Here’s another situation in which liberals could take Scripture out of context saying they contradict each other. The text in Psalm is a prophecy of Jesus on the cross. The Scripture in 1 Peter 2: 9 says, “you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” We have a situation in the Old Testament in which a person is a worm while in the New Testament the person is royalty.
Let us first address the word worm in Psalm 22. Usually in the Bible that word also means maggot which eats dead flesh or garbage. There can be nothing worse than to think of a human being in those terms. When David wrote these words and when they became a prophecy of Christ on the cross, they depict a human being in the lowest possible form. It is a reference to that which is gross and repugnant.
The Scripture in first Peter seems completely opposite. We have here a person who has accepted Christ as Savior to be elevated to such a level that is honorable and admirable. The individual enjoys a significant place in all of the universe. He is to be respected. He is to be honored. God has placed on him a badge of courage. God has provided for this person a delightful future.
How can these verses be compatible and not contradictory? The Psalm text depicts someone in a desperate situation and the lowest of the lowest possible kind of existence. This is the condition of an individual without a relationship to God. This is what a person without God must be willing to admit about himself. He has no good nature. He has no good destiny. He is hopeless. The best of the best that can be said about us without Christ is the true recognition of how we are spiritually debilitated.
The Scripture in first Peter recognizes the divine work done on a penitent sinner. Because of Jesus, we are elevated to a special plateau. We become members of a royal priesthood. The holiness and peculiarity that we possess is from Christ because of the salvation experience. It is because of Jesus, that we have a high quality of life guided and blessed by his Holy Spirit while anticipating heavenly eternal state.
Thanks be to God that we do not have to remain in the condition of a maggot even though that’s what Satan would have us to be. However, we must admit our desperate situation living in sin, affected by sin, doomed by sin. We must set aside all pride. Just like there is no worth of a worm or maggot, there is nothing that can be said that can be spiritually bragged for the person without Jesus. God offers us a wonderful future and a wonderful position before him. If we do not accept his offer, we destine ourselves to the lowest possible state for eternity.
Christian Writer 