Skip to main content

MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY . . . .?

All my life I have heard how Jesus was the Godforsaken One. And again, recently, a leader in a service said, that God the Father "turned His face away from the Son on the cross". This teaching is based on Jesus cry from the cross: 'My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?' (Matt 27.

 But is that true? Was there some split in the Trinity that resulted in one Member turning away from another because of our sin? Remember, God the Father sent the Son to die for us; the Son came to fulfil the will of the Father (e.g., Jn 5.30), and the Spirit has been upon Jesus from the beginning (Matt 1.18; Lu 3.22; 4.1; etc).

One treatment I have read on this matter is found at http://answers.org/theology/forsaken.html.

 One point made by this author is that these words are the opening words of a Messianic Psalm, Psalm 22. When so quoted, the terms of the whole psalm are being evoked. These words are the cry of the dying Messiah whose agony is fulfilling the Psalm as the true Messiah of Israel. Even His accusers become part of that fulfilment when they wag their heads and mock him, "He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if He desires him" (Ps 22:6-8; Matt 27:43).

 Note too the reaction of the onlookers to his quoting of these verses from Ps 22. "This man is calling Elijah" which mock Jesus as if he is calling on Elijah. ('Eli' and 'Elijah' may sound similar coming from the lips of a crucified man.) Importantly, they don't conclude that Jesus is admitting he is Godforsaken. Jesus dies.

 What happens thereafter is that the Temple's curtain is torn in two from top to bottom, the earth shakes, rocks are split and saints are raised to life!! All these are signs of redemptive judgment on the old order and patently confirm Jesus as the Messianic King of a New Order.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reigning With Christ by F J Huegel

Reigning With Christ by F J Huegel (1963) is a book of only 88 pages yet it is filled with crucial truths of the Christian faith organised around the theme of the enthroned believer . It's fair to say that the theme he concisely addresses in this small book is much neglected today. For the press of technological life with its bustle and speed is such that we can forget that present life, so ' real' to us, is temporary (2 Cor 4.18) and as in the first century, 'the form [Greek, "schema"] of the world is passing away' (1Cor 7.31). It's easy to read this work and though it has 20 chapters, they are short and pithy. However, reading it requires a meditative attitude so as to allow the Spirit to work on our hearts.
Post a Comment
Read more

God's Proof of His Love-While We Were Still Enemies

I've just come across an excerpt from a wonderful book I have, The Divine Forbearance or The Dynamics of Forgiveness (2001) by Paul T. Harrison 1 . I want to focus on some points he makes from Rom 5.1-11 concerning the love of God. In Romans ch 4, the subject is faith: 'the means by which we are rightwised 2 to God' (Harrison, p. 52). But what, Harrison asks, arouses faith; what 'has Christ revealed about God that makes us able to trust Him?' Fire of God Ministries International Church-see http://fireofgodservants.blogspot.com.au And to that question he answers, God's forgiving love . God's love is so faithful and true that we may depend on it absolutely. Why is that so? That is explored in Rom 5.6-11. Our status before God as ungodly sinners (Rom 5.6, 8) in the past meant that we were the 'enemies of God' (Rom 5.10). Think of that! Being an enemy of God means to be subject to his wrath (Rom 5.9) and displeasure. People don't give their live
3 comments
Read more

Christian Atheism!

" The great lesson that our blessed Lord inculcates here...is that God is in all things, and that we are to see the Creator in the glass [mirror] of every creature; that we should use and look upon nothing as separate from God, which indeed is a kind of practical atheism; but with a true magnificence of thought survey heaven and earth and all that is therein as contained by God in the hollow of his hand, who by his intimate presence holds them all in being, who pervades and activates the whole created frame, and is in a true sense the soul of the universe." These pungent words were given to me by an overseas correspondent and come from a sermon by John Wesley (1748) on the 'Sermon on the Mount'. Part of the context for his words apparently were that Wesley originally baulked at the idea of preaching in the open air until he realised that the Lord Jesus had preached outside! But, more especially for our edification is that Wesley fixed on the truth that nothing
2 comments
Read more