Jesus, Forsaken by God?
Is that possible, can we know what that was like, and why would something like that ever happen?
Those are all questions that are worth looking into, though we may not answer them to our heart's
content. The secret things belong to the Lord, (Deu.29:29) and not all things are disclosed to us. Maybe
one reason would be is that they would not be able to be understood by us. But they are only recorded
in Matt.27:46, and Mark 15:34, Jesus' words, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?" This is a
quote from the Old Testament book of Psalms, 22:1. Yes, the cry of the Man Christ Jesus asked this
question of His Father in Heaven, yes, the only begotten God who once was in the bosom of the Father.
Jesus was taking on the Father's wrath, on our behalf, appeasing it, satisfying it, delivering us from it, by
being a propitiation for it.
Having never sinned, keeping the whole law perfectly, and doing only what the Father desired Him to
do, why could He possibly be forsaken? But it has happened. The being forsaken by the Father must
have been the most bitter ingredient in the cup the Father had Him drink. “The wages of sin is death,”
(Rom.6:23), and sin cannot be swept under the rug, and sin separates from God. Gen 4:14, shows Adam
a separation from the face of God, and in Isa.59:2,"Your sins have made a separation between you and
your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you." So, knowing that, and knowing Jesus had not
sinned, how could this happen to Him? Though there are many verses to reply to this, two will suffice for
now.
2Cor.5:21,"God made Him(Jesus) who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him," And Romans 8:3,"For what the law could not do, weak as it was
through the flesh, God did; sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin,
He condemned sin(our sin) in His flesh." Jesus was indeed the perfect Lamb of God, without sin, blemish,
or defect, that could take away the sin of the world. He had not sinned, but our sin was imputed to Him.
Physical death is the separation of soul and spirit from the body, so penal death is the separation of the
soul and spirit from God. Knowing this we can better understand Hab.3:13,"Your eyes are too pure to
approve evil, and You cannot look on wickedness with favor."
A.W. Pink writes, "God is holy and therefore He will not look upon sin. God is just and therefore He
judges sin wherever it is found. But God is love as well: God delighteth in mercy, and therefore infinite
wisdom devised a way whereby justice might be satisfied, and mercy left free to flow out to guilty
sinners. This was the way of substitution, the just suffering for the unjust." So, what kind of effect should
God's forsaking Christ, which shall never happen as believers to us, produce in us? 1Peter 2:24,"For He
Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, SO THAT we might die to sin and live to righteousness."
We must be killing sin, or sin will be killing us. How shall he who died to sin, still live in it?(Rom.6:2) To
close, 1Peter1:4:1-2,"Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same
purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time
in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God." Part 2 next week.
Elder Randy Slak
11/15/2021
Those are all questions that are worth looking into, though we may not answer them to our heart's
content. The secret things belong to the Lord, (Deu.29:29) and not all things are disclosed to us. Maybe
one reason would be is that they would not be able to be understood by us. But they are only recorded
in Matt.27:46, and Mark 15:34, Jesus' words, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?" This is a
quote from the Old Testament book of Psalms, 22:1. Yes, the cry of the Man Christ Jesus asked this
question of His Father in Heaven, yes, the only begotten God who once was in the bosom of the Father.
Jesus was taking on the Father's wrath, on our behalf, appeasing it, satisfying it, delivering us from it, by
being a propitiation for it.
Having never sinned, keeping the whole law perfectly, and doing only what the Father desired Him to
do, why could He possibly be forsaken? But it has happened. The being forsaken by the Father must
have been the most bitter ingredient in the cup the Father had Him drink. “The wages of sin is death,”
(Rom.6:23), and sin cannot be swept under the rug, and sin separates from God. Gen 4:14, shows Adam
a separation from the face of God, and in Isa.59:2,"Your sins have made a separation between you and
your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you." So, knowing that, and knowing Jesus had not
sinned, how could this happen to Him? Though there are many verses to reply to this, two will suffice for
now.
2Cor.5:21,"God made Him(Jesus) who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him," And Romans 8:3,"For what the law could not do, weak as it was
through the flesh, God did; sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin,
He condemned sin(our sin) in His flesh." Jesus was indeed the perfect Lamb of God, without sin, blemish,
or defect, that could take away the sin of the world. He had not sinned, but our sin was imputed to Him.
Physical death is the separation of soul and spirit from the body, so penal death is the separation of the
soul and spirit from God. Knowing this we can better understand Hab.3:13,"Your eyes are too pure to
approve evil, and You cannot look on wickedness with favor."
A.W. Pink writes, "God is holy and therefore He will not look upon sin. God is just and therefore He
judges sin wherever it is found. But God is love as well: God delighteth in mercy, and therefore infinite
wisdom devised a way whereby justice might be satisfied, and mercy left free to flow out to guilty
sinners. This was the way of substitution, the just suffering for the unjust." So, what kind of effect should
God's forsaking Christ, which shall never happen as believers to us, produce in us? 1Peter 2:24,"For He
Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, SO THAT we might die to sin and live to righteousness."
We must be killing sin, or sin will be killing us. How shall he who died to sin, still live in it?(Rom.6:2) To
close, 1Peter1:4:1-2,"Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same
purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time
in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God." Part 2 next week.
Elder Randy Slak
11/15/2021