Issue 1575 – Seven Sayings – Part Nine October 15, 2024
We continue our journey through the “Word of Anguish” of the seven sayings. We read Christ’s agony-filled words…
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
Here is suffering beyond our imagination. Jesus cries out, forsaken by God.
Many people have toiled under burdens, at times, sometimes even for extended periods, feeling as if God abandoned them. That is agony. What Jesus experienced that day is so far beyond that sort of experience as to be incomprehensible. He not only “felt” it, He knew it and experienced it in its fullness.
At the cross, the prophetic words of the 22nd Psalm were fulfilled.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Be not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.
Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet —
I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing, they cast lots. Psalm 22:1-18
Innocent, yet tortured, mocked and killed. God turns His face away from the Son and pours out the wrath for all the sin of the world upon Him. All the punishment for every sinner before and since at once is turned on Him. Unbearable agony and suffering is His.
It is impossible for anyone to bear it, yet what is impossible for mankind is possible for God. What did he bear for us on that day? We will never know or understand. We will never understand it fully.
That which was righteously due you and me for our sin was taken by Him. Jesus bore the punishment for eternal separation from God.
The pain must have been on the Father as well. We know that the Father takes no pleasure in the judgment of sinners, but the price must be paid. How much it must have agonized Him to pour out His wrath on His Son.
There was no way to transfer our sin to Christ so that we could bear His righteousness without transferring the payment for that sin to Him. Our righteousness in Him could never be attained unless He endured that forsakenness by the Father.
We see the ultimate sacrifice and obedience here. If Jesus could lay down His life and pick it up again, He could have left the sin upon us rather than undergo the agony. He endures the cup of wrath He prayed about at Gethsemane and does so for us. What mercy, what grace, what obedience He demonstrates.
Praise God that as believers, you and I will never know the agony of such torment.
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. Your value in God’s eyes is so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that his plan for heaven will not be complete without you.
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