This week in the morning revival we come to Psalm 69, which speaks in detail about Christ’s sufferings. Many times we miss a lot because we know things in general and we don’t get into the details – we may know in general that the Lord Jesus suffered for us and died for us, but we may not know the details. How did He die, what happened, what are the details? When you get into these details in the Word of God, your appreciation of Christ’s death and His suffering will increase to the uttermost, and you will love Him more!
Christ was hated by many without cause (Psa. 69:4; John 15:25) – throughout His life on earth and particularly at the end of His life, Christ was hated by people for no reason! The amount of hatred poured upon the Lord Jesus was unbelievable. If someone hates you for a reason, this hurts you – but at least there’s a reason he hates you for. But the Lord was hated all the time without cause.
Christ suffered in bearing reproaches for the sake of God (Psa. 69:7a, 9b; Rom. 15:3) – the reproaches of those who reproached God fell upon the Lord Jesus. People reproached God by reproaching Jesus.
Reproach is a kind of demeaning, shaming, disgracing… the Lord was taking all kinds of reproach from all kinds of directions. Christ’s death on the cross in the Lord’s case was not just a case of extreme excruciating pain, but He was set there naked for all the world to see! What a shame and humiliation for a human being to bear! Yet Christ did all this for the sake of God.
Christ was devoured by the zeal of God’s house (Psa. 69:9a; John 2:17) – when He made a chord of strings and got the merchants out and said that He will raise up the temple in three days. This was the first accusation in front of the High Priest. The accusers twisted His words, using false witnesses, so as to annul even this thing that Christ did in His zeal for the house of God. But the Lord was consumed with the zeal for God’s house – for this reason He was crucified and condemned.
Christ suffered much, and no one took pity on Him (Psa. 69:29a, 19-20; John 16:32) – think about it: when the Lord Jesus was being arrested, no one was there to stand with Him, not even His closest disciples. They all were scattered and left Him alone, they deserted Him and fled. No one was there to pity on Him, everyone abandoned Him, and there was no one to help Him.
Christ suffered in His weeping and entreating God to deliver Him out of the waters of death (Psa. 69:10, 13-17, 1-2; Heb. 5:7) – referring to the experience in Gethsemane (meaning oil press). What happened there? After the Lord’s last supper, He gave a long word recorded in John 14-16 and then the marvelous prayer in John 17, the disciples went out with the Lord to the garden of Gethsemane.
There, the Lord prayed three times to God the Father – see Matt. 26, Luke 22, and Mark 14. The Lord was troubled in His soul because of the death He was about to suffer. Even though He was the Son of God, the Lord had great feelings about His death.
In Matt. 26 we see that His soul was exceedingly sorrowful, even to death! The suffering in Gethsemane foreshadowed the suffering on the cross. He fell on the ground and prayed the prayer of anguish. Being in agony, the Lord Jesus prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like great drops of blood that fell on the ground (as recorded in Luke).
As a man, the Lord was under great stress and duress, knowing the tremendous suffering that He will go through, and He was crying to the Father! “Abba Father, if possible, remove this cup from Me“… The disciples were sleeping – they didn’t hear what the Lord was praying, and they couldn’t empathize with the Lord’s prayer. And then, He did everything to obey God’s will – He said, Your will be done!
Christ was given gall as His food while He was suffering on the cross (Psa. 69:21a; Matt. 27:34) – gall is a stupefying drink, a sedative to ease His consciousness and pain. But the Lord Jesus did NOT drink it! The Lord Jesus would not be stupefied – He would drink the bitter cup to the drags. Christ drank the cup that the Father measured to Him through and through.
Christ in His thirst on the cross was given vinegar to drink (Psa. 69:21b; John 19:28-30) – they mocked Him by giving Him vinegar.
Christ was stricken and wounded by God (Psa. 69:26; Isa. 53:10a) – God judged Him and wounded Him. We don’t really understand how much this means and how deep this is – even though men did all these things to Him, God was judging Him and striking Him when He was on the cross. How much suffering He was bearing for us while He was on the cross!
Christ was betrayed by one of His disciples (Psa. 69:25; Acts. 1:16-20) – it is one thing to be arrested and judged, but it is such a suffering to be betrayed by someone who was with you for 3 years! Nothing hurts as much as being betrayed by your close friends, by your beloved ones. Psa. 41:9 says that even my familiar friend betrayed Me. The Lord was betrayed even by His close friends.
Our dear Lord Jesus suffered all these things for us, and Psalm 69 presents this in detail. Even though it looks like this psalm talks about David himself, yet the use of a third person when talking about the sufferings shows that the real person is not David but Christ.
We have previously seen a detailed picture of Christ in His suffering of death in Psalm 22, and now Psalm 69 speaks some more of specific sufferings the Lord went through when on the earth before His death. The more we see about the details of His suffering, the more we will appreciate and love Him…
[sharing inspired from the brother’s speaking in message 11 entitled, Christ in His Sufferings and Christ as the Factor to Enact God’s New Testament Economy, as quoted in the Morning Revival on the Crystallization-Study of Psalms (1): Christ’s sufferings in detail.]
Lord, open our eyes to see You and all that You went through for us. Save us from generally knowing about Your death on the cross. Give us a proper understanding and appreciation of Your suffering. Increase our love for You and our appreciation for You. O, Lord, how much we love You! Thank You for all that You willingly went through so that You would offer Yourself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins!
Amen. Be specific for reality and be done with generality
Thank You Lord for the book of Psalms, where Christ is revealed in plain words.
Amen! We can never know the depth of the Lord's suffering! Oh, but to see just a glimpse causes our hearts to groan and be so open to Him! In all His unfathomable sufferings, both inwardly and outwardly, nothing was as painful to the Lord as being forsaken by the Father. It was at this point that He cried out, "My God, my God, WHY have You forsaken Me?" Even in the garden in prayer, most of His agony was in relation to this aspect: bearing the sin and sins of the world which would cause Him to bear darkness and be in separation from His God and Father! Oh what He endured!…FOR US! PRAISE YOU PRECIOUS LORD JESUS CHRIST!
Christ was hated by many without cause (Psa. 69:4; John 15:25) – throughout His life on eart…
* earth
Christ suffered in His weeping and entreating God to deliver Him out of the waters of deathThe disciples were sleeping – they didn’t hear what the Lord was praying, and they couldn’t emphatize
* empathize
Thank You Lord for the book of Psalms, where Christ is revealed in plain words.
Amen! We can never know the depth of the Lord’s suffering! Oh, but to see just a glimpse causes our hearts to groan and be so open to Him! In all His unfathomable sufferings, both inwardly and outwardly, nothing was as painful to the Lord as being forsaken by the Father. It was at this point that He cried out, “My God, my God, WHY have You forsaken Me?” Even in the garden in prayer, most of His agony was in relation to this aspect: bearing the sin and sins of the world which would cause Him to bear darkness and be in separation from His God and Father! Oh what He endured!…FOR US! PRAISE YOU PRECIOUS LORD JESUS CHRIST!