 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus says this as he's hanging on the cross, bystanders hear them, but the question is, why did he make that statement? What did he mean? Was Jesus forsaken? Hey smart Christians, welcome back. At the crux of our salvation is what Jesus did. Why he did it needs to be further fleshed out for some people, so I want to go to Matthew and let's look at this passage in, I'm sorry, Mark chapter 15 verse 34. He says, and at the ninth hour, verse 34, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi Eloi, Lama Sabapini, which is translated, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And so the question is, why would he state that? Also, we need to look at what was he saying was there something he was trying to get out. So let's go there and see what it says and says, in Psalm 21 it says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. So when Jesus is making this statement, what he's doing, because we find out, we hear that the bystanders that are standing around, they hear what Jesus is saying. His point is to get them to recognize, hopefully they would, but in many cases, but for the most part, they did not. He is wanting them to recognize where this passage comes from. So what does he do? He quotes a very famous Psalm, Psalm 22, which happens to speak of Jesus, what he is going to do. They weren't too sure of that, although he is telling them this as he's walking around in his earthly ministry, but too many simply did not catch on. Now, they didn't catch on, but it shouldn't be that we today can't catch on what Jesus is trying to say. Remember, Jesus has stated that he is the Messiah. He's the fulfillment of prophecy. And so this Psalm 22, as he states this, it should have, especially for us, conjure up what this or bring back to memories what Psalm 22 is saying. As a matter of fact, let's look at more passages in Psalm 22. Let's go to Psalm 22, he says, But I am a worm, not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people, which obviously is true about how they felt about Jesus, especially at this time. And so then we go to seven. He says, All who see me sneer at me. They separate with the lip. They wag the head saying, Commit yourself to the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him because he delights in him. And so what he's really, he's quoting the Psalm, how they are going to kind of mock and sneer at him, which is what they're doing. They say if he is who he says he is, let him come down on his own. When you hear the Eloi, Eloi, or the Eli, Eli, which is either in Hebrew or Aramaic, cousin Semitic languages, they think that he's saying Elijah, and they're calling for Elijah. Let's continue reading. He says, Verse 35, When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, Behold, he is calling Elijah. Some ran in field of spoon with sour wine, put it on a read, and gave him a drink saying, Let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down. Now, one of the reasons why they would have done that is because giving them him the drink, they believe would prolong his stay on the cross. In other words, he wouldn't die as soon. And so they want to see, well, let's see if Elijah is going to come and save him. Continue reading. He said, Verse 37 says, And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And then the veil of the temple was torn, Verse 38, from top to bottom. When the centurion who was standing right in front of him saw the way he breathed his last, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. So for some, they may have recognized maybe what he was saying is true. But I want to go back to the passage. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus clearly was not asking God why is he being forsaken? Jesus knew. As a matter of fact, Jesus before his death was telling his disciples why he came the whole point and that he is going to suffer. So it was not that he was caught off guard. He's making a statement for the benefit of the hearer to take what is said and then ponder and recognize that he is the fulfillment of prophecy. The prophecy, not just of Psalm 22, but all throughout the Old Testament. Remember, Jesus says that you search for scriptures and they all speak of me. And I want to go to another passage in the Bible that I think is pertinent to this. Let's go to Deuteronomy 21 verse 22. Look what it says, If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, he is to be put to death and you hang him on a tree. His corpse shall not hang all night on the tree but you shall surely bury him on the same day. For he who is hanged is a curse of God. So the rule was that if a person has committed a sin, they that's worthy of death there to be hung. And well, in this case, to be crucified and then be taken down and buried on that very same day. Well, so why is Jesus on the cross which goes to the question that begs answering my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Well, before we go, answer that, let's go back to the passage and look at what the word forsaken means. The word that's used here is echadolippes, which means to leave behind, to desert, to forsake. And the point that he's getting at is that since Jesus, remember the Bible says that he was sinless. So why is he on the tree? Well, for more clarification, let's look up another passage. In 2 Corinthians 5, 21 it says, he made him that's Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God. Remember, let's go back a little bit further. If we look at how the law stated that atonement had to be made, that there was a scapegoat, someone who would take the sin to the people out of the camp, away from them, take their sins away, and then there would be this shedding of blood, this animal would shed his blood and spread on the altar. And so that animal would be the perpetuation, would pay the sin debt, would in place of the people, would be the representation of sin. Well, that's exactly what Jesus is doing. He is becoming sin, not that he had sinned himself, but all of the sin, as a scapegoat, are going to be put on him, and then his blood, he'll take the place of the sinner. He, in essence, will be the object of sin, as it was in the day of atonement. And then Galatians 3.13 says this, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Having become a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. So Jesus becomes cursed, not that he had done anything to warn it, but instead our sin, all of our sins would be imputed to him. He would take the place, he would be the object of sin, and then his righteousness, for those who place their faith in him, would be imputed to us. And so cursed is anyone who hangs on the tree, and Jesus takes the place of us. If we go back to Psalm 22, look what it says. In 13 it says, They opened wide their mouth at me, as a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me. Remember, Jesus is being crucified. They stretch his bones, literally out of joint. And so if they go back and pay attention to what he's quoting, and go back and read it, they'll realize, and maybe some did, obviously many didn't. We have the benefit of going back and seeing it, having the scriptures all in one spot for us to go and view. And so we can go and finish reading it. Hopefully, many of them would have done so, and they would have seen that he seems to be fulfilling every aspect of Psalm 22. In 16 it says, For dogs have surround me, a band of evildoers have encompassed me, they pierce my hands and my feet. Again, he is fulfilling all of the aspects of this prophecy in hopes that they would recognize that he is the true Messiah. He's fulfilling this prophecy. And the only one that could do that would be this Messiah, the one that they've been waiting on. So when we hear him say, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Well, then the question that needs to come after that is, why did God forsake him? Why is this happening? For the benefit of us. They understand, and they're going to find out even more so after his death, burial and resurrection, especially as his disciples are spreading the word when Peter, when Bartholomew, when Thomas, when Andrew, when James, when John, Paul as well, are letting them know he is the fulfillment of this prophecy. Remember what happens on the day of Pentecost? Peter and the rest of them are giving the gospel to them in different languages, and he also explains it to them in their own language. And so many believe they recognize that he is the one to fulfill the prophecy. And they go back and look and see, yeah, he's the guy that did it. So why was he forsaken? Because if it had not been for him, we would be the ones who would be forsaken, but he instead took our place. We should have been the one whose God's full force and wrath would be poured out on us. We should be the ones who'd been on the tree. We should be the ones who would be in the encouraged place. We should be the one who God has forsaken. But because God allows this method of substitutionary atonement, such as what we had in the Old Covenant, under the law, when it comes to the day of atonement, the same holds true now that all of us can have our sins atoned for by someone other than ourselves. And so why was he forsaken? Well, when we answer the question, we'll realize how much God loves us. He was forsaken, so we didn't have to be.