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“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Matthew 27:45,46
It was a very unusual day in the history of the world that at high
noon, a horrifying darkness, of which scholars described as pitch
black, covered the land. The darkness that came over the land
for those three hours had to have been an eerie feeling. I surmise
that darkness was not only a physical darkness but also a spiritual
darkness. It is also my conjecture that it was an act of God.
Maybe it was a sign of judgment to the Jews for what they were
doing. Some people might say, “Could it have not been an
eclipse?” It could not have been an eclipse because the moon
was full at Passover time. But it was in that third hour that Jesus
said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus spoke
it in Aramaic. Jesus probably spoke at least three languages,
Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. It is believed that Jesus more
commonly spoke in Aramaic. It’s amazing when you look at
Psalm 22 how it goes along with so much of the crucifixion story.
The first verse of that Psalm was Jesus’ statement here. It has
been suggested by many that Jesus was simply repeating that
Psalm to himself as a picture of his own situation. Of course that
Psalm ends on a very high note of trust and confidence in God.
Just as this situation would end on a very high note three days
later and Christ did know that.
Bible scholar William Barclay said, “It is an attractive suggestion;
but on a cross a man does not repeat poetry to himself, even the
poetry of a psalm…” again this wasn’t any ordinary man. Jesus
quoted scripture for everything else in His life, he certainly could
have been again. But I do believe that at that moment that sins
of the world were thrust upon Christ. In that time that he who
had no sin became sin, it brought him separation from His
Father. Sin separates us from God. Isaiah told the people in Isaiah
59:2 “But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you.” His Father had hidden
His Face from Him as He took on the sin of the world.
It was an agonizing feeling for the one who lived in total intimacy
with His Father, depending on Him each step of the way. How
many times did we see Jesus trying to sneak off and be alone
with His Father. How many times did He pray to His Father to
seek the strength he needed. As painful as the physical cruelty of
the cross was, I believe the pain of isolation from his Father
during that time hurt him more than any nail piercing His skin.
But I don’t believe the pain stopped with Christ, can you imagine
how hard it was on the Father to have to turn away as His son
paid the price for us. As this statement speaks of the isolation
and loneliness that Christ was experiencing. I just want to remind
you of the reasons why Christ was separated from His Father.
Christ was separated from his Father because of your sin and
mine. Isaiah spoke to the day of Christ taking on our sins
hundreds of years in advance. Listen to what he said in Isaiah
53:4,5 “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and
afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was
crushed for our iniquities…”
Being crushed I don’t believe was just physical, but it was
spiritual as well as he felt His Father turn from Him. Now I know
that I already mentioned that his separation came from taking
on the sins of the world. But when we say the sins of the world
that can be so impersonal that we lose perspective on our part
of it. The truth is that Christ experienced this pain and isolation
on the cross because of your sin, and my sin. Each of us played a
part of Him being on that cross and experiencing that isolation
from His Father. Christ not only paid the price for the sins of
those who had gathered around the Cross and mocking him, or
those who had abandoned him and denied him at the hour of his
greatest need for support, but the price He paid went all the way
to thousands of years later. Christ wasn’t only doing it for the
present but He was doing it for the future. He knew that there
would be other people who would sin and God is a just God.
There has to be a price for those sins. But what Christ did covered
not only the sins that we have committed in our lives so far, but
if we fall in the future, if we do something we shouldn’t have
done, if we allow our minds to become captive to thoughts that
we shouldn’t have, those sins have been covered when in
repentance we trust in Christ and what He did for us. When you
truly think about what your sin and my sin caused Christ to have
to go through, not only physically, but also spiritually, there is no
way that you cannot hate sin if you truly love Christ.
I remember those times of separation that I’ve gone through. I
remember when I was 12 years old when stowed away from
home. It was a heartbreaking experience to be alone where life
is full of uncertainties. In my heart tears were streaming down
my face, and even though there were a handful of people I
already knew, I felt so alone. I wanted to say, “wait, I’ve changed
my mind. I want to go with you.”
There were so many times during that first couple of months that
I just wanted to start walking that highway and go home. Some
of you may have gone through separation from your earthly dad
or other family members and you remember the pain that you
felt and some of you might still be feeling.
As much as that separation brought agony to you, the agony that
Christ went through was so much worse. And it was our sin that
brought it upon Him. Christ was separated from His Father so we
wouldn’t have to be. Christ went through that period of
separation from His Father so we could live life in intimacy and
fellowship with God. You see at the beginning of creation things
were the way they were supposed to be. Adam and Eve walked
in fellowship with God in the midst of a beautiful garden. But
when they sinned that fellowship and intimacy with God was
broken. We are told that when they heard the Lord God coming
they hid from Him among the trees of the garden. They went
from intimacy and looking forward to their walks with God to
hiding from him because they knew they had done wrong. We
know how that is in our own life when we’ve disappointed
someone we love, we don’t look forward to seeing that person.
We don’t want to see the disappointment and hurt on their face.
When we commit sin, we don’t want to go before Him because
we are mad at ourselves, we are embarrassed. Which is the
wrong way to handle it. But all praise to the Lord Jesus Christ,
man’s relationship with God was reconciled. Christ was the
answer to Adam’s mistake. Listen to what Romans 5:19 “For just
as through the disobedience of one man the many were made
sinners, so also through the obedience of one man the many will
be made righteous.” Through the obedience of Christ, taking on
our sin upon himself, those who trust upon Him will be made
righteous. Which means that we can be in the presence of God
in intimate fellowship. We don’t have to wait until our death to
be in intimate fellowship with God either. We can have that
intimate fellowship with Him now. Just as Christ constantly
sought to get away from the crowds and the demands on His
time and seek strength and fellowship with His Father. We can
do that same thing, we can seek that strength and fellowship
with the Father that comes through an intimate relationship with
Him because when we trust in Christ and believe that he bore
our sins on the cross we are righteous in the eyes of God. \
But Christ did face that terrible time of separation from His
Father so that we could be in fellowship not only on this earth
but with eternity. One notable scholar said, “God created us for
eternity.” He created us to spend the rest of forever with Him.
He created us not for what we can do for Him now, but He
created us so that we can spend the rest of forever in fellowship
with Him. Maybe it will be like those long walks in the garden
that He used to have with Adam and Eve. God wants to
fellowship with you now, and He wants to fellowship with you
forever. And because of that great love for us, Christ went
through that period of separation from His Father so you and I
don’t have to. Some of you are walking through life with
separation from God now and you know that you aren’t enjoying
life the way that you could. You’re doing your best run and hide
routine from God. Christ went through that agony so you
wouldn’t have to be separated from God. There is no better time
than this morning to let what Christ did be that bridge that brings
you back to the Father. Something that I read from William
Barclay this week kind of helped me to see what Christ did in a
different perspective. Christ was separated from his Father to
show us that He has experienced the very worst of the human
condition. Now we know from scriptures that Christ came and
he walked this earth and he experienced every temptation that
was common to man. After all Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have
a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we
are--yet was without sin.” I got to thinking about that scripture
and the human condition. Christ experienced everything that
you and I have experienced in one form or another. As hard as it
is to believe that means that Christ would have faced sexual
temptation, he would have faced the temptation to do things in
a different way then His heavenly Father wanted him to do it. All
of us have been tempted to do things our own way instead of
doing things the way God would have us to do them. The list of
temptations go on and on. You name the temptation and I
believe that Christ probably had that temptation in one way or
another. Sin hasn’t really changed from Biblical times, Satan just
uses new packages for the same old things. It may really look
different on the outside, but inside it’s the same old lie and the
same old things. But there is one major difference between us
and Christ. He never did bite! He never sinned! And as we said
earlier, sin brings us separation from God. Being separated from
God is the very worst thing of the human condition. Those who
choose to walk through life not accepting what Christ did on the
cross for us are walking this earth with a separation from God.
That is something that up to that point Christ had not
experienced. Like we said earlier, we see repeatedly in scripture
where Christ went and spent time in fellowship with His Father.
I believe it was His dependence upon and fellowship with the
Father that strengthened Christ and enabled him to live a sinless
life. But Christ had never faced separation from his Father until
He who had no sin became sin. And at that moment he cried out,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” I believe you
can almost sense the separation in His words. He never called
his Father, My God. It was always “my Father, or maybe even
Abba, which the closest translation is daddy. Yes, you see when
Christ was on the cross and he took on himself, your sin and my
sin and the sin of the world, he had to feel the filth and the dirt
of the world. To someone who was so pure and holy because He
was God in the flesh it had to be a total feeling of dirt. But
because Christ did take on the sins of the world and because of
that sin that He willingly took upon himself, He was separated
from His Father because His Father could not abide with sin. The
very worst experience of the human condition Christ had now
experienced what sinful separation from His Father must be like.
So you see Christ really has experienced the very worst that the
human condition has to offer. But He paid the price for those sins
of ours and now we can be victorious over sin and death just like
He was. What a great God we serve! How can anyone question
God’s love for us. This really is one of life’s great mysteries.
Someone might ask, if Christ was fully human and yet fully God,
how did God forsake God? It’s hard to fathom it all isn’t it? But
we understand enough to know that God loved us so much that
He gave us His only begotten Son that who ever believes in Him
will not die.”

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