Q. Was sin-bearing only on the cross, when the Lord said “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Yet when Christ expired, God was not then hiding His face from Him; for He said, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit;” still atonement is in the blood. How would you reconcile this? Did Christ pass through death to undergo God's judgment on man, (namely, “the wages of sin is death,") and to conquer him who had the power of death, even Satan (Heb. 2)? Then how would this be reconciled with “He died for me and He shed His blood for me?” Would it be right to say Christ died for us under the chastening hand of God? would it not do away with atonement if, Christ died under the chastening hand of God? It would almost be saying that God had not accepted the work, would it not? The hiding of God's face was removed before death. W.
A. It is an all-important principle for a Christian that his responsibility as well as privilege and joy is to believe, without pretending to “reconcile". This is always a question of his spiritual capacity, which we may not always discern to be small. It is often enough for his own satisfaction, without expecting to silence gainsayers, or even to meet the difficulties of other minds. Many a thing passes human comprehension. But in all cases a saint is called to accept cordially and without question on the warrant of God's word.
Now as to the subject-matter raised, it is equally certain that in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark our Lord is seen on the cross suffering for sin and our sins, and uttering that cry of deepest anguish under the sense of God's face, then first, then only, hidden from Him: “My God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Here then in the true Sin Offering; but Luke presents Him subsequently saying, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” This is rather the Burnt Offering and the expression of conscious acceptance; not His soul realizing His holy horror and infinite suffering in bearing the divine judgment, but the outpouring of His confidence and unclouded enjoyment of His relationship. John lets us know His calm and divine satisfaction in His dying words: “It is finished"; and He dismissed His spirit, for He had title, He alone, to lay down His life and to take it again. Some of these inspired declarations unbelief stumbles at, if not at all. The believer receives them all adoringly as suited to the fullness of Christ.
Negative judgments in these questions are dangerous, for before we deny we ought to know all that God has revealed, Do we flatter ourselves thus? To say that Christ's death was judicial is to oppose many scriptures ignorantly: as Rom. 4:2525Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25), Rom. 5:6-106For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (Romans 5:6‑10), Rom. 8:3232He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32); 1 Cor. 1:23; 123But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; (1 Corinthians 1:23) Cor. 2:2; 1 Cor. 15:3; 23For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (1 Corinthians 15:3) Cor. 5:21; 2 Cor. 13:44For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. (2 Corinthians 13:4); Gal. 3:1313Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (Galatians 3:13); Heb. 1:33Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3); Heb. 2:9, 10, 14, 179But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. 10For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. (Hebrews 2:9‑10)
14Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Hebrews 2:14)
17Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17); Heb. 9:12, 14, 16, 23-2812Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (Hebrews 9:12)
14How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14)
16For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. (Hebrews 9:16)
23It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 25Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; 26For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:23‑28); Heb. 10:10, 12, 14, 19, 2010By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:10)
12But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; (Hebrews 10:12)
14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14)
19Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; (Hebrews 10:19‑20); 1 Peter 1:19; 119But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:19) Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18). This surely suffices. His death was much, very much more, but it was in the profoundest way the Sin Offering, and what in the Holy One can be judicial if this be not? The notion is a rash one-sided expression of such as are jealous of Christ's glory; but one truth must not be sacrificed to another. All that is revealed has supreme claims on our souls, and all is perfectly harmonious in Him Who is the Truth, and in the written word, which perfectly reveals all to us, whose simple place is to believe, and then in due time to understand. “Chastening” is an un-meet and unscriptural word for Christ, and especially for His death. Analyzing His work is almost as perilous as dissecting His person. “The right faith is that we believe and confess—that we worship.”