Solomon's Porch Christian Community

Introduction

In Forsaken For Us All Part 5, we will continue to examine the great Messianic text of Psalm 22. Our Memory and Meditation Verses as we prepare to Remember the Crucifixion on Friday, April 18th, 2025, are Psalm 22:1-15. The series aims to improve and guide our Christian meditation together. Read Forsaken For Us All Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 before going any further if you’d like.

Despised By The People

Back in Psalm 22:6, we got to experience, with Jesus–through David’s vision–how He felt deep down. He says, “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind, and despised by the people.” Mankind should be capitalized in our minds. Jesus was executed by the highest civil authority in the Roman Empire, the world-ruling empire of the time. Pontus Pilate punished our Lord as God’s servant (civil magistrate) pouring out His wrath on Jesus through him (Romans 13:1-5). Acting as the highest agent in that region He represented the world.

His Own People Did Not Receive Him

However, there is another group that delivers Jesus to the Romans for crucifixion isn’t there? He was scorned by the world, but He was rejected by His own people. “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:11-13).” 

Pontus Pilate represented the “World” in the largest sense, however, who represented the people of Israel? Their political and religious leaders, the men of the Sanhedrin, of course. They were the Jewish ruling council of seventy men who, minus Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, voted to deliver Jesus to the Romans. The boldest and most zealous of these men were at the crucifixion.  

Many Bulls Encompass Me

My purpose in bringing verse 6 up in Forsaken For Us All Part 5 is to call back to our minds what I believe verses 11-13 are a color commentary upon. His rejection by Israel through their leaders. “Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; 13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion (Psalm 22:11-13).” 

Who are the people who made faces at our Lord and shook their heads mockingly at Him? The Psalmist in Psalm 22:7 refers to those in Luke who mock Jesus on the Cross. “And the people stood by, watching, but the RULERS scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One (Luke 23:35)!” It is the leaders of Israel who mock Him. That’s why these are bulls. They are the male leaders of Israel. Some of them aren’t regular bulls either, they are the “strong bulls of Bashan.”

Strong Bulls of Bashan

“Many bulls encompass Me,” is a reference to the leaders in general, the whole Sanhedrin. Next, He says, “Strong bulls of Bashan surround me.” Who are these men? They are the leaders of the bulls. Men like Caiphas the High Priest, Annas his father-in-law, the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Herodians. These are the conspirators who purchased Jesus’ arrest from Judas for thirty pieces of silver. They are those members of the Sanhedrin who were not only bold enough to vote for a prophet who had raised the dead, caused the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk to be executed; they were also bold enough to stand at the foot of the Cross and mock the only Begotten. If Dante’s Inferno was a textbook instead of a poem I suspect these are the men that would be in the very center of the Ninth Circle of Hell. Men who should have known Him and loved Him, but who rejected Him for power and greed. 

Despised and Rejected

In His moments of agony, when He knew there was not going to be a physical deliverance from death, “What did He do?” When, deliverance wasn’t coming and the only way out was through, “How did He respond? He sought the Father to be near Him. Why? Because all earthly help was gone. The bulls had Him in their horns. The strong bulls of Bashan were trampling His blood under hoof. The Shepherd was being struck and in that brief three-day period, the sheep were scattered. The bulls of Israel, led by the strong bulls of Bashan, despised and rejected Him for all the people.

Jesus The Captain of our Salvation

However, while He received the stripes that healed us, He also showed us how to receive our own. What was His example? Through prayer and a faithful calling on the Father to be near, He confidently drew near. He knew there was a friend that sticks closer than a brother, One that would never truly leave or forsake Him. So He suffered, while believing the Truth, drawing near to the Father despite His feelings. He focused on the joy set before Him. 

You see Jesus found grace by faith to endure the Cross and to despise the shame that He felt. Jesus drew near despite all that He felt. He claimed the promise to “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Like Abraham, He chose to believe better things. Abraham climbed that mountain believing God would resurrect Isaac if He sacrificed Him. Jesus mounted the Cross believing the Father would resurrect Him if He died. He is the Captain of our Salvation because He is the ultimate example of Faith. Amen, and Amen!

Here is a hymn to listen to as we consider together our call to take up our Cross and follow Him.

Forsaken For Us All Part 6

In Forsaken For Us All Part 6, we will comment on Psalm 22:14-15. That will conclude the series and the incredible privilege of listening to Jesus pray as He offered Himself as “the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).” Soon we will turn our thoughts to the Resurrection! World without end! Amen.

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Learn more about Solomon’s Porch Christian Church on our Home Page & What We Believe

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord,

Pastor Jeremy

Additionally, you can read our previous Series Christ, His Church, & Marriage if the mood strikes ya!