John Wesley got the forsakenness of Jesus on the cross right:
Forsaken - Withdrawn the light of thy countenance, the supports and comforts of thy spirit, and filled me with the terrors of thy wrath: this was in part verified in David, but much more fully in Christ. (Notes On Psalm 22:1)
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? - Our Lord hereby at once expresses his trust in God, and a most distressing sense of his letting loose the powers of darkness upon him, withdrawing the comfortable discoveries of his presence, and filling his soul with a terrible sense of the wrath due to the sins which he was bearing. Psalms 22:1. (Notes On Matthew 27:46)
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me - Thereby claiming God as his God; and yet lamenting his Father’s withdrawing the tokens of his love, and treating him as an enemy, while he bare our sins. (Notes On Mark 15:34)
God was the principal cause of all his sufferings, tho’ mens sins were the deserving cause. (Notes On Isaiah 53:10)
And he is the propitiation - The atoning sacrifice by which the wrath of God is appeased. (Notes On 1 John 2:2)
Our sins were the procuring cause of all his sufferings. His sufferings were the penal effects of our sins. "The chastisement of our peace," the punishment necessary to procure it, "was" laid "on him," freely submitting thereto: "And by his stripes" (a part of his sufferings again put for the whole) "we are healed"; pardon, sanctification, and final salvation, are all purchased and bestowed upon us. Every chastisement is for some fault. That laid on Christ was not for his own, but ours; and was needful to reconcile an offended Lawgiver, and offering guilty creatures, to each other. So ‘the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all’; that is, the punishment due to our iniquity. (The Doctrine Of Original Sin)
We see then, what unspeakable advantage we derive from the fall of our first parent with regard to faith; - Faith both in God the Father, who spared not his own Son, his only Son, but "wounded him for our transgressions," and "bruised him for our iniquities:" and in God the Son, who poured out his soul for us transgressors, and washed us in his own blood . . . For who does not apprehend the force of that inference drawn by the loving Apostle: "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another" If God SO loved us, - observe, the stress of the argument lies on this very point: SO loved us, as to deliver up his only Son to die a cursed death for our salvation. Beloved, what manner of love is this wherewith God hath loved us; so as to give his only Son, in glory equal with the Father, in Majesty co-eternal What manner of love is this wherewith the only-begotten Son of God hath loved us so as to empty himself, as far as possible . . . as to divest himself of that glory which he had with the Father before the world began; as to take upon him the form of a servant, being found in fashion as a man; and then, to humble himself still further, "being obedient unto death, even the death of the cross!" If God SO loved us, how ought we to love one another! But this motive to brotherly love had been totally wanting if Adam had not fallen. Consequently, we could not then have loved one another in so high a degree as we may now. Nor could there have been that height and depth in the command of our blessed Lord, "As I have loved you, So love one another." (God's Love To Fallen Man)
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Getting The Cross Right
We must get the cross right! For more on Christ's forsakenness on the cross, please read:
Thomas Goodwin got the forsakenness of Jesus on the cross right:
That he, that is God blessed forever, should be made a curse, this you have in Gal. 3:13. That he, that is, 'the Holy One of Israel,' should be made sin, aye, and what is more, he that cannot endure sin, for nothing is more contrary to the holiness of God than sin, and yet 'he that knew no sin was made sin,' this you have in 2 Cor. 5:21. That God should never be more angry with his Son than when he was most pleased with him, for so it was when Christ hung upon the cross, God did find a sweet-smelling savour of rest and satisfaction even when he cried out, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' (The Works Of Thomas Goodwin, Volume 4, Chapter 2, Glory Of The Gospel (Tanski Publications: Eureka, California: 1996), 275)
In that he is God as well as man, therefore he must needs be able for any undertaking, be it never so hazardous. If it had been possible for his Father to have forsaken him (as he complained that for a time he did), and afford him no succour, no support, but leave him to himself, nay, do his utmost against him, and make known against him the power of his wrath (as indeed he did), yet he is able alone to uphold himself, for that the 'fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in him,' Col. 2:9, and therefore there was an impossibility of miscarriage, as you have it, Acts 2:24, 'It was not possible that he should have been held under the pangs of death.' If anything would have held him, it would have been death and hell; for then his power was put to it to raise himself; but it was impossible that he should be held by them, because he was God. It is one of his great names, Isa. 9:7, that he is the mighty God: therefore he is mighty and able to save himself and others. (Of Christ The Mediator, Page 122)
Thus when it is said, that Christ was made a curse, not only in bodily miseries, but in his soul also, the meaning is not that the hypostatical union was dissolved, or the influence of divine grace restrained, but only, that in regard of comfort he was 'forsaken' of God, and felt the fearful effects of his anger due to our sins, without sin and despair. (Of Christ The Mediator, Page 461)
Though enemies persecute us and have their wills of us, yet we are said not to be forsaken, as 2 Cor. 4:9, 'Persecuted, but not forsaken;' that is, though left in the hands of men, yet not forsaken by God; so that forsaken is put in opposition to being left to the persecutions and power of our enemies. But Christ is not only said to be left to the power of enemies, but to be forsaken by God himself, which how it could be, I shall afterwards explain. And this was the extremity of his emptying, emptying to nothing, as Dan. 9:26, 'Messiah shall have nothing,' that is, nothing left to comfort him; so his cutting off is expressed. (Of Christ The Mediator, Pages 472-473)
He might look upon himself as a Son, and a Son performing an obedience to his Father, even in suffering his wrath, and never pleasing him more than now, and in that respect most beloved of him; and yet withal, as a surety for sinners, and so punished, and in that respect he might apprehend God for the present angry, and full of wrath against him, as being made sin and so a curse for us, yet so as to the end that he might be well pleased with sinners in him. And both these differing apprehensions of his did Christ accordingly express in that one sentence, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' He speaks it as apprehending himself a Son still, and united to God, and beloved of him, and yet forsaken by him, and, as a surety, accursed. (Of Christ The Mediator, Page 480)
But there was another principle in him, and that was present sense of the impressions of God's anger: his mind by sight or vision seeing nothing else, and his will by the impressions on it feeling nothing else. (Of Christ The Mediator, Page 481)
For, when CHRIST complained, "My God! my God! why has you forsaken me" (when as great an eclipse, in regard of the light of God's countenance, was upon his spirit, as was upon the earth,) yet he never obeyed God more; was never more strongly supported, than at that time; for then he was obeying to the death. (A Child Of Light Walking In Darkness)
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Getting The Cross Right
We must get the cross right! For more on Christ's forsakenness on the cross, please read:
These 19 men are burning, shrieking, crying, moaning, and groaning in the fires of hell under the wrath, curse, judgement, and condemnation of God because they rejected the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, and believed in a false religion, a false god, and a false prophet. They are also in hell because of all their other sins, including murdering thousands of innocent people on 9/11. They did this because their false prophet did it and commanded it:
Bukhari: 4.52.220: Muhammad said: "I have been made victorious with terror."
Surah 9:5: kill the infidel wherever you find them, seize them, besiege them
Jesus warns that unless you repent, you will all likewise perish:
Luke 13:1-5: There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Jesus
Your only hope is to turn from your sins and trust in the God-Man, Jesus Christ, Who died on that cross for sinners where He endured the wrath, curse, judgement, forsakenness, and condemnation of God. Then He rose up from the dead and conquered sin, death, and hell - He ascended into heaven with all power and all authority to rule and reign forever. And soon He will come back to judge the living and the dead. Are you ready?
Hebrews 9:27: it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment
Romans 3:23: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
Romans 10:9: if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Acts 16:31: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved!
If R. C. Sproul were still alive today and saw what some are writing and preaching about Psalm 22:1 and the forsakenness of Christ on the cross, he would exclaim: "What's wrong with you people!?"
R. C. Sproul got the forsakenness of Jesus on the cross right:
His cry was not, as Albert Schweitzer opined, the cry of a disillusioned prophet who had believed that God was going to rescue him at the eleventh hour & then felt forsaken. He didn’t just feel forsaken; he was forsaken. For Jesus to become the curse, he had to be completely forsaken by the Father. (Far As The Curse Is Found and The Curse Motif of the Atonement)
Dr. Sproul even argued that to say Jesus only felt forsaken or that He wasn't forsaken on the cross is heresy:
Others, in fact, my favorite hymn, my ordination hymn, was "'Tis Midnight; And On Olive's Brow", and I love that hymn in spite of the fact that there is a statement in there of heresy. When it talks about Jesus, it says "was not forsaken by His God." And you see theologians say well Jesus, in His humanity, felt forsaken on the cross, but He wasn't really forsaken. Let me say this: if Jesus was not really forsaken on the cross, you are still in your sins. You have no redemption. You have no salvation. Because the whole point of the cross is that if Jesus is going to bear our sins and bear the sanctions of the covenant - let me ask you this: what was the sign of the old covenant? Circumcision . . . the cross is the supreme circumcision. Because when Jesus takes the curse, upon Himself - so identifies with our sin that He becomes a curse - God cuts Him off! . . . the Father, as it were, turns His back! He removes His face! He turns out the light! He cuts off His Son! . . . God forsakes Him . . . God turned His back on His Son. (The Cross Of Christ: Blessing Or Curse?)
See more excellent teaching from R. C. Sproul on the forsakenness of Jesus on the cross:
Nowhere in Scripture is the reality of God’s wrath more sharply manifested than in the forsaking of His Messiah. To be cursed of God is to be cut off from His presence and all of His benefits. The Incarnate Christ who enjoyed intimate personal fellowship with the Father, such as no man had ever enjoyed, was suddenly and completely cut off. Once the sin of man was imputed to Him, He became the virtual incarnation of evil. The load He carried was repugnant to the Father. God is too holy to even look at iniquity. God the Father turned His back upon the Son, cursing Him to the pit of hell while on the cross. Here was the Son’s "descent into hell." Here the fury of God raged against Him. His scream was the scream of the damned. For us. (Tabletalk Magazine, "My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?" (April 1990), Page 6)
When Jesus took the curse on Himself and so identified with our sin that He became a curse, God cut Him off, and justly so. At the moment when Christ took on Himself the sin of the world, His figure on the cross was the most grotesque, most obscene mass of concentrated sin in the history of the world. God is too holy to look on iniquity, so when Christ hung on the cross, the Father, as it were, turned His back. He averted His face and He cut off His Son. Jesus, Who, touching His human nature, had been in perfect, blessed relationship with God throughout His ministry, now bore the sin of God’s people, and so He was forsaken by God . . . He was overwhelmed by the outer darkness. On the cross, He was in hell, totally bereft of the grace and the presence of God, utterly separated from all blessedness of the Father. He became a curse for us so that we one day will be able to see the face of God. God turned His back on His Son so that the light of His countenance will fall on us. It’s no wonder Jesus screamed from the depths of His soul. (The Truth Of The Cross, Pages 133-135)
When Paul probes the depths of the atonement, he goes to the concept of curse . . . He had to be taken outside the camp, numbered among the Gentiles, and considered unclean, and God plunged the world into darkness while Christ was being crucified, indicating that the light of God's countenance had turned away. Christ cried out form the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46). He had to be forsaken because the penalty for sin is divine forsakenness. Jesus was cut off from the land of the living on our behalf, so that we would not be cut off. (Everyone's A Theologian: An Introduction To Systematic Theology, Page 165)
On the cross, our demerit was transferred or imputed to Christ. He bore all our demerit or sin by Himself. Christ became the most obscene, filthy object ever set before God's eyes. Christ took on Himself all our guilt and pollution and became a curse for us. We cannot grasp what was going on in that transaction. It is no wonder that Christ said on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46). On that cross, in the sight of the Father, Christ was absolutely repugnant. (Truths We Confess: A Systematic Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith, Page 279)
It was as if there was a cry from heaven - excuse my language, but I can be no more accurate than to say - it was as if Jesus heard the words 'God Damn You.' Because that's what it meant to be cursed, to be damned, to be under the anathema of the Father. As I said, I don't understand that, but I know that it's true. (And God Cursed Him)
God is too holy to even look at iniquity. God the Father turned His back on the Son, cursing Him to the pit of hell while He hung on the cross. Here was the Son’s “descent into hell.” Here the fury of God raged against Him. His scream was the scream of the damned. For us. (Treasuring Redemption's Price)
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
R. C. Sproul wrote:
The supreme malediction would read something like this:
"May the Lord curse you and abandon you. May the Lord keep you in darkness and give you only judgment without grace. May the Lord turn his back upon you and remove his peace from you forever."
When on the cross, not only was the Father's justice satisfied by the atoning work of the Son, but in bearing our sins the Lamb of God removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. He did it by being cursed.
God is too holy to look on iniquity, so when Christ hung on the cross, the Father, as it were, turned His back. He averted His face and He cut off His Son. Jesus, Who, touching His human nature, had been in a perfect, blessed relationship with God throughout His ministry, now bore the sin of God’s people, and so He was forsaken by God . . . On the cross, He was in hell, totally bereft of the grace and the presence of God, utterly separated from all blessedness of the Father. He became a curse for us so that we one day will be able to see the face of God. God turned His back on His Son so that the light of His countenance will fall on us. It’s no wonder Jesus screamed from the depths of His soul.
He drank the cup . . . only one went to the cross to be forsaken. Only one accepted the judgment of the full curse of God in behalf of other people. (The Atonement Of Jesus: The Curse Of The Cross)
. . . we are at enmity with God. And that enmity was mediated for us on the cross, so that Christ became an enemy of the Father . . . . (The Atonement (Mark 15:33-41)
Pulpit where Lloyd-Jones preached at Westminster Chapel
One of the first books I remember reading (besides the Bible) as a new, committed Christian was Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones book called The Cross. I am very thankful for this because early on in my Christian life, he showed me the true meaning of the cross according to the Bible.
[God] has made His Son the sacrifice; it is a substitutionary offering for your sins and mine. That was why He was there in the Garden sweating drops of blood, because He knew what it involved – it involved a separation from the face of the father. And that is why He cried out on the Cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Commentary on Romans 8:32).
The height of the paradox of this love, the thing that no human mind can encompass, is that when you stand at the foot of the Cross and listen, you hear these words being uttered: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Everyone else had forsaken Him, His disciples had fled and had left Him, but now He cries, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me"? The one who utters that cry is "the beloved", the one who had basked in the sunshine of the eternal love from eternity, without intermission. He reaches a point wherein even He has lost sight of the face and the smile of His Father. And He experienced that for you, for me. If He had shrunk from it we would not be saved, we would not be forgiven, we would not be Christians, we would not be children of the second birth. The "beloved" descended even to that degree of ignominy and died. His body was buried in a grave and a stone was rolled against its door. He descended into hell - "the beloved". He went "into the lowest parts of the earth" - He who had made everything out of nothing. And it was for us, and for our salvation. It is only as we realize who it is who is suffering in that manner that we realize the depth and the intensity of His love toward us. (Read: In The Beloved; Listen: In The Beloved)
He was delivered up by God the Father to bear the full wrath of God Himself against sin. He was delivered up to bear the full penalty of God's holy law upon sin and transgression. That's what He was delivered up to and nothing was withheld. Now, it's an extraordinary thing how people try to detract from this . . . Surely He hath put Him to grief. You can't take it out. If you do you miss the central glory of the cross. In other words we've got to realize this: that our Lord experienced there all the torment and the suffering and the agony that results from the punishment of sin . . . He knew that there was to be a moment when God, having made Him to be sin, God having put our sins upon Him, God His Father was going to smite Him. He was going to strike Him. He would avert His face from Him. And He who had ever looked into the face of His Father and loved Him from all eternity would be separated from Him. And would experience the agony of the grief and the suffering of any soul under the wrath of God against sin . . . God delivered Him up - He didn't spare Him anything. When He put our sins upon Him, though He was His own dearly beloved Son, He didn't withhold any part of the punishment. He poured it all upon Him. Everything that it deserved, He kept nothing back of it . . . He delivered Him up for us all. And He poured the vials of His wrath upon Him. He smote Him! He struck Him! He wounded Him! He bruised Him! He afflicted Him! He's put Him to grief! With nothing at all being kept back. Oh my friends! How important it is that we should take the Scripture as it is! And not allow our philosophies about the Person of the Son or that it was inconceivable that the Father, in His love, should ever do that to His Son, Who was innocent - that's their argument you see - they argue always from the love of God, and they think they understand it, and they think they're making the love of God bigger. Can't you see that they are making it very much smaller? The love of God is as great as this: that He did that to His Son for us! (The Sufferings Of Christ)
What killed Him? The separation from God. "My God, my God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?!" That broke His heart, literally, and He died. Men only crucified Him. What killed Him, what caused His death was the bearing of the punishment of your sin and mine . . . It's God who is doing it . . . to smite Him that we might be forgiven, that we might be reconciled, that we might become the sons of God. (The Mystery Of The Cross)
Have you seen that your sins were laid upon Him? That they were struck, that He was smitten, that God punished your sins in Him, that's why He died - He took upon Himself your sins, and God has dealt with them! He lost the face of God! He died! His heart was broken! Why? He was bearing the punishment of your sins! (Glory In The Cross Of Christ)
Death, let us never forget, is the punishment for sin. And all the pain involved in it is a part of the punishment of sin. All the anguish and the agony, all the sense of separation from God - it's a part of the punishment of sin . . . our Lord experienced that and felt its bitterness and its horror and its agony - absolutely, noting was withheld. You remember the cry: "My God, my God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?!" Forsaken of God! In physical agony - and torment and torture! The statement is that the Son of God there dying upon the cross experienced every section and part and portion of God's prescribed punishment for sin . . . He tasted death. He knew in His own body and in His own soul the final torment of the unbeliever. He passed through this phase of utter separation from God, and realizing all God's abomination and detestation of sin He felt it all in all its fullness that He might taste death for everyone. (The Cross Of Christ)
And He received the punishment that was due to you and to me. That is why He groaned in spirit at the grave of Lazarus. That is why He was sweating great drops of blood in Gethsemane. That is why He cries on the cross: "My God, my God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?!" He was experiencing the wrath of God! His Father's wrath upon your sins and mine was upon Him! The chastisement of our peace was upon Him! By His stripes we are healed! He there is purging sins! His blood is shed, let loose and it washes the sins away! . . . Is it conceivable that the almighty Father would have averted His gaze from His only begotten, dearly beloved Son and have allowed Him to pass through this agony and shame if there were any other way? . . . He turned to the Father and said, "Is this the only way?" He wasn't merely shrinking from physical death. He was shrinking from the bearing of the wrath and the punishment of God and God turning His face away. He said: "Is there no other way?" (The Wonder Of The Cross)
I've got to die! I've got to be separated from my Father! And He wept and He groaned in the spirit, we are told . . . He knows . . . in order to save mankind it means He's got to be temporarily separated from His Father. This is the mystery. (The Mystery Of The Death Of Christ)
But you notice what he says: 'He that spared not his own Son.' He means that God had made it very plain and clear that he was going to punish sin by pouring out upon sinners the vials of his wrath. He was going to punish sin in this way - that men should die. The wages of sin is death, and it means endless death and destruction. And what we are told there by the Apostle is that after he had laid our sins upon his own Son on that cross, he did not spare him ANY OF THE PUNISHMENT. HE DID NOT SAY, BECAUSE HE IS MY SON I WILL MODIFY THE PUNISHMENT. I WILL HOLD BACK A LITTLE, I CANNOT DO THAT TO MY OWN SON. I CANNOT REGARD HIM AS A SINNER. I CANNOT SMITE HIM, I CANNOT STRIKE HIM. HE DID NOT SAY THAT. HE DID EVERYTHING HE HAD SAID HE WOULD DO. HE DID NOT KEEP ANYTHING BACK. HE SPARED NOT HIS OWN SON. HE POURED OUT ALL HIS DIVINE WRATH UPON SIN, UPON HIS OWN DEARLY BELOVED SON. So you hear the Son crying out in his agony, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' and he literally died of a broken heart. John tells us that when the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, 'Forthwith came there out blood and water' (19:34). The heart had burst and the blood had clotted, and there it was - serum and blood clot, BECAUSE HIS HEART WAS LITERALLY RUPTURED BY THE AGONY OF THE WRATH OF GOD UPON HIM, AND BY THE SEPARATION FROM THE FACE OF HIS FATHER. That is the love of God. That, my friend, is the love of God to you, a sinner. Not that he looks passively and says: I forgive you though you have done this to my Son. NO, HE HIMSELF SMITES THE SON. HE DOES TO THE SON WHAT YOU AND I COULD NEVER DO. HE POURS OUT HIS ETERNAL WRATH UPON HIM, AND HIDES HIS FACE FROM HIM. His own dearly beloved, only begotten Son. And he did it in order that we should not receive that punishment and go to hell and spend there an eternity in misery, torment and unhappiness. THAT IS THE LOVE OF GOD. And that is the wonder and the marvel and the glory of the cross, God punishing his own Son, in order that he might not have to punish you and me. (Emphasis mine; The Cross, Pages 80-81)
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Getting The Cross Right
We must get the cross right! For more on Christ's forsakenness on the cross, please read:
