I WAS recently asked to go and see a poor bedridden man, who was thought to be nearing his end. I found him in a terrible state of bodily suffering; one leg had been, amputated, and the other was slowly rotting away.
He knew his time was short, and he told me he was doing his utmost to trust in the Lord Jesus. He said he believed in Him, and that he was sure He ought to be believed in by every one, but that his difficulty was that he did not and could not feel that he trusted Him sufficiently.
I spoke to him of the Lord's suffering on the cross, of His infinite love and grace, of His sacrifice of Himself, until the poor dear man wept.
Still he repeated again and again, “Ah, I must trust Him more. I want to put all my trust in Him. I don't trust Him enough yet to be quite safe.”
Seeing he was trying to rest on his own faith in Christ, rather than on Christ Himself, I said to him: “Do you know why our Lord was forsaken when on the cross?”
“Oh!" said he," He was not really forsaken; He only thought He was. He could' never have been forsaken; I am sure of that.”
I read him Mark 15:3434And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Mark 15:34), MAR 15:3434And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Mark 15:34)and part of Psa. 22, PSA 22and asked him if it was not a real forsaking.
“Yes," he replied, after thinking some moments, " I now see it was. Those verses have always been a difficulty to me. I knew He had done nothing to be forsaken of God for; and the only explanation I could find was that He only thought Himself forsaken, and was not really so. Still this never satisfied me. I cannot make it out. Can you tell me why He was forsaken on the cross?”
Feeling this was a question to be answered by God, and by God alone, and that he must really go through it with God, I replied “You know Jesus was the Holy One of God; that He knew no sin; that before He was born, the Holy Spirit spoke of Him as' that holy thing which should be born ' of the Virgin; that His whole life down here was not only spotless, but perfectly acceptable to God in every detail; that the voice from heaven said of Him: ' This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased '; and yet He cried on the cross, ' My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? '”
The poor dear man's attention was absorbed.
“Tell me," he said, " oh, do tell me why!
I cannot make it out. It is beyond me altogether.”
It was now late, about 9 p.m., and so, after a few words of prayer to the Lord to show him, I left him, begging him to ask God simply to show him why His beloved Son was forsaken on the cross; and, at the same time, as he could find no cause in Him, to see if there was any cause to be found elsewhere.
The next morning when I went to see him again, I found him calm, and yet filled with wondrous joy.
“Well, C—," I said, "have you found it out yet?”
He did not need telling what the "it” referred to.
“Oh! yes," he said with tears, " I have indeed. The Lord showed it all to me in the night. I could not sleep. I was in no pain, but yet I felt a sort of pain in me until He showed it all to me. I felt I must know' why, and I prayed to Him to tell me, and He did.
It was for ME, for ME! How wonderful it is! Too wonderful almost to speak of; and when I see Him, I shall see Him who was forsaken for ME! What a sight it will be! And it will last forever too!”
“And what about all your trust now?” I asked.
“Oh! don't speak of it," he said, covering his face with his hands. “Now, when I think of Him, and look at Him, I cannot bear to think about myself and my trust. I can never, no never, trust Him enough; and as to loving Him, well; I don't like to call what I feel about Him love,' for His love is so wonderful, so blessed, so everlasting!”
“Then there is nothing left to try for now,” I said.
“Try!" he exclaimed. “No; nothing! I can't try to love Him, now; I can only rest in His love. And, oh; what rest it is! His wonderful, blessed, unchanging love; and I don't deserve the least bit of it. What time and joy I've lost in trying to deserve it! I see it all now; I was trying to deserve His love, and so I was trying to trust Him. But now, blessed be His name, I can rest in His love; rest there forever and forever, in His love! I can think of nothing else now, but Him and His love.”
A few weeks later, this dear man, a pauper, in receipt of parish relief, passed peacefully away from the scene of his sufferings and poverty, to be with Him who had so loved him as to give Himself for him.
His joy, his peace, remained ever the same; the calm, holy joy and peace of the blessed, undeserved, unwavering love of Jesus for him, a poor, vile, hell-deserving sinner! A pauper in receipt of parish relief, and yet the possessor, of the only true riches! richer than the 'wealthiest or most powerful sovereign who has not for himself the simple answer to that wondrous "Why?”
Reader, can you answer for yourself as to why that blessed One was forsaken? God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for sinners, and God always stands by what He has done. He has glorified "that same Jesus” at His own right hand in heaven; and God is about to bring Him again, and to manifest Him in glory in the very place where He was rejected, despised, spat upon, and crucified by man, and where, in the greatness of His love, and His mercy toward man, God forsook Hine on the cross.
Dear reader, when you see Him, will it be to gaze upon the One who was FORSAKEN FOR. YOU, or will it be with wailing and sorrow?
God says, "Every eye shall see HIM"; the lost as well as the saved; those for whom He was forsaken, as well as those who pierced Him, and those who are now indifferent to Him.
May God in His mercy give you no rest until you too can say, with rich, though poor; happy, though despised; joyful, though suffering C—, "For me; it was for me!”
P. A. H.
God's absolute righteousness against sin, and perfect love to the sinner, are equally shown in Christ's death.