Why Did Jesus Ask God Why He Was Forsaken?

“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

These remarks, delivered by Jesus while He hung on the cross at around the ninth hour, are reported in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34, respectively.
It is the purpose of this essay to investigate why God the Father would abandon His Son, Jesus Christ, as He suffered on the Cross for our sins at Calvary.
″Thou hast abandoned Me, declares the LORD, and thou hast gone backward; therefore will I stretch forth My hand against thee and kill thee; I am tired with repenting,″ Christ said on the cross as I read this scripture from Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 15:6 (Jeremiah 15:6) God was bringing about punishment on Jerusalem as a result of their ongoing wickedness and disobedience against him.
My thoughts were immediately drawn to the phrase ″Thou hast deserted Me,″ which reminded me of Christ’s words on the Cross (Matthew 27:46; Mark.

15:34).I came to the realization that this text, as well as others like it, contained the solution to Christ’s query.What has caused you to abandon me?

The Answer to Christ’s Question

The history of Israel and Judah has been characterized by continuous backsliding and transgressions.
Occasionally, when God condemned His people, there were brief moments of revival during which the people repented of their wrongdoing and pleaded with God for forgiveness.
Jeremaic times, on the other hand, were terrible.
As a result of their continued immorality and apostasy, God had already destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel.
God was now bringing judgment on the southern kingdom of Judah.

During the 52-year rule of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, Judah had fallen into a state of great wickedness and idolatry.God punished Manasseh for his wickedness, and the people turned away from their God as a result of his actions.In response to Jeremiah’s message, there was neither repentance or revival among the people.The people had turned their backs on the Almighty and His laws.

The severity of their sin had grown to the point that God instructed Jeremiah not to pray for them any more (Jeremiah 14:10-12).However, by the time Jeremiah attempted to intervene (Jeremiah 14:19-22), it was too late.It had been far too long since the people had been so cruel.God’s patience has come to an end.

It was past time for them to pay a price.God responded to Jeremiah’s petition by telling him that even if Moses and Samuel were to appear before Him, interceding for these people (as they had done throughout their lifetimes), God would not spare them from judgment.God’s intellect had been concocted.Mercy had passed its expiration date.It was now time to make a decision (Jeremiah 15:1).

God had grown tired of deferring judgment and offering mercy to a people that continually reverting back to their old ways of living.God’s chosen people had turned their backs on Him.He would now abandon them to the wrath of God that they had earned (Jeremiah 15:6).

How This Applies to Jesus

Perhaps you’re wondering what this tale about Jeremiah and the wrath of Judah has to do with God abandoning Jesus and his followers. This narrative illustrates the ramifications of sin that goes uncorrected. God’s patience and kindness have a limit, as does his power. Those who continue to reject God will find themselves rejected by God. It reads in Isaiah 53:6 that ″all of us have gone astray like sheep,″ that ″we have turned every one to his own way,″ and that ″the LORD has put on Him the iniquity of us all.″ Everyone ends up at the wrong place. The entire world has turned its backs on God and gone their separate ways. As a result, we all deserve to be condemned in the same way as the country of Judah. While Jesus was being crucified on the cross, He was at the same time atoning for the sins of all mankind. He was atoning for the sins of all people who had gone astray and left God in the past, as well as for the sins of all those who would do the same in the future. God was transferring the penalties of all of our sins on His Son, Jesus Christ, in order to save us. Those who continue to reject God are referred to as ″atheists.″ In order to bear the entire penalties of our sin, Jesus had to be abandoned by His heavenly Father, as the punishment for rejecting God involves being abandoned by God. During His crucifixion, Jesus, the Son, was abandoned by God, the Father, and was forced to pay the punishment for all people, for those who turn their backs on God. Because of this, individuals who put their faith in Christ may be spared the punishment of being abandoned by God. Those, on the other hand, who reject God’s gift of redemption through faith in the accomplished work of Christ on the cross shall be abandoned by God in Hell for all of eternity! Have you placed your faith in Jesus to save you from your sin? Or do you intend to continue to turn your back on Him despite this? If you found this article useful, please SHARE it with others. If you like this piece, you may be interested in the following: Jesus Christ’s Temptation on the Cross
His Triumph on the Cross
What happened to Jesus after He died?
He Has Risen from the Dead

Did God really forsake Jesus when He was dying on the cross?

″My God, my God, why have you left me?″ was Jesus’ cries out.
Many people have been perplexed by (Mark 15:34).
Jesus is really reciting the first word of Psalm 22 and using it to illustrate His intense pain on the cross, which is a very powerful statement.
The punishment for our sin is being carried out by him in our place.
In the case of sin, death is the sentence (Romans 6:23).

Death has two distinct dimensions: the physical and the spiritual.The separation of the spirit from the body is referred to as physical death.The severance of the spirit from God is referred to as spiritual death.Since Jesus was dying on the cross in our place as our substitution, He was going through the pain of being separated from His Father.

It seemed like I was in the depths of hell.There is an incomprehensible mystery at play here.Jesus was both God and man at the same time, joined in a single divine Person.He could not suffer and die in the context of His divinity, but He could go through the anguish of separation from the Father and actually die physically in the context of His humanity, if He chose to do so.

So that we can be forgiven of our sins and restored to God’s favor via repentance from sin and confidence in Him as our Savior and Lord, He went to great lengths to accomplish this.″We have all gone astray like sheep…and the Lord has thrown the sins of the whole world on his shoulders″ (Isaiah 53:6).It is forgiveness that we are in deepest need of, and Christ came to make that forgiveness possible.Christ overcame the chasm that separated God and man, and by trust in Him, we may have that chasm closed and come to know God intimately for ourselves.

A person’s faith is more than just a notion in their head or even a conviction in their heart.A dedication of our lives to God and His truth is what we are talking about.Allow God’s Word, the Bible, to serve as the foundation for your knowledge of God and His love for you.More importantly, open your heart to Christ and make a commitment to Him in your life.

It is the single most essential move you will ever take in your whole life.

Why did Jesus say: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’

It has the feel of a bitter, desperate scream.
″My God, my God, why have you left me?″ Jesus cries out from the crucifixion, naked and dying, at the culmination of his earthly ministry: ″My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.″ It comes in both Matthew’s and Mark’s accounts of Jesus’ death and both contain a transliteration of what he said: ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ before adding, ‘which literally translates as ″My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?″ When Jesus, God’s son, who has lived a life in perfect connection with God the Father, is at his most desperate, he is abandoned by him.
In his final moments, he lets out this heartbreaking cry: ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?’ So, what caused God to desert him at this precise moment?
All of the sin and shame of the entire world is placed on Jesus’ shoulders at this point.
We are separated from a holy God because of all the things we have done that we should not have done and all the things we should have done that we did not do.

He who is flawless will be unable to maintain his perfection if he comes into contact with those of us who are far from perfect.And the entire weight of that disaster is placed on Jesus’ shoulders as God’s son, who is currently nailed on the cross.God the parent is unable to do anything but look away.God abandons his own in so that he would not have to forsake us as well.

This indicates that, because he has turned his back on Jesus at this time, he will never turn his back on us again.This scream of anguish is also a quotation from an old Psalm, which was penned hundreds of years before Jesus came to earth to save mankind.It begins with the exact same lines as Psalm 22: ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?’ Later in the chapter, it describes various tragedies that are replicated in Matthew’s depiction of the crucifixion and death of Jesus.Take, for example, Psalm 22:7-8, which states: ″All who see me scorn me; they hurl insults at me while shaking their heads.″ ″″He puts his confidence in the Lord,″ they cry, ″let the Lord come to his aid.″ Allow him to deliver him since he takes pleasure in him ″″″″″’ ‘ ″Those who passed by shouted obscenities at him while shaking their heads,″ Matthew 27:39 says.

‘In the same manner, the top priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders made fun of him,’ says verse 41.″″He has saved others,″ they opined, ″but he is unable to save himself!″ He’s the king of Israel, after all!Allow him to come down from the cross at this time, and we will believe in him.He places his faith in God.Allow God to rescue him now if he so desires, for he has stated, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ″″″″″’ ‘ Some theologians believe that this was a foreshadowing of Jesus’ death, and others disagree.

Why did Jesus say, ″My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?″

Answer to the question Jesus shouted out in a loud voice at the ninth hour, ″Eli Eli lama sabachthani?″ (Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?
to express the sentiment ″My God, my God, why have you deserted me?″ (Matthew 27:46, King James Version) This scream is a fulfillment of Song 22:1, and it is only one of many similarities that can be seen between the events of the crucifixion and the words of that psalm.
It is impossible to see how God could have ″forsaken″ Jesus in any meaningful way.
It is unquestionable that God approved of His creation.
It is unquestionably true that Jesus was innocent.

He had done nothing to disqualify himself from God’s favor.God continued to love Him despite the fact that He was God’s own Son, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and obedient.God could not possibly have abandoned Him in any of these ways.″Surely he took up our sorrow and endured our suffering, yet we thought him to be punished by God, tormented by God, and afflicted by us,″ the prophet Isaiah writes of the Messiah.

Rather, he was pierced for our trespasses, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was placed on him, and it was through his wounds that we were healed″ (Isaiah 53:4–5, emphasis added).We were saved from the curse of the law because Jesus took on the nature of a curse and became one for us (Galatians 3:13).He was offered as a sin sacrifice, and He died in our place, on our behalf, in so that we may be brought closer to God.This, without a doubt, contributed to the intensity of His agony, which is one of the reasons Jesus cried out, ″My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?″ That tragic hour was marked by the expression of God’s hate for sin, in an incomprehensible manner, which Jesus witnessed and experienced.

The anguish He underwent was deserved by us, and it is through that suffering that we might be redeemed from eternal death and separation from God.Our Lord revealed His thoughts of abandonment during those harrowing moments when bad men were free to do anything they wished to Jesus.Having taken upon Himself the sins of all the world, God’s Son experienced the desolation of being unaware that He was in the presence of His Father for a time.During this period, ″God caused Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we may become the righteousness of God″ (Hebrews 2:15).(2 Corinthians 5:21).

Yet another plausible explanation for Jesus’ scream of ″My God, my God, why have you left me?″ is that he was betrayed.It’s possible that Jesus’ purpose in quoting Psalm 22:1 was to direct His listeners to that particular psalm.When they read Psalm 22, they would no likely be struck by the number of prophesies that have come to pass as a result of the actions of God.The people were being taught by Jesus even while He was suffering the pain of the crucifixion, demonstrating yet again that He was the Messiah and that He had fulfilled the Scriptures.

Return to the previous page: Questions regarding Jesus Christ The reason why Jesus cried out to his Father, ″My God, my God, why have you left me?″

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Why did Jesus inquire of the Father as to why He had been abandoned on the cross? What did Jesus intend to say? On the crucifixion, Jesus made seven pronouncements, the most important of which are as follows:

Matt. 27:46 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?”

Jesus was reading from Psalm 22, which is a prophetic psalm that describes the Messiah’s death on the cross, according to the Bible. For example, consider the following passage from the psalm:

Psa. 22:1 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.

Psa. 22:6 But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people.

Psa. 22:7. All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying,

Psa. 22:8 “Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.”

Psa. 22:11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near; For there is none to help.

Psa. 22:12 Many bulls have surrounded me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.

Psa. 22:13 They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening and a roaring lion.

Psa. 22:14. I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me.

Psa. 22:16. For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet.

Psa. 22:17 I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me;

Psa. 22:18 They divide my garments among them, nd for my clothing they cast lots.

Clearly, the psalm is depicting Jesus’ ordeal on the cross, and this is evident.
The psalm opens with the speech Jesus made on the crucifixion, in which He inquired of the Father as to why He had been abandoned.
Jesus didn’t ask the question because he didn’t understand what was going on in front of his eyes.
As a result, he raised the question in order to call our attention back to this psalm and to make us aware of the fulfillment it finds in Him.
Jesus was also attempting to bring our attention to the gravity of what was taking place on the cross at that particular time.

According to the Greek language, the word ″forsaken″ means ″to abandon or desert,″ and for three hours on the crucifixion, Jesus was ″forsaken″ by the Father.Spiritually speaking, at that point on the crucifixion, the Son of God was abandoned by the Father, who was present.Although the Father and Son have been One from the beginning of time, the Son experienced a moment of separation from the Father in this instant.Scriptural teaching holds that sin implies death, which is separation from God’s love for one’s neighbor (i.e., the Second Death).

Despite the fact that Jesus had no sin of his own, as Paul explains, He took upon Himself the guilt of those whom He died to save:

2Cor. 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

As the Father put the sins of the world on Christ’s shoulders, Jesus experienced the first moment in all of eternity that he was separated from the Father. This was a time of severe suffering for our Lord, which was made necessary by our transgressions against him. Three hours of darkness fell over the planet as a result of the event:

Mark 15:33 When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. Mark 15:34 At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Jesus endured spiritual death for three hours, despite the fact that He had not yet undergone bodily death.
Later on, Jesus endured bodily death in order to be able to descend to set free the prisoners from their chains.
This is the identical sequence in which Adam died: first, he died spiritually at the instant he ate the apple, followed by bodily death years later as a result of the curse placed on the planet.
As a result, we might conclude that Jesus was the New Adam.
Following Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Father showed His appreciation for Christ’s obedience by raising Him from the dead and returning Him to the Father’s right hand, as Christ had requested before He died:

John 17:4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. John 17:5 “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

As Jesus predicted:

Luke 22:67 “If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe; Luke 22:68 and if I ask a question, you will not answer. Luke 22:69 “But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” Luke 22:70 And they all said, “Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “Yes, I am.”

Moreover, as the author of Hebrews confirms:

When Jesus was on the cross, why did He ask Father, why have you forsaken Me?

He asked the question ″Father, why have you deserted me?″ while hanging on the cross. Exactly what is he trying to say? I’m aware that this is the point at which Jesus became sin for us, but I’m at a loss for words as to why. Is it possible that the Father has turned His back on us?

Bible Answer:

As recorded in both Matthew 27:45 and Mark 15:33, the darkness blanketed the area as Jesus hung on the cross for three days and three nights.
Jesus then asks, ″My God, my God, why hast thou abandoned me?″ in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34, according to the Bible.
…
Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, lama sabachthani?
In other words, ″My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?″ is being understood.

What did Jesus want to say in Mark 15:34 (NASB)?That is the question we have.Why did Jesus ask, ″Why have you deserted me?″ will be broken into two parts in the response to this question: first, who is Jesus, and second, why did Jesus ask, ″Why have you forsaken me?″ But first and foremost, we must comprehend who Jesus is.

Who Was Jesus?

A common tactic used by cults to discredit Christians is to show them the following text, which states that there is only one God, and that there is only one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus.1 Timothy 2:5 (NIV) (NASB) Despite the fact that they understand Jesus to be God, many Christians have battled with this verse for years.The text appears to imply that Jesus was merely a man, yet we know that Jesus was both a man and a divine being in the flesh.Romans 1:1-4 explains that the apostle Paul was set apart for the gospel of God, which God promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David in the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by his resurrection from death, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.Romans 1:4-14 (NASB) (NASB) Take note of the phrase ″born according to the flesh″ in the verse above.That is, He took on the characteristics of a man made of flesh and blood (Hebrews 2:14).

In addition, Jesus is referred to be the ″Son of God″ in this text.This statement simply indicates that Jesus was the Son of the Most High.According to John 10:31-36, ″the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.″ ″I have shown you many excellent acts from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?″ Jesus responded to their question.″We do not stone You for doing a good deed; rather, we stone You for blasphemy; and we stone You because You, being a man, make yourself out to be God,″ they said.As Jesus said, ″…do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ″You are blaspheming,″ because I said, ‘You are blaspheming,’ that you are blaspheming?″ 10:31-36 (John 10:31-36) (NASB) Jesus had to be both a human and a divine being.

Without being a man made of flesh and blood, Jesus would not have been able to die a physical death.Without being God, he would have been unable to live a flawless and blameless life (Hebrews 4:15).He was the sinless, perfect, and holy Lamb of God who died on the cross in order to atone for our sins.

My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me

When Jesus cried out, ″My God, my God, why have you left me?″ it was a powerful statement.He was unmistakably expressing that he felt estranged from God the Father in his words.The Greek term for ″forsaksen″ is enkataleipo, which literally translates as ″to abandon, to abandonment, or to abandonment.″ Is it true that God the Father abandoned Jesus Christ?We believe Jesus was alluding to the fact that he was separated from the Father.We learn an essential fact about God from the book of Isaiah:…your iniquities have separated you from your God; your crimes have disguised his face from you…

We may see what happened on the crucifixion if we combine Isaiah 59:2 with 1 Peter 2:24, which indicates that Christ bore our sins in His body.This is a picture of what happened on the cross.Because of His wounds, you have been healed….and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we may die to sin and live to righteousness.All of the sins of the world were put on Christ, according to 1 Peter 2:24 (NASB).Our blameless Savior became a victim of sin.He took the punishment for our transgressions upon Himself.

He caused Him, who was without sin, to be sin on our behalf, so that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him through faith in Him.2 Corinthians 5:21 (New International Version) (NASB) According to 1 Peter 3:18, the just died in the place of the unjust.The virtuous gave their lives to save the unjust.And since Christ likewise died for our sins once and for all, the righteous for our unjust, He could reconcile us to God, having been put to death in the flesh but raised to life in the spirit…

When Jesus died on the cross on that gloomy Friday afternoon, he personally absorbed our punishment or vicariously atoned for our sins, according to the New American Standard Bible.
God the Father turned away from Christ as a result of what had transpired.
This abandonment was felt to its fullest extent by the man, Jesus Christ, who cried out in despair, ″My God, my God, why hast thou deserted me?″

Conclusion:

An excellent illustration of what occurred to our sins, and in a symbolic sense, what happened to Christ on the cross, can be found in the Old Testament.It may be found in Leviticus 16:5-28, to be exact.″And the goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.″ It is about a scapegoat.Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all of the iniquities of the sons of Israel, and all their transgressions in regard to all of their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by 16:21-22 (Leviticus 16:21-22) (NASB) Is this the same thing that occurred to Christ?This scapegoat, I think, was a representation of Jesus.Furthermore, Jesus was separated from God as a result of our sins and the sins of the world he carried.

God the Father has taken a step back from His relationship with the God-man Jesus Christ.

Why does Jesus say God has forsaken Him on the cross? How could God have abandoned Him right when He needed God the most? Will God ever forsake us?

No, if we have honestly devoted our life to Christ, God will never leave us or abandon us.A clearer statement of God’s commitment to His children could not be found: ″I will never abandon you; I will never forsake you″ (Hebrews 13:5).And one of the reasons God would never abandon us is because His Son was abandoned in our place on the cross.At the time of His death on the cross, Jesus Christ did not deserve to die.Contrary to what His opponents alleged, He was not guilty of any crime in the eyes of the law, nor had He committed any sin in the sight of God, according to the Bible.In reality, since He was God manifested in human flesh, He was completely free of sin.

However, something occurred on the cross that we can only speculate about: all of our sins were laid on His shoulders.Another way of putting it is that He became responsible in God’s view for every sin that the human race had ever committed.Consider the possibilities!Despite the fact that he was innocent, He permitted all of our sins to be transferred to Him.According to the Bible, ″God created him who had no sin to be sin for us″ (John 3:18).(2 Corinthians 5:21).

That dreadful event brought Jesus under the condemnation of God, not for His personal transgressions but for the transgressions of all mankind.And it is for this reason that He cried out in agony before His death: ″My God, my God, why have you left me?″ (Matthew 15:34) The sentence we deserved was taken upon Himself, and He did it out of love for us.Have you expressed your gratitude for His love?Don’t let another day go by without acknowledging Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Why Did Jesus Say That God Had Forsaken Him?

In my previous post, Walking in the Valley of the Shadow, Part 3, I stated that ″I submit that on the cross, Jesus in His human nature felt the reality of being truly forsaken by God, and that drove Him to cry out My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.″ I also stated that ″I submit that on the cross, Jesus in His human nature felt the reality of being truly forsaken by God, and that drove Him to cry out My God, my God, why have you for I promised to go into further detail about why I believe those words He cried out on the cross are so essential, and how they might be used to minister to individuals who are hurting so badly that they are wondering where God has gone missing.What follows is a part from Chapter 6 of my book, Forgiveness is Tremendous, that I have somewhat modified for clarity and conciseness.This is lengthier than I typically allow, but this is a very essential topic that cannot be overlooked.Jesus did not merely die on the cross; he also rose from the dead.He bore the brunt of God’s anger against sin in His own person.In the Garden of Gethsemane, he expresses his displeasure with ″this cup,″ and this is plainly conveyed (Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, and Luke 22:40-46).

This cup represented the cup of God’s vengeance and anger against the sin of the world.A number of texts in both the Old and New Testaments make use of the metaphor of a cup of poison, which represents the punishment God administers to countries.To give you an example, take this cup from my hand that is full to the brim with my rage, and make all of the countries to whom I have dispatched you consume it.It is likely that they will stutter when they drink from it, as a result of the battle I shall launch against them (Jeremiah 25:15-16).Wake up, wake up, O Jerusalem, because your time has come!You’ve had your fill of the cup of the LORD’S wrath.

Now it’s your turn.Anyone who worships the beast and his statue, or who receives the beast’s mark on the forehead or the hand, will be forced to drink the wine of God’s wrath.(Isaiah 51:17).It is poured directly into God’s cup of wrath, unadulterated.

And in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb, they will be tortured with fire and sulfur burning up in their mouths (Revelation 14:9-10).
When Jesus cries out in Matthew 27:46, ″My God, my God, why have you deserted me?″ he is referring to the drinking of the cup of God’s wrath on the cross.
How could Jesus claim that God had abandoned him?
It is possible to think of many wonderful Christians who have been murdered for their beliefs in the most brutal and strange circumstances (including crucifixion).
Although they were martyred, the words that came out of their mouths as they were dying were full of serenity and faith that God was with them.
If all that was taking place was the death of his human body, then Jesus, who was the Son of God, would have had no cause to offer such a prayer.

Don’t forget what He himself said: ″Do not be scared of those who wish to murder you.″ They are only capable of killing your physical body; they are unable to murder your spirit.
Only God should be feared, since he has the power to annihilate both soul and body in hell″ (Matthew 10:28).
This was considerably worse than any human torture could have hoped to accomplish on Jesus’ behalf.
God abandoned Jesus when He was hanging on the cross.

What does it mean that God turned his back on Jesus?
It does not imply that God the Father has simply turned his back on His Son and abandoned Him to perish in the desert.
When one investigates what it means when God forsakes someone, they will discover that God’s blessings are replaced with His curses, His love with His fury, His mercy with His wrath, and His grace with justice, among other things (Deuteronomy 31:17-18, 2 Kings 21:14-15, and Jeremiah 12:7-8).
Often, while discussing the Day of the Lord, which is the day when God will judge everyone who has ever lived, we are reminded of the enormity of sin in the eyes of our holiness God.
5:18-20 states that it will be extremely difficult for those who believe that ″the day of the LORD has come!″ will be extremely difficult.
Because then the LORD would save us from all of our adversaries.″ You, on the other hand, have no notion what you are hoping for.

That day will not usher in brightness and prosperity, but rather darkness and catastrophe.You will be like a guy fleeing from a lion, only to come face to face with a bear on that day.Having gotten away from the bear, he puts his hand against a wall of his house, only to have his hand bit by a poisonous snake.

It is true that the day of the LORD will be a gloomy and hopeless day, with not one ray of joy or hope to be found.Do you believe it was a coincidence that it was dark in the middle of the day when Jesus was crucified, according to Matthew’s account of the events?The wrath of God was being poured out on Christ, and the words ″My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?″ were said by Jesus to indicate the terror of what was occurring to Him.Do you ever wonder what it’s like to be in hell?Hell is being abandoned by the Almighty.

″To fall into the hands of the living God″ is the horrible price that sin requires (Hebrews 10:31).As the name implies, hell is the lack of God’s benefits; His kindness and grace have been taken away, yet He is still present in righteous indignation.The experience of hell is portrayed in the book of Revelation with the following words: ″And they cried out to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and conceal us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb’″ (Revelation 14:12).(Rev.6:16-17) Revelation 6:16-17 All those condemned to hell ″are compelled to drink the wine of God’s wrath.″ It is poured directly into God’s cup of wrath, unadulterated.

And in the presence of…the Lamb, they will be tortured with fire and sulfurous gas″ (Revelation 14:10).The cup about which Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane was the same cup that Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.In the Apostle’s Creed, we are told that Christ went into hell, and this is exactly what was meant: that on the cross, God’s righteous indignation against sin was unleashed in full against His Son, Jesus Christ, as a result of His death.The price of Jesus offering us the priceless gift of forgiveness was His willingness to bear the righteous wrath of God Almighty in our place on the cross.To illustrate why this insightful statement by Christ is so significant, allow me to provide two examples.

One of the most significant reasons for this is that Jesus can sincerely and honestly connect with the agony of feeling abandoned by God.
When we cry out, we are not experiencing pain that He has never experienced.
He was aware of it as well.

When we hear individuals state that they feel abandoned by God, we might point them to the stories of David, Jeremiah, Job, and even Jesus to demonstrate that it is OK to be honest about how we feel about God.
They’re in good company, to say the least.
Having our feelings vented in such a way is common during times of acute difficulty.
In addition, because Jesus went into that absolutely God-forsaken realm, Christians will never have to go there themselves.

Christians, if there is one thing that can be said about them, it is that they are a people who have never been abandoned by God.As a result of Jesus’ prayer, you may rest certain that God will never abandon or forsake you, and you will never have to pray again.O, it may appear that way at times, and it may feel that way at other times.However, because of Jesus, those of us who have been linked to Him in faith are never truly separated from Him.It is your desire to be granted the promise of Psalm 23, ″when I walk through the dark valley of death, I will not be frightened, because you are close beside me,″ since Christ traveled through that exact valley and was abandoned.The wonderful promise found in Jeremiah 31:34 and Hebrews 8:12, ″I will forgive their wickedness and will never again remember their transgressions,″ is yours because God remembers your wickedness and punished it at the cross, and you have received it.

While it is true that you deserve to drink from the cup of God’s wrath, the good news of the gospel is that Jesus took your cup from God and drank it himself, and now offers you the cup of blessing (Psalm 16:5, 23:5), the cup of communion (1 Corinthians 11:25), the cup of salvation (Psalm 116:13), and the cup of forgiveness.

Why Did Jesus Say On The Cross That God Had Forsaken Him?

Is it possible that you’ve pondered why Jesus cried out on the cross, or why God abandoned Him? What was the significance of that?

Did the Father Forsake Jesus?

Matthew 27:45-50 tells the story of Jesus’ last words to the Father before He died, in which He begged for forgiveness for being abandoned.″Now, from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, there was complete darkness over the entire area.Then, at approximately the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a hushed voice, begging the question, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ which translates as ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?’ And several onlookers, upon hearing it, commented, ‘This man is summoning Elijah.’ They all hurried to get a sponge, filled it with vinegar, tied it to the end of a piece of reed, and handed it to him to drink.″Wait,″ the others responded, ″let us see whether Elijah will arrive to save him before we make a decision.″ And Jesus screamed out with a loud voice once again, this time yielding up His spirit.″ There is an unusual juxtaposition of Jesus crying out, ″My God, my God, why have you left me?″ with the phrase ″My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.″ The fact that He does not refer to God as His Father is significant for a variety of reasons.What if He was doing this as a result of becoming sin for us (2 Cor 5:21) and bearing the sins of the world?Not so sure because Jesus refers to God twice, which in Jewish parlance is referred to as repeating a name, and since we know that repeating someone’s name is a sign of intimacy in Jewish culture, there are still hints of an intimate, personal relationship between Jesus and God the Father in that passage.

Also noteworthy is the fact that Jesus employs the Hebrew name for God (Eli) in the first half of the statement before switching to Aramaic for the remainder of the sentence (″lema sabachthani″).

The Fulfillment of Psalm 22

It was at this point that Jesus cried out: ″My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?″ Moreover, it was a fulfillment of Psalm 22:1, which also states: ″O my God, my God, why have you abandoned me?″ The entire book of Psalm 22 is a Messianic psalm that prophesied the events of the crucifixion, including the fact that He was ″scorned by mankind and despised by the people″ (Psalm 22:6), that He was mocked (Psalm 22:7), that He was surrounded by evil doers who had pierced His hands and feet (Psalm 22:16), that the soldiers cast There is no doubt that David authored this psalm in anticipation of the arrival of Jesus, the promised Messiah.It is unclear how he came to know exactly what it would be like for Christ, however we do know that David’s writings were inspired, suggesting that God may have revealed something to him about the upcoming event.

God is Light, Absence of God is Darkness

The crucifixion of Jesus began about 9:00 a.m., but by noon, and then all the way until 3:00 p.m., there was a blanket of darkness over the entire region.The lack of light would appear to suggest the absence of God, as we know that God is light and that there is no darkness in Him (1 John 1:5).If God is absent, then the absence of light would appear to reflect the absence of God’s presence.As early as the Gospel of John, he wrote of Jesus, ″In him was life, and that life was the light of all people.″ In the midst of darkness, the light shines, and the darkness has not overpowered it″ (John 1:4-5) Because God is ″the genuine light that shines in the darkness and provides light to everyone,″ as Jesus says in John 1:9, where there is light, there is the presence of God; nevertheless, where there is no light, it is reasonable to believe that the absence of God results in darkness.Even those who have rejected Jesus as their Savior, or who will reject him in the future, will be flung into outer darkness at the judgment (Matt 8:12; 25:30), thus were the three hours of darkness at Jesus’ execution the Father removing his presence from the scene?Jesus was bearing the sins of the entire world at the time, and sin is a sign of being in darkness (Matt 4:16; 1 John 1:9).

The separation from the Father was most likely a contributing factor to Jesus’ pain.Jesus was separated from the Father for the very first time in all of eternity at this point in time.You probably understand how it feels to be away from your loved ones for an extended period of time, yet this was nothing compared to what Jesus must have been going through.

Separation from God

People who have rejected Jesus throughout their lives and die in that state will be separated from God for the rest of their lives because our sins have separated us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2) and unless we trust in Christ we will not be able to be reconciled back to God.As Paul wrote, ″All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation″ (2 Cor 5:18), it is possible that part of God the Father’s possible separation from Jesus was due Jesus’ cries out, ″My God, my God, why have you deserted me?″ in a loud voice in Matthew 27:46 appear to make sense in this context.

Conclusion

Are you still far from God as a result of your sins?The Bible teaches that individuals who have never repented, meaning that they have not yet turned away from and renounced their sins, and then placed their faith in Christ, are still separated from a holy God and have no hope of reconciliation after death (Heb 9:27).They require a Mediator, and Jesus, of course, is that Mediator.It is written, ″For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus″ (1 Timothy 2:5), as well as, ″Salvation can be found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to humans by which we must be saved″ (Acts 4:12).If you have never been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, you will also face darkness one day, and not just three hours of darkness, but darkness for all of eternity, because God will abandon you because you have rejected His only means of salvation, which is Jesus Christ and Him crucified for your sins (Acts 16:30-31) and thus you will face darkness for all of eternity.Take a look at some more of Jesus’ words, such as: Words of Jesus – A Resource for Christians Scripture excerpts are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), which was published by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, in 2001 under copyright protection.

Permission has been granted to use.All intellectual property rights are retained.Assigned to the tags: Christian Answers, deserted, and Jesus’ words

Why Did Jesus say, ″My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?″

You have arrived to the following page: Home / Redeeming Theology / Why Did Jesus Say, ″My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?″ (My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me)?A reader recently brought in a series of questions concerning Jesus’ experience on the cross, which I answered here.The majority of the questions have already been addressed in earlier postings (since the list below).Specifically, I shall answer the question of what Jesus was referring to when He exclaimed, ″My God, My God, why have You deserted Me?″ in the previous piece.The following is the question that was initially provided by the reader: I am a believer, yet the questions posed by an atheist have me perplexed.My conversation with an atheist the other day revealed that God does not understand what it is like to lose a son because he knew all along that Jesus would rise in three days, and so just lost him for the weekend!

When asked why he begged to be rescued from the crucifixion in the garden, he said that if God is Jesus, he was a liar.Aside from that, shouldn’t Jesus have been aware that he would rise again in three days?Why did he question God, ″Why have you forsaken me?″ (Why have you abandoned me?) Wouldn’t he be aware that he’ll only be dead for three days if he thought about it?Considering that this is such a complicated series of issues, I will address them in four parts:

How to Respond to Atheists’ Questions
2 Traditional Explanations for How God Understands What It Is Like to Lose a Son (both of which I reject)
How to Respond to Atheists’ Questions
God has two ways of understanding what it is like to see the death of a child:
It is for this reason that Jesus cried out, ″My God, My God, why have You deserted Me?″

The previous three postings addressed the most of the concerns, however there are still two major questions to be addressed.First and foremost, why did Jesus ask to be rescued from the cross when He was in the garden of Gethsemane?Second, what was He thinking when He asked God, ″Why have You left Me?″ That first unanswered question was addressed in a prior article, in which I discussed the words ″Let this cup pass from me.″ The second unanswered question was addressed in a subsequent post.The interpretation I have given to Jesus’ speech in the garden is fairly contentious, but it appears to make the most sense in light of the context and Jesus’ attitude in the days leading up to his death.I do not believe that Jesus was praying for a way out of the agony and suffering; His love for humanity was far too tremendous for such an endeavor.Rather, I believe that Jesus was pleading for strength in order to confront the grief and suffering that He knew He was going to experience.

As a result, I will not be writing anything further about it here.Instead, let us consider Jesus’ cry from the cross: ″My God, My God, why have You deserted Me?″ (Matthew 27:46).

Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Psalm 22:1 serves as the basis for this inquiry from Jesus on the cross, which appears in Matthew 27:46-47 (and Mark 15:34), and it is a quotation from the Bible.It is a question that Jesus asks himself while He suffers on the cross and endures the punishment for the sins of the world being poured out on Him.According to the question above, because both Jesus and God the Father were aware that God would raise Jesus from the dead (Matt 12:40), in what sense was Jesus abandoned by God?The answer is that Jesus was not abandoned by God in the traditional sense.If being forsaken implies being abandoned, rejected, or despised, how could Jesus say ″Why have you forsaken me?″ knowing that He would be risen from the dead, and therefore not ultimately forsaken in the sense of being abandoned, rejected, or despised in the true sense of the word?The answer, I believe, is in grasping at least a basic comprehension of the everlasting relationship that has been between God the Father and God the Son from the beginning of time.

Understanding this bond, as well as the scream of Jesus from the crucifixion, leads to a startling realization (at least for me) about Jesus’ experience on the cross.

His Eternal Relationship seemed Broken

Since God the Father and God the Son have lived in an everlasting connection, they have never been divided by anything for any length of time, in any way, shape, or form, and they have never been separated by anything in the past.Nothing in the way of will, wants, intents, ideas, or objectives had ever stood in their path before now.Given that we are not familiar with what it is like to be in such a relationship, let alone for an eternity, we humans have a tough time comprehending this.All relationships, even the most loving ones, have points of disagreement and miscommunication from time to time.God the Father and God the Son (together with God the Holy Spirit) on the other hand, have always been in perfect harmony and oneness with one another.Nevertheless, when Jesus died on the cross, He took upon Himself the sins of every person, throughout all of history.

He took on our sins and bore them in His own body (1 Pet 2:24).He, who had no knowledge of sin, became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21).He turned out to be a curse for us (Gal 3:13).I believe that from Jesus’ point of view on the crucifixion, it appeared as though God had ″abandoned″ Him to the consequences of his sin.Despite the fact that sin does not harm or taint God in any way, it does produce a gap between God and the one who does the sin.The barrier between Jesus and God that had never existed before appears to have occurred when He took on the sins of all humanity on His own shoulders.

It was because He was suffering a brokenness in His connection with God the Father that they had never previously experienced that Jesus cried out, ″Why have you left me?″ Yes, he understood that God had not abandoned him completely and irrevocably, and he understood that He would be resurrected from the dead in three days, but the scream of Jesus from the crucifixion is not about those things, but about his separation from God.He was experiencing anything for the first time in all of eternity.The experience of being separated from God prompted Jesus to cry out, ″My God, My God, why have you deserted me?″ (Matthew 27:46).He had never been separated from God before, and even though He knew that He would be rejoined with God in a short period of time, the sorrow and suffering of the separation prompted Jesus to cry out in despair.

Was God, on the other hand, genuinely abandoning Jesus?
No, I don’t believe so.
I don’t believe that God abandoned Jesus any more than he abandons us now.
Jesus was not a God who had abandoned his people.

The God-Forsaken God?

Although I may be going too far out on a limb theologically, there is a part of me that believes that it was only on the cross that Jesus finally experienced what it was like to be a sinful human being separated from God in all of its sorrow and turmoil.
Although Jesus came to earth as a human being in order to save us from our sinful condition, and in doing so, experienced practically everything a human being could experience, He never truly experienced the terrifying and terrible state of being separated from God as a result of sin.
That is, it was only after He died on the cross and experienced the crushing sadness of being separated from God that He was able to fully comprehend what we humans have been experiencing since the beginning of time.
It was on the cross that Jesus experienced the grief and misery that we experience every day, the agony of being separated from God that has so numbed our souls, and the despair and dread that motivates us to live our lives as we do for the very first time.
His plea, ″My God, my God, Why have You left Me?″ is not the cry of a God who has abandoned his creation; rather, it is the lament of every single human being on the face of the planet.

From the time of our fall into sin, it has been our cries to the Father in heaven.
Finally, God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ in order to personally experience this separation.
Because the pain is so unbearable, He calls out to God in a hushed voice: ″My God, my God, why have you left me?″ Do you see what I mean?
This isn’t only the cries of Jesus as he hangs from the crucifixion.
This is the scream of every single human on the face of the planet.
It is our anguish, our anxiety, our hurt, our despair, all of which are now being heard.

This cries out in pain and despair as God fully enters into our damaged state and fully experiences the sense of separation from God that sin creates, and cries out in sorrow and despair as God experiences this sense of loss: ″My God, my God, why have You left me?″ God knows how we feel when we believe that God is ignoring us or has abandoned us.Jesus understands our feelings and calls out to God on our behalf, ″Why have You abandoned Me?″ When we suffer worry about the future in the middle of the night, Jesus understands what we are going through and cries out to God on our behalf, ″Why have You left Me?″ When awful things happen in our world, and we wonder what God is doing about them (if anything), Jesus understands how we feel and cries out to God on our behalf, ″Why have You deserted Me?″ (Why Have You Forsaken Me?) In times when we feel despised and rejected, abused and slandered, misunderstood and forgotten, and we wonder why God appears to be doing nothing to protect and defend us, Jesus understands how we feel and pleads with God, ″Why have You forsaken Me?″ Jesus knows how we feel and pleads with God on our behalf, ″Why have You forsaken Me?″ On the crucifixion, Jesus suffered a separation from God that is identical to the separation from God that humanity feel on a daily basis.Certainly, since He is God and because He carried the sins of all people, He was separated from His Father in an inconceivable degree from His children.Yet the scream of Jesus from the cross, ″My God, my God, why have You left Me?″ is not only his cry, but our plea as well: ″My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?″ It is the scream of every single human being on the face of the planet.

Jesus was giving expression to our grief and suffering.
Do you ever feel as though God has abandoned you?
Jesus understands what it’s like to be in that situation.
Do you have a sense of being abandoned, neglected, forgotten, and overlooked?
Jesus understands what it’s like to be in that situation.

Do you get the impression that God has turned His back on you?Jesus understands what it’s like to be in that situation.However, here’s the rub…″How can Jesus say, ‘Why have you deserted me?’ since God did not truly forsake Him?″ was the initial question.

Yes.And, just as Jesus experienced what we all experience when we feel abandoned, none of us have been abandoned, just as Jesus Himself was not abandoned.Despite the fact that you may feel abandoned by God, you are in no way more abandoned than Jesus was.Despite the fact that you may feel abandoned, forgotten, neglected, and disregarded, none of these things are true of you any more than they were of Jesus.You may be under the impression that you are unloved, yet this is no more true of you than it was of Jesus.Despite the fact that Jesus cried out, ″Why have you abandoned me?″ He had not been abandoned.

We aren’t any different.This is a sensation that Jesus had, and it’s an emotion that we all have from time to time.And this sensation does not arise because we have been abandoned, but rather as a result of our sin.

However, while sin has divided us from God, God has not been removed from us.Because of this, God felt compelled to reconcile the world to Himself (1 Cor 5:19).He didn’t have to reconcile Himself to the world since He had never abandoned or forsaken us in the first place.Despite the fact that we may feel abandoned, we are not abandoned any more than Jesus was abandoned.

In the same way that God did not abandon Jesus, God does not abandon us.While the existence of sin in our lives causes us to feel abandoned, forgotten, or left alone to suffer and die, God is really right with us at all times, holding us and loving us and weeping with us as we go through our trials and difficulties.The feeling of being separated from God is expressed by Jesus on the cross, and this is one of the reasons Jesus went to the cross – to take our sin and bear it away into death so that we can see that God has not left us, has not abandoned us, and has not forsaken us but has fully entered into our pain, our suffering, and even into our sin, so that He might show us how much He loves and cares for us, as He did on the cross.A more in-depth explanation of this reality may be found in my new book, The Atonement of God.I’m not sure if this provides a solution to the reader’s query, but it does provide some insight into what Jesus was referring to when He exclaimed, ″My God, my God, why have You abandoned Me?″ In addition, it assists us in understanding that, while on the cross, Jesus experienced what it was like to be a sinful human being, and it is for this reason that we may put our faith in His promise that He would never abandon us nor forsake us (Heb 13:5).

The cross of Jesus is CENTRAL to everything!

Focusing on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus may completely transform your life and theology: Complete the form below if you would want to get numerous emails from me on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. NOTE: If you are a current member of RedeemingGod.com, first login and then return to this page to change your membership information.

Why Jesus Cried ″My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me″

″My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?″ Jesus cries out from the cross during the most crucial moment of the entire Bible, the moment when he dies on the cross, a phrase that can be perplexing to those of us who are reading the account so many centuries later: ″My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?″ The statement may be found in two places in the Bible: Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34.
The following is how the English Standard Version of the Bible describes it: ″And around the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’″ Forsake is a slang term that meaning to turn away from or withdraw from something.
What kind of father would do such a thing to his own son?
At light of the fact that it is something we would never do to our own children, it seems strange that the source of all love would turn his back on his own son, but that is precisely what has occurred in this moment.
It was essential in order for the totality of God’s love for humanity to be fulfilled, and it demonstrates how highly God regards us..

Verse Context in Psalm 22

It is Psalm 22 that Jesus is referring to when he yells out this sentence in the gospels.
According to traditional interpretation, this Psalm is a messianic psalm, one in which the author (King David) appears to be participating in some vision of what would happen to the Lord’s Messiah.
Although Jesus just shares the first verse of the Psalm, most people would have concluded he was referring to the full Psalm because of the high level of biblical literacy prevalent in Jesus’ day.
We can look into it and see if there are any connections to the crucifixion tale.
In Psalm 22:6-8, it is said that David’s adversaries are making fun of him, precisely because he has faith in the Lord and believes that the Lord would deliver him from his foes.

People insulting Jesus stated that if God loved him so much, God should save him right then and there, according to Matthew 27:35-44 and Mark 15:29-32, respectively, according to the Bible.
According to Psalm 22:18, the author’s clothes had been separated and the oppressors were ″casting lots″ (playing a game of chance) to determine who would be in possession of it.
According to Matthew 27:35, the clothing of Jesus were split and the new owners were chosen by drawing lots.
Isn’t it interesting that the activities of Jesus at his death, as documented in Psalm 22, and King David’s vision, as was recorded in Psalm 22, are so identical despite the almost 1,000-year time gap?
But hold just a minute, there’s more.
Despite the fact that it is a Messianic Psalm, Psalm 22 is also categorized as a lament (another category of Psalm).

Laments are unique in that, in addition to describing an awful condition in which the author finds himself, they also announce a universal reliance on the Lord and express appreciation for the favor of God, which makes them particularly poignant.Whenever Jesus shouted out the first line of this Psalm, he was also expressing his utter reliance on God as well as his thanks for God’s generosity (Psalm 22:3-5, 9-11, 19-31).The misery of mankind was suddenly borne onto his shoulders, and even at that terrible time, his voice cried out to demonstrate that only God can save us from our plight.

Verse Context in Matthew and Mark

Interestingly, Matthew and Mark both use the same passage in the same way (almost word-for-word).
Nonetheless, they are pursuing quite different objectives.
Matthew emphasizes throughout his works that Jesus is the Messiah who had been prophesied by the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures.
His focus on Jesus’ duties as a teacher and a king serves to underline this point.
While keeping these considerations in mind, Matthew would almost certainly have drawn an association between the author of Psalm 22 (King David) and Jesus, and thereby establishing Jesus as the One who had been anointed to accomplish the work of salvation and rule in eternity.

Mark, on the other hand, had a different concentration.
While he recognized Jesus as the Son of God, he made it a point to ensure that people recognized his h