Matthew 27:46

However, if you persist in pushing your views further, I shall find means of answering you with greater stringency, and of meeting you with the exclamation of the Lord Himself, so as to challenge you with the question, What is your inquiry and reasoning about that? You have Him exclaiming in the midst of His passion: "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? " Either, then, the Son suffered, being "forsaken" by the Father, and the Father consequently suffered nothing, inasmuch as He forsook the Son; or else, if it was the Father who suffered, then to what God was it that He addressed His cry? But this was the voice of flesh and soul, that is to say, of man-not of the Word and Spirit, that is to say, not of God; and it was uttered so as to prove the impassibility of God, who "forsook" His Son, so far as He handed over His human substance to the suffering of death.

(Verse 46.) And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying: Eli, Eli, lammasabacthani, which means: My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? He made use of the beginning of the twenty-first psalm, and that which is read in the middle of the verse: Look upon me, for it is useless. For it is read in Hebrew: My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Therefore, those who think that this psalm is spoken from the perspective of David, Esther, or Mordecai are wicked, since the evangelists also understand the testimonies taken from it concerning the Savior, as in: They divided my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots. And another thing: They pierced my hands and my feet. Do not be surprised at the lowly words and the complaints of one who is forsaken, when you see the form of a servant and the scandal of the cross.

And for this reason, even after this He speaks, that they might learn that He was still alive, and that He Himself did this, and that they might become by this also more gentle, and He saith, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that unto His last breath they might see that He honors His Father, and is no adversary of God. Wherefore also He uttered a certain cry from the prophet, even to His last hour bearing witness to the Old Testament, and not simply a cry from the prophet, but also in Hebrew, so as to be plain and intelligible to them, and by all things He shows how He is of one mind with Him that begat Him.

Or, The Saviour said this as bearing about with Him our feelings, who when placed in dangers think ourselves forsaken by God. Human nature was forsaken by God because of its sins, and the Son of God becoming our Advocate laments the misery of those whose guilt He took upon Himf; there in showing how they who sin ought to mourn, when He who never sinned did thus mourn.

(non occ.) God is said to have forsaken Him in death because He exposed Him to the power of His persecutors; He withdrew His protection, but did not break the union.

"And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice." Here he sets forth the cry of Christ. And first, the cry is set forth; second, the effect, at "and some that stood there etc." He says therefore "and about the ninth hour, …

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Jesus speaks prophetically in the Hebrew tongue to show that He does not contend with …

And about the ninth hour,.... Or three o'clock in the afternoon, which was about the time of the slaying and offering of the daily sacrifice, which was an eminent type of Christ. The Jews say (i), that "every day the daily sacrifice was slain at eight and a half, and was offered up at nine and a half: about which time also the passover was killed, which was another type of Christ; and as they say (k), "was offered first, and then the daily sacrifice."

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? - Our Lord hereby at once expresses his trust in God, and a most distressing sense of his letting loose the powers of darkness upon him, withdrawing the comfortable discoveries of his presence, and filling his soul with a terrible sense of the wrath due to the sins which he was bearing.

My God! My God! why hast thou forsaken me! - These words are quoted by our Lord from Psa 22:1; they are of very great importance, and should be carefully considered. Some suppose “that the divinity had now departed from Christ, and that his human nature was left unsupported to bear the punishment due to men for their sins.” But this is by no means to be admitted, as it would deprive his sacrifice of its infinite merit, and consequently leave the sin of the world without an atonement.

In these verses we read the conclusion of our Lord Jesus Christ’s passion. After six hours of agonizing suffering, he became obedient even unto death, and “yielded up the ghost.” Three points in the narrative demand a special notice: to them let us confine our attention. Let us observe in the first place the remarkable words which Jesus uttered shortly before his death: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” There is a deep mystery in these words, which no mortal man can fathom.

In these verses we read the conclusion of our Lord Jesus Christ’s passion. After six hours of agonizing suffering, he became obedient even unto death, and “yielded up the ghost.” Three points in the narrative demand a special notice: to them let us confine our attention. Let us observe in the first place the remarkable words which Jesus uttered shortly before his death: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” There is a deep mystery in these words, which no mortal man can fathom. No doubt they were not wrung from our Lord by mere bodily pain: such an explanation is utterly unsatisfactory, and dishonorable to our blessed Saviour. They were meant to express the real pressure on his soul of the enormous burden of a world’s sins; they were meant to show how truly and literally he was our substitute—was made sin, and a curse for us, and endured God’s righteous anger against a world’s sin in his own person. At that awful moment the iniquity of us all was laid on him to the uttermast. It pleased the Lord to bruise him and put him to grief ( Isaiah 53:10 ). He bore our sins: he carried our transgressions. Heavy must have been that burden, real and literal must have been our Lord’s substitution for us when he, the eternal Son of God, could speak of himself as for a time “forsaken.” Let the expression sink down into our hearts, and not be forgotten. We can have no stronger proof of the sinfulness of sin, or of the vicarious nature of Christ’s sufferings, than his cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” It is a cry that should stir us up to hate sin, and encourage us to trust in Christ. Let us observe in the second place how much is contained in the words which describe our Lord’s end. We are simply told, “he yielded up the ghost.” There never was a last breath drawn of such deep import as this. There never was an event on which so much depended.

I do not think that the records of time, or even of eternity, contain a sentence more full of anguish. Here the wormwood, the gall and all the other bitterness are outdone. Here you may look as into a vast abyss—and though you strain your eyes and gaze till sight fails you, yet you perceive no bottom—it is measureless, unfathomable, inconceivable. This anguish of the Savior on your behalf and mine is no more to be measured and weighed than the sin which needed it, or the love which endured it. We will adore where we cannot comprehend.

I do not think that the records of time, or even of eternity, contain a sentence more full of anguish. Here the wormwood, the gall and all the other bitterness are outdone. Here you may look as into a vast abyss—and though you strain your eyes and gaze till sight fails you, yet you perceive no bottom—it is measureless, unfathomable, inconceivable. This anguish of the Savior on your behalf and mine is no more to be measured and weighed than the sin which needed it, or the love which endured it. We will adore where we cannot comprehend. I have chosen this subject that it may help the children of God to understand a little of their infinite obligations to their redeeming Lord. You shall measure the height of His love, if it can be measured, by the depth of His grief, if that can ever be known. See with what a price He has redeemed us from the curse of the Law! As you see this, say to yourselves—What manner of people ought we to be? What measure of love ought we to return to One who bore the utmost penalty that we might be delivered from the wrath to come? I do not profess that I can dive into this deep—I will only venture to the edge of the precipice and bid you look down and pray the Spirit of God to concentrate your mind upon this lamentation of our dying Lord as it rises up through the thick darkness—"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Our first subject of thought will be the fact, or what He suffered—God had forsaken Him. Secondly, we will note the enquiry, or why He suffered—this word, "why," is the edge of the text. "Why have You forsaken Me?" Then, thirdly, we will consider the answer, or what came of His suffering.

DURING the time that "Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law," he, "came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb," and there he saw a strange sight—a bush that burned with fire and yet was not consumed! Then Moses, apparently overtaken by curiosity, was drawing near in order to examine this phenomenon when he heard God's voice say to him, "Draw not near here: take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where on you stand is holy ground."

DURING the time that "Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law," he, "came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb," and there he saw a strange sight—a bush that burned with fire and yet was not consumed! Then Moses, apparently overtaken by curiosity, was drawing near in order to examine this phenomenon when he heard God's voice say to him, "Draw not near here: take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where on you stand is holy ground." We also may well feel, as we think of our Lord Jesus in His agony, that the voice of God speaks to us from the Cross and says, "Curiosity—bold, daring, prying intellect—draw not near here! Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where on you stand is the very Holy of Holies unto which no man may come except as the Spirit of God shall conduct him." I think I can understand the words, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" as they are written by David in the 22nd Psalm, but the same words, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" when uttered by Jesus on the Cross, I cannot comprehend, so I shall not pretend to be able to explain them. There is no plummet that can fathom this deep! There is no eagle's eye that can penetrate the mystery that surrounds this strange question! I have read that once upon a time Martin Luther sat down in his study to consider this text. Hour after hour, that mighty man of God sat still—and those who waited on him came into the room, again and again, and he was so absorbed in his meditation that they almost thought he was a corpse.

IF any one of us, lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ had been anywhere near the cross when he uttered those words, I am sure our hearts would have burst with anguish, and one thing is certain—we should have heard the tones of that dying cry as long as ever we lived. There is no doubt that at certain times they would come to us again, ringing shrill and clear through the thick darkness.

IF any one of us, lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ had been anywhere near the cross when he uttered those words, I am sure our hearts would have burst with anguish, and one thing is certain—we should have heard the tones of that dying cry as long as ever we lived. There is no doubt that at certain times they would come to us again, ringing shrill and clear through the thick darkness. We should remember just how they were uttered, and the emphasis where it was placed, and I have no doubt we should turn that text over, and over, and over in our minds. But there is one thing, I think, we should never have done if we had heard it—therefore, I am not going to do it—we should never preach from it. It would have been too painful a recollection for us ever to have used it as a text. No; we should have said, "It is enough to hear it." Fully understand it, who can? And to expound it, since some measure of understanding might be necessary to the exposition—that surely were a futile attempt. We should have laid that by; we should have put those words away as too sacred, too solemn, except for silent reflection and quiet, reverent adoration. I felt when I read these words again, as I have often read them, that they seemed to say to me, "You cannot preach from us," and, on the other hand, felt as Moses did when he put off his shoe from off his foot in the presence of the burning bush, because the place whereon he stood was holy ground. Beloved, there is another reason why we should not venture to preach from this text, namely, that it is probably an expression out of the lowest depths of our Saviour's sufferings. With him into the seas of grief we can descend some part of the way; but when he comes where all God's waves and billows go over him, we cannot go there.

Eli, Eli ... - This language is not pure Hebrew nor Syriac, but a mixture of both, called commonly “Syro-Chaldaic.” This was probably the language which the Saviour commonly spoke. The words are taken from Psa 22:1. My God, my God ... - This expression is one denoting intense suffering. 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 either of these senses God could not have forsaken him. But the expression was probably used in reference to the following circumstances, namely: 1. His great bodily sufferings on the cross, greatly aggravated by his previous scourging, and by the want of sympathy, and by the revilings of his enemies on the cross. A person suffering thus might address God as if he was forsaken, or given up to extreme anguish. 2. He himself said that this was “the power of darkness,” Luk 22:53. It was the time when his enemies, including the Jews and Satan, were suffered to do their utmost. It was said of the serpent that he should bruise the heel of the seed of the woman, Gen 3:15. By that has been commonly understood to be meant that, though the Messiah would finally crush and destroy the power of Satan, yet he should himself suffer “through the power of the devil.” When he was tempted Luke 4, it was said that the tempter “departed from him for a season.” There is no improbability in supposing that he might be permitted to return at the time of his death, and exercise his power in increasing the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. In what way this might be done can be only conjectured. […]

There were solitudes beyond where none shall follow. There were secrets in the inmost and invisible part of that drama that have no symbol in speech; or in any severance of a man from men. Nor is it easy for any words less stark and …

Lastly, this truth is yet again true in the case of the common modern attempts to diminish or to explain away the divinity of Christ. The thing may be true or not; that I shall deal with before I end. But if the divinity is …