Of the Messiah and His Kingdom
All that pass by the way spoil Him, He became the butt of the despoilers and detractors; He is a reproach to His neighbors, evidently a reference to the mockery attending the Lord’s trials and His crucifixion.
V. 42. Thou hast set up the right hand of His adversaries, apparently giving them the power to work their will against the Christ; Thou hast made all His enemies to rejoice, gladdened their hearts at the seeming success of their murderous plans.
V. 43. Thou hast also turned the edge of His sword, apparently dulled the weapons with which He was battling, and hast not made Him to stand in the battle; it seemed that He was destined to lose in the tremendous conflict in which He was engaged for the benefit of mankind. V
. 44. Thou hast made His glory to cease and cast His throne down to the ground. V. 45. The days of His youth hast Thou shortened, by the tremendous pressure of the burden of men’s iniquity; Thou hast covered Him with shame, wrapping Him up in disgrace before men. Selah.
Such was the Messiah’s condition as He entered upon His great work of the redemption of mankind. The iniquities and the guilt of all men having been laid upon Him, He was held responsible for all, made strictly accountable for the debt which He had agreed to pay. The Messiah Himself is now introduced with a cry of distress.
V. 46. How long, Lord? Wilt Thou hide Thyself forever? Shall Thy wrath burn like fire? Note that these words are practically a parallel to the Messiah’s unexampled cry of distress and desolation, Ps. 22, 2. When He reached the climax of His suffering, it seemed to the great Sufferer that the Lord had definitely hidden His face from Him, that His anger would never cease from burning; it was the torture of hell which He endured.
V. 47. Remember how short My time is; wherefore hast Thou made all men in vain? We have here only disjointed cries: “Remember - I - what the age? For what - vanity - hast Thou created the sons of man?”
V. 48. What man is he that liveth and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave, from the realm of death? Selah. As the Representative of mankind, the Messiah was condemned to death, He must go down into the land of death, He must suffer even the pangs of eternal death. And yet He clings to His heavenly Father.
V. 49. Lord, where are Thy former loving-kindnesses which Thou swarest to David in Thy truth? He places His confidence in the merciful kindnesses of the Lord, as contained in the Lord’s faithful promises, sure to come upon Him in whom Jehovah, the heavenly Father, is well pleased.
V. 50. Remember, Lord, the reproach of Thy servants, for He was bearing the reproach which should have struck others; how I do bear in My bosom the reproach of all the mighty people, literally, “all many peoples,” as the Substitute of all mankind, v. 51, wherewith Thine enemies have reproached, O Lord, trying to heap disgrace upon Him, wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of Thine Anointed, of the Lord’s Messiah.
Knowing that the Lord would be His Refuge in spite of all enemies and their mockery and would glorify Him by the pathway of the cross with all its agonies, the Messiah concludes His prayer with a burst of triumph, v. 52. Blessed be the Lord forevermore. Amen, and Amen. That was the end of the Messiah’s vicarious work, blessing and honor and glory, of which all believers are partakers, here in time and hereafter in eternity.