A CROSS QUESTIONS: DID GOD THE FATHER "TURN HIS BACK" ON JESUS WHEN HE WAS ON THE CROSS?
- Mark 15:34.
- The phrase “turn His back” does not appear anywhere in Scripture, but it’s come into our popular religious vocabulary. Commenting on the passage we just read, we often say that when Jesus cries out about being forsaken by the Father that the Father “turned His back” on Jesus.
- Now, of course, the fact that the phrase does not appear in the Bible does not automatically mean that the idea is not in there. The words “trinity” and “rapture” do not appear in the Bible, but Baptists believe they are words that represent concepts that are clearly laid out in Scripture. Is this a similar instance? Even though “turn His back” doesn’t appear in the Bible, is the idea behind it clearly laid out in Scripture?
QUESTION #1: WHAT DOES THE WORD "FORSAKEN" MEAN? IT'S THE GREEK WORD "EGKATALEIPO," WHICH CAN MEAN TO FORSAKE, DESERT, OR LEAVE BEHIND.
- Mark 15:34.
- In the passage it’s the Greek word egkataleipo, which can mean to forsake, desert, or leave behind.
QUESTION #2: WHY WAS HE FORSAKEN? BECAUSE OF OUR SIN.
- There are a number of passages that describe what’s going on at the cross, using a variety of phrases.
a. Romans 4:25 – “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”
b. 2 Corinthians 5:21 – “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
c. Galatians 3:13 – “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’”
d. 1 Peter 2:24 – “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.”
e. 1 John 4:10 – “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
f. Isaiah 53:5 – “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”
g. Isaiah 53:6 – “. . . the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
h. Isaiah 53:10 – “. . . the Lord makes His life a guilt offering . . ..”
i. Isaiah 53:11 – “. . . He will bear their iniquities.”
QUESTION #3: WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED AT THE MOMENT JESUS SAID THAT?
- I want to share two lines of thought on this matter with you.
- The general response that we have to that question is that the Father “turned His back” on Jesus in that moment, so let’s explore that option first.
- OPTION 1: THE FATHER "TURNED HIS BACK" ON JESUS.
- The argument looks something like this:
a. On the cross Jesus took our sin upon Himself.
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 – “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
b. God the Father cannot look upon sin.
- Habakkuk 1:13 – “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil . . . .”
c. God the Father “turned His back” on Jesus.
- Mark 15:34 – “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
- The word “forsaken” here is perhaps the strongest point in its favor. The word means “deserted or left behind.”
- OPTION 2: THE FATHER DID NOT "TURN HIS BACK" ON JESUS.
- The argument looks something like this:
a. On the cross Jesus took our sin upon Himself.
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 – “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
b. “You cannot look on evil” is something that Habukkuk says, not God.
- Habakkuk 1:13 – “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil . . . .”
- This shows up in a dialogue between Habukkuk and God. Habukkuk is complaining that God isn’t bringing justice quickly enough and that He is letting sin go unpunished. God says that’s not true and that He is working right then to bring that about. In this midst of His complaints, one of the things Habukkuk says about God is that He is too pure to look on evil. Now let’s think about that.
- First of all, this is not God saying it about Himself. This is Habukkuk saying it.
- Second, this is in the midst of a complaint about the way God is handling the situation. As we look throughout the Bible, people speaking in similar situations do not always get everything right about God. Certainly they believe what they’re saying but sometimes their beliefs are colored by their sinfulness or their limited understanding. I think of David in the Psalms and how many of his songs have honest cries to God concerning the struggles he’s going through.
- Third, we know for a fact that God does look upon evil. He does so every day, all day. There is evil all over the world and God looks upon it. In fact, He sees it and is working to combat it. In Christ’s death we see all the evil in the world, all the sin in world concentrated in one place in one moment, but that did not somehow make it too much for God to handle.
c. Jesus promised that the Father would be with Him.
- John 16:32 – “But a time is coming, and has come, when 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.”
- This statement comes in the run-up to the crucifixion, so one presumes that Jesus has the events of the next few hours in mind when He speaks it.
d. In the chapter that the “forsaken” statement is taken from, there seems to be a promise in against God hiding His face.
- Psalm 22:1 – “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?”
- The 22nd Psalm is a Messianic Psalm, containing a number of prophetic details that point to the crucifixion of Christ.
- Obviously we have verse 1, with the words that Jesus quotes on the cross.
- Verses 6-7 speak of the insults that He received.
- Verses 14, 16, 18 have telling details of the crucifixion.
- Verse 19 represents a change in tone. The psalmist asks God to not be far off but to come quickly to help.
- Verse 24 is interesting for our discussion here: “For He has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.” That’s a big statement. Taken in the context of what we are looking at, it could be taken as an affirmation that the Father did not “hide His face” at that moment. (A phrase that essentially means the same as “turn His back.”) Rather, we have the promise that He will not hide His face.
e. One important piece that it leaves us with is this: what then did Jesus’ “forsaken” cry mean?
- This is a powerful argument. It does leave us with uncertainty about the exact meaning of Jesus’ cry.
- Was it, to go back to the second half of Psalm 22:1, a realization that God the Father was unable to save Jesus?
- What if it was, like several other statements Jesus made, present simply to make us aware of what was happening? In this case, regarding the weight of sin.
- What if the Father didn’t turn His back but nonetheless the Son felt an awareness of separation because of the sin He was taking upon Himself?
