BGEA: Did God really forsake Jesus when He was dying on the cross?

Did God really forsake Jesus when He was dying on the cross?

Jesus' cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34) has puzzled many. Jesus is actually quoting the opening line of Psalm 22 and using it to express His deep agony on the cross. He is suffering the penalty for our sin, in our place.

The penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23). Death includes two dimensions—physical and spiritual. Physical death is the separation of the spirit from the body. Spiritual death is the separation of the spirit from God. Since Jesus was dying for our sin as our substitute, He was experiencing the agony of separation from His Father. It was the agony of hell.

There is an unfathomable mystery here. Jesus was both God and man united in one divine Person. He could not suffer and die with respect to His deity, but He could suffer the agony of separation from the Father and actually die physically with respect to His humanity. And He did, that we might, through repentance from sin and faith in Him as our Savior and Lord, be forgiven of our sin and reconciled with God.

"We all, like sheep, have gone astray ... and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6).

Our greatest need is for forgiveness—and Christ came to make that forgiveness possible. Christ bridged the gap between God and man, and by faith in Him that gulf can be erased and we can come to know God personally. Faith is not just an idea in our minds or even a conviction in our hearts. It is a commitment of our lives to God and His truth.

Let God's Word, the Bible, be the source of your understanding about God and His love. But beyond that, open your heart to Christ and commit your life to Him. It is the most important step you will ever take.

5 Comments

Mark says 4.18.2013, 3:14 p.m.

If one would read further in the Psalm:Psalms 22:24 For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help (NIV)

Babu says 7.12.2012, 06:01 a.m.

What can i give him for love he as show toward me . 1 unconditional love, 2 forgiven my sin's, 3 intentness for me, On one in this world can love or suffer so much until to death .

Ed says 1.24.2012, 9:36 p.m.

God did not forsake His son. Jesus was merely quoting from Psalm 22 to show the people that this scripture applied to him. God the Father is smart enough to separate his perfect son from the sin that he was carrying. See John 16:32

Amb says 11.3.2011, 09:02 a.m.

It is good to know that there is a love unlike any other in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Who would have gone to this length to show us unconditional love and forgiveness but a loving Lord and Saviour? Glory to God, thank you Jesus!

Aub says 10.10.2010, 11:48 p.m.

So this is my understanding... The moment this occurred on the cross, Christ was feeling the intenseness of all of the world's sin on his shoulders. If God can't be around sin, at that moment He looked at Christ and that's what he saw... sin. Our sin, He had to "turn away". Christ not only felt the sin of the world, but also separation from God as Christ "became sin" for us. 2 Corinthians 5:21.