Why Have You Forsaken Me? Part 2

Introduction

Good morning to everyone.

What a pleasure it is to be with you and what beautiful singing we have done. And I love to sing the song before the sermon. I think it helps us all to kind of get on our feet. No pun intended. Jesus said from the cross, very perplexing statement to some.

And we are continuing today in the second of two lessons, so this will be the last one, in examining this statement and trying to figure out what does it mean.

And really this begins in 2 Corinthians 5 21, which says, He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. And it is explained from that passage by those who espouse the view that God forsook Jesus, that the way that God uh made Jesus to be sin is that all of our sins were literally transferred to Jesus, the guilt of our sin became his own, and uh that therefore God had to turn his face away from Jesus, and could not look upon him at the cross, and forsook him and was separated spiritually uh from Jesus. This is what is taught. I’m not espousing this view, I’m saying this is what is taught, and and this is probably the most common thing that is believed among uh denominations and so forth, and is believed among many brethren as well.

And it is taught that if God turned his face away from Jesus, that therefore Jesus suffered a spiritual death. And we know passages like Romans 6 23 says that the wages of sin is death. And Isaiah 59 and verse 2 says that our iniquity, our iniquity separated us from God. And so it is reasoned that therefore Jesus suffered a spiritual death, because we deserve spiritual death for our sin, and if he endured what we deserve, then he endured spiritual death. I want you to see the logic that is behind this thinking. And we we also pointed out the other view. The view that God did not forsake Jesus. This is the view that I hold. But I want to be fair with both sides, and I want to present arguments and let you come to your own conclusion.

In Hebrews 13 5, we are promised, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Or as the New American Standard says it, I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you. And I made the point, should we add to that, unless you are my only begotten Son, doing the one most righteous act that was ever done in perfect sinlessness, then I will forsake you. I believe that is a violation of this promise that is made to all faithful disciples, and no one was more faithful than Jesus. In Psalm 22 and verse 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.

This is in the same Psalm, pointing back and saying, God, you never forsook me in the first place. You were there all along. And we know that that entire Psalm is messianic. So this verse is specifically referring not only to David, but to Jesus Christ. We could add this next passage in John 8, 28 and 29 to the argument, defending that no God did not forsake Jesus. So Jesus said, When you lift up the Son of Man, and what’s that a reference to? His crucifixion. Then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone. Notice that.

For I always do the things that are pleasing to him. He has not left me alone. And this is in particular reference to when he is lifted up. So I think someone will have a really hard time dealing with this passage who wants to defend that God forsook Jesus. We also talked about the fact that Jesus became sin, as 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, only in the sense that he became a sin offering. And we went to Isaiah 53, which I think makes that point very vividly and plainly. What we’re going to do in today’s lesson is we’re going to continue to deal with claims made by Martin Luther and others who would hold to this view that God forsook Jesus. And we’re going to provide an explanation to the actual question that Jesus asked, because we have not yet done that.

We’ve only been giving negative arguments. Much of today’s material is from Doy Moyer and Bob Waldron. And the reason I say that is one of the reasons is if you need some more information, if you’re interested in having some more, uh, I can get that to you easily. Now I realize that not everybody’s going to agree with me. And uh, you know what, we can be in perfect fellowship. Uh uh a lot of brethren differ with me and have my outcomes on this, and you may as well. Ultimately, we all have to make up our own minds. And I don’t believe this is going to be a test of fellowship, but I do have concern that many are maybe coming to the wrong conclusions, and there are unintended consequences.

Once you accept that God literally forsook Jesus spiritually separated from him on the cross, I believe that presents a lot of problems, and I think you’ll see that as we go through the lesson today. We cannot know everything that happened between Jesus and the Father. So, you know what we don’t need to do? Speculate. And I think that far too many people are willing to speculate in this particular subject, especially. Well, maybe this and maybe that, maybe this and maybe that. We don’t, we just don’t know. It’s one thing to wonder, but it’s another thing to form your conclusions dogmatically based on speculation. Sometimes Bible classes are made up of speculation. I’m not talking about in my Bible classes here, but that happens. And we need to be sure that it doesn’t.

1. Can the Guilt of Sin Be Transferred?

For example, people say, well, the three-hour darkness, the last three hours of Jesus on the cross, maybe that was because God forsook Jesus, or it’s actually preached. That is why the darkness came. You know, that is speculation. We have no business speculating on this matter. We need to simply stick to what we know the scripture says. Amen. In every way, we can agree with that principle. Now, we’re going to begin with this question. Can the guilt of sin be transferred? And really that’s what uh Calvin and Luther and others would teach is uh the guilt of sin was transferred, and so that sin literally, in the sense of the guilt of the sin, actually became Jesus as if he were guilty of sin and treated that way by God.

But let’s kind of unpack this and see is that really true. First of all, it’s impossible for an animal to be guilty of a person’s sin. And why would I say that? Think of the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament. What was the animal sacrifice? It was a substitute. It was a death in place of the sinner because he deserved death for his sin. But can a cow be guilty of lying? Well, he can’t actually be guilty of the deed, but he can pay the punishment. And that’s what a that’s what a substitute sacrifice is. That’s the principle established in the Old Testament. It’s also impossible for a person to be guilty if someone else’s sin. You might say, well, my friend robbed the bank. I’d like to be guilty for his crime.

Well, how are you going to do that? You can’t, I mean, his his crime is a historical fact. It happened. You can’t, you know, reverse time and go back and change things because the only way you can be guilty of his crime is if you did it. Now you can pay the price for his crime, but you cannot actually take on the guilt itself. Likewise, it is impossible for Christ to be guilty of our sin. He could pay the price, but he could not actually become guilty of our sin. When we say, or when some say, well, Christ became guilty of our sin. In essence, he became a sinner. Are we prepared to say that Christ became a sinner? Do you see that? In fact, he would be the greatest sinner who ever lived because he took all the sin of all the world upon him literally.

According to that view that God forsook Jesus. There’s no mechanism for that, transferring all the sin of all the world to Christ. There’s no scriptural mechanism for it. It is based on speculation and misinterpretation. No scriptures teach that the guilt of our iniquities fell on him. He bore our sins and our iniquity fell on him, Isaiah 53, but only in the sense that he paid the price that we deserve. He died the death for us. Many passages teach that he died in our place. Romans 5, 6 through 9 is an example, and I’m going to have to hurry through, so I can’t stop at all of these passages I would like to use. So the guilt of sin cannot be transferred. Likewise, the righteousness of Christ cannot be transferred.

2. Did Jesus Suffer Spiritual Death?

And to the Lutheran, this is a logical swap. In order for God to be just, it’s a swap here, where you have our guilt transferred to Christ and His righteousness transferred to us, and when God looks at us, we don’t have to have righteousness of our own because Christ’s righteousness just kind of covers us up. That is not biblical. Now, a related question to can guilt be transferred. And by the way, do I have everybody? Is did Jesus suffer spiritual death? Did he suffer spiritual death? We might imagine that it’s necessary that since Christ suffered what we deserve, and we deserve spiritual death, that therefore Christ had to suffer not only physical death, but spiritual death. Have you ever really thought about that? Is that really the case?

I believe that a careful study of Scripture will bear out that spiritual death of Jesus is not necessary in order for him to pay the redemptive price for our sins. You think back to animal sacrifices again for a moment. Could the animal suffer spiritual death? Was that required? What does Hebrews 9 22 say? Without the shedding of blood, there can be no remission. And what did Jesus said? This is my blood which is poured out for many for remission of sins. Someone might say, well, yes, but Jesus was a spirit being and animals weren’t. And so the reason his sacrifice was the end of all sacrifices is because he died a spiritual death. You know what we would call that? Speculation. Because Scripture doesn’t teach that that’s the case.

He died death. We deserve death. Isaiah 53 doesn’t speak at all about a spiritual death. Unless you twist it to make it mean that.

Now it would be necessary if he was bearing the guilt of all the world on him. Well then, of course, God would have to turn his way, his face away from Jesus, and there would be a spiritual separation, and Jesus would suffer a spiritual death, even if it were brief and temporary. But it’s two different things to say Jesus paid the redemptive price for our sins, and Jesus became guilty of our sins. Those two things do not go hand in hand. Because only one of them is mentioned in Scripture anyway. If Jesus suffered a spiritual death, that would only accomplish that which we’ve already suffered. Think with me. On the cross, Jesus did for us that which we cannot do for ourselves. If the price that he had to suffer was spiritual death, then the sacrifice only did that which all humanity has already experienced.

Spiritual death. The penalty that Jesus paid, therefore, was neither temporary spiritual death, because as I’ve said, we’ve already suffered that, and if that is the price paid by Jesus, we’ve already paid that price. And secondly, it is not eternal spiritual death. If you really think about this reasoning, which is subjective, speculative reasoning to say Jesus had to experience exactly fully what we deserve. Therefore, he had to experience spiritual death. That’s kind of the idea behind this whole reasoning. What do we fully deserve? Just temporary for a few brief moments, separation from God. We deserve eternal hell. And nobody is prepared to say that Jesus suffered that.

Died in that state, then how could he say to the thief, truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise? You see, the view that God forsook Jesus presents a lot of problems. And they they just can’t be worked out. They really cannot be worked out. So at what point did Jesus lose fellowship with the Father? And at what point did he regain it? Nothing in Scripture indicates either of these. Therefore, we have to resort to speculation. And I, for one, am not willing to speculate. I will not do it. We must speak where the Bible speaks, and what must we do when the Bible is silent? We must be silent. Now, a related question to this idea of spiritual death, Jesus suffering spiritual death.

3. Why Was He in Agony in Gethsemane?

Why was he in agony in Gethsemane? You see, this is connected because it is taught that, well, the real reason Jesus was in agony, and the only reason he would have, you know, sweat as great drops of blood and been in agony to the point of death and everything like that, would have only been if he knew he was going to be separated spiritually from his father. That was almost too much for him to bear. I mean, he shouldn’t have got so upset if it was just death that was following. This is, you know, an argument made by John Calvin in institutes of the Christian religion. So many of these arguments in defense of God forsook Jesus were made by John Calvin and Martin Luther and Billy Graham and on and on.

Are those ones we want to align our beliefs with? What shameful softness, Calvin says, it would have been for Christ to be so tortured by the dread of common death? Look at what he calls what Jesus endured. Common death? As to sweat blood and to be able to be revived only at the appearance of angels. What? Does not that prayer coming from unbelievable bitterness of heart and repeated three times, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, show that Christ had a harsher and more difficult struggle than with common death? And that’s in the context in his book where he is arguing that Jesus was dreading the separation from God that was coming on the cross. So I simply put that quote. I have others, but I don’t have time to show them to you.

To show that these arguments have been made for a long time. And they’re made the same basic arguments are made today. My main problem with this, if I’m just a cut to the chase, is first of all, no passage teaches that God forsook Jesus. Now it is assumed that the Bible teaches God forsook Jesus because of Jesus’ statement, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But as we talked about, we absolutely cannot take that verse at face value, as if it were uttered in a vacuum without respect to the context of Psalm 22. And we’ll look at that. So we take it in a vacuum and we say, well, God did forsake him because Jesus said that. And if we take it at face value, we then also have to say that Jesus didn’t know why.

Why? But we can’t say that. Jesus was not confused, nor do I believe that he was forsaken. There’s a deeper meaning behind that quotation that Jesus made from the 22nd Psalm. Therefore, I’m firmly convinced that no passage teaches that God forsook Jesus. This argument that the reason Jesus was in such agony in the garden is because he knew he would be forsaken, is presented as the only reasonable explanation, the only one that really makes sense. But is it? No, I don’t believe it is the only one that makes sense. I don’t believe it does make sense. I believe the answer why Jesus was in so much agony in the Garden of Gethsemane is because of the horrific experience of everything that was about to come upon him.

He who was the only perfect man who ever lived, the only man who was man and God, the only man who had a perfect knowledge of everything that was about to come upon him. And the endured, the suffering that he endured was not merely common death. It was not merely physical suffering. It was mental. It was emotional. It was the whole nine yards. He was betrayed into the hands of sinners. He was abandoned by his closest followers, his apostles. He was condemned as a blasphemer, worthy of death, though he was totally innocent and the only man who never sinned. He was scourged with a whip of pieces of, as history tells us, bone and perhaps metal embedded within it that would have shred not only your skin, but the sinews beneath it and sometimes exposed ribs and internal organs, even, and many people would die from such a beating.

I believe that’s why Jesus died after only six hours on the cross. Perhaps one of the reasons, anyway. The cruel mockery of the soldiers. The thorn in his brow. The appearing before men as if he were a guilty, vile sinner. Isaiah 53, 12 tells us he was numbered among the transgressors. And he was. He was considered to be as bad as the thieves. He was right between them. He heard the scoffing of those who passed by, wagging their heads. He saved others. He cannot save himself. When Jesus could have called twelve legions of angels. Let God rescue him now if he delights in him. And of all people, God delighted in Jesus the Christ. To have to hear all that and to appear as a wicked sinner.

That had to be emotional turmoil and torture for Jesus the Christ and his sensitive righteous soul. He alone was God. He alone was perfect. Therefore, there’s no need to add another explanation. And to call this as John Calvin called it, this whole experience of Jesus on the cross, common death. A common death that should have been embraced joyfully if he were brave like other martyrs and even thieves who would rush to their death, as Calvin talks about earlier in the institutes. That is totally unjustified. And frankly, it is offensive to what Jesus went through on the cross. We don’t need to make up reasons why he was in agony. All we need are the reasons that are told to us in Scripture. Otherwise, what are we doing?

4. What Did His Quotation Mean?

Speculating. And I’m not willing to do that. Up to this point, we haven’t explained what Jesus’ statement meant. So, what did his quotation mean? I believe there’s only one explanation that it could be. Jesus was quoting from Psalm 22, the very first verse of that Psalm. So you might turn over to that Psalm. And we’re going to take a minute and we’re going to read it, and it’s not going to be on the slide. So I invite you to turn in your Bibles. I’m reading from the New American Standard. In case you want to take your electronic device and make it say New American Standard, you can be reading from the same version as me. This Psalm divides into two parts. Verses 1 through 21, a cry for deliverance.

And let’s read that first, and then we’ll look at the second part. Beginning in verse 1, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. By the way, David pinned this originally, and it did apply to him originally, though it’s a prophecy of Jesus as well. Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer. And by night, but I have no rest. Yet you are holy, O you who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel, and you our fathers trusted. They trusted in you delivered them. To you they cried out and were delivered. In you they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people.

All who see me sneer at me. They separate with the lip. They wag the head, saying, Commit yourself to the Lord. Let him deliver him, let him rescue him, because he delights in him. Which is prophetic of the words that the enemies of Christ would say as he hung on the cross. Yet you are he who brought me forth from the womb. You made me trust, went upon my mother’s breasts. Upon you I was cast from birth. You have been my God from my mother’s womb. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help. Many bulls have surrounded me, strong bulls of basion have encircled me. They opened wide their mouth at me as a ravening and a roaring lion.

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a pot shirt, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws, and you lay me in the dust of death, for dogs have surrounded me. A band of evildoers has encompassed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I have to wonder if David even knew what he was saying there. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me, they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. Sounds familiar. But you, O Lord, be not far off. O you my help, hasten to my assistance. Deliver my soul from the sword, my only life, from the power of the dog.

Save me from the lion’s mouth, from the horns of the wild oxen. You answer me. There we’re going to see a transition. This first part, this cry of deliverance, is a desperate cry of one who feels forsaken. One who wonders what’s taking God so long to come to his deliverance. But the Psalm doesn’t end that way. In fact, it ends with triumph, as we begin in verse 22. This section of a praise for deliverance. I will tell of your name to my brethren. In the midst of the assembly I will praise you. 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. 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. See, the answer came. He realized, God, you were there all along. From you comes my praise in the great assembly. I shall pay my vows before those who fear him. The afflicted will eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before you.

That was a better amen, everybody. Good job. One point I want to make from all this is that the forsaking that we see at the beginning of the song is in appearance, not in reality. Truly, David felt forsaken. And those who mocked only thought that God had abandoned him. Remember what we saw there in verse 8, what they were saying, commit yourself to the Lord. Let him rescue him. Let him deliver him, because he delights in him. Well, what they didn’t know is that he had committed himself to the Lord. And the Lord would deliver him and would rescue him. And that the Lord did delight in him. Jesus appeared forsaken on the cross, as we referred to earlier. That must have been terrible for him to have to endure.

The one suffering here, the one uttering this cry, was never actually forsaken by God. And I believe verse 24 proves that without dispute. And I’m going to quote it again. 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.

It did convey the idea that the sufferer felt forsaken and appeared forsaken, but it did not convey the fact that he was actually forsaken. And if those who heard Jesus make that quotation from the cross knew this song, then they would also know the victorious ending of the psalm, and that God did come to the deliverance and the rescue. As I said, we cannot look at the quotation Jesus made in a vacuum. We have to respect its original context. What was Jesus doing in making this quote? If he was not simply saying on the surface what it sounded like he was saying, which I don’t believe we can say he did without violating many scriptures. Then the other, the only other alternative, and this is not speculation.

The only other alternative is that he was appropriating the psalm to himself. He is the fulfillment of that psalm. You might say, in a way, he was teaching from the cross. This cry of deliverance from this from this entire psalm as a whole is a cry of confident deliverance that God will come. He was waiting confidently for God’s deliverance. Interesting. At what hour was it that Jesus uttered the words? Hiloi, Eloi, Lama Sabactana, which is translated, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? As Mark tells us. It’s at the ninth hour. This is possibly just moments before he died. That’s interesting, isn’t it? That he did get delivered and gained the victory. Only moments after uttering that quotation.

Do you know that Jesus also, in his last statement before he died, he said something that sounds an awful lot like the last verse of the 22nd Psalm. When Jesus had received the sour wine, John 19, 30 tells us that he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. What is the very last part of the last verse of Psalm 22 say? He has performed it. Or he has done it. And that whether Jesus meant for that to be a quotation or a direct reference to the last verse of Psalm 22, I think would be speculation, but to say he’s making at least the same exact point, I think we can all agree with that. This means that God has carried out justice and finished the work of providing for salvation for all of mankind.

Conclusion

It is finished. Thus, in a sense, you could say from the very first verse to the last verse of the Psalm and everything in between fits with Jesus. So what does this mean for us? In closing? Three things briefly. Number one, God is there for you even when no one else is. Even when you feel forsaken by men, and maybe you feel forsaken by God, realize that if you are a faithful disciple of him, the promise is, I will never leave you nor forsake you. He is there. I find it fascinating that the Psalm that follows Psalm 22 is obviously Psalm 23. And verse 4, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, yet you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Can we say? No matter what we walk through, even the valley of the shadow of death, that God will be with us. I believe he was with Jesus through that valley, and I believe that he will be with us. Secondly, God hears our prayers and answers them. Even when we cry out to him and it appears he’s not answering, and it appears he’s separated from us and that he’s forsaken us. Realize that God answers in his own time. And the answer to the psalm is a resounding yes. God hears and answers your prayers if you are his faithful disciple. And thirdly, God through Christ’s death has blessed us beyond measure. Because we have salvation. Therefore, we can greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving as the outcome of our faith the salvation of our souls.

Amen? That’s the thing to greatly rejoice in. Because of Christ’s victory, we have a great victory in Him. And whether you agree with everything that I’ve said today. I think we can all agree with that, can’t we? Our victory is in Jesus, who paid the price for our sins. I love you all. I thank you for letting me preach on a controversial topic, and I don’t mean to create controversy, but someone suggested to me you might want to preach on that. And I said, okay. At least in my mind. And I decided to preach on it. So thank you for your kind attention. I hope it’s been helpful in some way. If you’re not a child of God, become a child of God today. And you can share in the victory that is in Christ Jesus and have the removal of your sins, which means you can be forgiven.

And you can live a life of righteousness before Him. And receive the outcome of your faith, salvation of your soul. Want you to become a Christian today by being baptized, buried in the waters of baptism for remission of sins. Come now, as we stand and sing the song of invitation.