Is He Your God? Series

Our passage that we will examine today is amazing, for it is a prophecy of the passion story, or an account of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, that was written nearly 800 years before the birth of Jesus. James Smith says that, “Such a hope [as is found in this passage] must be restricted to the future Redeemer. Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, David in Psalm 22 saw his descendent resembling, but far surpassing, himself in suffering.”(1) This passage may be a very old Psalm, but it is an amazingly accurate depiction of the events that happened during Jesus’ crucifixion, and there is a lot that we can learn from this passage about God’s character and His power over both life and death.

Is He Really Your God? (v. 1)

1My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?

These are the same words that Jesus cried out to the Lord when He was hanging on the cross. Matthew 27:46 tells us, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?’” Some of us might question this verse and ask why Jesus, the very Son of God who knew God to be one who would never forsake Him, would ask such a question. Did Jesus believe that God had turned his back on Him when He was hanging on the cross?

The commentator William Barclay says, “It is suggested that in that moment the weight of the world’s sin fell upon the heart and the being of Jesus . . . that was the moment when He who knew no sin was made sin for us; and that the penalty which He bore for us was the inevitable separation from God which sin brings.”(2) 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us, “For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” Jesus felt forsaken from the Lord because He was separated from God by all the sins of the world that He bore at that very moment.

Something important that needs to be noted here is that if someone does not know the Lord in a personal relationship, then that person is separated from God because of his or her sins. Isaiah 59:2 tells us, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that He will not hear.” Jesus knew the Lord in a personal way, for He was God’s perfect and sinless Son; and that is why He could cry out to the Lord, and call Him “My” God.

Walter Kaiser, Jr. says the emphasis found here in the Hebrew is on the word “my,” not on the word “God.” It should be read as, “My” God, “My” God; not as, My “God,” My “God.” The latter example would be like cursing God, or using the Lord’s name in vain;(3) and Jesus was not cursing God.

He could cry out “My” God, because He truly knew God in a personal way. Do you know God? Can you call upon His name as though He is your closest and dearest friend? If you cannot then you need to be forgiven of your sins. Through Jesus Christ you can be forgiven of your sins, because He took on all your sins when He died on the cross. All you have to do is trust in Him as your Savior, and He will make you righteous and able to stand in God’s presence.

Do You Understand His Power? (vv. 6-8)

6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people. 7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8 “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”

These verses portray an accurate description as to how people reacted to Jesus’ crucifixion. Matthew 27:39-43 says, “And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, ‘You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.’ Likewise the chief priests also mocking with the scribes and the elders, said, ‘He saved others; Himself he cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God’.”

Those who will not, or cannot, call upon the Lord and truly say to Him, “My” God, are those who mock the Lord and His power to save. God’s power does not lie in might, but in His love. People who are unable to cry out, “My” God, fail to see that the Lord works through His love instead of by His might.