Christ in the Old Testament

Psalm 22:31

They will proclaim his righteousness,
    declaring to a people yet unborn:
    He has done it!

Psalm 22

Happy Easter! The day we celebrate our Savior’s resurrection in 2025 we find ourselves at verse 22 in Psalm 22. Of course we do. Why would God have us anywhere else? While Psalm 22 doesn’t speak specifically about the resurrection, it’s clearly there.

You can see a clear transition from verse 21 to verse 22. From the beginning of the psalm through verse 21, Jesus is crying out to God for deliverance. He is suffering on the cross surrounded by scavengers and God has turned his back on him. Jesus cries out in desperation for God to save him but God never comes.

Then the tone changes in verse 22. From this point through the end of the psalm, the psalmist sings a hymn of praise to God. It seems all of a sudden, the psalmist’s situation changed and he found himself no longer in agony. He has been delivered. His relationship with God has been restored. His response is to give thanks to God!

What we learn is that God did deliver Jesus. God did not despise him or hide His face from him. He listened to his cry for help and the resurrected Christ will declare His name to his people. Jesus has been restored to his community of people as well. And now the great assembly will praise God too!

Psalm 22 could have ended with verse 26. Jesus has been delivered from the cross and is resurrected. Jesus has accomplished what he came to do. The people have seen it and will praise God’s name because of it. But the psalm continues on to tell us about the impact of Jesus’ death and resurrection throughout the world to the ends of the earth.

Now all the earth turns toward God. God’s deliverance of Jesus causes all the nations to come and worship God. The Israelites and the Gentiles, the rich and the poor, future generations and all who go down to the dust kneel and worship God.

“They will proclaim his righteousness,
    declaring to a people yet unborn:
    He has done it!” (Ps 22:31)

God has done it! He has risen! Happy Easter!

Today’s Prayer: Thank you Jesus! We praise God for He has done it! The grave is empty!