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Psalm 22: 23-31 (NIV)
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honour him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.
25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you I will fulfil my vows.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the Lord will praise him –
may your hearts live for ever!
27 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him –
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!
This psalm of David is regarded as fine prophecy, a Messianic psalm where the earlier verses clearly point to the passion of our Lord on the cross. Even the latter verses are an extension of that prophetic voice. Verse 24 causes us to recall that God, although appearing to have forsaken his only begotten Son, “has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted (Christ); he has not hidden his face from (the Son) but has listened to his cry for help.”
The remainder of this passage, however, carries a sense of triumph. Those who fear God are to praise him! Ultimately all people, to the ends of the earth (verse 27), will turn to the Lord. All nations will realise who is Lord over heaven and earth, will remember his call to repent and will bow down before him. Those of us who love him now and long to see his glory can only rejoice as others come to realise what has, by God’s grace, been revealed to us about the exalted Christ, the ruler over all the earth.
In each of the countries where we now live, we may be aghast at the introduction of legislation that seems so contrary to the law of God. We may be feeling crushed by the might of the military force or police service which has been arrayed against people of goodwill and against the Christian community in particular. We are to take heart from the prophecy that “Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord” (verse 30) and that they will in turn proclaim his righteousness. The surrender of future generations to the reign of Christ will only be possible, however, if we of the current generation continue to honour him and revere him (verse 23).