8 Minute Read

TODAY’S BIBLE READING:

Exodus 2:11–3:22
Matthew 17:10-27
Psalm 22:1-18
Proverbs 5:7-14

TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE(S):

Psalm 22:1 (CSB) “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning?”

REFLECTIONS ON TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE(S):

One of the many fascinating aspects of Scripture is its interconnectivity. God’s Word is a simple, linear story but it is also more complex than a spider’s web.

The more we study it and the deeper we go into its words and meaning, the more we realize that God had to be its Author. There is no possible way that 40 authors writing over a period of about 1,500 years could have created a work so beautifully and seamlessly tied together into one complex unit.

I suspect that as you were reading Psalm 22, your mind was drawn to the words and events surrounding the cross. You will recognize that the words David wrote were quoted by Jesus as He hung on the cross.

Psalm 22:1 (CSB) “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning?”

Matthew 27:46 (CSB) “About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?'”

But I think the big question here is, “Why did Jesus feel abandoned by God?” After all, our Jewish friends read those words and say that they are not befitting of a Messiah.

As Christians, we realize that the acknowledgement of abandonment on the cross was a temporary experience. While Jesus came to earth ultimately to die on the cross for the sins of every single person who will put their trust in Him, that does not negate the horrific experience on the cross as the unity of the Trinity was ripped apart.

When we read through the Gospels, we cannot help but see the God-Man, Jesus, living in submission to the Father (John 4:34; etc.). We hear Him claiming deity, as part of the Trinity (John 10:30; etc.). And we hear Him talking about their unbroken relationship (John 17:20-23; etc.).

Yet, He became the final and ultimate Lamb of God (as pictured in Isaiah 53) as He took upon Himself the sins and punishment of every single person who would trust in Him for salvation.

Isaiah 53:2-6 (CSB) “He grew up before him like a young plant
and like a root out of dry ground.
He didn’t have an impressive form
or majesty that we should look at him,
no appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.
He was like someone people turned away from;
he was despised, and we didn’t value him.

Yet he himself bore our sicknesses,
and he carried our pains;
but we in turn regarded him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced because of our rebellion,
crushed because of our iniquities;
punishment for our peace was on him,
and we are healed by his wounds.
We all went astray like sheep;
we all have turned to our own way;
and the LORD has punished him
for the iniquity of us all.”

As Jesus bore our sins, which was the ultimate reason He came to earth, God the Father could not remain in relationship to Him. God cannot and will not look upon sin and have relationship with the one who is guilty of sin.

Habakkuk 1:13 (CSB) “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and you cannot tolerate wrongdoing…”

So, for those hours that Jesus hung on the cross, the perfect union between the Trinity was temporarily broken. Because of the Trinity’s great love for us, Jesus willingly came to take our sin and our punishment upon Himself so that we would not be forever consigned to eternal punishment in Hell (Matthew 25:46). Jesus, for those hours that He bore our sins on the cross, took the punishment of every single person who will believe in Him.

But, Jesus acknowledged His feelings of utter abandonment in those hours because His Father could not look upon Him. This is what Christians believe the darkness represented.

Matthew 27:45-46 (CSB) “From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over the whole land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?'”

The darkness was a physical manifestation of the spiritual truth – the Godhead was temporarily separated and grieved. The Trinity did the unimaginable by sending Jesus to bear our sins even though it would require the unity of the Godhead to be temporarily severed.

When Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”, He was simply acknowledging the reality. God the Father and God the Son were in that moment separated because God could not look upon His Son who was wearing our guilt.

Friend, God went to great lengths to make it possible for you to be forgiven and to enjoy sweet fellowship with Him. The unity of the Trinity was temporarily severed just because God loves you and wants to bring you into relationship with Him.

If you are trusting in Jesus to save you, then live this day in gratitude for what He did for you.

If you are not currently trusting in Jesus, then may you be overwhelmed with God’s great love for you so that you give your heart to Jesus before you lay your head on your pillow this evening.

Oh, and by the way, the unity of the Trinity didn’t remain severed. Let me end with this beautiful passage of Scripture…

Philippians 2:5-11 (CSB) “Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,
who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
as something to be exploited.
Instead he emptied himself
by assuming the form of a servant,
taking on the likeness of humanity.
And when he had come as a man,
he humbled himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—
even to death on a cross.
For this reason God highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow—
in heaven and on earth
and under the earth—
and every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”