Where are you?
JCC Good Friday 02.04.10
Read Matt 27:11-54
Jesus gave one sigh from the cross
V 46 ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me’
It was not, "Why has Peter forsaken me?
Or, Why has Judas betrayed me?"
Both Peter and Judas two of the disciples had both let him down
One sold him for 30 pieces of silver and the other disowned him before the people in the courtyard
Yet, the whole of the crowd went on to rejected him
The same people who 4 days before cried, ‘hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’
These were sharp wounds of betrayal, but the hardest thing for Jesus was the Father turning away from Him
This cut him to the quick: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
It was a real absence that he mourned
Even His saints, when they are near to death, or in their great weakness and pain, still find Him near
Because of the presence of God they can say: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me"
How many funerals have you been to where they say this psalm?
Yet, it should only be for those who have followed the way of the cross
The world find comfort in this psalm but falsely
Only dying Christians have a clear vision of the living God
Our observation have taught us that if the Lord is away at other times, he is never absent from his people in the time of death, or in the furnace of affliction
The three men in the fiery furnace were not alone
Daniel in the lion’s den experienced the power of God when the lions mouth was closed
But here was Jesus, the Son of God, never before separated from the Father or the Spirit, now alone
God had never forsaken Him before. He said, "I know that thou hear me always." Jn 11:42
He lived in constant touch and union with God
His fellowship with the Father and the Spirit was always near, but now, for the first time, he cries, "why hast thou forsaken me?
We have ourselves at times felt under temporary and partial abandonment
Those times when you feel alone and the soul is dark
Yet, God has never left us
Even the non Christian while here in the body can call on him
Is 26:16-18 LORD, in trouble they have visited You, They poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them. As a woman with child Is in pain and cries out in her pangs, When she draws near the time of her delivery, So have we been in Your sight, O LORD. We have been with child, we have been in pain; We have, as it were, brought forth wind.
In other words, as soon as God answers, they give nothing back to Him
No prayer of thanks
No praise for his deliverance
But to you who are His, his soul delights in you
Heb 13:5 He has expressly said, "I will never leave you, or forsake you"
But we may have sometimes felt as if he had cast us off
We have cried with Job (23:3), "Oh, that I know where I might find him!"
It was the hour in which he was made to stand before God as the sin-bearer
According to Is 53, "He shall bear their iniquities."
It is true, "He hath made him to be sin for us."
1 Peter 2:24 puts it, "He his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree."
Sin was everywhere, but He had no sin of his own; yet the Lord "laid on him the iniquity of us all."
He had no strength given him from on high, no secret oil and or wine poured into his wounds
He was to appear the lone character in God’s story, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world
Therefore he had to feel the weight of sin, and the turning away of the face of the Father
On occasion of Jesus’ baptism, a voice had been heard, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased"
But now, God is silent
As He was hung up as an accursed thing upon the cross, he was "made a curse for us
Gal 3:13 Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree"
The Lord his God did not own him before men, but turned away
If it had pleased the Father, he could have sent him twelve legions of angels; but not one angel came
His despisers spit in his face, but no swift seraph came to help him
They bound him, and beat him, but not one the heavenly host would step in to protect his shoulders from the lashes
They fastened him to the tree with nails, and lifted him up, and scoffed at him; but no army of ministering spirits rushed to drive back the guards, and release the Prince of life
No, he appeared to be utterly forsaken, "smitten of God, and afflicted,"
Delivered into the hands of cruel men, whose wicked hands worked havoc on him
He had every right to ask, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
His unbroken fellowship with God now cut off
To be forsaken was a new grief to him
He had never known what the dark was till this time
His life had been eternally lived in the light of God
It is only when you have known the presence of God that when it seems to be gone, it is greatly missed
Jesus also didn’t cry, oh this pain in my chest, in my hands, feet etc
Why? Because the pain of his soul was far greater
Here we have the opening sentence of the twenty-second Psalm
The Saviour's outcry is not against God, but to God. "My God, my God": he makes a double effort to draw near
It was like a question by one distraught, driven from the balance of his mind—not unreasonable in the circumstances
He asked, "Why hast thou forsaken me?"
Did Jesus not know?
Did he not understand why he was forsaken?
At that moment what happened?
It was the fixed soul of the man Christ Jesus coming into an awful contact with the infinite justice of God
The one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, saw the holiness of God in opposition against the sin of man, whose nature he had taken on
God was always for him and with him in all things
But for the very first time, God was against him, and had also withdrawn from him
It is not surprising that Christ should shudder at finding himself brought into painful contact with the infinite justice of God
His only pleasure was to vindicate that justice, and glorify the Law-giver
Sin was laid on him, and he was treated as if he was guilty
He had personally never sinned; and now the infinite horror of rebellion against the most holy God fills his holy soul
The unrighteousness of sin breaking his heart
He starts crying, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Why must I bear the terror and the sinful contact I so detest?
The great Judge of all cannot smile upon him who has become the substitute for the guilty
Sin is despicable to God; and if, in order for its removal his own Son is made to bear it, it is still despicable
Jesus who bears it cannot be in happy communion with God
This was the dreaded necessity of compensation
But in the essence of all this, the love of the Father to his Son never ceased, nor ever knew a reduction
What is the outcome of this suffering?
What was the reason for it?
Our Saviour answered his own question
If for a moment his manhood was confounded, his mind soon came to clear apprehension; for he said, "It is finished"
Jesus then referred to the work in which he was doing
Why, then, did God forsake his Son?
I cannot conceive any other answer than this—he stood in our place
There was no reason in Christ why the Father should forsake him
He was perfect, and his life was without spot.
God never acts without reason; and since there were no reasons in the character and person of the Lord Jesus why his Father should forsake him, we must look elsewhere to not why Jesus?
But why sin needed forsaking
His obedience was perfect
He came into the world to obey the Father, and he did that to the uttermost
He had to feel forsaken of God, because this was the necessary consequence of sin
For a man to know the forsaking of God, it is the penalty which naturally and inevitably follows upon the breaking of the relationship with God
With this follows death
But what is death?
It was the death that was threatened to Adam in Genesis "In the day that you eat, you shall surely die."
Is death annihilation?
Was Adam annihilated that day?
Certainly not: he lived many years after
But in the day in which he ate of the forbidden fruit he died, by being separated from God
‘Where are you Adam?’
The separation of the soul from God is spiritual death
Just as the separation of the soul from the body is natural death
The sacrifice for sin must be put in its place of separation, and must bow to the penalty of death
It would be seen by all creatures throughout the universe that God could not have fellowship with sin
Even if it was the Holy One, who stood in place for the unjust, He found God forsaking him
So what will the outcome of the actual sinner be?
Sin is always, in every case, a dividing influence, putting even Christ himself, as the sin-bearer, in the place of that separation
Christ not only suffered from sin, but for sin
If God had come and sustained him, then he was not suffering for sin
In the person of Christ, the Lord has vindicated his own law
"Here is my Only Begotten Son, my other self; he takes on himself the nature of a rebellions people, and he consents that I should lay on him the burden of their wickedness, and give to him the offence which might have been punished in the people: and I will have it this way."
When Jesus bowed his head to the stroke of the law, when he submissively consented that his Father should turn away his face from him, then the universe was astonished at the perfect holiness and the stern justice of the Lawgiver
All creatures and angels saw, that in the death of God's Son, a declaration of his determination was to never allow sin to be seen as trivial
If his own Son is brought before him, bearing the sin of others upon him, and he hides his face from him, how much more will those who wilfully carry on with sin experience the turning away of the Father’s face
We see in fact that the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through his suffering
Every part of the Calvary road has been trodden by our Lord's own feet
If he hadn’t gone the way of the cross, then there would be no ointment for the wounded, no balm to ease your pain and no deliverance from the cords of death
But now it says, "In their affliction he was afflicted."
"He was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin."
We should greatly rejoice at this time, and so often we are cast down at the sight of the crucifixion
Underneath is the deep experience of our forsaken Jesus
But believer, in the Lord Jesus Christ and in resting in him alone we have salvation
Today is a good day
As to my sin, I don’t hear its accusation anymore when I hear Jesus’ cry, "Why hast thou forsaken me?"
I know that I deserve the deepest hell at the hand of God's vengeance, but I am not afraid
He will never forsake me, because he forsook his Son on my behalf
I shall not suffer for my sin, for Jesus has suffered it to the full in my place
Behind this substitution a sinner is safe
This, guards all believers, and they may rest secure
No harm can reach me
You and I have a full atonement, a great sacrifice, a glorious vindication of the law, so rest in peace, all you that put your trust in Jesus
Let us learn from our Lord's example
If God has left you, do not shut up your Bible; no, open it, as the Lord did, and find a text that will release you
If God has left you, or you think he has, do not give up on prayer; no, pray as the Lord did, and be more earnest than ever
It you think God has forsaken you, do not give up the faith, but, like the Lord, cry thou, "My God, my God," again and again
Let nothing drive you from the faith
Hold on to Jesus, sink or swim
Believe that he will be faithful to his Son, and true to the covenant sealed by oath and by blood
He that believes in Jesus has everlasting life
There is just one gate to heaven and I shall enter in
This gate is never shut against a soul that has accepted Jesus and Jesus said, "Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out."
Let us detest the sin which brought such agony upon our Lord
Sin murdered Christ; will you be a friend to it?
Sin pierced the heart of the Incarnate God, can you love it?
Know yourselves, and know the love of Christ and vow that you will harbour sin no longer
Conclusion:
Will you say the words of Jesus when you stand before him?
If so, don’t say ‘why?’
Because you now know why; you will be without excuse
Or will you see the face of Him who paid the ultimate price for you and enter into the gates of the Lord, clean and washed in the precious blood of Christ
He was forsaken, so you don’t have to be
