“But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.”
(Psalm 22:9-10)
David’s words here, like many of his poetic writings, express realities pertaining both to himself and his Root and Offspring, the Lord Jesus Christ. In today’s verse passage, David declared and celebrated the fact that his very identity was bound up with the plans and purposes of God. Of course this is true of the Lord Jesus as well. Our Lord is the Divine Son of His Heavenly Father. His eternal identity is bound up inextricably with Him and His plans and purposes. “This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased” declared God the Father at our Lord’s baptism” (Matthew 3:17). His baptism, like ours, was His declaration to God, angels, and men that He was fully submitted to God and ready to enter into His service. Immediately following His baptism Jesus was “led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil” (Matthew 4:1). The enemy prefaced his first two temptations with the phrase, “If thou be the Son of God” (Matthew 4:3, 6). His intention was to have the Lord come to a different understanding of Who He was, to redefine what it meant to be the Son of God. He wanted the Lord to forget that as God’s Son He was submitted to His Father’s authority. Satan wanted to have Jesus operate independently of His Father, to drive a wedge between the two. Praise God, our impeccable Lord overcame the Tempter and cast him away. The strength He exhibited in order to gain this victory is available to us who love and trust the Lord Who loved us first. We see a very similar thing documented in the Book of Daniel some 600 years before the birth of Christ. Daniel records that he and three of his companions were among the first wave of captives that Nebuchadnezzar had taken to Babylon. His intention was to make these young men his servants, which would act as channels of communication through which he could make his demands known to the other Jewish captives. In order to ensure their compliance, he began a systematic attempt to erase their Jewish identity. He started by giving them new Babylonian names. Daniel (“God is my judge”) he called Belteshazzar. Hananiah (“God has favored”) he called Shadrach. Mishael (“who is what God is”) he called Meshach, and Azariah (“Jehovah has helped”) he called Abednego (Daniel 1:6-7). The name changes were intended to have them forget their allegiance to God and His covenant people. Next, the four captives were expected to forsake God’s Law with respect to its dietary restrictions. These men refused to forget their true identities, however, and the Blessed God of heaven rewarded them for their faithfulness (Daniel 1:8-21). Let’s remember who we are in Christ today, believing that God will reward us for our faithfulness also (Luke 14:14).
God bless,
pastor john
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