This message will teach you that God did not forsake Jesus on the cross. Most teachers talk about how God turned His back on Jesus whilst Jesus hung on the cross, quoting, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me” as proof.
However, this comes from not realizing the Jewish culture of the time.
In this study, we will find precisely the opposite; God never forsook Him, instead was inside Him reconciling the world to himself.
A Good Father Would Not Forsake Jesus While He Died.
The Goodness of the Father.
Central to the gospel is the goodness of the Father to His children.
The Gospel means- GOOD NEWS!
MATTHEW 4:23 AND JESUS WENT ABOUT ALL GALILEE, TEACHING IN THEIR SYNAGOGUES, PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM, AND HEALING ALL KINDS OF SICKNESS AND ALL KINDS OF DISEASE AMONG THE PEOPLE.
In this verse, Jesus is preaching the gospel. The gospel includes healing the sick. The character of Jesus is also the character of the Father.
HEBREWS 1:3 WHO BEING THE BRIGHTNESS OF HIS GLORY AND THE EXPRESS IMAGE OF HIS PERSON, AND UPHOLDING ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER, WHEN HE HAD BY HIMSELF PURGED OUR SINS, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE MAJESTY ON HIGH,
God is Unchanging.
We learned that God is unchanging in His character. Therefore, if God is constant, He must remain fair in His judgements.
To judge His only begotten Son who had not sinned, then God is not just.
It also raises whether God would forsake us if He forsook Jesus.
If the current theology is correct and God rejected Jesus, we cannot trust God to keep His promise by never abandoning us.
HEBREWS 13:5 LET YOUR CONDUCT BE WITHOUT COVETOUSNESS; BE CONTENT WITH SUCH THINGS AS YOU HAVE. FOR HE HIMSELF HAS SAID, “I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU.”
It is essential to understand the principle of this teaching because, in the eyes of the seeker, the question is asked: ‘Can I trust a Father who would turn His back on His Own Son?’
God Did Not Forsake Jesus
Would our Heavenly Father Punish His Only Son by Killing Him?
Current Theology: God turned His back on Jesus!
The teaching that God turned His back on Jesus is a central doctrine in Reformed and some Pentecostal evangelism. This teaching focuses on God’s wrath against sinners because He is infinitely holy, and humankind is essentially evil.
Yet the Bible recognizes that God sees the human goodness of man and, on occasion, will choose someone because they are good as far as a human is concerned ( Cornelius and Job).
God being wrathful is hardly news that instils hope of a loving Father in people’s minds seeking the truth.
God Punished Jesus – His only Begotten Son!
Current teaching, which seems to be world-wide also claims that God PUNISHED Jesus.
The scripture used to ‘prove’ the theory of God punishing Jesus is Jesus’ comment on the cross: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
To punish is to impose suffering, or penalty, or harshly treat someone; to handle roughly, damage or hurt.
So, to use the word punish; is a wrong interpretation of propitiation, which means appeasement.
God did not punish Jesus, nor punish His children; instead, God disciplines us.
If Christ Abides in the Father, How Can the Father Kill Him?
The Father was in Jesus.
JOHN 14:10 DO YOU NOT BELIEVE THAT I AM IN THE FATHER, AND THE FATHER IN ME? THE WORDS THAT I SPEAK TO YOU I DO NOT SPEAK ON MY OWN AUTHORITY; BUT THE FATHER WHO DWELLS IN ME DOES THE WORKS.
In other words, Father God was on the cross with Him as He died. The Father never died because He is a spirit.
JOHN 4:24 GOD IS SPIRIT, AND THOSE WHO WORSHIP HIM MUST WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH.”
The Father was in Jesus on the cross!!!!
2 CORINTHIANS 5:19 THAT IS, THAT GOD WAS IN CHRIST RECONCILING THE WORLD TO HIMSELF, NOT IMPUTING THEIR TRESPASSES TO THEM, AND HAS COMMITTED TO US THE WORD OF RECONCILIATION.
Therefore, God did not forsake Jesus on the cross.
Did the Father Forsake Jesus During His Greatest Time of Need?
“My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me.”
On the cross, Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1
PSALMS 22:1 MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME? WHY ARE YOU SO FAR FROM HELPING ME, AND FROM THE WORDS OF MY GROANING?
MATTHEW 27:46 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?”
As indicated earlier, current theology generally teaches that God forsook Jesus on the cross.
However, we need to think through the minds of the Jews whom Jesus was addressing.
Jesus Spoke in the Syrian-Chaldaic Language Specifically to the Jews.
The language Jesus used was the Syro-Chaldaic language (the common language used by the Jews in the time of Christ).
It is the first stanza of the twenty-second Psalm. He spoke in the Syro-Chaldaic language because He was addressing the Jews.
The First Stanza of a Psalm to the Jews was Significant. It was the practice of the Jews to speak the first words of a Psalm to bring the Psalm to mind.
The listeners would then know how to recite the rest of the Psalm.
God was Near Jesus on the Cross:
In the same Psalm, David clarifies that God heard him and was looking at Jesus on the cross!
PSALMS 22:24 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, HE HEARD.
We already know from 2 Corinthians 5:19, Father was very close indeed!!!
2 CORINTHIANS 5:19 THAT IS, THAT GOD WAS IN CHRIST RECONCILING THE WORLD TO HIMSELF, NOT IMPUTING THEIR TRESPASSES TO THEM, AND HAS COMMITTED TO US THE WORD OF RECONCILIATION.
Psalm 22 then says that God did not forsake Jesus.
Jesus was FEELING forsaken, He was not forsaken. Was Jesus telling the truth? Of course – Jesus does not lie.
He was on the cross in His humanity as well as His divinity.
As a man, Jesus was feeling very much alone. He was dying for humanity’s sins and their diseases and torments. Have you ever felt like God has forsaken you? Yet we know:
HEBREWS 13:5 LET YOUR CONDUCT BE WITHOUT COVETOUSNESS; BE CONTENT WITH SUCH THINGS AS YOU HAVE. FOR HE HIMSELF HAS SAID, “I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU.”
Jesus Experienced the Consequences of Sin.
Besides letting the listeners know that what they were observing was the fulfilment of Psalm 22, He was also experiencing the consequences of sin.
One of those consequences is loneliness, another is discouragement, another is shame.
However, because Jesus never sinned, he did not experience guilt.
Abba Father, Then Raised Him and Enthroned Him.
HEBREWS 12:2 LOOKING UNTO JESUS, THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH, WHO FOR THE JOY THAT WAS SET BEFORE HIM ENDURED THE CROSS, DESPISING THE SHAME, AND HAS SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE THRONE OF GOD.
In summary, God did not forsake Jesus on the cross. He will not leave you when you go through your most significant trials. God was in Jesus on the cross, and He is in you too!