Listen:  105 Question 4

Let’s read part of the account of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 27:45-50, “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?  Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.  Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.”  What a cry!  What an incredible event that the One who always did God’s will should be forsaken of God.

Let’s look at a prophetic portion in Psalms 40:6-8.  That says, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.  Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.”  Here we read that that Lord Jesus not only did His Father’s will; He delighted to do His Father’s will.  The Lord Jesus, Himself, 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.”  He shows that the Father is always with Him because He always did His Father’s will.  Even going to the cross was an act of obedience as we read in Philippians 2:8 which says, “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Yet, while on the cross in obedience to His Father’s will, God forsook the Lord Jesus.  Why?  We read in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”  While suffering on the cross, the Lord Jesus became sin, or the sin bearer, for us who believe on Him.  He stood in our place and received the punishment that rightly belongs to us because of the sins we have committed.  We again read prophetically of the Lord Jesus in Psalms 88:7 where it says, “Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.”  The wrath of God for our sins bore down hard on the Lord Jesus.  God, in effect, exhausted His wrath on the Lord Jesus for our sakes.

It is just so mind boggling to think that God would pour out His wrath on His Holy Son’s head for our sakes.  Why did God forsake the Lord Jesus?  He did it because our sins were on His Holy Son as we read in Habakkuk 1:13, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity…”  God cannot look favorably upon sin, so when His dear Son was bearing our sins in His own body on the cross, God turned away and left Him to suffer alone for our sins.  This shows us three important things.  First it shows the love of Christ that we would suffer for us.  2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”  Secondly, it shows the harsh penalty of sin.  We read in Romans 8:32 that God, “…spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all…”  Lastly, it shows there is no other way of salvation, for only One has born our sins…the only begotten Son of God.  We read in John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Why did God forsake the Lord Jesus?  It was for you, my friend, and it was for me.  (105.4)