The psalmist wrote: ‘My God, why have you forsaken me?...I am…scorned by everyone, despised by the people…All those who see me mock me…“He trusts in the LORD,” they say, “let the LORD rescue him”…I am poured out like water…my bones are out of joint…my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth…they pierce my hands and my feet…and cast lots for my garments’ (Psalm 22:1-18 NIV). It sounds like the psalmist was writing about the crucifixion from Jesus’ perspective. If you read Psalm 22 alongside the accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion in the New Testament, you’ll notice how they fit together perfectly. But when Psalm 22 was written, crucifixion hadn’t been introduced as a form of execution, and it wouldn’t be used for several centuries. Now take a look at Isaiah 53: ‘It was our pains he carried…He took the punishment, and that made us whole…He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word…Justice miscarried, and he was led off…Even though he’d never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn’t true’ (vv. 4-9 MSG). This sounds like it could have been written by someone who witnessed the events of Good Friday, but the Book of Isaiah was written around 700 years before Jesus was born. So we can be sure the cross wasn’t a coincidence or random chance. Long before Jesus came on the scene, God had a plan to reconcile us to Himself through Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:18). We are so precious to Him and He wanted so badly to bring us back in harmony with Him, that even hundreds of years ago we were on His mind. ‘It’s what God had in mind all along…that he give himself as an offering for sin’ (Isaiah 53:10 MSG).

What now?
Do exactly that – read Psalm 22 alongside one of the accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion in the gospels.