You Are Not Forsaken

I would like to challenge you to think about all that Jesus endured on Calvary. It started in the Garden of Gethsemane when He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot. After that He was taken to Annas, then Caiaphas, and finally to Pilate. He went from one mock trial or political judge to another. During the same time, His Disciples, the closes friends or followers He had all betrayed Him. Jesus was then scourged, which means He was beat until He was almost at the point of death. They then took Jesus to Golgotha where He would be stripped of His clothes, have His beard plucked from His face and be spat upon; this was all in order to ridicule and humiliate Him. He was then nailed to a Roman cross and hung between heaven and earth in excruciating pain. Out of all that He has endured to this point, none of these things were as bad as what He would soon have to endure.

The worse thing Jesus would go through is recoded for us Matthew 27:46 and is seen in the cry of His heart. Jesus cried out with a loud voice and said “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” 

Think about this for a moment. God the Father loved Him so much that He broke the silence of heaven twice to say “this is my beloved Son.” This is the same Father that Jesus spoke of when he said “Me and Him are one.” This same Father, at the worse time in His only begotten Son's life, has forsaken Him! My question is "why?!"

The answer to my question is simple. In order for Jesus to die as a sinner, to be our substitute, to die in our place, and pay our sin debt, Jesus had to be rejected by the Father. Think about it, if you have never accepted Christ and refuse to, then when you die and realize the mistake you made and call out to God, you will also be forsaken. If you reject Jesus, God will reject you. On the other hand, if you accept Jesus you will be accepted by the Father. He forsook Jesus so He would not have to forsake you!
 
Pastor,

Rev. Wayne Marcus