The Death and Resurrection of the KingSample

Forsaken by God

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?’” (Matthew 27:46)

Jesus is God. He is one with God the Father. This is especially emphasized in the book of John. In John 10:30 Jesus says, “I and the Father are One.” In John 17:21 we read how He prays for all believers, “… that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us.” In John 1 we read how Jesus was God from the very beginning and was with God the Father. Their unity goes so deep, it can never be broken.

And yet Jesus cries out on the cross, “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” How can that be?

I think Isaiah 59:2 shows us the answer. There the prophet tells the people, “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”

The Lord Jesus took these iniquities and sins upon Himself as if He had committed them Himself. And therefore the Father hid His face from His own Son! How heartbreaking that is. It cost Jesus so much to remove the separation between God and man, to make reconciliation possible...

Do you experience unity with God, or separation? How does your experience fit into the great ‘story’ of the Bible?