You can turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew's gospel, Matthew chapter 27. We work our way through the passion narrative in our Lord's Supper services. Our focus tonight will be just on two verses, verses 45 to 46, but I wanna read the larger context. The crucifixion of Jesus is given in verses 32 to 54.

So I'll read that section now. So beginning in Matthew 27 at verse 32. Now, as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear his cross.

And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, place of a skull, they gave him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when he had tasted it, he would not drink. Then they crucified him and divided his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

Sitting down, they kept watch over him there. And they put up over his head the accusation written against him. This is Jesus, the king of the Jews. Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and another on the left.

And those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, you who destroyed the temple and build it in three days, save yourself. If you are the son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise, the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others, Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.

He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him. For He said, I am the Son of God. Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing. Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, there was darkness over all the land.

And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, "'Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani, that is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' Some of those who stood there when they heard that said, this man is calling for Elijah. Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and offered it to him to drink. The rest said, let him alone. Let us see if Elijah will come to save him.

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

So when the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly saying, truly, this was the son of God. And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, were there looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons. Amen. Well, let us pray.

Holy Father, as we gather now before the foot of the cross, we acknowledge this is sacred space, and we pray for the guidance of the Spirit as we consider these words of our Savior from the cross. Give us grace and guidance now. Lead us into worship and to praise and adoration as we contemplate the Savior going through what he went through on our behalf. For certainly, the apostle tells us, Jesus in the institution of the supper tells us, as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

And we do so corporately now, we do so as well in remembrance of Him, not ourselves. So forgive us for our sins and unrighteousness and fill us with your Spirit. And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Introduction

Well, as I said, the crucifixion proper is given in verses 32 to 54. We have the crucifixion, verses 32 to 38, and then the mockery of our Lord while He is on the cross in verses 39 to 44. The death of Jesus is recorded here in verses 46 to 56. And then when we break that down further, I want to consider this evening the cry of dereliction in verses 45 and 46.

There were seven sayings of the Savior from the cross, and this is the fourth saying of the Savior. It's a difficult verse in terms of interpretation with reference to our triune God, so that's why I want to spend a bit of time on this subject. So you have the cry of dereliction in verses 45 to 46, then comes the mockery of the bystanders in verses 47 to 49, the death of Jesus proper in verse 50, and then signs and wonders in verses 51 to 53, and then finally the response of the soldiers and the women. The soldier cries, truly this was the Son of God.

So we'll look at that or investigate those sections. in the coming months. But tonight,

Darkness Over the Land

I wanna look first at the darkness over the land in verse 45, and then the cry from the cross in verse 46. But notice the cry or the darkness over the land. Notice the time is indicated in verse 45. Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, there was darkness over all the land.

So this would have been 12 noon to 3 p.m. Remember that it was the Passover, and it was precisely at around 3 p.m. for the time of the slaying of the offerings of the daily sacrifice. The time of the official slaughter of the Passover lamb began while our Lord Jesus Christ was on the cross. We have studied, or we are studying, the book of Exodus in our Wednesday night Bible study, and we have recently studied the Passover.

Exodus 12 is a long, detailed section concerning that feast. And we understand it to be typical in nature. It pointed forward to this great redemptive act of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that because in 1 Corinthians 5, the apostle tells us Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

And so what we have in this instance is the type and the anti-type. We have the Lord Jesus going to the slaughter at the time of the official slaughter of the Passover lambs. And then notice that there was darkness over all the land. Now brethren, noon to three does not mean darkness in Israel.

That would have been just as odd there as it would be here. It is not typically the case that we have darkness unless there is an eclipse. Some have suggested that that is precisely what took place. There's no evidence to confirm that.

I'd rather side with C.H. Spurgeon. He underscores that it is the sympathy and the mourning of nature itself. In other words, it's nature's response to nature's God being crucified.

Spurgeon says, this darkness was supernatural. It was not an eclipse. The son could no longer look upon his maker, surrounded by those who mocked him. He covered his face and traveled on in tenfold night, in very shame that the great son of righteousness should himself be in such terrible darkness.

Thomas Manton, similarly, says, At the passion of Christ the earth trembled, the sun seemed to be struck blind with astonishment, and the frame of nature to put itself into a funeral garb and habit, as if the creatures durst not show their glory while God was manifesting His anger for sin and Christ was suffering. So it wasn't an eclipse, it was rather a supernatural event. As well, it is the appropriate setting. In Luke's gospel, in chapter 22, verse 53, Jesus says, when I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize me, but this is your hour and the power of darkness.

So it was fitting and appropriate that the Son of God on the cross would experience this darkness. As well, this is an expression of divine judgment. I mentioned the Passover a little while ago. Well, the Passover is given in conjunction with the 10th plague.

Well, prior to the 10th plague, you have the 9th plague, which is darkness that has come over the land. After the darkness that has come over the land, there is the execution of the firstborn, and then comes the redemption of God's people. That same pattern is obvious in this instance. You've got darkness, you've got the execution of the firstborn, and then you've got redemption on the heels of that.

So it is significant, and I suspect that these older brothers are correct. No eclipse, Rather, it is supernatural manifesting nature itself and their response to the Son of God's suffering.

The Cry from the Cross

Now, notice the cry from the cross. There's several things we need to consider here. First,

The Cry Itself

the cry itself. Look at the language of the Savior. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, it's implied that this pierced the silence. There's no indication that there was silence, but there's no indication that there was a lot of noise.

I think the text itself, at least implicitly, suggests that it was probably pretty quiet along with this darkness. And so in the ninth hour, about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice. Now notice that, a loud voice. He's been up all night.

He's been scourged twice. He is now hanging on a cross, and nevertheless, he cries out with a loud cry. And he says, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. That is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

So the words of Jesus pierce the implied silence. Davies and Allison suggest the crucified finally speaks. When he does, it is not to human beings, but to God. He's not calling out to man in this cry of dereliction, rather he is crying out to God.

Notice as well that the words that he uses are Hebrew and Aramaic. Davies and Allison, again, why the Aramaic is given at all. The answer is presumably twofold. One, the words were Jesus' last words, and therefore seemed especially important.

And two, without them, the misunderstanding about Elijah would be unintelligible. We wouldn't know why these persons would have said, why is he crying out to Elijah, if we did not have the Aramaic slash Hebrew, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. As well, I mentioned that this is the fourth cry of the Savior, from the cross amongst seven. The first is, Father forgive them, Luke 23.

The second is, today you will be with me in paradise, Luke 23. The third is, woman behold your son, John 19. Fourth is this one. Fifth is, I thirst, John 19.

Sixth is, it is finished, John 19. And seventh, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. So those are the seven sayings of the Savior from the cross, and they're very instructive for us, each and everyone, theologically. So that's the cry itself.

Secondly,

Theological Considerations

we need to make some theological considerations. The doctrine of the Trinity teaches us that there is one true and living God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So how do we explain, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Some have taken a stab at it, and I think they are altogether incorrect or wrong.

In the first place, the cry of Jesus does not indicate any division among the persons of the Trinity. The cry of Jesus does not indicate any division among the persons of the Trinity. One commentator who's world-renowned, who is an excellent man, whose commentaries for the most part are most excellent, he's a New Testament scholar, gets this exactly wrong. He says, if we ask in what ontological sense the Father and the Son are here divided, the answer must be that we do not know because we are not told.

That's incorrect. That assumes that there was some sense ontologically where there was a division between the Father and the Son. That is unacceptable in Christian theology. That is unacceptable with reference to a biblical doctrine of the Trinity.

Second, the cry of Jesus does not indicate a dissolution of the hypostatic union. In other words, Christ is not undone. Christ is one person, two natures. And what we have here is not a dissolution of that union, of the natures in the one person.

John Gill gets this right. He says, when he is said to be forsaken of God, the meaning is not that the hypostatic union was dissolved, which was not even by death itself. The fullness of the Godhead still dwelt bodily in him. That's Christian theology.

That's the doctrine of the Trinity. As well, the cry of Jesus does not indicate that the three persons of the Trinity are suffering on the cross. There is a famous man that supposes that that is the case as well, following some guys that were off theologically. So the guy that's famous, I don't want to necessarily mention his name, followed some neo-orthodox guys, and they were wrong, and he is wrong as well.

It's not the triune God that is suffering on the cross. It is the second person of the Trinity, according to his humanity, suffering on the cross. That is a distinction necessary with reference to the hypostatic union. There are things that Jesus does when he's on earth that is an expression of his divine nature.

There are things that Jesus does that are expressions of his humanity. when Jesus suffers, when Jesus dies, when Jesus bleeds, when Jesus eats, when Jesus sleeps. This is not true of the divine essence. This is rather true of Christ according to his humanity. So whatever is happening on the cross, and I hope to show you what is happening in just a few moments, we don't have a division between the persons of the Trinity.

We don't have dissolution in the hypostatic union, and we certainly don't have all three persons of the Trinity suffering on the cross for us men and for our salvation. Now thirdly,

Scriptural Background: Psalm 22

we need to appreciate the scriptural background. The scriptural background is Psalm 22, the psalm that I read at the outset of worship. And basically, Psalm 22 is the psalmist crying out to God with reference to his present distress. And the psalmist does this in a beautiful and blessed way.

Very instructive for us as the people of God. He first petitions for God's intervention based on God's proven faithfulness. The first 10 verses, the psalmist rehearses the faithfulness of God Almighty. Secondly, there is a petition for God's intervention based on his present calamity.

In other words, the distress that I'm suffering, I pray to you God to vindicate me or to deliver me. And then the psalm ends with an answer of God and the resultant praise. Verses 21b to 31. So I stopped at the part that deals with Christ on the cross.

I didn't read to the end with reference to his exaltation, his current session, and the fact that God Most High vindicated him and God blessed him. So the Psalm, Psalm 22, is written by David, but it transcends anything that David underwent. Verses 11 to 21 give a detailed description of crucifixion, many hundreds of years before the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Alec Motier says we are listening in Psalm 22 to David the prophet looking forward to the suffering Messiah.

So Christ takes Psalm 22 on his lips as he's on the cross. Now notice, fourthly,

Various Views on the Passage

there are various views with reference to the passage. Again, this may seem a bit pedantic and a bit nitpicky, but we need to understand what is happening or else we compromise our understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity or of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the various views of the passage. The first is the view that he was expressing the opinion of others and not his own.

In other words, he is expressing the view of others around him, but not his own position. Calvin maintains that in his Institutes of the Christian Religion. Secondly, the view that it only seemed like Jesus was being forsaken. No, when we read the Gospels, we see that Jesus was, in fact, forsaken.

That was not a new thing with reference to our Lord. He is opposed by his country, he's opposed even by his disciples, and he's opposed by all the people of Israel. So it's not some sort of a supposition or a view that it was only like, or only seemed like, he was being forsaken. Others suggest that on the cross he actually prayed all of Psalm 22.

But the only thing that has been captured by the evangelist is verse 1. I don't know that that's necessarily the case. But I think the most pernicious one, the most dangerous one, the one that we need to guard against, the one that explains why I don't ever pick hymn number 351, it's the view that the father abandoned the son. It is the view that the father abandoned the son.

The idea that the father turned his face away from the son. That is popular in modern hymnody. It is popular among feeling-oriented Christians. It is popular among persons that are theologically ignorant.

But that's not what's in view here. The Father never turned his back on the Son of God. May it never be. The fact that Psalm 22 goes on to indicate that the Father does hear the Son.

As well, the fact that Matthew 28 demonstrates that the Father does hear the Son. The fact that the cross was always the plan of the Father. Isaiah 53. It pleased Yahweh to bruise Him.

Matthew chapter 26. We see it in 24, and then again in 52 to 56. This wasn't a haphazard. Jesus didn't accidentally end up on that cross.

As Peter tells us in Acts 2.23, it was the predetermined plan of God Most High that He go to that cross. Romans 3, 25 to 26, Paul the Apostle speaking about propitiation. In fact, you can turn there just to see the Father's activity in the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Notice in Romans chapter 3, verse 21, we'll start.

But now, the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed. This is in contrast to Romans 1.18, where the apostle says, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And then Paul gives a vivid description of the unrighteousness and ungodliness of men. He starts with the Gentiles, he moves to the Jews, and then in chapter 3 of Romans, he summarizes specifically in verses 10 to 20 that there is none righteous.

Everyone is guilty before a holy God. So the contrast between the wrath of God revealed is now, verse 21, the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now notice, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith.

To demonstrate His righteousness because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. To demonstrate at the present time His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So the apostle, in short compass, explains to us how the redemptive work of Jesus Christ not only manifests God's grace, and not only manifests God's mercy, but it also upholds God's righteousness. In other words, God in the cross can be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

So it's not as if Jesus ended up on that cross in some unknown way. The fact that the father never wavered in his love for the son. John Flavel on the suggestion that the father stopped loving the son or turned away from him. He says, that is impossible.

He can no more cease to love Christ than to love himself. His love was not turned into wrath, though his wrath only was now manifested to him as our surety. It's another way of suggesting that it was according to his humanity. Jesus, as our surety, took upon him the wrath and the curse and the fury of God.

Jesus, as our surety, went to that cross in our stead. Jesus, according to his humanity, as our surety, took it himself, the punishment and the wrath of God Most High that was due for us. Brethren, this is the very essence and core of substitutionary atonement. Penal substitutionary atonement.

This is being, you know, explained away in modern evangelicalism. One has gone so far as to suggest that the concept of penal substitution is child abuse. Cosmic child abuse where the father strikes his son. That's not it at all.

It is the reality that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. And it is the reality that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. So God sends forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. He comes to deal with us through the surety.

And the surety is loved by the Father all throughout this effort to save His people from their sins. Now,

The Meaning of the Cry

fifthly and finally, the meaning of the words. What they don't mean, I hope is obvious, but what do they mean? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In the first place, it underscores the reality that the Father did not deliver the Son from the agony of the cross.

The Father did not deliver the Son from the agony of the cross. Remember the doctrine of the hypostatic union. Remember the doctrine of the true humanity of Jesus Christ. He assumed our humanity with all of the essential properties and the common infirmities thereof, and yet without sin.

Isn't it true of humanity to cry out in distress? Isn't it true of humanity to cry out in times of difficulty and hardship? Isn't that one of the blessings of God most high is that he's given us the Psalms of lament, that he's given us the writings of Jeremiah the prophet, so that when we have agony, when we have sorrow, we pray God's word back to him. You've got to understand there's a whole category of lamentation in the Bible, and that is a means by which the people of God through the history of the church and the history of the people of Israel and express their grief to God.

So the reality that the Father did not deliver the Son from the agony of the cross. Why have you forsaken me to this kind of suffering? Now brethren, if this all sounds odd, just think back a couple of chapters to the Garden of Gethsemane. You see the excruciating soul sorrow of the Savior when He cries out to the Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.

That's perfectly appropriate to true humanity that is facing and knowing that they're going to suffer the wrath of God. What else are you supposed to cry out? What else are you supposed to speak? What else do you do when it seems as if God has turned His back on you?

It didn't happen, but that's how we can perceive it. And brethren, remember that the absence of God's favor for a time does not mean God's absence. You need to get that. That is just, you know, a fundamental truth in our religion.

The psalmist says in Psalm 23 verse 4, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, How do we walk through the valley of the shadow of death? Not by skipping, not by singing zippity-doo-dah. That shadow or that valley of the shadow of death is punctuated by darkness, by grief, by hardship. But notice the psalmist does not interpret his present state in the valley of the shadow of death as the absence of God.

No, just the opposite. I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Could it be the case that even though the Father didn't deliver the Son from the agony of the cross, that the Father was just as much with Him as He was with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He was with Nicodemus, when He was all points in His life, just like we experience and just like we know? We know that this is the direction because the parallel line in Psalm 22.1.

Jesus quotes the first half, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The next part says, why are you so far from helping me? And from the words of my groaning. Again, in this current situation, we're in, as a man, he is suffering in our stead, as our surety, the torture of physical execution.

There is a parallel meaning in Isaiah the prophet 53.10. I've already mentioned it. Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has put him to grief.

I think what is in view specifically is the withdrawal or the suspension of God's favor and not again God's presence But the same sort of thing, and I hate to even put it in the human analogy, but when we're at our lowest, when we're at our worst, when we're in the depths of despair, God hasn't abandoned us. That's just second blessing, perfectionistic, bad theology that God withdraws from His people. The very essence of gospel truth is Romans chapter 8. We're reminded of that this morning.

What shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? What the apostle describes in context isn't all the good things in life. Oh, when we're at the baseball game. Oh, when we're at the family picnic.

Oh, of course God is with us. He's talking about horrific things, bad things, martyrdom, suffering, persecution. So the withdrawal of favor, Matthew Poole says it must be understood with respect to God's consolatory manifestations. John Gill says, but he was now without a sense of the gracious presence of God and was filled as the surety of his people with a sense of divine wrath which their iniquities he now bore.

Remember, as surety, 2 Corinthians 5.21 is true. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. Now what does God do with reference to Christ who is our substitute and our surety? He punishes him.

He inflicts upon him wrath and fury and justice that is owing from our sin. Turretin goes the same way, but as to a participation of joy and felicity, God suspending for a little while the favorable presence of grace and influx of consolation and happiness that he might be able to suffer all the punishment due to us. In other words, brethren, as our surety, he is suffering what we deserve, and according to his humanity, which is true humanity, it evokes from him this cry of distress. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

And as I mentioned, the reason for it is penal substitution. We're going to end our service tonight singing what we always sing after the supper. That's not a ritual, it's not a rite, it's not a checklist. Reformed Baptist headquarters doesn't mandate that thou must sing that song.

But it's a wonderful expression at the end of the supper concerning gospel truth. And it heralds the truth that Christ died for his people. And in that particular hymn it says, In my place condemned he stood. And I ask you again, brethren, under the wrath and fury and justice of God, what would we expect for our Savior to cry out?

This is as appropriate as a statement as ever has been given. Matthew Henry said, Christ was made sin for us, a curse for us. And therefore God loved, or though God loved him as a son, he frowned upon him as a surety. He deals with Christ with reference to us.

So it's the reality that the father did not deliver the son from the agony of the cross. But secondly,

The Son's Unflinching Trust

the reality that the son did not shrink back from fulfilling the will of the father. Notice, my God, my God. That, whatever the forsakenness is, however we describe it, wherever we find ourselves in terms of what this means or doesn't mean, it never separated the father from the son. It never introduced division in that trinity of persons.

It never dissolved the hypostatic union. Typically when Jesus prays, he prays to his father. Here on the cross, here as our surety, he cries out to God. But it's not just God, he cries out, my God.

So Christ did not interpret whatever he meant by forsakenness as God's having turned his back on him. as God's having renounced him, as God's hiding his face from him. Oh no, the father is pleased in the work of the son. The father never is ruptured in terms of his love for the son. There's no breach between father and son.

The Lord Jesus Christ, as surety, evidences his trust in Yahweh by calling him my God. Again, Matthew, Henry, that our Lord Jesus, even when he was thus forsaken of his father, kept hold of him as his God, notwithstanding. As well, this is a manifestation of the degree to which our blessed surety suffered for us. Now, if we ask the question, is Jesus really confused?

Is Jesus seeking out information? Is Jesus hoping that the Father will say, well, you know, son, we transacted in eternity past for you to undertake this. I don't think he's seeking out information. I think he's expressing his distress.

He's expressing the great lengths he is going to in terms of suffering for us men and for our salvation. That is an indicator that what happens on the cross isn't fiction. What happens on the cross isn't simply story. What happens on the cross is certainly not fable, but what happens on the cross is reality.

And the Son of God, who owned true humanity, suffers under the wrath and fury of God in our place, as our surety, and it evokes from Him this cry of the psalmist, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And then again, finally, with reference to the analogy with Gethsemane. If the prospect of the cup, remember, in Gethsemane, that was the issue of his exceeding soul sorrow. It was the prospect of the cup.

If that brought on exceeding soul sorrow, The drinking of the cup, which he is doing here, is certainly going to manifest that sorrow as well. So again, I ask you, what better language could the Savior produce in terms of his suffering in our stead on the cross? The theology is not that the father turned his back on him. The theology is not that the father hid his face from him.

The theology is not that the father was upset with him. No, the theology is consistent with Trinitarianism. It is consistent with a biblical and robust Christology of the one person, two natures, who according to his humanity took on the wrath and fury and judgment of God in our place. In my place condemned he stood.

As I said, we'll sing that at the end of our worship this evening.

Application

Well, in conclusion, just a few thoughts. In the first place, and it doesn't come out a lot in verses 45 and 46 properly, but we have to appreciate, and I don't mean, wow, this is great, but

The Depravity of Man

appreciate the depravity of man. The darkness of verse 45 displays the divine displeasure and judgment for man's sin. Again, I don't think that's a stretch, brethren. Creation itself responds to the works of God.

Look at what happens later on in verse 51. Think about that. There's no sort of naturalistic explanation for that. I mean, you might be able to say, okay, well, this tearing of the veil from the top to the bottom.

Not the bottom to the top. Notice the way, the directions, from the top to the bottom. God comes after sinners. Sinners don't go after God.

That, you might say, well, you know, it was a phenomenon, bad fabric. And then you might say, well, you know, earthquakes are pretty common. Earthquakes happen. I mean, they just had one recently, I think, in California.

I mean, California has them all the time. Where we lived in Palmdale, we lived right by the San Andreas Fault. That was the idea that California was going to eventually fall off in the ocean. If Newsom continues, it might just do that.

But you might be able to maintain that. But you get to the rocks splitting. That's a bit more difficult in a naturalistic world to sort of explain. And then this bit about the graves opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the graves after his resurrection.

They went into the holy city and appeared to many. You see, brethren, a naturalistic Explanation doesn't get at this. It was supernatural in nature. As well, the words of Christ in verse 46 were not, why has man forsaken me?

He understood that. It was why has the father? And then the description of the psalmist in Psalm 22. You can go back there for just a moment.

Whenever you're feeling peculiarly proud about how great you are, get a good view of Psalm 22 and what it describes in terms of men. You say, well, that's the Jewish leaders. Okay. Well, that's the Roman governor.

Okay. That's just the nation of Israel in the first century. Okay. But what does the apostle say?

He was delivered up because of our offenses. Oh yeah, there's specific guilt in the Jews in the first century. I'm not gonna lie to you. Brethren, that's the reality.

Let His blood be upon us and our children. But it's not the case that had we been there, we would not have been, oh yeah, let's see this crucified man. But notice what we have in the description by the psalmist. Again, the first half of the psalm, he asks God to intervene based on God's proven faithfulness, verses 1 to 10.

And then he petitions God in verses 11 to 21 to intervene based on his present calamity. In other words, my life is such a mess right now, Lord God, please intervene. My life is in such a horrible state, please intervene. Notice how he describes the enemies.

Verse 12, many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. Notice verse 13, they gape at me with their mouths like a raging and roaring lion. Notice in verse 20, deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog.

And then again in verse 21 with reference to the lion, save me from the lion's mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen. These are beastly characters that participate in the crucifixion of the Son of God. You cannot leave the passion narrative and think that man is okay. You cannot leave the passion narrative and say, I don't know what all the big deal was because man is basically good and he's basically moral.

No, none of us, not one of us, according to the apostle, according to the entire Bible, specifically the apostle in Romans 3. Secondly,

The Wrath of God

we see and ought to appreciate the wrath of God in this passage. The wrath of God spent on the surety for us men and for our salvation. But understand that if you're not a participant, if you're not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, what we see imaged on the cross is going to be true in eternity for sinners who do not come to Jesus. In other words, they will receive a punishment of both sense and loss.

Scripture tells us they will go into outer darkness. There will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. And that punishment of sense, obviously, is that pain, the eternal torment associated with your sin, but as well, this punishment of loss. And what theologians mean by that is the deprivation of all the good from God.

Now, God is present in hell. God is what makes hell, hell. But it's the goodness of God. Consider the most wretched man living on the face of the earth today.

I don't know who you just envisioned, but just say for a moment that sometime over the last several hours, he got to, well, he has, he's been breathing air. He's probably had a drink of water. He may have had a nice lunch. He may have had a nice steak.

He may have had the best and the most wonderful affair that a man could have. He rather is receiving goodness from God vis-a-vis common grace. When you get to hell, there's no more common grace. There is only deprivation.

There is punishment, not only of sense, but of loss. So the darkness and the suffering of the Savior underscores the great wrath of God. Listen to Flavel again. He said, if he had not cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

We must have howled out this hideous complaint in the lowest hell forever. O righteous God, O dreadful, O terrible God, thou hast ever forsaken me. If Christ does not cry this out on our behalf, then we will cry it out because of our sin against a thrice holy God. Thirdly,

The Glory of Christ

we ought to appreciate the glory of Christ. The Savior is mocked in verse 43 as trusting in God. He doesn't abandon that trust. Trust is only confirmed and fortified when we get to this cry of dereliction.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Again, he doesn't say God, God. He says my God, my God. It's not praying to him as father in terms of nature with reference to his position as second person of the Trinity.

He's praying as our surety. He's praying as one of us. He's praying according to his true humanity. And so he cries out to God, but he cries out to my God.

So he is mocked for this trust in God and he manifests or confirms or demonstrates that trust in God even while he is experiencing the wrath and fury of God. The Savior is punished as our surety and as our covenant head. And finally, before we transition into the supper,

No Place for Human Works

the conscious observer at the foot of the cross must readily and happily admit there's no place for man's works in the scheme of salvation. In other words, brethren, it's all Christ or it's no Christ. It's not a mingling, it's not a piecemeal, it's not a bit of my works, a bit of his works, and we'll sort of present it to the father and hopefully he'll accept it. No, the apostle Paul in Galatians 2.21 says that I do not set aside the grace of God.

For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. No one wants to stand at the foot of the cross and say, what you did was in vain because I'm a pretty good guy, I'm a pretty good girl, I can mingle my works with a little bit of faith and get accepted by God. Luther comments on Galatians 2.21. He says, whoever seeks righteousness apart from faith in Christ, whether it be through works or satisfactions or afflictions or the law of God, is nullifying the grace of God and despising the death of Christ, even though he may speak otherwise with his mouth.

See, brethren, for our forefathers, they did not take lightly this suggestion that somehow man's works mingled with faith is going to get us into heaven. No, for our forefathers, it was grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Every other approach was condemned. Every other approach was anathematized.

Every other approach was seen for what it is, and Luther uses very pointed language. He is despising the death of the Savior, even though he may claim otherwise. So when we come to the foot of the cross, we need to appreciate there are no works. There's no goodness, there's no benefit that we bring to this equation, but it's all of Christ.

And His glory is manifested as our suffering surety. As Paul will call Him in Hebrews chapter seven, He is the surety of a better covenant. You had sureties in the old covenant, but they couldn't take away our sin. The surety of the better covenant secures redemption for His people.

Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Our Father, we thank You for Your Word, and we thank You for this account of the Savior on the cross. And God, as we consider what it doesn't mean, help us not to lose sight as to what it does mean. Our Savior went through much on behalf of His people. He suffered for us the very wrath and fury and curse of God Almighty.

As Paul says in Galatians 3, He was made a curse for us. Lord, we don't even begin to understand or appreciate these things as they are communicated to us. So help us to meditate, help us to contemplate, help us to be drawn out in love and in worship and in adoration. And we ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.

Well, you can turn back to Matthew chapter 26 as we transition now into the sacrament. Just a couple of reminders. The ordinance of the sacrament of the supper is for believers only. It is not for unbelievers.

It is not a converting ordinance. It is not something given so that people will get saved.

Scripture References

• Exodus 12
• Psalm 22:1; 22:12; 22:13; 22:20; 22:21
• Psalm 23:4
• Isaiah 53:10
• Matthew 26:24; 26:52-56; 27:32; 27:43; 27:45-46; 27:51; 28
• Luke 22:53; 23:34; 23:43
• John 19:26; 19:28; 19:30
• Acts 2:23
• Romans 1:18; 3:10-20; 3:21; 3:25-26; 8:38-39
• 1 Corinthians 5:7
• 2 Corinthians 5:21
• Galatians 2:21; 3:13
• Hebrews 7:22