Good Friday

 Matthew 27:39-46 - "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" Jesus said, meaning "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

Our Lord is on the cross on that first Good Friday.

And he is speaking of a spiritual abandonment, a spiritual forsaking by the Father. The Father forsook Him – physically and spiritually, in body and soul.

 

To be forsaken by God is to suffer the pangs and torments of hell. Hell, you see, is the complete absence of God and all that is good; hell is a total separation from God.

 

Notice when and where it was that Christ cried out. He cried out upon the cross and after the three hours of darkness in the middle of the day. Both are signs that God has abandoned and forsaken Christ. Galatians 3:13 tells us, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" – "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

 

These words of our Saviour are nothing less than amazing. Time after time God is presented on the pages of Scripture as being so faithful. His promise to His people is,

(Heb 13:5b) “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you”.

Never once in history did God fail to live up to his promise. But here, at the Cross, with his only begotten Son hanging there, God remained silent.

 

This cry demands an answer. Why did God forsake Jesus in both body and soul? The reason was sin. It was because of sin – your sin, my sin – that Christ was forsaken and abandoned by God.

I think of 2 Corinthians 5:21 which says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

 

Jesus became sin for us. He became sin, he took on our sin, he was abandoned and forsaken, to save us from our sin - the consequences of our rebellion against him.

 

O sacred head, with thorny bush weighed down,

your brutal crown.

How pale you are, abused and cursed and scorned,

and blood adorned.

Lord let me never, never faithless be,

till death you loved, were sacrificed for me!

 

What can I say, my suffering, heavenly Friend?

at Calvary!

Your shame and pain I know I cannot mend.

It was for me.

O Jesus let me always worship thee,

so scorned, so mocked on cruel Calvary!

 

O sacred Lamb of God who died for me,

with holy love.

What can I say to laud and worship thee,

God from above.

Lord, let me never, never faithless be,

but praise such love, your sacrifice for me! 

 

Jesus who died and suffered hell and death,

on Calvary.

You grace and mercy now will set me free,

Lord, let it be.

O Christ my Saviour, let me worship thee,

till death you loved, were sacrificed for me!