Did The Father Forsake Jesus On the Cross? No! (Written by Steve McVey)

For many years I taught the seven sayings of the cross and when I came to the words of Jesus, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” I used the text as evidence that the Father had turned His back on His own Son when Jesus was on the cross. “The Bible is clear that God cannot look upon sin!” I would boldly proclaim. It seemed reasonable to me that God turned away from Jesus. After all, isn’t that what Jesus said?

The answer is, “No, that is not what He said. That is what He asked. There’s a big difference between making an assertion and asking a question.”

“Do you mean Jesus was wrong?” you might ask. My answer is that it was Jesus, the Man who became sin for us. When he absorbed the darkness and weight of the sin of the world into Himself, He had the sense of abandonment by God the Father that sin always brings. Blinded by sin and horrified by its effect on and in Him, the man Jesus cried out of His humanity, “Why have you forsaken me?” In that moment, He identified Himself with every person who has ever felt abandoned by God. He became one who felt isolated, lonely, abandoned, forsaken and hopeless on behalf of you, me, and everybody who would ever feel that way.

The question Jesus spoke was a direct quote from the prophetic Psalm 22, where in the very first verse the psalmist asks, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It is noteworthy that this is the only time Jesus ever called His Father “God” and not “Father.” In that moment,the man Jesus felt forsaken. Having become sin for us, He could not feel or sense or see His Father’s embrace at that moment.

The gospels don’t record an answer to His question, but Psalm 22 does. In response to the first verse where the psalmist cries out the prophetic words, “Why have you forsaken me?” there is an answer in verse 24. Here’s the answer to the question of Jesus, the question of the psalmist and the question of every person who has ever felt abandoned by the Father: For he (God the Father) has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.

Sin may deafen our ears to the answer, but the reality is that the Father has never and will never despise, disdain or turn His face away from us, forsaking us. He has heard our cry for help!

God the Father forsaking His own Son? Impossible! God the Father was “in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself!” (2 Corinthians 5:19) Jesus didn’t feel it at the time. It seemed like the Father had forsaken Him, but He hadn’t! Nor will He ever forsake you.

But what about the “God cannot look upon sin” part? Doesn’t the Bible say that? Well, it does but we need to put that comment in context. It was Habakkuk the prophet who said that as he watched evil people seemingly getting away with their sins. Here’s the whole quote in context:

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? Habakkuk 1:13

To paraphrase him, Habakkuk said, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil and you can’t tolerate wrong so why are you?” In other words, it made no sense to Habakkuk that God was looking on sin when Habakkuk believed that wasn’t possible. He was smearing the face of God with the guilt and shame of humanity the same way Adam had done when he hid himself in the Garden of Eden because He thought God wouldn’t want to look at him after he sinned. Adam was wrong. God came for His walk that day just as He had every day. And Habakkuk was wrong too.

The fact is that God can look upon sin. Some people act as if the relationship of God the Father to sin is like Superman’s aversion to kryptonite. They act as if God is afraid of sin, but nothing could be further from the truth. In Christ Jesus, sin has been destroyed – finished- end of story. (See Daniel 9:24) Through the finished work of the cross, sin has been defeated! God hates sin because of what it does to us, not because it does anything to Him.

So, on the cross Jesus took the sin of the world upon Himself. As a man who became sin for us (so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him), He felt forsaken, but He was not. The Father did hear His cry and, as the empty tomb three days later proves, did not forsake Him. The question of Jesus the man was: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The answer from God the Father was: “I haven’t! I’ve not despised, disdained nor forsaken you. I’m here with you, in this moment, carrying you through this death to the glorious resurrection on the other side.”

That was true for Jesus when he felt forsaken and it’s true for you when you feel that way too.

Questions for the Day:

1. Are the Trinity THREE IN ONE?
2. Can they be separated
3. Is it possible then, that we may have misunderstood the ‘forsaken’ passage?
4. What does it mean then, that God ‘was IN Christ’ reconciling the world to himself?

 VERSE FOR THE DAY

Psalm 22 (NASB) A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise.

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. 2 O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest. 3 Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.  4 In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You delivered them. 5 To You they cried out and were delivered; In You they trusted and were not disappointed.  6 But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people.

7 All who see me sneer at me; They [h]separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, 8 “Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.”  9 Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts. 10 Upon You I was cast from birth; You have been my God from my mother’s womb.  11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near; For there is none to help. 12 Many bulls have surrounded me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.  13 They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening and a roaring lion.  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.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones.  They look, they stare at me; 18 They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.  19 But You, O Lord, be not far off; O You my help, hasten to my assistance.  20 Deliver my soul from the sword, My only life from the power of the dog.  21 Save me from the lion’s mouth; From the horns of the wild oxen You answer me.  22 I will tell of Your name to my brethren;  In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.  23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him; All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And stand in awe of Him, all you  descendants of Israel.  24 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 for help, He heard. 25 From You comes my praise in the great assembly; I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him.  26 The afflicted will eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the Lord.  Let your heart live forever!  27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations will worship before You.  28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s And He rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship, All those who go down to the dust will bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep his soul alive. 30 Posterity will serve Him; It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation.  31 They will come and will declare His righteousness To a people who will be born, that He has performed it.

VIDEO FOR THE DAY

Jason Upton- Psalm 23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q79yr9dbXp0

PRAYER

Papa God, it has always been good news for us. Thank you for the gift of non separation.  Just as you are never separated from the son and the spirit, likewise there is NO WAY you will ever be separated from me, your creation.