David Typifies the Suffering Christ: God Answered His Prayer in Resurrection and Ascension

It is amazing to read Psa. 22, 109, and 110 and see how David typifies the suffering Christ passing through His death, and his prayer concerning his sufferings typifies Christ’s prayer.

On one hand, David typifies Christ as the King with the kingdom; on the other hand, he typifies Christ as the suffering One, the persecuted One.

If we carefully read the history of David in 1 and 2 Samuel, and if we have the glasses of God’s economy on, we will see that he typifies Christ in a most thorough way and for the longest period of time.

David had followers, and Christ also had followers; David and his followers were rejected but eventually became the reigning ones, and Christ and His followers are rejected but will become the reigning ones.

Even more, David brought in a change of dispensation from the age of the priesthood to the age of the king with the kingdom, and Christ brought in a dispensational change from the age of the law to the age of grace.

When David went to the house of God, while being persecuted by Saul, he could eat from the bread of the Presence, which was only for the priests to eat, because he as the king was above the priests.

When Christ came and His disciples were breaking the Sabbath by picking grains on the Sabbath, He was entitled to do this because He was the King of the kingdom of God, and what He said is what stands.

Christ is the real David and even more, He is the greater David; He is someone greater than David.

David had a desire to build the house of God but did not get to build it, but prepared the materials, the builder, and the plan; Christ is the One who builds the house of God, the church, and He is the Builder, the building element, and even the building itself.

In aspect after aspect of David’s life, he typifies Christ; in his prayer, and his experience, we see Christ’s prayer and experience.

May we have the glasses of God’s economy on and see how Christ is the real David, even the greater David.

And may the Lord enlighten us to see how David typifies the suffering Christ, and how David’s sufferings typify the sufferings of Christ.

David Typifies the Suffering Christ, and David’s Sufferings typify Christ’s Sufferings

David’s typifying the suffering Christ is revealed in Psa. 22, 109, and 110. David went through a lot of suffering, but all those sufferings are a type of Christ’s sufferings.

The sufferings that Christ went through were typified by the sufferings David went through, and Christ as the seed of David really experienced suffering as the first God-man on the earth.

In Psa. 22:1 David says, My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

This word was spoken by David in his suffering, and it became a prophecy concerning Christ in His suffering of His redeeming death, being quoted by the Lord Jesus while He was suffering the crucifixion (Matt. 27:46).

This is very clear proof that this Psalm of David, showing David’s sufferings and his prayer in his sufferings, is actually a type of Christ and His sufferings, what He felt, and what He prayed.

Christ called out to the Father while He was on the cross, and in His cry, He quoted Psa. 22:1, for David’s prayer in his sufferings, was the Lord’s prayer in His sufferings.

From v. 6 in Psa. 22, the voice changes to another person, Christ; while David was speaking, eventually Christ came in to speak in his speaking.

In this Psalm we see the suffering Christ typifying Christ passing through His death (vv. 1, 6-21); David typifies the suffering Christ.

What we see in this psalm is that the suffering of Christ unto death was through men’s reproach, despising, deriding, sneering, head shaking, and mocking (Psa. 22:6-8; Heb. 13:13; Isa. 53:3; Luke 23:11; Mark 15:29-32; Matt. 27:39-44).

Each of these words describes one aspect of the Lord’s suffering as He suffered for us on the cross. Christ trusted in God for deliverance (vv. 9-11).

People around Him were mocking Him and deriding Him, but He was trusting in God.

It would be good for us all, especially the young ones, to study Psa. 22 and also Isa. 53 to have a clear view of the Lord’s sufferings for us in His redemptive work.

Both of these chapters prophesy concerning the Lord’s death and His sufferings in His death; when we read them with a prayerful attitude, we will see the Lord’s sufferings in great detail.

We need to see the Lord’s vicarious crucifixion and have a detailed knowledge of it; we need to be impressed with what He has gone through for us, and we need to know the things He suffered.

Psa. 109 also is a prayer offered by David about his sufferings; here David is a type of Christ, and David’s sufferings typify Christ’s sufferings.

David’s prayer concerning his sufferings typifies Christ’s prayer.

In Heb. 5:7 we are told that this One, Christ, in the days of His flesh has offered up both petitions and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him – to His Father – who was able to save Him out of death, and He has been heard because of His piety.

Christ went through unimaginable sufferings, and David in his experience went through something similar; David’s prayer concerning his sufferings is a type of Christ’s prayer and experience in His sufferings.

May we allow the Lord to impress us with David’s sufferings typifying Christ’s sufferings, and may we see how the suffering David typifies the suffering Christ. What a wonderful Christ we have!

Lord Jesus, thank You for going through all the sufferings in Your human life and Your crucifixion for us to be redeemed. Thank You for being willing to suffer for us and die for us. Impress us with the sufferings You went through for our redemption so that we may have a proper appreciation of Your sufferings. Amen, Lord, cause us to realize how much You loved us and gave Yourself up for us so that we may just love You and give ourselves to You. Thank You for being willing to suffer even unto death, and that the death of the cross, so that we may be redeemed and brought back to God!

God Answered the Prayer of the Suffering Christ in His Resurrection and Ascension

The prayer the suffering Christ uttered in Psa. 109, as typified by the prayer of the suffering David, was answered by God in Psa. 110. This is amazing!

On one hand, David was suffering and prayed desperately to God, and on the other hand, in the very next Psalm, the answer came from God, which is Christ’s resurrection and ascension.

No human could have uttered those words in Psa. 109-110 out of his own imagination or experience; it must have been the Holy Spirit who inspired and moved David, and it must have been his spirit searching into the times of Christ to see something of the coming real David.

David’s suffering typifies Christ’s suffering in His flesh; David’s prayer typifies Christ’s prayer as He was suffering.

The prayer of David was answered – actually, it was the Lord’s prayer that was answered, for in Psa. 110 we see Christ as the resurrected and ascended one. God’s answer to Christ’s prayer was not only through resurrection but also in ascension.

Psa. 110, one of the highest psalms concerning Christ, speaks not only of His resurrection but also of His ascension.

In this psalm Christ is revealed as the King (v. 2); Jehovah will send forth the sceptre of Your strength from Zion: rule in the midst of Your enemies.

Here we also see that Christ is the priest, a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Christ is also revealed to be the Warrior, the fighting One (v. 3) in the days of His warfare.

Finally, Christ is revealed to be the Victor, the One who would lift up His head after He drank from the brooks by the way.

Since Psa. 110 is the answer to the prayer of David as a type of Christ in Psa. 109, Psa. 110 should be considered as an answer to Christ’s prayer.

God answered this prayer not only through the resurrection of Christ but also through Christ’s ascension (Acts 2:23-24, 32-33; 5:31).

In Psa. 110 the Lord says, Jehovah declares to My Lord, Sit at My right hand (v. 1); this concerns Christ in His ascension (Heb. 1:3), and has been quoted directly more than twenty times in the New Testament and indirectly almost as much.

Christ is now at the right hand of God, in the highest place in the universe; He is not only in a place but in a person, the Father.

Hallelujah, God answered the prayer of the suffering Christ by not only raising Him from the dead but also seating Him in the heavenlies, high above all rule and power!

In His ascension, Christ has been made by God the Lord, the Christ, the Leader of the entire universe, and He was made the Savior (Acts 2:36; 5:31; 10:36).

Now He is waiting at the Father’s right hand for His enemies to be made His footstool (Psa. 110:1).

Christ accomplished everything, and now He is in the highest place in the universe, in God, while God is endeavouring to subdue all of Christ’s enemies and make them His footstool.

What an answer to His prayer! This is not something that happened to David but to Christ; David typifies Christ, and David experienced something, but Christ experienced the reality!

Hallelujah for our wonderful, victorious, and glorious Christ! Thank You, Lord, for not only suffering for us but also being resurrected and ascended to the highest place in the universe! Hallelujah, Christ was raised by God and seated by Him at the right hand of God, even in God! We praise You, Lord Jesus, for being made by God the Lord, the Christ, the Leader, and the Savior in Your ascension! Amen, Lord, we are Your Body, Your armies, to follow You and be one with You to put the enemy under Your feet. Do it, Lord: gain Your footstool, subdue Your enemies!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen, and portions from, Life-study of the Psalms, msgs. 10, 38 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of 1 and 2 Samuel (2021 winter training), week 7, entitled, David Typifying Christ, the Real David – the King of the Coming Kingdom of God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – O Head once full of bruises, / So full of pain and scorn, / Mid other sore abuses, / Mocked with a crown of thorn: / O Head e’en now surrounded / With brightest majesty, / In death once bowed and wounded / On the accursed tree. (Hymns #95)
  – Then dawned at last that day of dread, / When desolate, yet undismayed, / With wearied frame and thorn-crowned head, / He, God-forsaken, man-betrayed, / Was then made sin / On Calvary, / And, dying there in grief and shame, / He saved me—Blessed be His name! (Hymns #156)
  – The Lord said unto my Lord, / “Sit Thou at My right hand; / Thy foes shall be Thy footstool, / Upon them Thou shalt stand.” / The sceptre of Thy strength shall / The Lord from Zion send / To rule o’er all the nations / Forever ’til the end. (Hymns #1102)