Psalms 22:22

"I will declare thy name unto my brethren:

In the midst of the assembly will I praise thee.

Ye that fear Jehovah, praise him;

All ye seed of Jacob glorify him;

And stand in awe of him, all ye the seed of Israel.

For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;

Neither hath he hid his face from him;

But when he cried unto him, he heard."

"My brethren ... the assembly ... praise of God... seed of Jacob ... seed of Israel." (Psalms 22:22-23). The words of these two verses speak of the Church which Jesus Christ would establish after his resurrection. Seed of Jacob speaks of the old Israel, and Seed of Israel gives a hint of the New Israel of God, which is the Church.

"For" (Psalms 22:24). For once, this word means "because" or "because of" the truth that God did indeed answer the plea of the Atoning Saviour, raised him from the dead, sent his holy angels to escort him to heaven, where God enthroned him forever at his own right hand; and established the Church of Jesus Christ on the first Pentecost thereafter, sending the Holy Spirit himself as the Comforter of His Church during the present dispensation.

This is made certain by the fact that, "Hebrews 2:11-12 relates Psalms 22:22 to the Messiah, this verse being the head of this entire paragraph, who is not ashamed to call us brethren; who therefore stands in the midst (Psalms 22:22), not only on high, and whose thanksgiving feast the humble (and the meek) are welcome to eat and be satisfied (Psalms 22:26) and (in no mere form of words, but in reality) to live forever."[18]

God did not despise; he did not hide his face; but when Jesus cried unto him, GOD HEARD. We may thus paraphrase Psalms 22:24.