Why did Jesus cry out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?

[Retrobyter]

On 2/27/2018 at 4:09 AM, cannotfindavoice said:

 

In Matthew 27:45-46, it says, "Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. ⁴⁶And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" If Jesus is God, why would He say this?

First of all, Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1 which begins with, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?". Jesus quoted this Psalm in order to draw attention to it and the fact that He was fulfilling it there on the cross. Consider verses 11-18 in Psalm 22:

Be not far from me, for trouble is near; For there is none to help.¹² Many bulls have surrounded me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. ¹³ They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening and a roaring lion. ¹⁴ I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. ¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And Thou dost lay me in the dust of death. ¹⁶ For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. ¹⁷ I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; ¹⁸ They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.

The term 'dogs' was used by the Jews to refer to Gentiles (cf. Matt. 15:21-28). His heart has melted within Him (v. 14). During the crucifixion process, the blood loss causes the heart to beat harder and harder and become extremely fatigued. Dehydration occurs (v. 15). Verses 16b-18 speak of piercing His hands and feet and dividing his clothing by casting lots. This is exactly what happen as described in Matt. 27:35.

Psalm 22 was written about 600 years before Christ was born. At that time, crucifixion had not yet been invented. Actually, the Phoenicians developed it and Rome borrowed the agonizing means of execution from them. So, when Rome ruled over Israel, it became the Roman means of capital punishment imposed upon the Jews whose biblical means of execution was stoning. Nevertheless, Jesus is pointing to the scriptures to substantiate His messianic mission.

A further comment

2 Cor. 5:21 says, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." It is possible that at some moment on the cross, when Jesus became sin on our behalf, that God the Father, in a sense, turned His back upon the Son. It says in Hab. 1:13 that God is too pure to look upon evil. Therefore, it is possible that when Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24), that the Father, spiritually, turned away. At that time, the Son may have cried out.

One thing is for sure. We have no capacity to appreciate the utterly horrific experience of having the sins of the world put upon the Lord Jesus as He hung, in excruciating pain, from that cross. The physical pain was immense. The spiritual one must have been even greater.

That shows us clearly how much God loves us.

 

Why did Jesus say, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

 

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 "Why did Jesus say, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). This cry is a fulfillment of Psalm 22:1, one of many parallels between that psalm and the specific events of the crucifixion. It has been difficult to understand in what sense Jesus was “forsaken” by God. It is certain that God approved His work. It is certain that He was innocent. He had done nothing to forfeit the favor of God. As His own Son - holy, harmless, undefiled, and obedient - God still loved Him. In none of these senses could God have forsaken Him.

However, Isaiah tells us that “he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows; that he was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities; that the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him; that by his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5). He redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). He was made a sin-offering, and He died in our place, on our account, that He might bring us near to God. It was this, doubtless, which caused His intense sufferings. It was the manifestation of God’s hatred of sin, in some way which He has not explained, that Jesus experienced in that terrible hour. It was suffering endured by Him that was due to us, and suffering by which, and by which alone, we can be saved from eternal death.

In those awful moments, Jesus was expressing His feelings of abandonment as God placed the sins of the world on Him – and because of that had to “turn away” from Jesus. As Jesus was feeling that weight of sin, He was experiencing separation from God for the only time in all of eternity. It was at this time that 2 Corinthians 5:21 occurred, “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, so He felt the loneliness and abandonment that sin always produces, except that in His case, it was not His sin – it was ours.

Recommended Resource: Jesus: The Greatest Life of All by Charles Swindoll.

 

God Bless

 

Shalom, cannotfindavoice.

I've seen some correct answers to this question. The statement that Yeshua` made was not a quote of Psalm 22:1; the Psalm was a PROPHECY of what Yeshua` would say! It's the age-old question, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" But, God gave the words to David, and he simply wrote them down. But, it was Yeshua`s heart that cried out "Eliy! Eliy! Laamaah `azaVtaaniy?" "My-God! My-God! Why Thou-hast-forsaken-me?"

2 Corinthians 5:21 is indeed the reason that Yeshua` was separated from His Father; He became SIN for us (although He Himself "knew no sin") so that we might be made the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God in Him!

There's another critical chapter to investigate: Isaiah 53.

Isaiah 53:1-12 (KJV)

1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; HE hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

So, GOD HIMSELF, Yeshua`s Father, put the Messiah to grief! It was the FATHER who was pleased to bruise Him! Why? Because Yeshua` was NO LONGER HIS SON! (At least, not while on the cross.) He was "SIN!" And, God was pouring out all of His wrath upon that "SIN!" However, Yeshua` said two things at the end. "It has been finished!" which is the Greek word "Tetelestai" (John 19:30), the word stamped on bills of sale when the debt was paid in full! And, then, He said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my breath" (Luke 23:46), and He gave up His breath. This marked the END of the Sacrifice; He had "poured out His air-breathing body unto death," for "the life of the flesh is in the blood." Now, Yeshua` could call God, "Father," again.

Now, He can say, "When thou shalt make His air-breathing body an offering for sin, He shall see His seed (YOU!), He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of YHWH shall prosper in His hand!"

[Markie51]

Jesus was aware and accepted the trial that he was about to endure.  (Matthew 16:21)  While in heaven, the Son of God had observed imperfect humans experience tortures and death while maintaining their integrity. (Hebrews 11:36-38)   Therefore, knowing this, Jesus-a perfect human-would not be seized with fear or doubt over what he faced; nor would he suggest/imply that his Father would or had rejected him.-John 12:32, 33.   

Jesus most likely meant that his Father had taken away His Holy Spirit so that his integrity would be tested to the full limit.  By God allowing the surrender of Jesus to unrighteous people did not indicate total abandonment.  God continued to show affection for Jesus, as proved on the third day when He raised him from the dead-which Jesus had known would occur. (Acts 2:31-36; 10:40; 17:31)  Most importantly, Jesus freely gave himself and fulfilled prophecy

[Prycejosh1987]

My answer is that Jesus said why My God have You forsaken Me, because He was proving and showing that sin separates us from God. He was also showing human emotion, and showing importance to have God with us until we die. The brutality of the beatings and death itself did not worry Jesus, it was being forsaken by God. This is a lesson to us all.