4. The Word Of Anguish
"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Matthew 27:46
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
THESE ARE WORDS OF STARTLING IMPORT. The crucifixion of the Lord of glory was the most extraordinary event that has ever happened on earth, and this cry of the suffering one was the most startling utterance of that appalling scene. That innocence should be condemned, that the guiltless should be persecuted, that a benefactor should be cruelly put to death, was no new event in history. From the murder of righteous Abel to that of Zecharias there was a long list of martyrdoms. But he who hung on this central cross was no ordinary man, he was the Son of Man, the one in which all excellencies met - the Perfect One. Like his robe, his character was "without seam, woven from the top throughout".
In the case of all other persecuted ones there were demerits and blemishes which might afford their murderers something to blame. But the judge of this one said, "I find no fault in him".
And more. This Sufferer was not only perfect man, but he was the Son of God. Yet, it is not strange that man should wish to destroy God. "The fool hath said in his heart - no God" (Ps. 14:1) such is his wish. But it is strange that he who was God manifest in the flesh should allow himself to be so treated by his enemies. It is exceeding strange that the Father who delighted in him, whose own voice had declared from the opened heavens, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" should deliver him up to such a shameful death.
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
These are words of appalling woe. The very word, "forsaken" is one of the most tragic in all human speech. The writer will not readily forget his sensation as he once passed through a town deserted of all its inhabitants - a forsaken city. What calamities are conjured up by this word - a man forsaken of his friends, a wife forsaken by her husband, a child forsaken by its parents! But a creature forsaken by its Creator, a man forsaken of God -O this is the most frightful of all. This is the evil of all evils. This is the climacteric calamity. True, fallen man, in his unrenewed condition, does not so deem it. But he, who in some measure at least, has learned that God is the sum of all perfection, the fount and goal of all excellency, he whose cry is "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God" (Ps. 42:1), is ready to endorse what has just been said. The cry of saints in all ages has been, "Forsake us not, O God". For the Lord to hide his face from us but for a moment is unbearable. If this is true of renewed sinners, how infinitely more so of the beloved Son of the Father!
He who hung there on the accursed tree had been from all eternity the object of the Father’s love. To employ the language of Proverbs 8, the suffering Saviour was the one who "was by him, as one brought up with him", he was "daily his delight". His own joy had been to behold the Father’s countenance. The Father’s presence had been his home, the Father’s bosom his dwelling-place, the Father’s glory he had shared before ever the world was. During the thirty and three years the Son had been on earth he enjoyed unbroken communion with the Father. Never a thought that was out of harmony with the Father’s mind, never a volition but what originated in the Father’s will, never a moment spent out of his conscious presence. What then must it have meant to be "forsaken" now by God! Ah, the hiding of God’s face from him was the most bitter ingredient of that cup which the Father had given the Redeemer to drink.
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
These are words of unequalled pathos. They mark the climax of his sufferings. The soldiers had cruelly mocked him: they had arrayed him with the crown of thorns, they had scourged and buffeted him, they even went so far as to spit upon him and pluck off his hair. They despoiled him of his garments and put him to an open shame. Yet he suffered it all in silence. They pierced his hands and his feet, yet did he endure the cross, despising the shame. The vulgar crowd taunted him, and the thieves which were crucified with him flung the same taunts into his face; yet he opened not his mouth. In response to all that he suffered at the hands of men, not a cry escaped his lips. But now, as the concentrated wrath of heaven descends upon him, he cries, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Surely this is a cry that ought to melt the hardest heart!
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
These are words of deepest mystery. Of old the Lord Jehovah forsook not his people. Again and again he was their refuge in trouble. When Israel was in cruel bondage they cried unto God, and he heard them. When they stood helplessly before the Red Sea, he came to their aid and delivered them from their enemies. When the three Hebrews were cast into the fiery furnace, the Lord was with them. But here, at the cross, there ascends a more plaintive and agonizing cry than ever went up from the land of Egypt, yet was there no response! Here was a situation far more alarming than the Red Sea crisis: enemies more relentless beset this one, yet was there no deliverance! Here was a fire that burned infinitely fiercer than Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace, but there was no one by his side to comfort! He is abandoned by God!
Yes, this cry of the suffering Saviour is deeply mysterious. At first he had cried, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do", and this we can understand, for it well accords with his compassionate heart. Again had he opened his mouth, to say to the repentant thief, "Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise", and this too, we can well understand, for it was in full keeping with his grace towards sinners. Once more his lips moved - to his mother, "Woman, behold thy son"; to the beloved John, "Behold thy mother" -and this also we can appreciate. But the next time he opens his mouth a cry is made which startles and staggers us. Of old David said, "I have never seen the righteous forsaken" but here we behold the Righteous One forsaken.
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
These are words of profoundest solemnity. This was a cry which made the very earth tremble, and that reverberated throughout the entire universe. Ah, what mind is sufficient for contemplating this wonder of wonders! What mind is capable of analyzing the meaning of this amazing cry which rent the awful darkness! "Why hast thou forsaken me?" are words which conduct us into the Holy of Holies. Here, if anywhere, it is supremely fitting that we remove the shoes of carnal inquisitiveness. Speculation were profane; we can but wonder and worship.
But though these words are of startling import, appalling woe, deepest mystery, unique pathos, and profound solemnity, yet are we not left in ignorance as to their meaning. True, this cry was deeply mysterious, yet it is capable of most blessed solution. The Holy Scriptures leave it impossible to doubt that these words of unequalled grief were both the fullest manifestation of divine love and the most awe-inspiring display of God’s inflexible justice. May every thought be now brought into captivity to Christ and may our hearts be duly solemnized as we take a closer view of this fourth utterance of the dying Saviour.
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Seven_Sayings/sayings_04.htm
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