Psalm 22:6, “I am a worm.”
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet they shall
be as white as snow. (Isaiah 1:18).
It is interesting to note that in Psalm 22:6 the Messiah cries out, "I am a worm." What torment He must have endured at the cross. It is also of interest to note that in the Hebrew tongue, a certain kind of worm was called, ‘towla.’ Henry Morris, the Christian apologist, tells us that this particular worm was used in the making of red dye, and so it’s often translated as "scarlet."
Furthermore, he tells us, “The towla would attach itself to a tree as it prepared to lay its eggs, and in the process, the mother would die, leaving a red stain on the wood. Later, after the babies would hatch and leave, the red stain would dry up, turn white, and flake off the wood.” (See Henry Morris. Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Baker Book House.
But more about the blood-stained wood a little later.
It has also been pointed out that scarlet is a fixed and permanent colour. It is said that if you get scarlet into a garment, it is impossible to get it out. It is permanent. No amount of laundering can remove scarlet from the cloth.
It is interesting then to note that God calls our sins scarlet. Why? Because they cannot be removed by any human effort.
Our sins were as scarlet. We are dyed-in-the-wool sinners. Sinners by nature and sinners by choice.
When it comes to physical dyeing the only way to remove the scarlet is to destroy the fabric. But what is impossible in chemistry is not a problem in the redemptive realm. Our double-dyed scarlet sins are removed by grace. The blood of the LORD Jesus Christ is the only remedy for our wretched scarlet sins.
The picture our Messiah presents parallels with the worm's life cycle. Jesus died on a cross of wood and in the process of giving birth to us, left a bloody stain that turns our sins from scarlet to white as snow! This is surely amazing!
The Worm.
Jesus, when on the cross, called Himself a worm. Now consider this, it is written that God becoming a man is a great mystery (1 Timothy 3:16). And that is true. But here’s another mystery … that same man became a lamb (John 1:29) and then that same lamb became a worm (Psalm 22:6). Why did He do all this? He did it in order to save us.
Is it any wonder then that the Lord invites us to come and reason together? Our scarlet sins are washed away at a great price by the blood of Jesus and to do this Christ was reckoned as a worm. It’s amazing! As Spurgeon says, “Psalm 22:6 is a miracle in language. How could the Lord of glory (1Corinthians 2:8) be brought to such abasement as to be not only "made for a little while lower than the angels" (Hebrews 2:9), but even lower than men? What a contrast between "I AM" (John 8:24, 28, 58) and "I AM A WORM." Yet such a double nature was found in the Person of our Lord Jesus when bleeding upon the tree.
He felt Himself to be comparable to a helpless, powerless, down-trodden WORM, passive while "crushed for our iniquities," (Isaiah 53:5), and unnoticed and despised by those who trod upon Him."
Jesus was despised and forsaken by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief; …He was despised (disdained, held in contempt), and we did not esteem Him. He was a worm, a scarlet thing bearing our sins, taking our place.
There at the cross, Jesus, as the worm. was trodden upon as He was writhing in distressed anguish. He had become the very essence of tortured agony.
“Oh come let us adore Him.”
And that’s the Gospel Truth!