Psalm 22: 12 – 18 (NIV): Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
Jesus fulfilled more than 350 Old Testament prophecies and this passage has some of the most direct and amazing. It looks like it was written after his crucifixion, perfectly describing what he went through – but was actually written more than a thousand years before he was born! Not only that, but it was written by David, who never saw a person crucified because that method of execution hadn't been invented yet.
Jesus quotes the first line of Psalm 22 from the cross. I believe he was making sure we saw this amazing prophecy. The passage says “all my bones are out of joint”, “my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth”, and “my strength is dried up like a potsherd”. Scholars say this is what happened to a crucified person. Strong “bulls” surrounded him. Bashan had the strongest bulls in David's day and Rome had the strongest army in Jesus' day. “They have pierced my hands and my feet.” This is an undeniable prophecy. And the Bible tells us the soldiers cast lots to see who would get Jesus' clothing, and that people stared and gloated as he was being punished.
I get tired of people who are hostile to the faith saying we Christians are a bunch of irrationals whose faith is equivalent to “reading the entrails of a chicken”. (I'm quoting a Newsweek article from this week.) Our faith is not fluff with no substance. It has a rich heritage – a long line of believers who know what they saw and what was handed down to them. The New Testament is full of skeptics, James, Paul and Thomas among them, who believed when they saw the risen Christ.
But is the New Testament reliable? Internal prophecies, external history, content agreement, multiple manuscripts and the blood of the martyrs prove it beyond doubt.
Our faith is reasonable, rational, logical, based on evidence, based on prophecies and based on truth. Our faith encourages strong families and teaches love, compassion and fair treatment for all. If anyone tells you differently, he is a liar just like his true father.
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