This is part II of My, God, My God. So if you haven't read that first, you may want to because I'm starting where I left off. I hate to write long blogs so thought it best to divide this long one into two portions.
We left off with Christ enduring pain and anguish on the cross, feeling alone and separated from God, his father. Why? If they are so close why did he feel forsaken now during his darkest hour? Isn't this when we need God the most?
The writers to the NT explained this a bit. Paul said in 2 Cor 5:21:
"He had made him to be sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
and in Gal 3:13 he said:
"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, cursed is every on that hangs on a tree."
Well we know the price for sin is death. We sin, we deserve death. But Jesus came and paid that penalty for us. He was our sin bearer, my sin bearer. He was paying our wage, the price for our sin. He did this in a very public way for all to see. This was quite the public testimony. He was willing to die a very humiliating death for all the world to see, then and now.
The scriptures proclaim time and again that the consequence of sin is death. Death always means separation. When we die physically our body separates from our spirit. When we die spiritually, our spirit is separated from God.
In this case this is total separation from God the Father. We know he paid the price for us, yet we still continue to sin. We still continue to hang onto our sin. Why? Because we are comfortable in it. We should be so grateful for what he's done, that we walk away totally from sin. Well, we can't totally, because we are born with that fleshly sin nature that rears its ugly head time and again. What we can do is walk away from a life of habitual sin. We don't have to be amused at our sin. The world has taught us to laugh at it, actually to enjoy it, revel in it. It is good for us to remember our redemption came at a high cost. The cost of one that loved us so much he was willing to pay for all of our sin. We need to remember our sin put him there up on that cross. The punishment meant for us was taken on by God's only Son. The cross he bore should have been mine.
When all the sin of the world was put on his shoulders, God looked away. He could not look down at him in favor so covered in sin was he. We see Habakkuk say in 1:13a.
"Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity"
and Paul said in 2 Cor 6:14:
"Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion has light with darkness? "
Yes God abandoned him at this moment in time. He could not have close fellowship with him. Sin was in the way. This sin was totally responsible and an obstacle in their relationship one to another. What does this tell us? Do we let sin get in the way of our relationship with God? How easily do we wander into sin and separate from God? Does it affect me?
Does the impact of what he's done impact us at all? One way to find out is to ask ourselves, how casual are we about sin and life after death? We see quite clearly in scripture that hell is separation from God. Here on the cross we get a glimpse of what hell must be like as we see Christ suffer totally separated from God. In Luke it says the night before his sweat was as drops of blood. Oh how much anxiety must have been felt to be in such a state. Is our sin worth all this? I don't think so.
We need to remind ourselves and always remember that Christ took away a SEVERE punishment from us. Our trust and acceptance for what he did for us should draw us closer to him grateful for the second chance he affords us. For those who don't accept or trust him they will have to pay the price he was all too willing to pay for them. The pain and suffering he received on that cross will be theirs one day as they too be separated from God forever.
For those that believe in what Christ did for us we have this promise:
"....I will never leave you nor forsake you." Heb 13:5
Like we talked about earlier with the two thieves on their crosses hanging on either side of Jesus that fateful day, we have before us two decisions, two pathways and two destinies. Which way will we go? One pathway leads to repentence, restoration and redemption. The other leads to rebellion, rejection and remorse later for that path chosen.
"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua