INS: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 cry 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 away 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 looking
at--the One who left heaven's glory and became a Man. He became a Man
to reveal God. Well, 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 save no one by 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 always those
things that please 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 why of impatience. It is not
the why of despair; it is not the why 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 physical darkness. But in the first three hours there
was spiritual darkness; in the second three hours there was spiritual
light. 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
working. He was suffering at the hands of man in the first three hours;
He was suffering 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
dying 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 making His soul an offering for sin. In
those last three hours He is dying 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.

   This file has been forwarded to you by: So. MD Christian Information
Service BBS P.O. Box 463 California, MD 20619