Was Jesus really forsaken?
Did God look away from
His Son?
If God did turn from His
Son how can we know He
will not forsake us?
Did God look away from
His Son?
If God did turn from His
Son how can we know He
will not forsake us?
The accounts found in Matthew 27 and Mark 15 seem to indicate that Jesus uttered this
cry when God forsook Him as He took the full weight of the sin of mankind - when He
became God's sin-bearer. This understanding comes from the concept that God cannot
look upon sin so therefore, He could not look upon His own Son.
What happened? We must define God in constants of His nature. We cannot tell people
God will not forsake them but yet preach that God turned away from Jesus on the cross --
a time when Jesus needed Him most. As the weight of sin pressed in on the Christ of God
He felt the sense of abandonment in the same way we feel when the oppression of sin
hits us. We feel God has distanced Himself from us and this is what Jesus experienced on
the cross -- the isolation, the loneliness, and abandonment caused by the consciousness
of sin.
Traditionally, we are pointed to Psalm 22 which is the Messianic Psalm of the Christ on
the cross. Verse one states "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me"? But if we
read on down we find the answer in verse 24 which says "For He has not despised nor
abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He
cried to Him, He heard". The awareness of sin causes a dullness of our awareness of
God and His closeness.
Jesus, touched by afflictions just like us experienced the feeling of separation but was still
connected by love. He felt the consequences of our sin yet did not sin -- the sympathetic
High Priest.
What about God cannot look at sin part? Where does it say that? Are we so naive to think
that sin can separate us from God. God did not abandon Adam and Eve but went looking
for them. Sin is not so powerful as to weaken the holiness of God -- on the contrary, the
holiness of God envelopes our sin and brings it to nothing even canceling the penalty.
The idea of God not able to look upon sin is found in Habakkuk 1:13 in which Habakkuk
says the eyes of God are to pure to look on evil. He acknowledges that even though His
eyes are pure He still sees the evil. Adam, Habakkuk, and Jesus each thought God turned
away as sin was present but it was an unfounded perception based on seeing God
through the eyes of sin consciousness rather than the awareness of righteousness.
By God's nature, He could not turn away from His Son especially at the time for which
God prepared Him. There are many Scriptures that point out that Jesus was not alone
during this period (John 16:32, 2 Cor 5:19, John 8:28-29). God did not forsake Jesus nor
will He ever forsake us. He is God and nothing is to hard for Him.
cry when God forsook Him as He took the full weight of the sin of mankind - when He
became God's sin-bearer. This understanding comes from the concept that God cannot
look upon sin so therefore, He could not look upon His own Son.
What happened? We must define God in constants of His nature. We cannot tell people
God will not forsake them but yet preach that God turned away from Jesus on the cross --
a time when Jesus needed Him most. As the weight of sin pressed in on the Christ of God
He felt the sense of abandonment in the same way we feel when the oppression of sin
hits us. We feel God has distanced Himself from us and this is what Jesus experienced on
the cross -- the isolation, the loneliness, and abandonment caused by the consciousness
of sin.
Traditionally, we are pointed to Psalm 22 which is the Messianic Psalm of the Christ on
the cross. Verse one states "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me"? But if we
read on down we find the answer in verse 24 which says "For He has not despised nor
abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He
cried to Him, He heard". The awareness of sin causes a dullness of our awareness of
God and His closeness.
Jesus, touched by afflictions just like us experienced the feeling of separation but was still
connected by love. He felt the consequences of our sin yet did not sin -- the sympathetic
High Priest.
What about God cannot look at sin part? Where does it say that? Are we so naive to think
that sin can separate us from God. God did not abandon Adam and Eve but went looking
for them. Sin is not so powerful as to weaken the holiness of God -- on the contrary, the
holiness of God envelopes our sin and brings it to nothing even canceling the penalty.
The idea of God not able to look upon sin is found in Habakkuk 1:13 in which Habakkuk
says the eyes of God are to pure to look on evil. He acknowledges that even though His
eyes are pure He still sees the evil. Adam, Habakkuk, and Jesus each thought God turned
away as sin was present but it was an unfounded perception based on seeing God
through the eyes of sin consciousness rather than the awareness of righteousness.
By God's nature, He could not turn away from His Son especially at the time for which
God prepared Him. There are many Scriptures that point out that Jesus was not alone
during this period (John 16:32, 2 Cor 5:19, John 8:28-29). God did not forsake Jesus nor
will He ever forsake us. He is God and nothing is to hard for Him.
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