Forsaken

by Merchant, Paul | Category: Voice From The Cross | Jun 1996

Midnight descended at midday. At midday, when the sun had always beaten down upon skull-shaped Calvary, there was darkness. What a contrast to the night of His birth when a great burst of light enveloped the fields around Bethlehem and the angels sang. Jesus was nailed to the Cross at nine in the morning. At about three o'clock 'Jesus cried Out in a loud voice ... My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?' (1) Jesus spoke three times from the Cross during the first three hours and then spoke the last four statements in quick succession just before He died. His cry 'My God' is the central saying. It is the only one recorded in the original language and the only one recorded in more than one Gospel.(2)

The forsaken cry of Jesus expresses the depths of His suffering. The cry explains the Cross. His punishment was to bear our sin and to be forsaken by His God while upon the Cross. The justice of God was satisfied in that sin was punished in Jesus, and the love of God to us was expressed by His Son taking on our behalf the penalty for sin. He suffered as our substitute. 'God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us ...' 'For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God'(3). The thick veil of darkness was an outward manifestation of God's withdrawal from His Son at the Cross.

He uses the title 'God' in this cry, not 'Father'. In this period on Calvary, Jesus is suffering as the sin offering. He is the substitute for sinners who suffers at the hands of God the Judge. Jesus cries out 'Why?' We know of no other question He asked God, no other question He cried out to God. And no other occasion when God gave no answer. The shout and the silence of Calvary. The word forsaken is a strong word meaning God had turned His back, 'He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all .. '(4) Jesus was left destitute, derelict, despised. 'Me' reminds us of the nature of Him who knew no sin who would therefore suffer the consequences of 'sin more than any other person.

And all His suffering was on our behalf. Jesus was forsaken in order that the believer in Christ will never be forsaken. When doubt, despair or depression may assail us, He knows how we feel because He has known worse - even Calvary. The Lord has been where we have been. His cry is not one for us to cry. God will not forsake the Christian. This is a comfort to the Christian when our faith is tested. 'God has said, Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you' (5). This central word from the Cross is a rock of reassurance to the suffering Christian.

Biblical references from the NIV

(1) Mat. 27:46; (2) Mat. 27:46; Mark 15:34; (3) 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 3:18; (4) Rom. &32; (5) Heb. 13:5.

Merchant, Paul | Jun 1996
Voice From The Cross