“My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Psalm 22:1.
WHAT unutterable agony was that which the Son of God was called to endure, when He cried, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” There never was before, and never will be again, such a cry. The blessed Lord Jesus could always say to Jehovah, “My God;” for though He was equal with God, He took upon Him the form of a servant; and as the perfect Servant, worshipped, served, and loved the Lord His God with all His heart, and mind, and soul, and strength. Not only did the Son of God abide in the Father’s love, and say, “Father....I know that Thou hearest Me always;” but He also, in the perfection of love and confidence, said, “O God, Thou art My God; early will I seek Thee: My soul thirsteth for Thee, My flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is,” &c. (Psa. 63:1.) “Thou art My God from My mother’s belly.” (Psa. 22:10.)
Obedience led Jesus to death, even the death of the cross; but though in that dreadful hour His soul was “full of troubles,” “His strength dried up like a potsherd,” and His “heart like wax melted in the midst of His bowels,” still it was “My God, my God!” When God had made Him to be sin for us, His unsparing wrath and fierce anger fell upon His own Son. His heart was broken, His hands and feet pierced, all His bones out of joint, His back smitten, His soul poured out unto death, the earth darkened, the multitude mocking and deriding, the hand of Jehovah bruising, still it was “My God, my God!” still He justifies Jehovah, and worships― “Thou art holy:” whilst in the perfection of lowliness He says, as regards Himself, “I am a worm, and no man.”
No one but God’s equal could so humble Himself. No one but the Fellow of the Lord of Hosts could sheathe in His own heart the glittering sword of Almighty vengeance. No one but He who had infinite capacities could drink up to the very dregs the sup of the wrath of God. No rock but the Rock of Ages could endure such waves and billows. The Holy One of God alone could be “made a curse for us:” He only could be our “Surety.” The Great Shepherd of the sheep could ransom us only by His own blood—the blood of, the everlasting covenant; and, blessed be His name, He endured the cross, despising the shame.
‘The cross, its burden, oh how great:
No strength but His could bear its weight;
No love but His would undertake
To bear it for the sinner’s sake.’
But, how wonderful the mystery that the Creator of all things should bear “our sins in His own body on the tree!” that the Prince of Life” should be “killed;” that the “Just One” should be numbered with transgressors, and yet make “intercession for the transgressors;” that “the Son of the Highest” should be laid “in the lowest pit” (Psa. 88:6); that the “only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,” should be taken by wicked hands, crucified, and slain; that the Light of the world should be laid “is darkness, in the deeps;” that Jehovah’s righteous Servant, His elect in whom His soul delighted, who finished the work the Father gave Him to do, should have such an experience of the hiding of God’s countenance as should draw from His lips, in his extremity of anguish, the bitter cry, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” What depths of grace and holiness, righteousness and peace, are here!
What distress, what terror, what amazing woe did our adorable Emmanuel endure when the fierce wrath of God thus lay upon Him! What creature in heaven or earth could grasp or utter the full meaning of these searchable realities! The long anticipated waters now came into His soul. He sank in deep mire where there was no standing. The full cup of unmingled sorrow was now drunk. If the immediate contemplation of the cross caused Him to “sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground,” what must have been His grief and suffering when “it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, to make His soul an offering for sin?” Surely, the prophet was led by the Holy Ghost to this wondrous subject when He said, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow, which is done unto Me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted Me in the day of His fierce anger. From above hath He sent fire into My bones, and it prevaileth against them: He hath spread a net for My feet, He hath turned Me back: He hath made Me desolate and faint all the day. The yoke of My transgressions is bound by His hand: they are wreathed and come up to My neck,” &c. (Lam. 1:12-14.)
What a matchless scene of sorrow and love! No comforters are here, none to assuage His bitter sorrow, none to sympathize, none to help: “Lover and friend hast Thou put far from Me.” (Psa. 88:18.) Not a drop of mercy is mingled with the cup of wrath, no compassionate hand stretched out to mitigate the agony— “He spared not His own Son.” Wondrous grace! Unutterable sorrow! The stern sword of the Lord of Hosts was handled by inflexible justice, and must be bathed in blood. The fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the flood gates [margin] of heaven were opened; deep called unto deep; the terrors of Sinai roared; and all the foaming waves and billows of offended justice rolled over the meek and lowly Jesus. He is forsaken of God; He dies for the ungodly. The Lamb without spot is slain to make as end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness―to perfect forever them that are sanctified. (Psa. 88:7, 16; Rom. 5:6; Dan. 9:24.)
The death of Christ was the opening of the all-cleansing fountain for sin and uncleanness. The Just died for the unjust; the Lord of glory was crucified for sinners; the Beloved Son was forsaken, and His offering accepted, that the returning prodigal might be welcomed to the Father’s house, and abide eternally there. Thus justice is satisfied, holiness vindicated, Divine wrath appeased, truth fulfilled, the law of God magnified, peace proclaimed, mercy flows out, the guilty are pardoned, and the lost saved; for “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.”
Do not our hearts, beloved brethren, adoringly worship, while thus we meditate on the sorrows of the Saviour crucified? Does it not humble us to think that our sins cost the blessed Lord such deep distress and pain? Does it not afresh inspire our hearts with confidence in God, that, when no less a sacrifice could avail, He gave His Beloved Son? And when we see the Beloved Son the willing victim, can we feel otherwise than that such grace is full of consolation, and binds the deepest obligations upon our hearts?
Farther. It was THE FATHER’S will that Jesus should lay down His life―He brought Him into “the dust of death.” (John 10:17,18; Psa. 22:15.) THE SON willingly died in our stead; “He gave Himself for our sins.” (Gal. 1:4.) “No man,” said He, “taketh it (My life) from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again” (John 10:18; 12:27; 18:7, 8, 11); and it was “through the ETERNAL SPIRIT” that “He offered Himself without spot to God.” But, as we have before noticed, in that dreadful hour it was “My God.” The slain One yet trusting in His God; Christ, the sin-bearer, forsaken, yet crying “My God,” “why castest Thou off My soul? why hidest Thou Thy face from Me?” (Psa. 88:14;) yea, pouring out His heart with all its sorrow and grief unto Him that smote Him. What lessons for us are here, beloved! Never were such prayers, such cries and tears, as the crucified Son of God put forth unto Him that was able to save Him from death. He trusted in God at all times, and poured out His heart before Him. If the cruel multitude gape upon Him with their mouths, laugh, shoot out the lip, compass Him about, or taunt Him, saving, “He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him;” does He not follow His God, who forsakes Him, with this sad tale of the wickedness of His foes, as well as put up “strong crying” to be saved from the waters of death? (Psa. 22:7, 8, 13, 16.) And He was heard in that He feared, even though it were from the horns of the unicorns. The loving heart, broken with reproach, cried and was heard. His soul was not left in hell, neither did His flesh see corruption. It was not possible that He should be holden of death. The vials of wrath due for the sins of His people had been emptied on Him. The wages of sin was paid to the full when Jesus died and made His grave with the wicked; and the debt being canceled, justice detains the prisoner no longer, death hath no more dominion over Him, for in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. God hath accepted the death of Christ on our behalf, so that we are called to reckon ourselves to have died indeed unto sin, and to be alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. And as we saw all the persons of the Triune Jehovah concerned in the death of Christ, so do we find the same blessed instruction in reference to His resurrection from the dead. He was raised up from the dead by the glory of THE FATHER. (Rom. 6:4.) THE SON said, “Destroy this temple (His body), and in three days I will raise it up.” “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” (John 2:19, 21; 10:18.) We are further told that He was “put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the SPIRIT.” (1 Peter 3:18.)
In the prophetic account of our Lord’s sufferings and death, it is blessed to see that the first thing that follows “Thou hast heard Me from the horns of the unicorns,” is the intimation of His desire for our participation in His resurrection joy― “I will declare Thy name unto My brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee.” (Psa. 22:22.) We find also that when Christ rose from the dead, and revealed Himself to Mary, He said, “Go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father; and to My God and your God.” (John 20:17.)
Into this blessed fellowship, beloved, are we brought; in this marvelous grace we stand; Christ’s Father our Father; His God our God; through the sorrows and victory of the Lamb slain. But His sorrows are over. The path of humiliation has been perfectly trodden, with infinite satisfaction to God, and for our eternal welfare. Heaven welcomes and enthrones the earth-rejected Son, and declares Him worthy of all praise, honor, power, and glory.
No place too high for Him is found,
No place too high in heaven!
All power in heaven and in earth is given unto Him. Angels and principalities are subject to Him. He still loves us as the Father hath loved Him, and hath sent down the Holy Ghost to comfort us during His absence, to teach, guide, bring Him to our remembrance, to testify of the crucified, risen, and glorified Son to our souls, until He comes again to receive us unto Himself. O for the anointed eye, and circumcised heart, to be able, with unshod feet, to search more deeply into the profound mysteries of the cross of Christ!