Reflection from my reading in Matthew 27:27-50 in the One Year Bible New Testament.
My God, My God Why Have You Forsaken Me?
“Now from the sixth hour [noon] there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. [3pm] And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, (ē’lī ē’lī lah-mah sa-bok-ta-nigh) “ that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:45–46
This is the darkest moment in the history of the world. In the middle of the day, God caused the sky to blacken as a symbol of despair of what was taking place. Already on this day Jesus was mocked, beaten, spat upon, his beard was pulled out, he was whipped 39 times, he was nailed to a cross and was slowly suffocating to death.
Even amidst all this physical pain, Jesus’ greatest suffering was his spiritual separation from the Father. Even the best human relationship between a husband and wife does not come anywhere close to the relationship Jesus had enjoyed with his Father for all eternity.
Jesus never new life apart from the Father’s presence. The first moment without the Father’s presence caused him to shout in anguish! In this moment, he was forsaken or “abandoned” by his Father! The same one who said, “this is my beloved son whom I am well pleased.” By saying this, Jesus is also associating himself with yet another messianic prophesy from Psalms 22:1.
Imagine the pain of being abandoned by the person you love most in your moment of greatest need!
Why Did God Abandon Jesus?
The simple answer. So He would never have to abandon us!
You see, when Jesus was on the cross all of our sins were placed upon him. Every murderous thought, every lie, every act of adultery was placed on Jesus.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
God, in his absolute holiness, could not look upon our sin; so he was forced to turn his back on his own Son. This moment illustrates how SIN separates us from God. Jesus himself experienced this separation when he took our sin upon himself. Here’s the truth I want to you get.
Jesus was forsaken so that we would never have to be!
Out of the darkest moment in history comes one of the greatest truths of Christianity. Because Jesus took our sin, we no longer have to pay the penalty for our sin.
In the same way that our sins were put upon Jesus, His righteousness was placed upon us. Bible scholars call this “the great exchange.” Our sin for His righteousness! That’s a great deal!
If you have made this exchange with Jesus and given your life to him, God promises this.
“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5
Jesus was forsaken so that we would never have to be!
I hope that any time you are tempted to think that maybe God has abandoned you, remember that Jesus died and experienced the greatest abandonment so that we would never have to experience abandonment again! Even if you have abandoned God by running away from Him, He will still never abandon you and is waiting for your return.
Jesus was forsaken so that we would never have to be!
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