the Word of Anguish
Reading: Luke chapter 27 verse 46:
In this series of studies:
• We are considering the seven statements of Jesus from the cross:
• These statements are very important to us:
• Not only because of the Person who spoke them;
• But, also because of the place where they were said.
• Remember the context that these great words were spoken in;
• It was when our Jesus was doing His greatest work on earth,
Quote:
“These seven last words from the cross are windows that enable us to look into eternity and see the heart of God.”
This morning we are looking at the fourth statement that Jesus made on the cross;
“About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”–which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?”
I want to look at this verse under 4 headings:
(1). THE WONDER OF THE DARKNESS (vs 45)
“From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land”.
• The first of the three cries from the cross were uttered in daylight;
• But this fourth cry is uttered in darkness.
According to Jewish custom, a new day began at 6:00AM in the morning:
• So when we read that Jesus was crucified at the third hour,
• Which we understand this to be at 9:00A.M.
• So for three hours Jesus hung on the cross in the morning sunlight;
• But then at the sixth hour, which is midday, something unusual happened;
• When the sun should have been at its zenith of light and heat;
• We are told that darkness spread over the land.
Note:
There are those who say this was not an eclipse of the sun;
• For an eclipse to happen for exactly three hours at this specific point in history;
• Requires more faith to me, than to simply believe it was a miraculous act of God.
• What we are told is that it was the time of the Passover in Jerusalem.
• So the experts tell us we therefore know that there would have been a full moon;
• And the experts also tell us;
• That there cannot be an eclipse of the Sun at the time of full moon.
Question:
• So if it was not natural phenomenon;
• What caused the darkness?
Answer: I believe that the sun was obscured by a supernatural act of God.
(a). Darkness in the Bible is always associated with sin.
• e.g. John chapter 3 verse 19:
• “Men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil”.
• John observes that there are many who refuse to come out into the open;
• Because they do not want their evil behaviour to be revealed.
Ill:
• I am sure you are well aware that many evil deeds,
• Many iniquities are perpetrated under cover of darkness.
• e.g. In Bible times no-one ever travelled at night (take shelter at an inn etc).
• e.g. If we think about our own city;
• In Monday’s newspaper you will read articles concerning;
• The crime, thieving and immorality which takes place under the cover of darkness.
So in the Bible sin is often correlated with darkness:
• And holiness with light.
• 1 John chapter 1 verse 5: ’God is light; in him there is no darkness at all’
(b). Darkness is also associated with judgement.
• We know that the crucifixion took place at Passover;
• And there is the link;
• e.g. Think back to Exodus chapter 12:
• It was at night when the judgement fell and the firstborn throughout the land died!
• We are actually told in Exodus chapter 10 verses 21 that this darkness that covered the land;
• Was so heavy that it was a "darkness that can be felt".
• So in the Passover story;
• Darkness is linked to the judgement of God.
In the darkness at the cross:
• We again see the judgment of God the Father against His one and only Son:
• “God made him who had no sin, to be sin for us”.
• On the cross Jesus became legally guilty of our sin,
• And for that He was judged.
• Just think what that entailed:
• Ill: man drowning in human sewage (repulsive and sickening thought)
• No wonder this event was veiled from human eyes.
• It was nothing for mankind to look into!
Quote: Isaac Watts great hymn ‘Alas, and did my Saviour bleed’?
“Well might the sun in darkness hide,
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the Great Maker, died
For man, the creature’s sin.”
(2). THE WONDER OF THE QUESTION (vs 46).
"My God, My God, why have you forsaken/abandoned me?"
• What a contrast with a previous experience;
• That Jesus had enjoyed with the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane
(a).
• In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus has a God who strengthens Him;
• On the cross, He has a God who turns away from Him.
(b).
• In Gethsemane,
• He can call twelve legions of angels who would have been quick to deliver Him;
• On the cross,
• He cries to God, who refuses deliverance.
(c).
• In the Garden of Gethsemane , He said the Father has not left Him alone;
• On the cross, the Father has turned His face.
(d).
• In the Garden of Gethsemane, the Son was tempted to forsake the Father;
• On the cross, the Father forsook the Son.
LOOK AGAIN AT THE QUESTION:
• Only here, in the Gospel records,
• Does Jesus address His heavenly Father as "God”, the norm is ‘Father’,
• This change of name;
• Indicates a change of relationship.
• There is now a break in fellowship between Father and Son.
• In this moment of history, the eternal link between God the Son & God the Father is severed!
This verse has caused theologians many a sleepless night:
• Some have suggested that the Father did not really forsake the Son,
• They suggest that Jesus only felt forsaken.
• And other theologians have come up with a variety of interpretations;
• That I will not bore you with!
I believe we must give the words their plain meaning:
• Remember Jesus was not delirious or faint.
• We know that he refused to take any drug that might have eased his pains.
• From the beginning of his suffering, until the last moment.
• His mind was clear and lucid;
• Verse 46: He cried out in a loud voice;
• It was almost a shout of affirmation, not a murmuring plea of doubt.
• To me the only adequate explanation of these verses are that;
• There was a moment in history, moment in time, when the father forsook the son!
Quote John Calvin who said:
“That Christ’s soul had also to feel the full effects of judgment……….
…….If Christ had died only a bodily death, it would have been ineffectual……Unless his soul had shared in the punishment, he would have been the redeemer of bodies alone."
In consequence, "he paid a greater and more excellent price in suffering in his soul the terrible torments of a condemned and forsaken man."
• Make no mistake:
• This was a real abandonment by the Father.
Note:
• And that word ‘forsaken’ is such a powerful word.
• There is no sadder word in our language than the word ’forsaken’:
Ill:
• I think of a widow who has returned from the funeral of her beloved husband.
• She has no other relative, no friends; as she walks through a cold, empty house alone,
• She is forsaken.
Ill:
• I think of a child whose parents have been killed in a road accident.
• Until help comes and a friendly hand is stretched towards him, he is alone, forsaken.
• To be forsaken by those we love is a fearful experience;
• But what is it compared with being forsaken by God in the hour of greatest need?
Remember Jesus knew what it felt like to be forsaken by men, It had happened to him all too often:
(a).
• His relations, misunderstood him, even thinking that he was deranged,
• Forsook him.
(b).
• His fellow Nazarenes took him up the hill to push him over the top,
• And would have done so had they had the power.
(c).
• The city of Jerusalem, the city of the great king, forsook him,
• Making him weep at their indifference.
(d).
• His own nation, whom he had come to redeem,
• Forsook him.
(e).
• Even as he faced arrest and trial and execution,
• His nearest, his own disciples, forsook him and fled away.
Yet these events did not take him by surprise:
• He was able to predict this to his disciples in John chapter 16 verse 32:
• And despite the disappointment of men.
• He had a promise to hold onto;
• That promise was God was with him:
“You will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone.
Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me”
• He had always known the enjoyed the tender, healing communion with his Father:
• But now that has gone!
• Jesus in his greatest hour of need, was alone;
• Cast out from the loving presence of his Father.
• The hiding of His Father’s face, must have been;
• The most bitter sip of the cup of sorrow that He chose to drink.
Ill:
• While on earth on various occasions the Father had torn open heaven and said;
• “This is my beloved Son, in whom I delight!”
• But now when he perhaps needs most of all a word from the father;
• Heaven is not only silent; but also distant!
• The Son, who was with the Father from all eternity;
• Is now abandoned, forsaken, all alone!
Ill:
• When we go out from a brilliantly lit room into a dark night,
• The darkness is all the more black by contrast.
• The Lord Jesus had basked in the light and glory of his Father’s presence,
• But now on the cross;
• He was plunged into the darkness,
• The-blackness of desolation and abandonment.
Notice: That even in this cry, there is hope and trust:
• He says, "My God, my God. . ."
• He still called God "My God"; the Father still belonged to Him.
• That unique communion was gone,
• Yet the Son had the full knowledge that the Father’s presence would return.
• The withdrawal of the Father’s presence did not mean the withdrawal of His love.
• At the end of the dark tunnel was light;
• In a few hours time He would say,
• "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke chapter 23 verse 46).
Quote A.W. Pink:
"This was a cry of distress but not of distrust,
God had withdrawn from Him, but mark how His soul still cleaves to God."?
• The anguish of this moment cannot be captured in words.
• No wonder when Martin Luther contemplated this text,
• Luther set himself to study this verse.
• He fasted, spoke to no one and was as if in a trance.
• For several hours he did not move,
• Then he got up from his chair to walk around the room.
• He was overheard saying,
• ’God forsaken of God? Who can understand that?’
• The answer is of course no-one!
• This is why we can only wade in the shallows of what this verse means.
(3). THE WONDER OF THE SILENCE (vs 46).
"My God, my God, why have you forsake/abandoned me?"
• There is no answer given in the passage;
• Heaven is deafening by its silence!
Ill:
Two thousand years before this,
• Abraham was asked to kill his son Isaac on an altar at the top of Mount Moriah,
• But just as his knife was about to slay the boy,
• God himself intervened (Genesis chapter 22 verse 12).
• "Do not lay a hand on the boy. . . . Do not do anything to him”.
• So Isaac’s life was spared.
• But that voice that called out so loudly and clearly on Mount Moriah is now silent at Golgotha!
As the question was spoken out into the darkness, no-one had an answer:
• The Pharisees standing at a distance from the cross;
• Were unable to give an answer.
• The priests who were also standing there;
• Were also ignorant of the events they were watching.
• And as for the Roman soldiers,
• Forget them, they were too busy gambling to even contemplate the question.
Yet God did give an answer:
• Not in the gospels;
• But hundred’s of years earlier God had written it down in Psalm 22.
• Psalm 22 is a prophetic psalm, it is also a Messianic psalm;
• And in verses 1-3 we are told:
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.
Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel’”
• The answer is simple and uncomplicated;
• The Father forsook the Son because His holiness required it.
The holiness of God the Father:
• Required that he turn away from the One;
• Who was bearing upon His shoulders the sin of the human race!
• He was cursed in our place, that we might be set free.
• Or as the Apostle Paul put it in Galatians chapter 3 verse 13 (The Message):
13”Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the Cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse”.
• There was no way to transfer sin without transferring its penalty.
• To put it plainly, Jesus was receiving the punishment that was due to us.
Now perhaps we can better understand why it was midnight at midday:
• The physical darkness was symbolic;
• The Father who dwells in ‘unapproachable light’,
• Was unable to have fellowship;
• With the one who was bearing upon His shoulders the sin of the human race!
Quote Erwin W. Lutzer:
“This explains the cup He would have preferred not to drink.
Throughout His lifetime He suffered at the hands of men;
At specified times He suffered at the hands of Satan.
But now He suffered at the hands of God”.
• He was abandoned to outer darkness;
• That we might walk in the light.
• In those hours on the cross, we are looking into hell itself;
• For all we can see is only darkness, only loneliness, and abandonment by God.
Ill:
• John chapter 3 verse 16 a reminder that God the father also paid a high price;
• He too had his heart broken by the events of the cross.
Quote John Stott:
“We must not, then, speak of God punishing Jesus or of Jesus persuading God, for to do so is to set them over against each other as if they acted independently of each other or were even in conflict with each other.
…..The Father did not lay on the Son an ordeal he was reluctant to bear, nor did the Son extract from the Father a salvation he was reluctant to bestow”.
(4). The wonder of the human heart (vs 47):
• I suppose a better heading would be;
• The wickedness of the human heart!
Look at how the crowd reacted to the three hours of darkness:
• You might expect that they would be stricken with fear by this unusual phenomenon,
• You might expect a strange disquiet and unrest among the people.
• You would expect them to be anxious;
• Maybe wondering whether daylight would ever return again.
• Maybe their thoughts would be jogged and they might say;
• ‘Perhaps this was the Son of God after all’.
Yet look at their response? (verse 47-49):
“When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
48Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
The Message:
47”Some bystanders who heard him said, "He’s calling for Elijah." 48One of them ran and got a sponge soaked in sour wine and lifted it on a stick so he could drink. 49The others joked, "Don’t be in such a hurry. Let’s see if Elijah comes and saves him."
Notice:
• Matthew actually records the Aramaic version of Jesus’ words:
• Which would have been known to the crowd who were standing around the cross.
• Perhaps it was so no-one could have misunderstood His words.
• He wanted all to hear what he was saying.
Question: How did they respond to his words?
Answer: By mocking him!
• This comment about Elijah was made in derision.
• It was an act of mockery!
• Yet the Jews present should have known this familiar cry,
• "My God….." was a quotation from Psalm 22 verse 1.
Had they recognised the quote:
• Perhaps they might have dwelt on the passage
• The rest of this psalm describes in detail the ordeal of crucifixion.
• Which again should have spoken to those Jews present.
• For God had predicted hundred of years before the event took place that Crucifixion;
• And not stoning would be the means by which the Messiah would die.
• If only sin had not blinded their hearts and minds to the truth!
Ill:
Or as Paul put it in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 8:
“None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”.
Well, amazingly this morning:
• By the grace of God we have been given;
• An understanding of the plan of God’s salvation and also an insight into the cross.
Quote: A.W. Pink:
“He suffered hell for us so that we can enjoy heaven with Him.
He entered the awful Darkness, that I might walk in the Light;
He drank the cup of woe that I might drink the cup of joy;
He was forsaken that I might be forgiven!"
