Christ deserted and denied by the whole world, by friends as well as enemies, even by God . . . God stopping his ears to all his [Christ's] supplications, turning his face away from him (Pages 435-436)
Also:
(2) What did he suffer?
What he suffered; not some light affliction, but the greatest of all evils, the highest affliction of all, death, and not only one kind of death, not only natural death, which we sometimes read is sought and desired by men, because it brings them deliverance from pressing evils, and an entrance into a better life (2 Cor. 5:1-2; Phil. 1:23); but in addition spiritual death, wherein deserted by God, exceeding sorrowful, even to death, he walked in darkness and saw no light (Isa. 50:10) (Page 430)
He sensed that God was in some way alienated from him, & like a judge who was angry with him, & inflicting upon him the truly hellish pains due for our sins. (Page 406)
And what was for God himself the cause of his raging as it were with just cruelty against the inmost parts of his only begotten Son, except human sin (2 Cor. 5:21; Isa. 53:6)? . . . If he burned with such rage against his own Son, who was so beloved by him, for our sins while they still lived, how would he not burn with rage against us, if we spare our sins? (Pages 450-451)
Jesus Was Damned By God On That Cross
(2) What did he suffer?
What he suffered . . . moreover, even eternal or infernal death, which the damned experience in hell, through which he was a curse (Gal. 3:13) (Page 430)
How Jesus Suffered As God And Man On That Cross
He suffered not only as man, nor only as God, but simultaneously as God and man.
XI. All these things the Mediator endured, whether in body or in soul, neither only as man, nor only as God, but as the God-man, simultaneously as God and man, just as, according to the nature of the theandric effects, each nature bestowed its own part to Christ's sufferings: while the human nature alone sustained and suffered them (since passive potency does not occur in the divine nature, Mal. 3:6; James 1:17; and much less death, because the divine nature is incorruptible, Rom. 1:23; 1 Tim. 1:17; 6:16), the divine nature furnished to his sufferings an infinite weight, value, and price, so that they were God's sufferings (Acts 20:28), and the blood of the Son of God (1 John 1:7), suited to cleanse us from all sin. (Page 415)
Who Ultimately Killed Jesus On That Cross? God Did
I wrote an article defending the "American Gospel: Christ Crucified" documentary on this point: "American Gospel" Gets It Right. Petrus Van Mastricht said it well:
The supreme cause of Christ's death was God.
XII. Christ had, as the first and chief cause of his entire death, God his own Father, the supreme Judge (Isa. 53:6, 10; Zech. 13:7; 2 Cor. 5:21; Acts 2:23; 4:28), for which reason he laments, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Ps. 22:1). Moreover, God was involved in the sufferings and death of his Son in more than one way, namely: (1) by predetermining them (Acts 2:23; 4:28; Rom. 8:29; Luke 24:26, 46; Acts 17:3); (2) by foretelling them (Ps. 22; Isa. 53; Zech. 13:7; Dan. 9:26); (3) by sustaining him while he suffered them (Ps. 22:11, 24); (4) by permitting his enemies to do them (Acts 4:28); and (5) by limiting them (Acts 4:28; John 19:31-33); (6) by directing them to their predetermined end (2 Cor. 5:21; Isa. 53:5). God had as a moving cause, as it were: (1) his grace and mercy toward the sinner (Rom. 9:23 with 2 Cor. 5:21; Isa. 53:6; Rom. 8:32); (2) avenging justice toward the expromissor, his Son (Rom. 3:22; 8:3); and (3) the glory of both, of grace as well as justice (Rom. 3:25). (Page 415)
More Resources On That Cross
1. A Concern About The Way Pastor Kevin DeYoung Writes About The Cross In His New Daily Doctrine Book
3. The Bible Says God Was Angry With Jesus On The Cross
4. Is It Biblical To Say Jesus Was Damned By God On The Cross?
5. The Sufferings Of The LORD Jesus Christ On The Cross
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