Psalm 88 Is Ultimately About The Sufferings Of Jesus Christ On That Cross

From Daniel Fletcher's book: Psalms Of Christ

I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care. You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. Your anger lies heavily upon me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves . . . Why, O LORD, do you reject me and hide your face from me? . . . I have suffered your terrors and am in despair. Your anger has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me. Psalm 88:5-7, 14-16

And he said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself . . . Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead . . . . Luke 24:25-27, 44-46

Daniel Fletcher writes:

. . . the psalmist's experience in Ps 88 and that of Jesus is an example of biblical typology. Because the entire book of Psalms testifies to Jesus, namely his sufferings (Luke 24:25-27, 44-47), the words of lamentation of the psalmist point to Christ, culminating in his passion experience. The psalmist had his own experience of suffering as the historical analysis indicates, but Jesus also had his own experience that both echoes and exceeds that of the psalmist, as the antitype exceeds that type. (Daniel Fletcher, Psalms Of Christ: The Messiah In Non-Messianic Psalms, (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2018), 109-110.) (All of the wonderful meditations below come from Fletcher's book.)

J. Clinton McCann Jr. writes: 

Psalm 88 . . . serves to articulate the same experience Jesus would later live out. (J. Clinton McCann Jr., A Theological Introduction To The Book Of Psalms: The Psalms As Torah, (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993), 99.)

Commenting on Psalm 88:7, Augustine wrote: 

The anger of God was not merely roused, but lay hard upon Him, whom they dared to bring to death, and not only death, but that kind, which they regarded as the most execrable of all, namely the death of the Cross. (Augustine of Hippo, Expositions On The Psalms, In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 8. Edited by Philip Schaff. Trans. J. E. Tweed, (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature, 1888), 88.)

Jerome gave this heading to Psalm 88 in the Vulgate:

The voice of Christ: he speaks concerning his Passion to the Father. (John Eaton, The Psalms: A Historical and Spiritual Commentary With An Introduction And New Translation, (New York: Continuum, 2005), 509.)

Richard Belcher writes:

Jesus experienced the darkness and abandonment by God expressed in Psalm 88 as he hung on the cross suffering the judgment of God against sin. His human life ended in darkness, but only for a short time, for on the third day he burst from the grave conquering sin and death. Because Jesus experienced the dark night of the soul we are assured that darkness will not be the last word. (Richard P. Belcher, The Messiah And The Psalms: Preaching Christ From All The Psalms, (Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Mentor, 2006), 76.)

Preaching on Psalm 88, Timothy Keller says: 

The end of Psalm 39: God's face is turned away. The end of Psalm 88: darkness. Losing God's face; darkness. Does that sound familiar to you? Matthew 27:45: "From the sixth hour to the ninth hour, darkness came down over all the land. At the ninth hour, Jesus Christ on the cross cried: 'My God! My God! . . . Why have You forsaken Me?'" . . . Jesus got the total darkness that Heman thought he was getting. When Jesus went to the cross, He was abandoned. Really. Not just subjectively. "My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" On the cross, Jesus Christ really got the wrath of God. Not just I felt the wrath. He actually got the wrath of God. Everybody abandoned Jesus so only Jesus Christ of all the people who have ever trusted God as Savior, only Jesus Christ - darkness really was His only friend. His disciples had left Him; His people had left Him, His Father had abandoned Him - darkness was His only friend. You know why? He was taking the sins upon Himself that we've committed . . . but Jesus took the darkness so that when you believe in Him, your sins are forgiven. Or put it another way: Jesus Christ experienced darkness as His only friend so in your darkness you can know that Jesus is still your friend. He's still there. Jesus was truly abandoned so that you will only feel abandoned, and you can know that God's still there. He's not going to abandon you. No matter what you've done wrong, because of what Jesus Christ has done - He's taken the penalty. It all fell on Him. It all fell on to His heart. (Timothy Keller, How To Deal With Dark Times, Accessed 07 JUNE 2022).

Hallelujah! What a Savior!