Christ not only dealt with sin, but must “destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb 2:14).
Recall the Lord’s warning to the two on the Emmaus road. It was unwise not to “believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” (Lk 24:25). They recalled the prophecies concerning Messiah’s glory, but hadn’t they noticed it was “necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then to enter His glory?” (v 26, BSB). Perhaps we’re in danger of falling into the opposite ditch. We carefully consider His sufferings!and we should!but sometimes miss the grand conclusion. That brings us to part 2 of Psalm 22. The pivot point is in verse 21, “You have answered Me.” This explains what seems a conundrum when we read of One “who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications…to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear” (Heb 5:7). But was He saved from death? The answer was given not on the cross but at the tomb. He was saved out of death, forever breaking its hold on us. It was there “when He cried to Him, He heard” (Ps 22:24), “whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it” (Acts 2:24). Now the One who died alone is surrounded by an unnumbered host: “I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise You” (Ps 22:22). But there’s more to come!much more! “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and…shall worship before You. For the kingdom is the Lord’s” (vv 27-28). And, believer, here you are in the picture! From generation to generation (v 30), the Good News will travel. “They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done this” (v 31). Or as some happily render it, “that IT IS FINISHED!”