Matthew 27:46,
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?”
Brother Wayne Jackson tackles the incredible aspects of our Savior pleading to the Father asking - Why?
Matthew 27:46 (33 AD) : Psalm 22:1 (1000 BC)
Lesson notes:
- Gods rejection of Christ
- Human rejection of Christ
- Crucifixion details and mode of Jesus death long before it was invented
- Jesus prays to God for deliverance
- Jesus gives thanksgiving to God for the deliverance on the cross
The 6 hours of punishment of Jesus on the cross were of such tremendous agony and pain and suffering are the equivalent of the punishment due every sinner that has lived or will live in the history of the world! There is no way we can appreciate the depth of this. That 6 hours could pay the penalty of hell for every accountable human being who has ever lived.
Its amazing while going through this ordeal, that Jesus could recollect Scripture and see to it that it was fulfilled, even in His failing moments preceding His death.
Jesus never addressed the Father with anybody else present. He always used the singular pronoun. Why? Because nobody but Jesus himself the Son of God could approach the heavenly Father in the intimate way in which he could. While on the cross, this is a moment of tremendous intimacy between Himself and His heavenly Father - My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Its amazing while going through this ordeal, that Jesus could recollect Scripture and see to it that it was fulfilled, even in His failing moments preceding His death.
Jesus never addressed the Father with anybody else present. He always used the singular pronoun. Why? Because nobody but Jesus himself the Son of God could approach the heavenly Father in the intimate way in which he could. While on the cross, this is a moment of tremendous intimacy between Himself and His heavenly Father - My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Was Christ forsaken by His Father? Yes or No. Yes He was. No He was not. Is this a contradiction? No not necessarily. If the word forsaken is used in two different senses, then there is no conflict between statements. There was a way He was forsaken, and there was a way He was not forsaken by the Father.
1) In what sense was He forsaken by His Father?
In the Greek language we have verbs that have 3 different voices. The active voice, the passive voice and the middle voice.
Jeremiah 4:10 - "Lord, You have greatly deceived these people." Active voice. God is said to have actively done it when He only permitted it be done.
Ezekiel 20:25 - "I gave them commandments that were not good." Means they were determined to receive commandments that were not from God. God allowed them to go ahead and do it even when it was against His will. Free choice. You see the active voice is stated for emphasis, but the passive voice is ultimately intended.
Matthew 6:13 - "And do not lead us into temptation." Does God ever lead man into temptation? Of course not. James 1:13 reaffirms God never temps anyone. What does this active voice of God mean? It means this is what we ought to pray, "Lord, help us through providential means or whatever, help us to not yield to temptation. Help us see that way of escape that you have promised to provide if we will only look for it. But not that He sends it to deliberately teach us to practice evil.
2 Thessalonians 2:11 - "And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned." Titus 1:2 says that God cannot lie." What does this mean? It means when individuals are determined not to obey the truth, God will let them believe a lie. This is a unique figure of speech that's called the idiom of permission. God is said to do something which He merely allows to be done.
So again, in what sense did God forsake Christ? Not that he turned His back on Him, Not that He wasn't concerned of the suffering of his Son. Not that He was disinterested in what was passing below. But that He let Him go through the drinking of the full drinks of bitterness of the cup of suffering. Or as the Lord expressed it in another place, being baptized over suffering, overwhelmed of suffering. God potentially could have intervened during the suffering on the cross. He could have put up a roadblock on the way to the cross. And what if He did? You and I would have been gonner's forever with no hope whatsoever and nothing but a dismal hell for eternity. So God did not stop it, He did not intervene and in a sense, He did forsake Jesus by refusing to deliver Him. This is a reasonable explanation for the word - forsake.
On the other hand, consider Hebrews 5:7 - "...who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death."
2) Why would Jesus cry out “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani" on the cross when many times during His ministry for 3-1/2 years prior, He alluded to His crucifixion and death on the cross?
Mark 11:12-13 - "Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He
was hungry. And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if
perhaps He would find something on it.
When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs."
The example of Jesus humanity above shows something very interesting and worth your continued study of our Savior. Is it possible our Lord knowing our suffering here, while on the cross He temporarily pulled the veil across His face "putting aside" His supernatural side of His ministry, to experience the full range of human suffering in compassion for us? Did He out of deep sympathy and compassion choose this, and while being human on the cross for a moment in time, didn't know "why" His Father forsook Him? If this choice between supernatural and human was deliberate to experience the full range of suffering, then we should want to serve and love Him every waking moment and opportunity God presents us.
"My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" Why...
WAYNE JACKSON
CHRISTIAN COURIER
In the Greek language we have verbs that have 3 different voices. The active voice, the passive voice and the middle voice.
Jeremiah 4:10 - "Lord, You have greatly deceived these people." Active voice. God is said to have actively done it when He only permitted it be done.
Ezekiel 20:25 - "I gave them commandments that were not good." Means they were determined to receive commandments that were not from God. God allowed them to go ahead and do it even when it was against His will. Free choice. You see the active voice is stated for emphasis, but the passive voice is ultimately intended.
Matthew 6:13 - "And do not lead us into temptation." Does God ever lead man into temptation? Of course not. James 1:13 reaffirms God never temps anyone. What does this active voice of God mean? It means this is what we ought to pray, "Lord, help us through providential means or whatever, help us to not yield to temptation. Help us see that way of escape that you have promised to provide if we will only look for it. But not that He sends it to deliberately teach us to practice evil.
2 Thessalonians 2:11 - "And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned." Titus 1:2 says that God cannot lie." What does this mean? It means when individuals are determined not to obey the truth, God will let them believe a lie. This is a unique figure of speech that's called the idiom of permission. God is said to do something which He merely allows to be done.
So again, in what sense did God forsake Christ? Not that he turned His back on Him, Not that He wasn't concerned of the suffering of his Son. Not that He was disinterested in what was passing below. But that He let Him go through the drinking of the full drinks of bitterness of the cup of suffering. Or as the Lord expressed it in another place, being baptized over suffering, overwhelmed of suffering. God potentially could have intervened during the suffering on the cross. He could have put up a roadblock on the way to the cross. And what if He did? You and I would have been gonner's forever with no hope whatsoever and nothing but a dismal hell for eternity. So God did not stop it, He did not intervene and in a sense, He did forsake Jesus by refusing to deliver Him. This is a reasonable explanation for the word - forsake.
On the other hand, consider Hebrews 5:7 - "...who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death."
2) Why would Jesus cry out “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani" on the cross when many times during His ministry for 3-1/2 years prior, He alluded to His crucifixion and death on the cross?
When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs."
The example of Jesus humanity above shows something very interesting and worth your continued study of our Savior. Is it possible our Lord knowing our suffering here, while on the cross He temporarily pulled the veil across His face "putting aside" His supernatural side of His ministry, to experience the full range of human suffering in compassion for us? Did He out of deep sympathy and compassion choose this, and while being human on the cross for a moment in time, didn't know "why" His Father forsook Him? If this choice between supernatural and human was deliberate to experience the full range of suffering, then we should want to serve and love Him every waking moment and opportunity God presents us.
"My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" Why...
WAYNE JACKSON
CHRISTIAN COURIER
