Friday, November 14, 2025

Wilhelmus à Brakel On Forsakenness And God's Anger Toward His Son On That Cross


Wilhelmus à Brakel on the anger of God toward His Son on that cross:

The curse. Christ felt in full force the curse, the execution of being accursed, Galatians 3:10-13, the wrath of God, the Lord's anger, righteously expressed upon a sinner (214)

Imagine feeling the sin in its horror, being utterly forsaken of God's favor, feeling God's wrath and anger as a Judge in righteousness in the highest degree, and then being attacked and assaulted in the most cunning and most horrific way by the power of hell at that time. What a situation it was! What a distressing state it was! Thus, Christ suffered according to the soul. (214)

Quotations take from: Christology: The Doctrine of Christ

On the forsakenness of Christ and anger of God toward His Son on that cross (The Reasonable Service Of God, Volume 1): 

The greatness of His soul's suffering also appears from His complaint on the cross: Matt. 27:46 My God! my God! why hast Thou forsaken Me? He was not forsaken by the Divine nature, that personal bond could not be dissolved. He was also not forsaken by the love of the Father, which remained unchangeable. He was not forsaken by the Holy Spirit, with whom He was abundantly anointed. He does not complain of being forsaken into the hands of men; but He complains of the withholding of the manifestation of all light, love, help, comfort, and that for that time and in that time, when the distress was at its greatest, and He had the most need of them. When Christ says why? That is not an inquiry into the cause, but a moving expression of grief. It was not despair, for He said: My God, Father, but an expression that indicates the most comfortless, most helpless, and most sorrowful state. (Page 790)

2. The separation from God; and His wrath. Christ felt in full force the separation from God on account of sin. It is not to be conceived nor expressed what terror, what unrest, what darkness, what dreariness, what a sorrowful state it is, when God in indignation wholly and entirely separates Himself from a sinner, withdraws from him all favor, grace, light; forsakes him, casts him off, and leaves him standing there alone, where a person cannot live without having refreshment in something. To have a soul that cannot satisfy itself, that can do nothing but continually desire to be filled with something from without, and then to have nothing with which it can be filled, and to miss God, who alone is the satisfaction of a rational creature, to stand there hollow and wailing, in the entire separation from God, it is not to be borne nor endured. This shall be the eternal punishment of the ungodly: 2 Thess. 1:9. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power. This the elect had deserved, this the Lord Jesus bears in their place; this was greater soul-anguish than we can comprehend. (Pages 791-792)

3. The curse. Christ felt in full force the curse, the execution of being accursed, Gal. 3:10, 13, the wrath of God, the anger of the Lord, in righteousness pouring itself out upon a sinner, Nahum 1:2. The dreadfulness of falling into the hands of the living God. Heb. 10:31. God being to someone a terror, Jer. 17:17. As this cannot be understood by anyone who has not felt it, so it can only barely be known by someone who has felt it only in its beginning or by approximation, and by no one be fully comprehended and expressed. (Page 792)

Christ has indeed suffered eternal damnation: for eternal damnation, death, and pain consists in the total separation from God, in the total outpouring of God's wrath, and that so long until all is perfectly borne, and was sufficient as punishment for sin. Now, this Christ has suffered in its full force; see this above, par. 3, 4, 5, 6. This He suffered so long and to such a degree, until He could say: It is finished, John 19:30. I have finished the work which Thou hast given Me to do, John 17:4. (Page 808) 

One might think that Christ's human nature, according to which alone He suffered, was finite, and therefore could not bear the infinite, and so the suffering was not sufficient for payment of sin, which deserves eternal punishment. Answer. How far Christ's human nature was strengthened is not for us to determine, but it always remained finite; Christ according to that nature bore the complete deprivation and the perfect wrath of the infinite God, against whom the elect had sinned. Yet one must carefully note that the human nature did not suffer, but the Person according to that nature, and because the Person was infinite, everything He suffered was also of an infinite power and worth. (Pages 808-809)

Contemplate the suffering of Christ for comfort against likesuffering. I need not assure you that such suffering in soul and body will befall you in this world; you know that well enough by experience, you perhaps taste it even now at present. You will still often experience the bitterness of sins, the displeasure of God over them, the hiding of God's countenance, the bondage and terror of conscience, the fear of death, the anguish on account of damnation, the assaults of Satan, poverty, contempt and scorn, both through your own fault and for godliness' sake and the name of Christ, tribulations for the Word's sake, though you do not regard it so. Perhaps you will yet be called to martyrdom, to seal the truth with your blood, also pains and sorrows of the body, yea indeed all manner of suffering of Christ, the one more, the other less. (Page 849)

From The Reasonable Service Of God, Volume 2:

God withdrew from Him all light and manifestation of favor, and filled Him with His wrath and vengeance. He cries out in the anguish of His spirit: My God! My God! why hast Thou forsaken Me? (Page 712)

God And The Gospel

To learn more about the great and true Triune God, the God-ManJesus Christ, His cross, and His glorious Gospel message and everlasting Kingship, please watch American Gospel: Christ Alone. You can watch the full documentary here and here for free!

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