3833-"I Am a Worm" by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 20, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 32.

3833—"I Am a Worm"

By Editor

In Ps. 22:6, in David's prophecy of Christ, our Lord is made to say, "But I am a worm, and no man." I do not understand it. M.

The large part of that psalm is a prophecy of the humiliation of our Lord, acting as substitute for man, taking upon Himself man's weaknesses, man's infirmities, man's sins,—taking them upon Himself so absolutely as to identify Himself with man in all man's failings and sufferings. It was these things weighing upon the human Son of God which led Him to pour out His soul in agony for God's help. Compare Heb. 5:7. Note also the expression which the prophet uses of God's own children in Isa. 41:14: "Fear not, thou worm Jacob." Our Lord felt Himself brought very low indeed. He had taken upon Himself Jacob's sins, and He felt Himself as God had designated Jacob; and yet He pleads also the very promises which God makes concerning Jacob. See also Isa. 41:10. In the light of Psalms 22 and 55, as compared with Heb. 5:7 and other passages, we can better appreciate the great sacrifice which our Lord made for us.