Cross Words - The Cries of Jesus From the Cross
4 - Abandoned That We Might Be Accepted
Matthew 27 Verses 29 to 46 - "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
On the 14th August 1941, at precisely ten to one in the afternoon, prisoner Kolbe was killed.
And here’s what happened. During the night someone managed to escape from Auschwitz concentration camp; and Adolf Eichmann was mad. So mad that he decided a prisoner had to die; as a deterrent; as an example to the others.
Well, a Polish Sergeant, name of Francis Gavinofski, was singled out. The entire prison came to witness the execution. It was then that Gavinofski fell to his knees and with tears he begged Eichmann for mercy, “Please, my poor wife, my children. I don’t want to die!” And that’s when prisoner 16670 stepped forward. Max Kolbe. He said: “Sir! Shoot me instead. I’ll die in the place of that man who has a wife and children.”
Well, when Jesus died, He died in the place of others. He died in the place of sinners. And as He died He cried seven times from the cross. We’ve called this His cross words.
The fourth cry, the fourth word, the central cry, the central word, is recorded for us in Matthew 27:46 "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (NKJ)
Let me highlight four 4 truths.
To begin with there is a parting here: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?".
The word ‘forsaken’ is the most tragic, the most horrible word in the English language. He’s all alone. Totally alone, forsaken and rejected.
Of course Jesus was forsaken; he was rejected by His own brothers and sisters. They don’t accept Him. They don’t believe in Him until after the Resurrection.
Forsaken, rejected, also by His own people; His own nation. The Bible says that He came to His own and His own received Him not. They kept Him at arm’s length; they pushed Him away; they didn’t want to know Him.
Forsaken, rejected, by one of the twelve as well. Judas has betrayed Him for thirty pieces of silver.
And what about Peter. Peter denies Him. I don’t know the man.
And the rest of the disciples? Jesus actually prophesied when the shepherd is slain the sheep will be scattered.
So Jesus is forsaken. He’s deserted. He’s abandoned, rejected at every point and turn. Forsaken by His family, His friends, His followers and now forsaken by His Father.
Martin Luther, the reformer, started to fast and pray. And he sat for days thinking and mediating and contemplating this saying. And in the end, he said, “Who can understand this? God forsaken by God! It’s incredible.”
The Baptist pastor of a bye gone day Charles Haddon Spurgeon put it like this, "The records of time, or even the records of eternity, don’t contain a sentence more full of anguish. Here we look into the abyss and although we strain our eyes and gaze until sight fails, we’ll never see the bottom of this terrible anguish as Christ was forsaken by God!"
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? There’s a parting here.
There’s a punishment here.
Jesus has been on the cross for six hours. They crucified Him at the third hour. 9 o’clock in the morning. And when it was the sixth hour, that’s 12 noon, everything went completely dark, verse 45 says. And listen, it was no ordinary darkness, it was a supernatural darkness. It was midnight in the middle of the day and it strayed dark until the ninth hour, that’s three in the afternoon. From when the sun was at its highest until the sun was at its warmest, it was pitch black.
And so we need to understand this darkness speaks of judgement. Jesus often referred to hell as outer darkness. And so, as the earth’s covered in darkness, Jesus is plunged outer darkness, hell’s darkness. And He cries.
Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled. The Lord is laying on Him the iniquity of us all. He put Him to grief.
Paul says in one of his apistles, “He made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him”. Jesus is the substitute of sinners. He’s standing where we should have stood, He’s taking what we should have taken, He’s enduring what we should have endured. And that’s why it’s pitch black. The full weight, the full horror of God’s wrath unleashed, outpoured on Him.
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
There’s a parting here. There’s a punishment here. Thirdly, there’s a prophecy here.
When Jesus made this fourth cry He spoke in Aramaic. "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" Those who didn’t know Aramaic thought He was calling for Elijah. But He wasn’t. He was actually quoting Psalm 22, a Messianic Psalm, a prophetic Psalm. Jesus is in complete command of His senses right to the very end.
He takes that 1000 year old Psalm, it’s all about Him, and He cries with a loud voice and fulfils prophecy. Remember all through His life, His conception, His birth, when He was born, where He was born, particularly the twenty four hours leading up to His death, all predicted with pin point accuracy.
And even when He was on the cross lots of things are happening, ‘that it might be fulfilled’, the Bible says. Crucified between two thieves; they’re gambling for His garments. And this cry? It’s the very same. Prophecy is being fulfilled.
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
A parting here, a punishment here, a prophecy here. And a passion here.
It’s all about love for the unlovely; and the unlovable; it’s all about love for us.
Jesus is forsaken that we might be forgiven. He’s abandoned that we might be accepted. He punished that we might be pardoned. He’s separated that we might be saved. He’s in hell that we might go at last to heaven. He’s in darkness that we might have eternal light and life.
Yes, this cry shows us how much God hates sin, but it also shows us how much God loves sinners.
If you want to know what lengths He went to, what depths He went to, listen to this cry. If you want a demonstration and an explanation of the text ‘God is love’, listen to this cry.
The crucifixion shows just how far men will go in their sin, but even more than that, it shows how far God has gone, how far Christ has gone, in His love for sinners.
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
Once again what about the call, to come to Jesus, the sin bearer, the substitute, the Saviour, the rescuer, the one who paid the debt, the one who took your place, the one who endured your punishment and the one who bore your hell.
And what about the comfort? For every true believer there is no more judgement, no more condemnation. We are free. We can say with Paul Jesus Christ soaked up all of heaven’s righteous wrath and there’s not one drop left now for us. We can breathe a massive sigh of relief. What comfort.
And what about the challenge? Again Peter tells us in First Peter that ‘Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in His steps.’ In other words, we are to live the way He died.
And how did He die? Well, according to this cry, He died understanding the consequences of sin, understanding what sin does, sin cuts us off. And that’s how we’re to live. We’re to understand what sin does and live accordingly.