My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
The cry was uttered by Jesus from the cross at the ninth hour while darkness still surrounded Him. His deepest suffering was not bodily pain or dread of death but the crushing weight of the world's guilt and the hiding of His Father's face, favor and sustaining presence, leaving Him to feel fully the separation that sin makes between God and humanity. In that darkness He could see nothing beyond the tomb and had no assurance of coming victory, resurrection or acceptance, and was fiercely tempted to fear He was forsaken forever, yet He yielded nothing to the foe and continued to trust the Father. As the sinner's substitute and surety He had the disobedience of all imputed to Him and endured the penalty of the broken law, so that believing sinners might have His righteousness imputed to them and be treated as loyal and obedient children. The Father suffered with Him even in that withdrawal, and by that final soul-struggle He paid the price, purchased redemption and opened the gates of Paradise.
Words and Setting
The cry was uttered from the cross in darkness, at the ninth hour while darkness still surrounded Him. It was a despairing cry expressing the terrible sense of being forsaken by God. The darkness had lifted from the people but still enveloped Him.
The remaining darkness around Him was a symbol of the agony and horror weighing on His heart. A deeper gloom enshrouded His suffering soul, as if angry lightnings were hurled at Him.
He hung as the spotless Lamb of God, wounded and suffering. His cry came amid oppressive gloom and severe physical suffering as He yielded His life, and His death was not accompanied by triumphant joy. His physical pain was so great that it was hardly felt beside His soul anguish, which pierced His heart with a sorrow never fully understood.
The priests heard the cry and deliberately misinterpreted it as a call for Elijah. With bitter contempt and scorn they mocked Him, saying He was calling for Elias. They used that claim to refuse the last opportunity to relieve His suffering, saying to leave Him and see whether Elias would come to save Him. Their mockery came after the fear that had filled them while darkness covered the earth, and as that terror abated they were driven by dread that He might still escape them.
Moses was permitted to look down the stream of time and see the crucifixion and hear the agonizing cry. It came in His first advent at the last crowning act of nailing Him to the tree, after His birth as a babe at Bethlehem and His humble life in Nazareth. Before it lay His ministry of love and sympathy and healing, His rejection by a proud and unbelieving nation, His agony in Gethsemane, His betrayal, and cruel mockery and scourging amid hypocrisy and Satanic hatred by the Jewish nation against their Redeemer. As Moses had lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so the Son of God must be lifted upon the cross to give His life a sacrifice for men that whosoever believes should not perish but have eternal life. Afterward Moses saw Him rising from the dead and ascending to His Father escorted by adoring angels through shining portals to welcome by the hosts of heaven with songs of everlasting triumph.
Even on the cross He was still praying. He had taken human nature with human bodily wants and weariness, and through His whole ministry prayer went before and sanctified every act. He communed with His Father to the end, was braced for duty and trial by prayer, spent whole nights in prayer and sought souls by day. Following this bitter cry near the close of His life, He commended His spirit to the Father.
Nature of Christ's Anguish
The keenest anguish behind the cry was mental and spiritual, not bodily pain or dread of death. Bodily pain was only a small part of the agony, and others have suffered as much bodily torture by crucifixion or slow torment. What made His suffering different from that of martyrs was bearing the sins of the world and the sense of the Father's displeasure and wrath as He suffered the penalty of the law, which crushed His divine soul with an intensity man can but faintly conceive. His inexpressible agony as Prince of sufferers came not from the pain and ignominy of the cross but from a sense of the malignity of sin, so great that physical pain was hardly felt beside soul anguish.
It is a great mistake to think He suffered only a small portion of the penalty while having through it all evidence of His Father's love and acceptance with bright hope illuminating the tomb before Him. He had no light to brighten the future and not one ray to relieve the gloom, but was oppressed by the powers of darkness. The bitterness of His cup was the crushing weight of the world's sins and guilt laid upon Him, with the sense of the Father's displeasure and wrath against sin as He bore sin's penalty, which is death, and this broke His heart. He felt sin with all its terribleness to the utmost, realizing through the amazing darkness only the Father's displeasure for sin and its penalty of death.
In Him the innocent Man of Calvary fully realized and keenly felt the separation that sin makes between God and man. The Father's face, glory, sustaining presence, approving smile, reconciling favor and assurance were hidden and withdrawn, leaving Him surrounded by the powers of darkness. In the darkness He could not see beyond the tomb or through the portals of the tomb and of death, and had no bright hope of coming forth a conqueror. He had no assurance then of coming victory, resurrection, or the Father's acceptance of His sacrifice, and feared their separation would be eternal.
He was fiercely tempted to fear that His own Father had left Him forever and could not be reconciled to Him because sin was so offensive in His sight, and doubts assailed Him in that horror. In that terrible hour, with the Father's face hidden and the sins of the world upon Him, despair pressed crushing darkness upon Him and the words were wrenched and forced from His pale and quivering lips. Legions of evil angels enshrouded and oppressed Him while holy angels were bidden not to break ranks to fight the taunting foe nor permitted to minister to His anguished spirit. He struggled with Satan's claim that He was in Satan's hands and superior in strength, disowned by God and no longer in favor with God, asking why He must die if still in favor when God could save Him from death.
Even in bitterest anguish He yielded not in the least to the foe but continued to trust the Father by faith. He relied on the evidence of His Father's character and past acceptance of His work, though He had no sustaining sense of presence and approval. As He bore the guilt of every descendant of Adam He saw how deep is sin's hold on the human heart, how familiarity with evil blinds men to its enormity, how few will break from its power, and how humanity without help from God must perish with multitudes perishing within reach of abundant help. The withdrawal of the divine countenance pierced His heart in supreme anguish with a sorrow never fully understood by man, even as the Father suffered with the Son.
Substitution and Redemption
On the cross He hung as the sinner's substitute, surety and ransom, taking the guilt of the disobedient upon Himself, counted a transgressor to redeem from the condemnation of the law, with the sword of justice awakened against Him. He bore the full penalty for human transgression and cried out as one forsaken by God, with the iniquity of all laid upon Him and the guilt of every descendant of Adam pressing His heart. His inexpressible agony came not from dread of death nor from the pain and ignominy of the cross, for bodily pain was hardly felt beside the weight of guilt and the withdrawal of the Father's revealed presence. Bearing that terrible weight He could not see the Father's reconciling face, though all His life He had published the Father's mercy and pardoning love with salvation for the chief of sinners as His theme, and the withdrawal of the divine countenance pierced His heart with a sorrow never fully understood by man. In that supreme anguish He feared their separation would be eternal, having no assurance then of His resurrection or of the Father's acceptance of His sacrifice, while the wrath of God against sin and the terrible manifestation of His displeasure filled His soul with consternation. As Prince of sufferers He felt the malignity of sin, seeing how deep is sin's hold on the human heart, how familiarity with evil blinds men to its enormity, how few will break from its power, and how humanity without help must perish with multitudes perishing within reach of abundant help. Even as He suffered in fearful conflict with the powers of darkness under oppressive gloom without triumphant joy, His immeasurable love remained stronger than death and even increased for perishing sinners in that darkness. The Father Himself suffered with the Son even in that forsakenness and despairing cry.
Though innocent He was treated as a sinner because the sins of the world were imputed to Him, so that guilty sinners who believe might be treated as righteous and as God's loyal and obedient children through His merits, having His righteousness imputed to them. His cry marks the loss of His Father's favor and the final depth of His suffering. Even in that fearful conflict He was accomplishing humanity's salvation, and by His own arm and final soul-struggle He paid the price and purchased man's redemption. He bore the burden of guilt and the wrath of divine justice, and by His sacrifice opened the gates of Paradise. His suffering as the sin-bearer was endured for humanity amid unutterable anguish at feeling His Father's face hidden.
The cry reveals the offensive character of sin as seen in the light of the cross and proves that God is not too merciful to punish transgressors of His law. On Calvary He suffered in the sinner's place with intense agony caused by our sins pouring darkness into His soul, taking upon Himself the guilt of the disobedient and suffering in the sinner's stead. He endured scorn and mockery to save us from shame and everlasting contempt. The withdrawal of the Father's light, love and glory while He bore the horror of sin shows how offensive sin is to God. Following the hours of anguish in Gethsemane where His sweat was as great drops of blood, He was uplifted on the cross with wounded head, pierced side and marred feet and uttered the despairing cry. It shows that in redeeming sinners He risked all and heaven itself was imperiled, and it measures the value of a soul, proving He would have laid down His life for even one sinner.
Witnesses and Effects
At the ninth hour, while darkness still enveloped Him after lifting from the people, He uttered a despairing cry expressing the terrible sense of being forsaken. Those who heard it concluded that Heaven's vengeance and the bolts of God's wrath were upon Him because He claimed to be the Son of God. Many who believed on Him were filled with terror when they heard the cry of agony in the darkness.
They lost hope, feeling that if God had forsaken Jesus their hope was gone and they had nothing to trust. Their cherished teaching seemed lost, their faith seemed lost, and they wondered what they could trust if God had forsaken Jesus.
Wider Applications
The same cry will be uttered by the remnant in the time of trouble to express their feeling that God has forsaken them. Those words supply what they will cry when that sense of being forsaken comes upon them.
A person in distress may take up this cry of feeling forsaken by God, far from help, with prayers seemingly bringing no answer and favor seemingly withdrawn. Poverty and care can bring this question to the heart, and in times of deep gloom and distress that feeling of abandonment can arise. Yet the feeling does not mean God has abandoned the sufferer, and trust in His love and mercy must hold firm through darkness as well as in times of relief.
The thought that God had forsaken Him made Christ's suffering especially acute in His anguish at separation from His Father's favor. His anguish also portrays what sinners will feel when, too late, they realize that God's Spirit has withdrawn from them under wrath.
Jesus uttered this agonizing cry as He suffered for humanity under the burden of the world's sins, expressing the depth of His agony. Beside His trials and sacrifices all other trials appear small, yet believers are permitted in small measure to be partakers in His sufferings. His suffering for others is a reason believers should be willing to suffer for His sake.
He had taken human nature with human bodily wants and weariness, was tempted in all points yet without sin, and through His whole ministry prayer went before and sanctified every act. He communed with His Father to the end, was braced for duty and trial by prayer, spent whole nights in prayer and sought souls by day, and even on the cross He still prayed, following this bitter cry near the close of His life by commending His spirit to the Father. Strength for duty and trial, with refreshing and invigorating of soul and body to meet temptation, is derived from worship, and those striving to live His life will feel the same need for seasons of devotion.
The cry was uttered by Jesus from the cross at the ninth hour while darkness still surrounded Him. His deepest suffering was not bodily pain or dread of death but the crushing weight of the world's guilt and the hiding of His Father's face, favor and sustaining presence, leaving Him to feel fully the separation that sin makes between God and humanity. In that darkness He could see nothing beyond the tomb and had no assurance of coming victory, resurrection or acceptance, and was fiercely tempted to fear He was forsaken forever, yet He yielded nothing to the foe and continued to trust the Father. As the sinner's substitute and surety He had the disobedience of all imputed to Him and endured the penalty of the broken law, so that believing sinners might have His righteousness imputed to them and be treated as loyal and obedient children. The Father suffered with Him even in that withdrawal, and by that final soul-struggle He paid the price, purchased redemption and opened the gates of Paradise.
Words and Setting
The cry was uttered from the cross in darkness, at the ninth hour while darkness still surrounded Him. It was a despairing cry expressing the terrible sense of being forsaken by God. The darkness had lifted from the people but still enveloped Him.
The remaining darkness around Him was a symbol of the agony and horror weighing on His heart. A deeper gloom enshrouded His suffering soul, as if angry lightnings were hurled at Him.
He hung as the spotless Lamb of God, wounded and suffering. His cry came amid oppressive gloom and severe physical suffering as He yielded His life, and His death was not accompanied by triumphant joy. His physical pain was so great that it was hardly felt beside His soul anguish, which pierced His heart with a sorrow never fully understood.
The priests heard the cry and deliberately misinterpreted it as a call for Elijah. With bitter contempt and scorn they mocked Him, saying He was calling for Elias. They used that claim to refuse the last opportunity to relieve His suffering, saying to leave Him and see whether Elias would come to save Him. Their mockery came after the fear that had filled them while darkness covered the earth, and as that terror abated they were driven by dread that He might still escape them.
Moses was permitted to look down the stream of time and see the crucifixion and hear the agonizing cry. It came in His first advent at the last crowning act of nailing Him to the tree, after His birth as a babe at Bethlehem and His humble life in Nazareth. Before it lay His ministry of love and sympathy and healing, His rejection by a proud and unbelieving nation, His agony in Gethsemane, His betrayal, and cruel mockery and scourging amid hypocrisy and Satanic hatred by the Jewish nation against their Redeemer. As Moses had lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so the Son of God must be lifted upon the cross to give His life a sacrifice for men that whosoever believes should not perish but have eternal life. Afterward Moses saw Him rising from the dead and ascending to His Father escorted by adoring angels through shining portals to welcome by the hosts of heaven with songs of everlasting triumph.
Even on the cross He was still praying. He had taken human nature with human bodily wants and weariness, and through His whole ministry prayer went before and sanctified every act. He communed with His Father to the end, was braced for duty and trial by prayer, spent whole nights in prayer and sought souls by day. Following this bitter cry near the close of His life, He commended His spirit to the Father.
Nature of Christ's Anguish
The keenest anguish behind the cry was mental and spiritual, not bodily pain or dread of death. Bodily pain was only a small part of the agony, and others have suffered as much bodily torture by crucifixion or slow torment. What made His suffering different from that of martyrs was bearing the sins of the world and the sense of the Father's displeasure and wrath as He suffered the penalty of the law, which crushed His divine soul with an intensity man can but faintly conceive. His inexpressible agony as Prince of sufferers came not from the pain and ignominy of the cross but from a sense of the malignity of sin, so great that physical pain was hardly felt beside soul anguish.
It is a great mistake to think He suffered only a small portion of the penalty while having through it all evidence of His Father's love and acceptance with bright hope illuminating the tomb before Him. He had no light to brighten the future and not one ray to relieve the gloom, but was oppressed by the powers of darkness. The bitterness of His cup was the crushing weight of the world's sins and guilt laid upon Him, with the sense of the Father's displeasure and wrath against sin as He bore sin's penalty, which is death, and this broke His heart. He felt sin with all its terribleness to the utmost, realizing through the amazing darkness only the Father's displeasure for sin and its penalty of death.
In Him the innocent Man of Calvary fully realized and keenly felt the separation that sin makes between God and man. The Father's face, glory, sustaining presence, approving smile, reconciling favor and assurance were hidden and withdrawn, leaving Him surrounded by the powers of darkness. In the darkness He could not see beyond the tomb or through the portals of the tomb and of death, and had no bright hope of coming forth a conqueror. He had no assurance then of coming victory, resurrection, or the Father's acceptance of His sacrifice, and feared their separation would be eternal.
He was fiercely tempted to fear that His own Father had left Him forever and could not be reconciled to Him because sin was so offensive in His sight, and doubts assailed Him in that horror. In that terrible hour, with the Father's face hidden and the sins of the world upon Him, despair pressed crushing darkness upon Him and the words were wrenched and forced from His pale and quivering lips. Legions of evil angels enshrouded and oppressed Him while holy angels were bidden not to break ranks to fight the taunting foe nor permitted to minister to His anguished spirit. He struggled with Satan's claim that He was in Satan's hands and superior in strength, disowned by God and no longer in favor with God, asking why He must die if still in favor when God could save Him from death.
Even in bitterest anguish He yielded not in the least to the foe but continued to trust the Father by faith. He relied on the evidence of His Father's character and past acceptance of His work, though He had no sustaining sense of presence and approval. As He bore the guilt of every descendant of Adam He saw how deep is sin's hold on the human heart, how familiarity with evil blinds men to its enormity, how few will break from its power, and how humanity without help from God must perish with multitudes perishing within reach of abundant help. The withdrawal of the divine countenance pierced His heart in supreme anguish with a sorrow never fully understood by man, even as the Father suffered with the Son.
Substitution and Redemption
On the cross He hung as the sinner's substitute, surety and ransom, taking the guilt of the disobedient upon Himself, counted a transgressor to redeem from the condemnation of the law, with the sword of justice awakened against Him. He bore the full penalty for human transgression and cried out as one forsaken by God, with the iniquity of all laid upon Him and the guilt of every descendant of Adam pressing His heart. His inexpressible agony came not from dread of death nor from the pain and ignominy of the cross, for bodily pain was hardly felt beside the weight of guilt and the withdrawal of the Father's revealed presence. Bearing that terrible weight He could not see the Father's reconciling face, though all His life He had published the Father's mercy and pardoning love with salvation for the chief of sinners as His theme, and the withdrawal of the divine countenance pierced His heart with a sorrow never fully understood by man. In that supreme anguish He feared their separation would be eternal, having no assurance then of His resurrection or of the Father's acceptance of His sacrifice, while the wrath of God against sin and the terrible manifestation of His displeasure filled His soul with consternation. As Prince of sufferers He felt the malignity of sin, seeing how deep is sin's hold on the human heart, how familiarity with evil blinds men to its enormity, how few will break from its power, and how humanity without help must perish with multitudes perishing within reach of abundant help. Even as He suffered in fearful conflict with the powers of darkness under oppressive gloom without triumphant joy, His immeasurable love remained stronger than death and even increased for perishing sinners in that darkness. The Father Himself suffered with the Son even in that forsakenness and despairing cry.
Though innocent He was treated as a sinner because the sins of the world were imputed to Him, so that guilty sinners who believe might be treated as righteous and as God's loyal and obedient children through His merits, having His righteousness imputed to them. His cry marks the loss of His Father's favor and the final depth of His suffering. Even in that fearful conflict He was accomplishing humanity's salvation, and by His own arm and final soul-struggle He paid the price and purchased man's redemption. He bore the burden of guilt and the wrath of divine justice, and by His sacrifice opened the gates of Paradise. His suffering as the sin-bearer was endured for humanity amid unutterable anguish at feeling His Father's face hidden.
The cry reveals the offensive character of sin as seen in the light of the cross and proves that God is not too merciful to punish transgressors of His law. On Calvary He suffered in the sinner's place with intense agony caused by our sins pouring darkness into His soul, taking upon Himself the guilt of the disobedient and suffering in the sinner's stead. He endured scorn and mockery to save us from shame and everlasting contempt. The withdrawal of the Father's light, love and glory while He bore the horror of sin shows how offensive sin is to God. Following the hours of anguish in Gethsemane where His sweat was as great drops of blood, He was uplifted on the cross with wounded head, pierced side and marred feet and uttered the despairing cry. It shows that in redeeming sinners He risked all and heaven itself was imperiled, and it measures the value of a soul, proving He would have laid down His life for even one sinner.
Witnesses and Effects
At the ninth hour, while darkness still enveloped Him after lifting from the people, He uttered a despairing cry expressing the terrible sense of being forsaken. Those who heard it concluded that Heaven's vengeance and the bolts of God's wrath were upon Him because He claimed to be the Son of God. Many who believed on Him were filled with terror when they heard the cry of agony in the darkness.
They lost hope, feeling that if God had forsaken Jesus their hope was gone and they had nothing to trust. Their cherished teaching seemed lost, their faith seemed lost, and they wondered what they could trust if God had forsaken Jesus.
Wider Applications
The same cry will be uttered by the remnant in the time of trouble to express their feeling that God has forsaken them. Those words supply what they will cry when that sense of being forsaken comes upon them.
A person in distress may take up this cry of feeling forsaken by God, far from help, with prayers seemingly bringing no answer and favor seemingly withdrawn. Poverty and care can bring this question to the heart, and in times of deep gloom and distress that feeling of abandonment can arise. Yet the feeling does not mean God has abandoned the sufferer, and trust in His love and mercy must hold firm through darkness as well as in times of relief.
The thought that God had forsaken Him made Christ's suffering especially acute in His anguish at separation from His Father's favor. His anguish also portrays what sinners will feel when, too late, they realize that God's Spirit has withdrawn from them under wrath.
Jesus uttered this agonizing cry as He suffered for humanity under the burden of the world's sins, expressing the depth of His agony. Beside His trials and sacrifices all other trials appear small, yet believers are permitted in small measure to be partakers in His sufferings. His suffering for others is a reason believers should be willing to suffer for His sake.
He had taken human nature with human bodily wants and weariness, was tempted in all points yet without sin, and through His whole ministry prayer went before and sanctified every act. He communed with His Father to the end, was braced for duty and trial by prayer, spent whole nights in prayer and sought souls by day, and even on the cross He still prayed, following this bitter cry near the close of His life by commending His spirit to the Father. Strength for duty and trial, with refreshing and invigorating of soul and body to meet temptation, is derived from worship, and those striving to live His life will feel the same need for seasons of devotion.