The Most Surprising Statement

SEVEN AWESOME STATEMENTS

FROM THE

CROSS

Series 3 of 5

The Most Surprising Statement

“About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice.  ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’—which means ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Matthew 27:46).

The fourth statement from the Cross is the very core of our redemption.  It is the very essence of the Christian faith.  If you miss this, you miss everything. Had the Father not turned His back on the Son, had the Father not abandoned the Son at the moment, we could never be sure that the Son actually carried our sin and our judgment on the Cross.

This is the most surprising statement of all of those Christ made from the Cross.  In fact, it is downright confusing to many people.  The word forsaken here, literally means to have someone in a lurch, to abandon someone completely.  How can the Father abandon His Son, who coexisted with Him in perfect unity for eternity?  The Father and the Son were always one unit.  Why would He abandon His Son now?

Make no mistake about it, He did abandon Him.  Why? It was for you.  It was for me.  It was for our redemption. It was for our forgiveness –so that we could live forever.

But the question remains: Why? The Father deserted the Son in His most desperate moment because of our sin.  Jesus was carrying the judgment of our sin upon that Cross, and the Father could not look upon sin, and therefore, He turned His back.

This was not Jesus’ imagination that the Father forsook Him, as some people teach.  No, at that moment of separation, the sin of humanity rained on Jesus like a funnel cloud, so much so that Jesus experienced hell itself.  This Moment of desertion was the moment when our sin was heaped upon His holy, sinless body, and for the first time since before eternity, Jesus looked up into heaven and saw His Father as a judge.  That is why He did not call Him Abba; He called Him Eloi --- my God the sovereign, God the judge, God the awesome-filled one.

From cover to cover, the Bible tells us that on the Cross Jesus took upon Himself the judgment of everyone who would believe in Him, everyone who would follow Him, everyone who would obey Him.

Every human being that has ever lived and will ever live is going to face judgment of God.  The only ones who will escape are the ones who have accepted the fact that Jesus took their judgement upon Himself in His body on the Cross.

Our Lord Jesus Christ not only bore our sin, He actually became sin.  He was never a sinner, but He became sin so that He may save everyone who would come to Him and say, “Forgive me.”

He died in darkness so that we may live in light.  He died in silence so that we may forever have a word from the Lord.  He died forsaken so that we may be accepted.  He died rejected so that we may be received.

Take time to reflect on the sacrifice Christ made for your salvation.

“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the Law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” Luke 9:22

Jesus spent hours on that cross shedding His blood for everyone of our sins.  He forgave everyone who betrayed Him. He forgave everyone who defiled Him, and He forgave everyone who sinned against Him.

So is it asking to much that you could ask Jesus to forgive you from all your sins.  All you have to do is say a simple prayer and mean it, and you will have that peace, your name will be written down in the Book of Life.

All you have to do is to believe that Jesus shed His blood on the Cross for you. And ask Jesus to forgive you and invite Him to reside in your heart.

If you are ready, and you believe Jesus was the man who said He was.  (Jesus is the son of God, and that God came down to earth to be born as the savior of man kind.  God became flesh.) Repeat after me:

My Lord and Savior I have sinned against you and against my fellow man. Please forgive me of all my sins.  I believe that this day forward I am a new creation.  Lord thank you for your sacrifice on the Cross, and for your  eternal salvation.  In Jesus name…Amen.

From this minute forward you are a new person, and earned your spot in Heaven with Jesus.