Psalm 22 is the Old Testament’s most direct window into the cross, spoken through David long before crucifixion existed, yet describing Christ’s sufferings with uncanny intimacy. Jesus’ cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” is both a bookmark to the psalm and a real plea of anguish as He bears humanity’s sin. In the great exchange, God imputes Christ’s righteousness to believers while Christ becomes sin for us, absorbing righteous wrath as our substitute. Yet the psalm turns from despair to triumph: “he has done it”—echoing, “It is finished.”