Lord’s Day, Vol. 5 No. 15

Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?

 Matthew 27:45-49 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 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?

 Does God abandon His children? In life, there are times when God allows us to go through such heavy afflictions we feel as if God has abandoned us. When the burden becomes so heavy, so real and painful, a sense of abandonment can come upon us and cause us to struggle to keep our faith and trust God.

But God is faithful. He will not abandon His children. When He saves us, we are saved and “safe” and “secured” for all eternity.

The Scripture tells us that Jesus Christ secured our salvation when He took upon Himself the full weight of all our sins on the cross. When Jesus Christ went to the cross, He was our sin bearer. “Him who knew no sin, God hath made to be sin for us.”

God is holy. God cannot look upon sin. God the Father turns Himself away when our sins were placed upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

 1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

There is a deep agony in our Lord’s words when He uttered, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

It was not just the bodily anguish but the real pressure of His soul bearing the enormous burden for sins. He was our Substitute. Jesus Christ was suffering the penalty for sin.

If a person is not saved, he is God-forsaken forever in hell fire. But for all who accepts Jesus Christ’s work on the cross, we would find reconciliation with God. We who trust in Jesus Christ will never be abandoned by God because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross.

The Separation (v45-46)

For three hours, Jesus endured the pain from nails that were thrust into His hands and feet that held Him up on the cross. The pain was excruciating. He had to support his body weight by those driven nails. His wounds swollen and inflamed, He struggled to breathe, and exhaustion gripped the ailing body.

At the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. Those three hours of darkness on the cross marked the second phase and climax of Christ’s suffering.

It was the time when Christ entered the final stage of His sacrifice, the peak of His suffering and separation from the Father. It was as if as one commentator observed, “God turned the light off the nation of Israel.”

Jesus’ sorrow was so aggravated that He finally gave expression to these words, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

Our Lord was quoting Psalm 22:1, written 800 years before His first coming, which foretold His agony upon the cross. Those words were uttered as a fulfilment of Scriptures. It was also a prayer to God the Father.

Our Saviour, even in His deepest agony and humiliation, did not waiver but persevere to carry our sins and look to God.

Philippians 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

 The Saviour’s cry was not against God but to God. It was not a cry of the Saviour questioning God but the weight of divine wrath and the unimaginable pain of the absence of the Father’s fellowship. Our sins bore by Jesus on the cross caused the separation.

Christianity is a relationship between God and men. Sin resulted in a broken relationship. This broken relationship was mended when Christ’s bore the penalty for sin.

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

 Let us meditate upon what Jesus did for us on the cross and contemplate His amazing love for all mankind. Amen.

 Yours lovingly,

Pastor Lek Aik Wee