Acts of Grace 15
I AM A WORM
By Ps. Henry

This is a scene from the Cross. Psalm 22 was written by the prophet-psalmist David when he looked prophetically to a thousand years down the corridor of time and saw his Messiah and heard the very prayer Jesus would pray when he hung on the cross and took the sins of all humanity upon himself.

Let me share on verse 6 where Jesus says, “But I am a worm.” Worms are very disgusting. Nobody likes them and here the Lord says, I am like a worm. Why did Jesus say, “I am a worm”? In scripture, there are some 88 times, where God refers to worms and 8 times this particular worm which is a scarlet worm, a purple worm that is used to make dye, purple dyes for kings and priests. Jesus is referred to as this worm. So, what did Jesus mean? How can God Almighty, who is sovereign and supreme, come down so low that he finds himself in the dirt, in the dust and in the ground - humble, lowly and hidden in the dark, unloved and despised. Why did Jesus, God in flesh, choose to become this worm? Who amongst us here would choose to be a worm?

Firstly, worms are blind - they have no eyes. What a horrible thing it is to not be able to see. Worms did not choose to be blind. It is just a circumstance of their life. Sometimes, we feel like worms. Simply because the situation in our lives makes us feel this way. We say it is not fair but that is the way things are, as a matter of fact, the Bible says that everyone who does not know Jesus Christ is blind, which is quite like a worm. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “… in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine into them.”

So here we see worms are blind, worms live in total darkness. Somehow they are still sensitive to light and they like to hide themselves from light. And the scripture says, they who live in sin and they who do not know Jesus, the light of this world, are blinded - eyeless like a worm and living in darkness. We are all blind worms because we cannot know him by sight. We only meet and learn of him in our darkened world by grace. He comes to us by grace, we do nothing to deserve it. The Lord by his divine choice chooses to call us, convict us and draw us to himself.

Jesus says, “I am a worm.” He identifies with us. He who is perfect, who is light, who is full of mercy and wisdom chose to become this worm to identify with us. Not only did he become a worm, he became a very special worm, the scarlet worm. The Hebrew word for scarlet and worm is the same. The scarlet worm brings new life. When the female scarlet worm lays her eggs, she attaches herself to wood and then it dies. This is a picture of Christ on the cross. Her dead body is the protection for the young and the same body produces scarlet dyes which stains whatever it touches. Just before the baby scarlet worms come out, the mother worm will embrace them, protecting her offspring, giving its life to the offspring because they will eat her body like we do to Jesus. When it dies, clinging on to a piece of wood, it brings out of its body a purple colour, a purple dye.

In the Middle East, the scarlet worm was bred and used as a dye. The full-grown worms were put in a great container and slaves or servants were employed to step on the worms, crushing them under their feet till the worms were totally broken and bruised and all form or identity were lost. You don’t see a worm anymore, all you see was liquid and it was red and purple. In the midst of more crushing, it turned to jelly and then ultimately, it was dried and turned into powder and kept in bottles. Then when the time came for a king or a priest to be established, this purple dye was used to colour the robes and the clothes of kings and priests. So, this is the special worm that Jesus said he was.

When Jesus was despised, crushed and bruised, he produced from his body this colour, a scarlet-purple which was his blood, the blood he shed for us on the cross, giving his life so that you and I can live. He says, I am this worm, the worm that is crushed under the feet of men. You hear the Lord crying out, “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me.” (Psalm 22:1) He was being bruised, tortured, and crushed - literally crushed under the feet of men. He was so bruised and broken, he lost all identity. He gave all, he did not hold anything back - he was crushed for you and me.

When you feel like a worm, praise God because he too became like a worm to save you. God doesn’t reject us because we are worms. He accepts us. He has pity on us. Today, when I accept the Lord Jesus as my saviour, he covers me and cleanses me with his sinless royal blood. When his blood cleanses me, I am saved, sanctified and purified. As I open my heart, the light of God comes into my heart and suddenly I see, suddenly I am living in darkness no more. I am no more a worm, but have become a child of God. I have been taken from the dirt and the filth and placed on the throne as a priest.

A priest is someone who has been given divine approval to approach God. So, Jesus came and made us all priests so that we are covered with the purple robes of priesthood. We are covered with the purple robes of royalty so that we can rule with him. This privilege, this favour of coming into God’s presence is made possible only because Jesus chose to be a worm.