“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, KJV).
This cry is a fulfillment of Psalm 22:1, one of many
parallels between that psalm and the specific events of the crucifixion.
It is difficult to understand in what sense Jesus was “forsaken” by God.
It is certain that God approved His work.
It is certain that Jesus was innocent.
He had done nothing to forfeit the favor of God.
As God’s own Son--
holy, harmless, undefiled, and obedient--
God still loved Him. In none of these senses
could God have forsaken Him.
The prophet Isaiah says this about the Messiah:
"Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment
that brought us peace was on him,
and
by his wounds we are healed”
(Isaiah 53:4–5).
Jesus 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, that intensified His sufferings
and part of why Jesus said,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
It was the manifestation of God’s hatred of sin,
in some unexplained way,
that
Jesus experienced in that terrible hour.
The suffering He endured was due to us,
and it is that suffering
by
which we can be saved from eternal death.
In those awful moments,
as evil men were allowed to do whatever they wanted to Jesus,
our Lord
expressed His feelings of abandonment.
God placed the sins of the world on His Son,
and Jesus for a time felt the desolation of
being unconscious of His Father’s presence.
It was at this time that
“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,
so that in Him
we might become the righteousness of God”
(2 Corinthians 5:21).
There is another possible reason for
Jesus to cry out,
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
It could be that Jesus’ intent in quoting Psalm 22:1 was to point
His hearers to that psalm.
When they read Psalm 22,
they would no doubt see the many
fulfilled prophecies included in that song of David.
Even while
experiencing the agony of the cross,
Jesus was teaching the crowds and proving yet again
that He was the
Messiah who fulfilled the Scriptures.
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to
His abundant mercy has begotten us AGAIN to a
LIVING HOPE
-through- the resurrection of Jesus Christ
— 1 Peter 1:3
The resurrection of our Lord is the single greatest event in history.
Had the Lord merely died, He would have been considered
a
great teacher and a moral leader,
but He would not
have proven Himself God.
By coming out of the GRAVE, He triumphed
Over death AND hell,
showed His sacrifice on the CROSS
as being acceptable to God,
and gave HOPE of eternal life to everyone
who puts their TRUST in HIM.
Every other religious leader lies buried in the earth.
Mohammed lies dead and buried. Buddha, Confucius, Zoroaster,
and all the others who have attempted to lead men and women
into a religious experience apart from Almighty God
could not defeat death.
But Jesus Christ,
in what is one of the best documented facts in history,
ROSE VICTORIOUS from the GRAVE.
In this troubled world today, we can TAKE HOPE in the
RISEN CHRIST!
During Lent, we ponder the deep meaning
behind Jesus Sacrificial death
and
Christ's Glorious resurrection
He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also
by Jesus . . .
—2 Corinthians 4:14
The resurrection of Christ brings hope.
The late Emil Brunner once said,
"What oxygen is for the lungs,
such is hope
for the meaning of human life.”
As the human organism is dependent on a supply of oxygen,
so
humanity is dependent on its supply of hope.
Yet today hopelessness and despair are everywhere.
Peter, who himself was given to despair during the episode of Calvary,
writes in a triumphant note,
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
Easter is upon the horizon... What a GLORIOUS day to CELEBRATE that
HE IS ALIVE and CONQUERED the GRAVE!
LIVE today in LIGHT of that resurrection
TRUTH
and share the reason for your hope with others today!
Peace and Blessings in Christ Savior the Redeemer!
HE. IS. RISEN!
“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, KJV).
This cry is a fulfillment of Psalm 22:1, one of many
parallels between that psalm and the specific events of the crucifixion.
It is difficult to understand in what sense Jesus was “forsaken” by God.
It is certain that God approved His work.
It is certain that Jesus was innocent.
He had done nothing to forfeit the favor of God.
As God’s own Son--
holy, harmless, undefiled, and obedient--
God still loved Him. In none of these senses
could God have forsaken Him.
The prophet Isaiah says this about the Messiah:
"Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment
that brought us peace was on him,
and
by his wounds we are healed”
(Isaiah 53:4–5).
Jesus 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, that intensified His sufferings
and part of why Jesus said,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
It was the manifestation of God’s hatred of sin,
in some unexplained way,
that
Jesus experienced in that terrible hour.
The suffering He endured was due to us,
and it is that suffering
by
which we can be saved from eternal death.
In those awful moments,
as evil men were allowed to do whatever they wanted to Jesus,
our Lord
expressed His feelings of abandonment.
God placed the sins of the world on His Son,
and Jesus for a time felt the desolation of
being unconscious of His Father’s presence.
It was at this time that
“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,
so that in Him
we might become the righteousness of God”
(2 Corinthians 5:21).
There is another possible reason for
Jesus to cry out,
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
It could be that Jesus’ intent in quoting Psalm 22:1 was to point
His hearers to that psalm.
When they read Psalm 22,
they would no doubt see the many
fulfilled prophecies included in that song of David.
Even while
experiencing the agony of the cross,
Jesus was teaching the crowds and proving yet again
that He was the
Messiah who fulfilled the Scriptures.
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to
His abundant mercy has begotten us AGAIN to a
LIVING HOPE
-through- the resurrection of Jesus Christ
— 1 Peter 1:3
The resurrection of our Lord is the single greatest event in history.
Had the Lord merely died, He would have been considered
a
great teacher and a moral leader,
but He would not
have proven Himself God.
By coming out of the GRAVE, He triumphed
Over death AND hell,
showed His sacrifice on the CROSS
as being acceptable to God,
and gave HOPE of eternal life to everyone
who puts their TRUST in HIM.
Every other religious leader lies buried in the earth.
Mohammed lies dead and buried. Buddha, Confucius, Zoroaster,
and all the others who have attempted to lead men and women
into a religious experience apart from Almighty God
could not defeat death.
But Jesus Christ,
in what is one of the best documented facts in history,
ROSE VICTORIOUS from the GRAVE.
In this troubled world today, we can TAKE HOPE in the
RISEN CHRIST!
During Lent, we ponder the deep meaning
behind Jesus Sacrificial death
and
Christ's Glorious resurrection
He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also
by Jesus . . .
—2 Corinthians 4:14
The resurrection of Christ brings hope.
The late Emil Brunner once said,
"What oxygen is for the lungs,
such is hope
for the meaning of human life.”
As the human organism is dependent on a supply of oxygen,
so
humanity is dependent on its supply of hope.
Yet today hopelessness and despair are everywhere.
Peter, who himself was given to despair during the episode of Calvary,
writes in a triumphant note,
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
Easter is upon the horizon... What a GLORIOUS day to CELEBRATE that
HE IS ALIVE and CONQUERED the GRAVE!
LIVE today in LIGHT of that resurrection
TRUTH
and share the reason for your hope with others today!
Peace and Blessings in Christ Savior the Redeemer!
HE. IS. RISEN!
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