Forsaken - April 8, 2020

Forsaken                                                           Wednesday, April 8, 2020

“About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, ‘Eli, Eli lama sabachthani,’ that is, ‘My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?’” 

Matthew 27.46, NASB

Few things communicate darkness the way Jesus does in this address from the Cross. We cannot fully understand what Jesus had to give up in order to come as a man to rescue us from sin, so it is impossible for us to fully wrap our minds around this darkness as well.

But, let’s consider a couple of things:

1. Jesus’ cry happens during the time that darkness fully covered the earth. It is in the darkness that we find allusion that the Light that had come into the world had been extinguished. Phlegon, a Greek historian with no ties to the Gospel, writes of a full darkness over the earth at the 6th hour in AD 33. The historicity of the darkness is valid, but so also is the spiritual implication.
2. This is the only address of Jesus from the cross towards God where He does not call Him “Father.” Notice the distance between God the Father and Christ the Son that is indicated in this change of address. Here, and only here, is God not “Father”. It may seem to be a simple choice of wording, but at the moment of greatest distress, Jesus does not call for the comfort of His Father but a cry to God.
3. The word “forsaken” gives much weight to the shift from Father to God and for the darkness. Jesus had become sin for us, so God separated Himself from sin.

I want you to see the great love that is extended to us. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (over to death, and fully forsaken as a sacrifice for our sin, in so much that He became sin and could, therefore, no longer be present with God, but rejected by Him) that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” We know John 3.16, but we must see that He who was the only begotten Son became the forsaken Son when He became sin.

Jesus’ condemnation did not come at the hands of Caiaphas or of Pilate, it came at the hands of a Holy God. He was forsaken because He was sin. He had not sinned, but He became sin. That is huge! 

Pray: Lord Jesus, You were despised and forsaken so that I could be accepted by God. Your blood has washed me. Thank You! God, I want others to worship You because of what You have done for them. Please show me how to live in Your acceptance so that they can know why Jesus was forsaken for them.