—those who cannot keep themselves alive.” That’s us. We are the mortal. We are the dying ones, and we’re going to the grave, but Jesus can raise us up, and you know what He’s gonna do? He’s gonna raise you up to your knees, and there you will be. I don’t mean physically forever, I think we’ll be doing some walking in the New Earth, but in your hearts forever, you’re gonna be kneeling before him. And you’re going to say, “Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father.” Every knee is gonna bow, and you’re going to give him the glory and the praise He deserves.

Verse 30, “Posterity will serve him.” Future generations will be told about the Lord. That’s us. We weren’t born when all this happened. We weren’t born when Psalm 22 was written. We are the posterity. We are the future generations. And if the Lord tarries, decides to have another 500 years of harvesting? Praise God, more souls to be saved. It’s his decision. He can do whatever he wants, but future generations will hear. This story will never die. The Holy Spirit will not let it die. In every generation, the elect are going to come, and they’re going to turn to the Lord and believe, in every generation. Notice the certainty of this. Look at verse 30. Not “posterity, we sure hope will serve Him. We’re hopeful that future generations will be told about the Lord.” It’s not saying that at all. “They will serve Him, and they will be told.” The Holy Spirit’s gonna guarantee that.

Andy, I’m gonna use that verse on Saturday. What do you think? This coming Saturday, I get to preach in Orlando on the topic of “What About Those Who Have Never Heard the Gospel?” And you know what verse 30 tells me? Let’s go out and tell them. Amen? Let’s preach the gospel to them. And you know what’s gonna happen? Every single one of God’s elect is gonna hear that gospel message, all of them are, and they’re going to turn, and they’re going to believe. Verse 31, “They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn: He has done it!” That’s the centerpiece of the gospel message. You know what? Apart from Christ, you are unrighteous. Apart from Christ, you are wicked, and you cannot survive Judgment Day. But in Christ, instantly, by faith alone, the righteousness of Christ will be credited to you, and it will be yours forever, and in that righteousness, you will stand. That perfect obedience of Christ will be credited to you, and you will be instantly a righteousness billionaire. Perfect righteousness, yours. So look at verse 31, “They will proclaim His righteousness,” not our righteousness. Christ’s righteousness to a people yet unborn because he, Christ, has done it. Close with me in prayer.

Father, we thank you for this time to study Psalm 22. We thank you for the triumph that comes from acknowledging these words. We thank you for the sufferings of Christ and for the glories that followed and are following still. We thank you that we have come to faith in Christ. Oh, God, I pray that every Christian here would just stand in awe of Psalm 22 and what you predicted you would do and what you have done. And Lord, I pray that we would embrace missions. I pray that we would be a missionary people. I pray that we’d be a great commission people. I pray that we would sacrifice financially and sacrifice time and energy and ourselves so that the ends of the earth can hear and turn and believe, and help us to go in the confidence of knowing that God will do this. Oh, God, you are great. You are majestic. I pray, oh, Lord, that you would lift up broken-hearted people right now, lift up those laboring in sin. Break the chains. Help them to see that, in Christ, the chains are already broken. Satan has been lying to them as though the chains were still there, and they’re not. Oh Lord, give them the freedom to rise and walk in holiness, and Lord, one final prayer for those that are here right now outside of Christ, oh, Lord, call them in now, by your transforming grace. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.