The measure of love is how much it gives, and the measure of the love of God is the gift of his only son to become human, and to die for sins, and so to become the one mediator who can bring us to God.
J.I. Packer

My God My God Why Has Thou Fo

My God My God Why Has Thou Fo

MY GOD, MY GOD WHY HAS THOU FORSAKEN ME?

Psalms 22:1 {To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.} My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? [why art thou so] far from helping me, [and from] the words of my roaring?

Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, {Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?} that is to say, {My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?}

Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, {Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?} which is, being interpreted, {My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?}

As we can see above, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?, appears three times in the Bible. The Hebrew is very clear, and the Greek is very clear, and the Aramaic is very clear–in each language the crv means that Jesus was forsaken of God.

–a record of His human suffering. We see Him hanging there as a man, John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God. which taketh awav the sin of the world. Let’s turn to the book of Hebrews; Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels (Yes, made a man. Why?) for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. That is what we are lookino at–the One who left heaven’s #lorv and became a Man. He became a Man to reveal God. ves. that is true: but most of all to redeem man. Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.

He could same no one bv His life: it was His sacrificial death that saves. Hebrews 2:15-16,18 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on [him the nature of] angels; but he took on [him] the seed of Abraham. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. We see the Man Christ Jesus on the cross as the perfect Man. He had learned to rest upon God. He had learned to trust Him in all that He did. He said in John 8:29 {And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do alwavs those thinos that olease him.} But yonder in that desperate and despairing hour He was abandoned of God. There was no place to go. The Man Christ Jesus was forsaken. No other ever has had to experience that. No one. He alone.

Why did God forsake Him?

Psalm 22:3 But thou are holy, 0 thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

Why was He forsaken of God? B E C A U S E on the cross in those last three hours, in the impenetrable darkness, He was made sin.

He was forsaken for a brief moment. The paradox is that at that very moment God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. And that Lord Jesus Himself said, John 16:32 {Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.} The Father was with Him when He was in prison, the Father was with Him when He was being beaten, the Father was with Him when they nailed Him to the cross. But in those last three hours He made His soul an offering for sin, and it pleased the Father to bruise Him. Isaiah 53:10 Yet it Pleased the LORD to bruise him: he hath put [him] to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see [his] seed, he shall prolong [his] days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

F 0 R S A K E N. We do not know what that is; and we do not know what it is to be forsaken of God. The vilest man on this earth today is not forsaken of God. Anyone can turn to Him. But when Christ takes my sin upon Himself, He is forsaken of God.

Why has thou forsaken me? It is not the whv of impatience. It is not the whv of despair; it is not the whv of doubt. It is the human cry of intense suffering, aggravated by the anguish of His innocent and holy life. That awful and agonizing cry of the loneliness of His passion! He was alone. He was alone with the sins of the world upon Him.

Mark 15:32-34 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him. And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, {Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?} which is, being interpreted, {My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?}

Mark gives us the Crucifixion by the clock. On the third hour He was put on the cross, and at the sixth hour (which would be twelve noon) darkness came down. The high noon sun was covered, and darkness came down over the cross. From the sixth hour to the ninth hour, that would be until three o’clock in the afternoon, there was darkness.

The first three hours were from 0900 until 1200; the second three hours were from 1200 to 1500. Jesus hung on the cross for six hours. In the first three hours there was physical light; in the second three hours there was ohvsical darkness. But in the first three hours there was spiritual darkness; in the second three hours there was soiritual lioht. Why? Because in those first three hours man did his worst. They crucified Him and they reviled Him. Even those who were hanging with Him on the cross reviled Him. At least at the first, both thieves did. At that time the enemy, marching around down beneath the cross, were wagging their heads and ridiculing Him. In the first three hours man was working, doing his very worst; in the second three hours God was workinu. He was suffering at the hands of man in the first three hours; He was sufferinq for man in the last three hours. In the first three hours He was dying because of sin; in the second three hours He was dvino for the sin of the world. So during the time of the physical darkness, there was actually spiritual light and God was working. In those first three hours sin was doing all it could to destroy Him; in the second three hours He is makinq His soul an offerino for sin. In those last three hours He is oavin# for the sins of the world. It was during this period that He was made sin for us; He became sin for us. He was forsaken of God and vet. even at that time God was in Christ. reconciling the world unto Himself. II Corinthians 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Mark 15:35-39 And some of them that stood by, when they heard [it], said, Behold, he calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put [it] on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.