Shalom,

In the Bible Plan today we are going to move from Matthew to the Psalms. Psalm 22 is what many believe that Jesus was quoting while on the cross. (Matthew 27). the title of this Psalm in the Amplified Bible is:

To the Chief Musician; set to [the tune of] Aijaleth Hashshahar [the hind of the morning dawn]. A Psalm of David.

Aijaleth Shahar means: hind of the morning. The hind is a symbol of one persecuted to death (Isaiah 13:14), a symbol of loveliness (Song of Solomon 2:9) and also a symbol of innocence. What perfect pictures of our Lord and Saviour! Then we see this in verses 7-8:

⁷All who see me laugh at me and mock me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

⁸He trusted and rolled himself on the Lord, that He would deliver him. Let Him deliver him, seeing that He delights in him!

We will read about this in an couple of days when we get to Matthew 27 in the Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan. We will see this in verses 14-15:

¹⁴I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is softened [with anguish] and melted down within me.

¹⁵My strength is dried up like a fragment of clay pottery; [with thirst] my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and You have brought me into the dust of death.

Then this in verses 16-18:

¹⁶For [like a pack of] dogs they have encompassed me; a company of evildoers has encircled me, they pierced my hands and my feet. ¹⁷I can count all my bones; [the evildoers] gaze at me.

Jesus was not surprised when these things happened to Him! He KNEW the Word of God. He KNEW what was ahead of Him and STILL He made the choice to go ahead with this for US! He said that no one TOOK His life from Him, but that He laid it down! He could have called for angels at any time and been delivered from the horrifying death that He went through (Matthew 26:53), but He didn't! What He did, He did for YOU! And the future that Jesus saw BEFORE He went to the cross? Verses 25-31:

²⁵My praise shall be of You in the great congregation. I will pay to Him my vows [made in the time of trouble] before them who fear (revere and worship) Him. ²⁶The poor and afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise the Lord--they who [diligently] seek for, inquire of and for Him, and require Him [as their greatest need]. May your hearts be quickened now and forever! ²⁷All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall bow down and worship before You, ²⁸For the kingship and the kingdom are the Lord's, and He is the ruler over the nations. ²⁹All the mighty ones upon earth shall eat [in thanksgiving] and worship; all they that go down to the dust shall bow before Him, even he who cannot keep himself alive. ³⁰Posterity shall serve Him; they shall tell of the Lord to the next generation. ³¹They shall come and shall declare His righteousness to a people yet to be born--that He has done it [that it is finished]!

IT IS FINISHED!!! We NOW have a new covenant, based on better promises! We, as believers in Jesus of Nazareth, live as new creatures, with the Spirit of Almighty God living IN us! Keep meditating on the Word of God until it becomes MORE real to you than anything else in your life! THEN you will REALLY live!

Shalom in Him!