Forsaken But Not Forgotten​

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by David G. Rose

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     The basis for our thoughts today is found in Matthew 27. These are the last few hours of Christ’s life leading up to the Crucifixion. In it we read of His hearing before wicked Pilate, the scourging of the whip, and the mocking of the Roman soldiers. The Crucifixion of Jesus is a hideous example of deranged hatred for Christ and His message of love and salvation. 

     After at least six hours of agonizing suffering, Jesus finally “yielded up the ghost.” But we pause today to consider the last words of Jesus in Matthew 27:46 KJV, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’”

     These words have caused much discussion and contemplation over the years. To some degree, they are a deep mystery beyond the minds of us mortals. Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

     But there are many truths that we can discover in these last words of Jesus before He was Crucified. Jesus was in great pain, but more importantly, He was carrying the sins of the world as well. 1 Peter 2:24 NLT, “He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.”

     The pressure of these sins on His soul was enormous. He became truly and literally our substitute, and He took the curse of our sin upon Himself. At that awful moment, the iniquity of all of us was laid upon Him. As it says in Isaiah 53:10 NLT, “But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD’s good plan will prosper in his hands.”

     Though Jesus knew no sin, God made Him to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). And for a moment, God forsook Jesus so that we might never be forsaken. Therefore, we are redeemed by the sufferings of Christ. As Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:18-19 NLT, “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”

     Though God momentarily forsook Jesus, He did not forget Him. The wise plans of God remain unhindered and in full effect. Find comfort in Jeremiah 29:11 ESV, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Next week: The Resurrection 
 

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