Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?

                                            Scripture Text:                                                 Matthew 27:45-50 (NKJV) ⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. ⁴⁶ And 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?" ⁴⁷ Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "This Man is calling for Elijah!" ⁴⁸ Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink. ⁴⁹ The rest said, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him." ⁵⁰ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.

Intro: As Jesus hung there on the cross, He gave a mysterious loud cry: "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me." This was the great separation, the moment when God forsook Christ, His only Son. What is the meaning of this shocking statement? The very idea that God could and would "forsake" His only Son staggers the human mind. Yet Christ shouted out: "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" The meaning cannot be ventured into lightly. The meaning requires reverence and much prayerful thought. But even then, it remains impossible to measure the depth of what all His cry means. Scripture indicates at least the following meanings.

1. "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" Jesus sensed that God had withdrawn His presence from Him. He sensed that God was no longer with Him. God had to turn His back on His on Son while He bore the sins of the world. Jesus was willing to be forsaken of God for you and me. He became the sacrificial “Lamb of God” that takes away the sin of the world. Even as God the Father forsook Him, Jesus still called the Father My God!

2. "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" Jesus sensed that God had withdrawn His deliverance. Always in the past when Jesus was troubled, God had met His need. For example, God had sent a voice from heaven to assure Him (John 12:27-28); and when He was facing the cup in the garden of Gethsemane, God had even sent an angel to strengthen Him. But now, hanging upon the cross, God had forsaken Him. There was no deliverance from God. He was left all alone so that you and I would never be forsaken or separated from God! Romans 8:37-39 (NKJV) ³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

3. "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" Jesus sensed that He was bearing the curse of God, the curse of separation from God, the curse of the judgment and condemnation of God against sin. Galatians 3:13-14 (NKJV) ¹³ Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), ¹⁴ that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

4. "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" Jesus sensed that God's life and holiness had left Him, He felt He was now dying as a sinful man and He felt that He had been delivered into the hands of the enemies of life and holiness, that is, into the hands of sin and death. He was being made sin and having to die. And both sin and death were foreign to Jesus, alien to His nature which is life and holiness. Both sin and death stood as enemies of God and enemies to all that belonged to God and He was facing them both for us.

  In becoming sin and in dying, Christ experienced all that was contrary to the nature of God—all that was involved in God separating Himself from sin and death.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Hebrews 2:14-15 (NKJV) ¹⁴ Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Jesus' cry was fulfilling the prophesy in Psalm 22:1. The reason God had to forsake Jesus is given in Psalm 22:3: "Thou art holy." Jesus had "become sin" for many as the Bible says in;(2 Cor. 5:21).

He had to bear the penalty due man—the penalty of separation from a perfectly holy God. In all the mystery of His death, Scripture proclaims: 1 Peter 2:24 (NKJV) Jesus Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.

Note in verses 47-49 that some of the crowd misunderstood the words of Jesus' cry. One had compassion and sought to help Him by giving Him a drink. But others stopped the man and mocked by demanding that He be left alone to see if Elijah would come to save Him.

In verse 50 we see the great shout of triumph and the yielding up of Jesus' spirit.

1.  Jesus cried, "It is finished" (John 19:30). The Greek word tetelestai is the shout of victorious purpose which means “The debt is paid.” Christ had completed His work, mission, and task for all mankind.

He was not crying the cry of a defeated martyr; He was crying the cry of a victorious conqueror over Satan, sin, death and Hell.

2.  Then Jesus "Yielded up His Spirit" means that He willingly yielded and gave up His spirit. It must always be remembered that Jesus willingly died. He willingly came to this moment of yielding and giving up His spirit unto death for the salvation of all mankind.

Invitation: Jesus was forsaken of God for you. Have you taken advantage of the salvation Jesus has provided for you on the cross when He bore the penalty for your sins so that you could be forgiven and saved from Hell? If you do not know Jesus as your personal Savior, confess your sins to Him right now and ask Him to forgive you and save you for Heaven when this life is over. Ask Him to take charge of your life and then be baptized to show you have put your full trust in Him as your Savior and Lord.