C R Brown
Series: Cross Sayings From The Christ
Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?
Matthew 27:45-46; Isaiah 53:7
Message Four
Introduction
When you spend some time in the Word looking at the crucifixion, you soon find yourself consumed with emotion. At first glance, the casual reader might think the crucifixion lasted about an hour or less. But the Gospel writers with great detail tell us that the entire episode took up a quarter of a day. His hands and feet were nailed to wood at 9 A.M. He uttered three statements and then darkness fell. Then there was silence “until about the ninth hour”, 3 P.M. Darkness fell over the earth like a thick, hot blanket. And there was silence. Then just before He died, the Lord Jesus uttered again, several statements. Remember, there’s no such thing as surviving crucifixion. Death always comes.
Peter, an eyewitness, tells us that even though He was reviled, He didn’t revile in return. Isaiah tells us, “just like a little lamb before his shearers is silent” so he opened not His mouth in retaliation. In all, Jesus made seven statements from the cross. The first was toward those who crucified Him. He said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”. The second was uttered to a thief hanging near Him and Jesus said, “This day you will be with me in Paradise”. The third statement was to His mother, He said, “Woman behold your son” and to John, “behold your mother”.
I. A Statement of Anguish (Matthew 27:45-56)
The fourth statement is the most anguishing of all and that’s the one Matthew records in Matthew chapter 27, verse 46. Called by one man the most staggering sentence in Gospel record, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” There was a thick darkness all around. It seemed as though nature bowed in sympathy as its Creator was put to death. It seems as though its heart is broken and it give no light. The darkness at the crucifixion of Christ represents God’s divine judgment on sin. The cross became the place for the pouring out of His wrath. Jesus was the recipient of divine judgment, God’s judgment upon sin. And in the darkness, out of that place where death existed, from that crown at Calvary, the words came. “My God! Why have You forsaken Me?” In Matthew 27:45, Matthew prepares the scene for us. (Read Matthew 27:45.) From noon until 3 in the afternoon there were two things present: darkness and silence. (Read Matthew 27:46.) Somewhere around three o’clock Matthew records Jesus makes this statement. There are three things I want you to see in this statement.
A. He Screamed the Statement
It’s not true of the other six statements, but it’s true of this one. Jesus screamed it. In verse 46, the words “cried out” are a combination of two words: to shout and it’s prefix is “up”. “To shout or scream up.” I6t is often used in Scripture for a guttural scream, a roar. In fact, Psalm 22 uses this word and renders it “roar”. Psalm 22 is one of the greatest of the Messianic Psalms. Look, please, at Psalm 22:14. This Psalm looks forward to the coming, the life, and the death of the Messiah. This is perhaps the most vivid account of Jesus’ person at Calvary. (Read Psalm 22:14-18.) You cannot deny that Psalm 22 is written about Messiah. In Psalm 22:1, the same words are found as in Matthew but given to us centuries before the Savior came. (Read Psalm 22:1.) A literal rendering of the word “groaning” is “roaring”. This same word used to describe the guttural roar and scream is used to describe the roar of a lion. Job uses it in his own book in his own account in chapter 3. In the terrible condition of his soul, Job describes himself as roaring or shrieking when his food was placed before him. (Read Job 3:24.) He said, “When that food was brought before me, my body cried out from the pain. I didn’t want food!” Now back to Matthew 27. That’s the word used for Jesus’ crying out. So in the darkness, picture it, there’s been silence then suddenly, abruptly there is the screaming from the lips of our Lord, “MY GOD! MY GOD! WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?” That seems to be the proper setting for the fourth statement Jesus gave.
B. Recorded Exactly As Jesus Said It
Notice that the statement is given to us exactly as Jesus said it. In fact, there is another sentence given to us in another language. The Holy Spirit has preserved it through the centuries in the transcribing of the text. The Holy Spirit made sure there is this original sentence in the original language, not translated into our language, “Eli, Eli, lama sabacth’oni!” Why does it appear like this? First of all, that is Aramaic and not Greek. Jesus spoke Aramaic; that was the tongue that He used. So we have reverted to the mother tongue of the Lord Jesus in this statement. Why? I believe it seems to capture the depth of feeling, the trauma that must have gone through the mind of Jesus at that moment. There’s nothing quite like the expressions of the mother tongue to get that feeling across. So He screamed this statement and it’s given to us exactly as He said it in Aramaic.
C. Estrangement Between the Father and the Son
Thirdly, this statement reveals that there was a distance, an estrangement between God the Father and God the Son. Jesus spoke to His Father three times while on the cross. Only here does He address Him as God. Both of the other two times, He calls Him Father (Abba). It’s almost as if you would walk up to your father and address him as mister. There is a distance, an alienation here. He addresses Him as thought He is removed from Him and indeed He is. He says, “My God”, literally, “Why Me have you forsaken?” There is a passage in Proverbs 8 where Jesus says, “I was daily His delight.” I’ll read it. (Read Proverbs 8:30.) Jesus had never known a time even before the foundation of the world, that He was not the Father’s delight. Their fellowship has never been broken. But now He is experiencing it! But further, note the word “forsaken”. It’s the same word Paul uses when he refers to Demas in II Timothy 4:10. Toward the end of his life Paul reflects on the days now past and he says, “Now Demas has forsaken me.” He’s abandoned me. He’s deserted me! The same word is used for the Father here. “He’s forsaken Me.” But why did the Father forsake Him? Of all time when Jesus needed the Father it was then. Why wasn’t He there? Well, two verses answer the question for us. Turn to II Corinthians 5:21. Hold your place there and turn to Psalm 22:3. Why did He leave Him alone on the cross at that moment? (Read II Cor. 5:21.) The first “He” is God the Father. The following “Him” is God the Son. God the Father made God the Son who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. Why? That we might become the righteousness of God in Him. At this moment on the cross all the sins of the world were poured upon Jesus and He bore them. All the sins of man from the beginning to the ending of time were at a point in time borne by Christ. God caused Jesus Christ to bear those sins, poured upon Him all the sins of the world, poured upon the one who knew no sin all the sins of all times. This is when Christ bore our sins, when he made this statement, “My God, My God!” Psalm 22:3 tells us why God could not have fellowship with Him. (Read Psalm 22:3.) What does holy mean? To be separated from sin! So when Jesus bore the sins of the world, when God laid upon Him the iniquity of all, then the Holy Father could not fellowship with His Son, but rather turned from Him. There was alienation, so that the crushing weight of sin was borne alone by Jesus Christ without the presence of the Father. Alone! Alone! He bore all our sins alone! Though He was forsaken only temporarily, He knew first hand the pain of separation from God experienced by every human being.
II. A Promise of Security
Now in closing, I want you to see a promise of security. Turn, please to Hebrews 10:10-14. (Read.) I want you to see how it makes all the difference in the world, that Christ bore our sins and was forsaken by the Father, because that was the turning point in our union with Him today. Notice the last part of verse ten was “once for all.” Verse twelve, He offered one sacrifice (only one) for all time! There would never need to be another sacrifice! When He had made that sacrifice, after the cross, after death, He went back and sat down by the Father! Jesus Christ bore our sins—once for all and beloved, He bore them all alone for a very real reason—Turn, please to Hebrews 13:5. Before we read it, let me explain something. God the Father forsook His Son THEN that He might NEVER have to forsake us NOW! That, to me, in one sentence is the meaning of “My God;, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” God the Father forsook His Son once for all, that He might never have to forsake His adopted sons now or forever more! (Read Hebrews 13:5.) Did you see that? Let me give you the literal, original version: I will no by no means ever desert you. No not ever will I by any means forsake you. The reason He could say that to His children then and to us now is because God forsook Him as He bore our sins, once for all!
III. Christ Took the Desertion in Our Place
I feel like we, as sinners in the rubble and destruction of life, would still be outside the realms of eternal life. But because God laid our sins upon Jesus and demanded righteous payment for sin and Jesus bore our sins—Because that sin debt is paid…”we may confidently say, the Lord is my Helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?”
Conclusion
Beloved, whosoever will may come.
And God’s people said, “Amen.” Let’s pray.
