Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Today’s program is called: Why Have You Forsaken Me? Let’s turn to Matthew 27. This is talking about Jesus’ crucifixion. Mat 27:27-44, Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him. And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified. Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross. And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink. Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: "THEY DIVIDED MY GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS." Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there. And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left. And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross." Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.' " Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing. Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And 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?" Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "This Man is calling for Elijah!" Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink. The rest said, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him." And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God!" On the cross, Jesus cried, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me. Let’s go to Psalm 22, verses 1&2, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent. Psa 22:3, But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel. King David prophesied these words about the Lord Jesus many , many years before the Lord Jesus ever came to the Earth: My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Why did the Father forsake Jesus at such a time as that? Let’s go to 2Co 5:21, For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Let’s turn to Rom 5:17, For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, that being Adam, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) In John 8:29, Jesus said, And He that sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please Him. Why then did the Father forsake Jesus on the cross? For He has made Him sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Let’s turn to Isa 52:13-15, Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at you, So His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men; So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; For what had not been told them they shall see, And what they had not heard they shall consider. Isa 53:1-6, Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. This is what happened between noon and 3:00 pm that day. Mat 27:45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. The darkness was over all the land. A solar eclipse only lasts a few minutes. In my opinion, this was not an eclipse. This was all the sin of the whole human race being laid on Jesus on the cross in fulfillment of Isaiah 53. He was made sin at that time. As we read earlier, God made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Let’s go to 1Sam 2:2, "No one is holy like the LORD, For there is none besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God. Hab 1:13, You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness… The Father is Holy, separate from sin. He cannot fellowship, or abide with sin. So He separated Himself from His beloved Son, during that time when Jesus became sin on the cross. Jesus was rejected by the Father at that time. Also, He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Jesus endured this all as He continued to love the Father and love us. In 1 Cor 13, we read, love endures all things. The Father also endured, watching His Son suffer so much, and having to separate Himself from Him for the first time in all eternity, because He loved Him. He loved His Son, and He loved us. In John 3:16, a very familiar verse: God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever lives and believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Jesus became sin on that cross, and He died for all our sins. The full penalty was paid thereby for all sin, for all people, for all time; for all who will repent and believe in Him. The Father endured the separation from His Son, watching Him suffer so greatly for us; a people dead in sin, who did not know Him, or love Him, because He loved us. In 1 John 4:10 we read, In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. He so loved us that He gave His only begotten, beloved Son to suffer and die on the cross for our sins, that whosoever of us would repent of our sins, come to Him, and believe in Him, might receive the gift of His righteousness and reign with Him in perfect fellowship with the Son of God, and with the Father. In 1 John 1 we read, truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ, that we might become sons and daughters of the Living God, and dwell with Him forever in His Glory.

Jesus Christ endured the cross because He loved the Father and He loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood. Again, 1 Cor 13, love endures all things; love does not take into account a wrong suffered. When the Father raised Jesus from the dead on the third day, He justified Him from all that sin that was laid on Him, and also every one of us who would repent and believe in Him. He was delivered for our transgressions, and raised again for our justification. The Apostle Peter said, Repent and be baptized every one of you for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; the earnest of our inheritance in Christ. Do you believe that God loves you this much? Do you believe the love that the Father has for you; that He gave His beloved Son, who never, ever sinned an offering for your sins on that brutal cross? Do you believe the love that Jesus has for you that He endured it all for you, that you might become His; that He might ransom you from the powers of darkness and sin that have had you bound with His own Blood? 1 John 4:9-16, In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. John 17:20-26, this is Jesus’ prayer to the Father shortly before He was crucified, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

God has not forsaken you. He forsook Jesus on the cross when all your sins were laid on Him. If you will not forsake Him, if you will come to Him and take His yoke upon you and learn of Him and be faithful unto Him, He will never forsake you, He will never leave you. He will be with you always, even unto the end of the world, and you will dwell forever with Him in His Glorious Kingdom.