"My God, My God ,why have you forsaken me."
Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34
The fourth word of Jesus from the cross discloses a sense of hope when we remember the whole psalm from which it comes. Psalm 22 does indeed begin with desperation: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?” (Psalm 22:1). The psalm writer struggles with what feels like God’s complete absence during his suffering. But, in time, the psalmist comes to a deeper experience of God’s gracious presence: “For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him” (Psalm 22:24).
Mark tells us, "It was the third hour when they crucified him" (Mark 15:25). Sometime after the crucifixion took place, Luke tells us: "It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour" (Luke 23:44). "It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining...." (Luke 23:44-45a) A strange darkness settled down over the land, obscuring the sun until it could be seen no more - a 12–noon until 3 p.m..
This darkness intensified the feeling of desolation and despair for everyone who had gathered at the scene of the crucifixion.
The darkness that covered the land that eventual day cannot be explained as an eclipse because it was Passover time, and Passover was always on a full moon. Passover is a spring festival, so the 15th day of Nisan typically begins on the night of a full moon . All four Gospels state that Jesus was crucified on the Day of Preparation (Matthew 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:14, 31, 42). Mark, Luke, and John all state that the following day was the Sabbath. John’s account uses this wording: “It was the day of Preparation of the Passover” (John 19:14 ESV)
An eclipse is not possible with a full moon. And since Passover was a full moon it was not possible for the solar eclipse to occur. Neither was it a sandstorm, nor is there anything to indicate that a local phenomenon in the environment of Jerusalem or Judea caused it. The only conclusion you can come to is God caused it.
In our culture, if we hear "the fourteenth day of the first month," we would think this to mean "January 14." Our modern calendar is strictly a solar calendar, timed around the annual cycle of the Sun through the seasons, and oriented so that the solstices ( either of the two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator ) and equinoxes ( either of two times of the year when the sun crosses the plane of the earth's equator and day and night are of equal length) fall on the same dates each year.
In our calendar, "months" are simply arbitrary units used to divide the solar year. So the dates within our months are just numbers, with no reference to the Moon or its phases. But the Hebrew calendar used by the ancient Israelites and the modern Jews today is a lunar calendar. And in this lunar calendar, the "months" represent complete cycles of the Moon's phases. In this way, each date of the month represents a certain phase of the Moon, so that the same phases will fall on the same date from month to month.
So when the Lord commanded Israel to celebrate Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month, it was understood that this day was two weeks after the New Moon, which is to say, the night of the Full Moon of the first month. The Passover is called "pesech" in Hebrew, and in the Greek of the New Testament, this word is rendered as "Pasch." For this reason, the Full Moon of Passover is called "The Paschal Moon."
We read in the Gospel accounts of the darkness that fell over the land during the crucifixion. Some rational-minded thinkers have attempted to explain this away as a Total Eclipse of the Sun that occurred during the crucifixion. However, such a solar eclipse can only occur during a New Moon, when the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun. However, the Paschal Full Moon occurs in exactly the opposite side of the sky as the New Moon, the completely wrong phase!
Also, a solar eclipse can only last as long as eight minutes, not the three hours of the darkness that happened during the crucifixion! So as we see, this miraculous darkness defeats any ill-informed attempts to at a rational, scientific explanation, again showing the folly of the "wisdom" of this world.
Also a total solar eclipse can last only for 8 minutes and not for 3 hours as indicated in the various gospel versions.
Both Matthew 27:45 and Mark 15:33 tells us that as Jesus was hanging on the cross darkness covered the land. Then Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 quote Jesus as asking, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
His words echoed through eternity and reverberated down the centuries of time: "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani!" Jesus was quoting Psalm 22:1.
The apostle Paul gave us the answer for what was happening during that supernatural darkness. "He [God] made Him [Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB ). In that horrible three hours of darkness, Jesus had been made sin for us!
Jesus spoke these words in Hebrew, and the spectators did not understand Him. They thought He was calling for Elijah to help Him (Matt. 27:47ff). Had they listened carefully and consulted Psalm 22 in its entirety, they would have understood the truth of His suffering and the declaration.
There is a great Old Testament example of what happened on the day of Atonement It is found in Leviticus 16:5-28. It is about a scapegoat.
Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel, and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness. “And the goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. Leviticus 16:21-22 (NASB)
Is this what happened to Christ? I believe this scapegoat was a type of Jesus. Not only were the sins of the world placed on Jesus, but Jesus, with our sins, was separated from God. God the Father in some sense distanced Himself from the God-man Jesus Christ.
We do not fully comprehend these words because we don't fully understand the holiness of God. The Hebrew prophet Habakkuk understood this when he exclaimed, "Your eyes are too pure to behold evil, and you cannot look on wrong doing" (1:13). Finite depraved sinners do not understand how sin appears to an infinite, holy and righteous God. God's attitude toward sin caused Him to turn His back on His Son and forsake Him. Sin is serious business with God.
Christ revealed the horror of sin when we died on the cross. We treat sin lightly. God takes it seriously. God cannot and will not tolerate sin in His presence because He is a holy God. The Bible says: "The soul that sins will surely die." "The wages of sin is death." God's attitude toward sin caused Him to pour out His wrath on His own Son. What a startling contrast these words are to those occasions when God the Father said, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."
How could an infinitely holy God look upon His own Son who had become a representative for sin? The Father had forsaken His own Son! He was being made a sin offering. The wrath of God was upon Him. He was being made a curse for our sin. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (because it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree") (Galatians 3:13, NET).
Sin is so serious that there is only one way God can deal with it. The writer of Hebrews said, "All things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (9:22).
These words from the cross reveal the reality of sin and holiness. They also reveal the reason for the sacrifice.
Jesus was fulfilling the great messianic Psalm 22. This great Psalm runs through out the whole crucifixion narrative. It is interwoven through out the crucifixion story because it foretells the crucial events in the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus was not a Jewish martyr. He was the Suffering Servant of God who laid down His life freely.
Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, Romans 1:1-4 (NASB)
Notice the passage says Jesus was “born according to the flesh.” That is, He became a man with flesh and blood (Hebrews 2:14). This passage also says that Jesus was the “Son of God.” This expression simply means Jesus was God. John 10:31-36 states . . .
The Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” Jesus answered them, ” . . . do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God‘? John 10:31-36 (NASB)
Jesus had to be both man and God. Jesus would not have died a physical death unless He was a man with flesh and blood. He could not have lived a perfect, sinless life unless He was God (Hebrews 4:15). He was the perfect, holy Lamb of God who physically died in order to forgive our sins.
When Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He was clearly implying that He felt separated from God the Father. The Greek word for “forsaksen” is enkataleipo which means to “to leave, to abandon, or to leave behind.” In what sense did God the Father leave Christ? We believe Jesus was referring to separation from the Father. Isaiah 59:2 communicates to us an important fact about God,
. . . your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you . . . Isaiah 59:2 (NASB)
If we combine Isaiah 59:2 with 1 Peter 2:24 which states that Christ bore our sins in His body, we have a picture of what happened on the cross.
. . .and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. 1 Peter 2:24 (NASB)
All the sins of the world were placed on Christ. Our sinless Christ became sin. He took our sins upon Himself.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)
1 Peter 3:18 states that the just died for the unjust. The righteous died for the unrighteous.
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. . . 1 Peter 3:18 (NASB)
Jesus personally took our punishment or vicariously atoned for our sins in the darkness of that Friday afternoon on the cross. When that happened, God the Father turned away from Christ. The full impact of this abandonment was realized by the man, Jesus Christ, resulting in anguished cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Up until now God the Father said, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!" It is a unique communion between the Father and the Son. Now God the Father abandons His own Son. It is the only way we can understand these words from the cross. It is impossible otherwise for radically depraved sinners to understand this cry of our Savior.
God our savior has made it forever unnecessary for us to experience or understand the depths of these words from the cross. The reality of sin and holiness reveals the reason for the sacrifice. These words reveal the terrible cost of the putting away of our sin.
On Christ representatively fell the collective consequence of sin.
This truth becomes clear when we consider the Levitical ceremony of laying hands on head of the innocent scapegoat and confessing the sins of the people. Jesus is our scapegoat, dying in our place, taking the punishment for our sins upon Himself (2 Cor. 5:21). Galatians 3:13 tells us Christ became a curse for us, "for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree." "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord"
Jesus was made the representative of sin. On Jesus Christ, representatively, fell the collective consequences of sin. He bore the penalty of our sins for us. He suffered on our behalf.
It is a revelation of the penalty of human sin. The whole weight of every sin ever committed and that ever would be committed fell on Jesus. The penalty He bore for us was the inevitable separation from God which sin brings and belongs to us.
It was not the nails, but His wondrous love for me that kept Jesus on the cross. Revelation 1:5, "To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood . . ." Ephesians 5:2, "Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." Christ's death was an offering to God "in our behalf."
These words from the cross reveal to us the reality of sin. They also reveal the reason for the sacrifice of Christ and the satisfaction of God.
It was probably only a few moments later that Jesus declared with a shout, "Finished!" God's wrath was spent, and the sacrifice for our sins was finished.
In Himself the Savior was still well–pleasing to the Father, in voluntarily laying down His life that He might take it again (Jn. 10:17f); it was as our substitute, because He 'bares our sins in His own body on the tree,' that He was forsaken."
First Thessalonians 5:9, "For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him."
Godforsakenness describes the depths of His suffering for us. When He cried, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me He did not die for Himself. He died your sins. He died my sins . He bore our punishment for sin. He did it so you and I will never know what hell is like.
However, since Jesus Christ went to the cross and died as my representative, it means that if I refuse to believe on Him as my substitute for my penalty then I must bear my own punishment. If I refuse Him to be my substitute, then I must pay the penalty in full.
These words from the cross are a divine revelation of what hell is like. It reveals to us the wrath of God against all sin. This is the clearest revelation of the wrath of God.
The Hebrew prophet Isaiah said the Suffering Servant would be "wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities." The LORD God was laying on Him "the iniquities of us all." The Suffering Servant of Yahweh was crying out, "My God, My God . . . "
In these words we begin to comprehend the love of God.
In these words we understand the depravity of sin and God's holiness.
In these words we understand the vicarious, substitutionary atonement of Jesus' death.
It must be clear that this was never plan B, or C, or D, or E. It was always plan A. From the foundation of the world. That God would send His Son to condemn sin in the flesh. Making away for men to be reconciled to God through Jesus the Son.
“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
He shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise His heal.” (Genesis 3:15)
This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. (Acts 2:23)
God had planned from the very beginning to send His Son and satisfy His justice in Him. Jesus came as a willing servant. Offered His life willingly as a ransom for many. For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross despising its shame (Hebrews 12:2).
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)
Did God really forsake Jesus on the cross? Yes. On the cross sin was imputed to Jesus Christ, and He was punished for it. It must be clear that Jesus knew no sin in Himself. He never sinned. He was perfect. But the Father took the sin of man and laid it upon Jesus and punished Him accordingly (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Due to the imputation of Sin, Jesus was forsaken of God. And He cried out " My God, My God why have you forsaken me."
