Well, during prayer meeting, I had mentioned that I had heard that little baby Lucy was in the hospital. So I checked with Shawn this morning, and yes, she is in the hospital, but they're cautiously optimistic with reference to what appears to be some issues with her oxygen levels. So we'll pray for her right now, and then we'll look to God's holy word. So let us pray.

Opening Prayer

Our Father in heaven, we thank you that you are the Lord, the giver of life. We thank you for the healthy birth of this little one, Lucy. Thank you for Sean and for Emily and praise you, God, that all has gone well. Pray for your blessing upon her as she is treated with reference to the oxygen levels.

We pray that she would come through this well and be able to return home very soon. Just cause there to be great rejoicing in that home. We know that children are a gift given by a gracious God and we rejoice in your goodness to us. We pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Well you can turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew's Gospel, Matthew chapter 27. We're working our way through the passion narrative of our Lord in John's gospel. We're in John chapter 19. And last week I had mentioned that there are what we call seven sayings of the Savior from the cross.

And basically while the Lord is on the cross, he makes seven utterances or declarations. The first, Father forgive them, Luke 23. The second is today you will be with me in paradise, Luke 23. The third we saw last week, woman behold your son, son behold your mother.

The fourth we're going to look at this morning, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me here in Matthew's gospel. The fifth we'll pick up when we return to John's gospel is I thirst. in John 19.28, and then the sixth is it is finished in John 19.30. And the final is found in Luke's gospel where Jesus says, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. So we've seen the third.

We're going to see the fifth and sixth in John's gospel, but I thought it would be helpful for us to consider that fourth saying of the Savior found in Matthew's gospel at chapter 27, verses 45 and 46, but I want to read the larger context, so I'll begin reading in Matthew 27 at verse 32.

Reading of Matthew 27:32–56

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 wreath. 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. Then 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 looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons. Amen, well, let us pray.

Pre-Sermon Prayer

Our Father in heaven, we come to your word now. We come to holy ground with reference to the Savior on the cross. We pray that you would guide us now by your spirit, cause us to think biblically and theologically sound with reference to what's going on here on the cross. We thank you for what the Savior did for us.

We know he's not on that cross for his own sins or crimes, but he's there because of our sins and our crimes and our transgressions against a holy God. We thank you for that doctrine of substitutionary atonement. We thank you for his sacrifice on the cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Pray that you would draw out our hearts in worship and in praise and in adoration and in love to our beloved Savior.

And forgive us now for all sin and unrighteousness. Open ears and hearts to any here that are dead in their trespasses and sins. May they call upon this crucified and resurrected Lord that they might be saved by your grace and for your glory. And we ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Introduction

Well, as I said, these seven sayings from the Savior on the cross depict or demonstrate or show to us various things that are obviously in the mind of the Savior while he's suffering. for us men and for our salvation. So basically in the section that I read, we have the crucifixion proper in verses 32 to 38 in Matthew 27, and then the mockery of the crucified one in verses 39 to 44, adding insult to injury. He's suffering on the cross and they're mocking Him. He's suffering on the cross and they're taunting Him.

He's suffering on the cross and they're making sport of the Savior. Again, all of this indicates or demonstrates the glory of the Savior on our behalf. In the book of Song of Solomon, the bride refers to the bridegroom as chief among 10,000 and one who's altogether lovely. And certainly these passion narratives illustrate that for us and show us that he is chief among 10,000.

It shows us that he is altogether lovely, that he would do this not for, you know, upright people, that he would do this not for friends that were already favorable toward him, But the reality is well said by Paul. God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So that Christ does what Christ does here for the likes of us, should He vote from us, praise and worship and adoration. So they mock Him.

But then we come to this cry of dereliction. That's what it's typically referred to. The fourth saying of the Savior, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Darkness Over the Land

We should notice first, though, the darkness over the land according to verse 45. This is a time when the sun is shining. It's not supposed to be dark from the noon to three. So in verse 45, we read, now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, there was darkness over all the land.

Remember, this is equivalent to what we see elsewhere the time of the preparation for the Passover. It was the time for the slaying of the offerings of the daily sacrifice. The time of the official slaughter of the Passover lambs began. This wasn't haphazard.

It wasn't a lucky accident. It was ordained by God. The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 5-7 that Jesus is our Passover. He is our Passover sacrifice for us and for our salvation.

And when we see this particular darkness, it jives with what Christ had said in the Gospel of Luke. He 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. Darkness oftentimes in the scriptures has sort of an ethical appeal. It's rather a time of negativity, a time of distress.

In fact, Spurgeon makes the observation concerning this darkness from noon to three on this Good Friday. He says, this darkness was supernatural. It was not an eclipse. It wasn't some, you know, out of the ordinary phenomena.

It was supernatural. 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. Manton makes a similar observation, 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's not just a report as to what was, but it does sort of bring together theologically what's happening in terms of God's redemptive plan. Darkness is often associated with the judgment of God. It's often associated with the wrath and fury of God. In fact, one specimen passage you can turn to the book of Amos, the Old Testament prophet Amos.

You've got the twelve minor prophets Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, just to sort of locate it for you. Amos chapter 5. Passage I've always found very intriguing, not only for this light-dark contrast, but for the way that the prophet envisages or shows forth the very day of God's wrath and curse. Notice in 518, woe to you who desire the day of the Lord, for what good is the day of the Lord to you?

It will be darkness and not light. Again, that's a negative connotation. They're longing for the judgment or for the day of the Lord. What the prophet is saying is you shouldn't really long for the day of the Lord because it's going to be a day of darkness for you.

It's going to be a day of judgment for you. You're not living the way you're supposed to be in terms of covenantal obligation. Then notice in verse 19, it will be as though a man fled from a lion and a bear met him. Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

Is not the day of the Lord darkness and not light? Is it not very dark with no brightness in it? The prophet declares that there's no escape from the wrath and fury and judgment and curse of God. If you're not a believer here this morning, you need to internalize that reality.

Look at what he says. It will be, verse 19, as though a man fled from a lion. Imagine that sort of unfortunate occasion. You're out in the woods, you're out in the forest, and you meet a lion.

What do you do when you meet a lion? You run. If you have an ounce of brain power in your head, you run. Better you shoot him if you have a gun, but because we're in Canada, we can't shoot guns out in the forest, bad things.

So you run from the lion and you come around a corner and there you meet a bear. I don't know what's worse at this point. I don't know who I'd rather take my chances with." And then he goes on to say, or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall. You successfully evade the lion, you successfully evade the bear, you get into the confines of your own house and you lean your hand on the wall and a viper bites you.

The prophet says there is no escape from the wrath and judgment of God. Save the wrath and judgment of God spent on the Son of God as he's crucified on Calvary's cross. So back to our text, the reality that there was darkness over all the land isn't just Matthew saying Wow, this was an interesting phenomena that happened to occur. It is the satisfaction of divine justice going on on that cross by the Son of God with reference to His Father.

The Cry of Dereliction

That brings us then to the cry from the cross In verse 46, the words of Christ, he speaks in Aramaic or Hebrew, he says, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, and then it's translated for us by Matthew, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why given in the original? Well, because it helps us to explain why there was some question concerning the calling upon of Elijah. Notice in verse 47, some of those who stood there when they heard that said, this man is calling for Elijah.

We wouldn't understand that if we didn't first get the Aramaic. We wouldn't understand that discrepancy if we didn't first get what Jesus said in his native tongue, but then it's translated by Matthew for us. And it is interesting that when the crucified one finally speaks on the cross, he is speaking to his father specifically. Not that he hasn't spoken a word to others, forgive them for they know not what they do.

He promises to that thief that you will be with me today in paradise. He speaks to his mother, he speaks to his beloved disciple, he speaks to the father and here specifically he says words that I think have been the cause of great confusion on the part of many in the life of the church.

What the Cry Does Not Mean

We're going to do some theology. One of the things that we have seen as we move through John's Gospel is that the Trinity is not an artificial doctrine imposed upon the text of Scripture. The Trinity is who God is. The Trinity is who God is.

In this divine and infinite being, singular, one essence, one substance, one being, there are three persons or subsistences, the Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. How are they distinguished? It is through the relative properties. The Father is unbegotten, the Son is begotten by the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

That's how we distinguish the persons of the triune God. Again, this isn't imposed on Scripture. John does this in the prologue. In the beginning was the Word.

The Word was with God and the Word was God. So in the beginning was the Word. He's co-eternal with the Father. The Word was with God.

He's distinct from the Father. And the Word was God. He's consubstantial with the Father. And that Word identified in John 1, 1 is further described in John 1, 14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

So that word never stopped being the word, all the while assuming our humanity. So when we come to this particular situation, we need to understand first what these words do not mean. What these words do not mean. So when Jesus says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

No Division in the Trinity

In the first instance, the cry of Jesus does not indicate any division among the persons in the Trinity. any division at some sort of a being level or ontological or metaphysical level. There is no distinction in terms of the being of God with reference to this cry. It's not that something has happened to give irreparable damage to the triune God. One commentator, a very good commentator, a very good man, a very godly man, and a man who's very skilled in the text of scripture, isn't so skilled with reference to theology proper.

He says, if we ask in what ontological sense, ontological has to do with being, just being, the doctrine of being, metaphysics or ontology, you have an oncologist, those doctors are about the state of being. So notice, 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 wrong. We are told throughout scripture in this divine and infinite being there are three persons, the Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided.

There's no division amongst the persons of the Trinity. That cannot be. God cannot deny himself. He can't start being something he hasn't always been.

And so this is wrong.

No Dissolution of the Hypostatic Union

Secondly, the cry of Jesus does not indicate a dissolution of the hypostatic union. Dissolution means to bring disrepair, to bring a breach, to bring some sort of break to the hypostatic union. The hypostatic union is that there's one person of Christ with two natures. The Word became flesh, never stopping being the Word, but assuming flesh to himself, such that he is truly divine and truly human.

There's no dissolution. There's no breach there. There's no separation at the level of the hypostatic union of our Savior. John Gill 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 dissolved.

The fullness of the Godhead still dwelt bodily in Him. It is impossible that there was a breach of the hypostatic union.

No Suffering of the Whole Trinity

And then third, the cry of Jesus does not indicate that the three persons of the Trinity suffered on the cross. Now, I think that comes out in popular songs. It comes out in popular sentimentality. We sometimes pray, unfortunately, not theologically correctly, Father, thank you for dying on the cross.

The Father didn't die on the cross. The word according to his humanity died on the cross. And we need to be correct, and we need to be accurate, and we need to understand. One of the early heresies in the early church was patrapassianism, which taught that the father died on the cross.

Well, you'd think that that was gone and buried, but a recent man, a recent theologian makes this observation concerning the cross and the trinity. The three then are at Calvary suffering not only from the sin of the world, but suffering for it. The son's passion cannot be external to the Father and the Holy Spirit. They are in it as they embrace and include the son.

The pain of the cross is the pain of the triune God. Again, that sounds emotionally appealing, but it's inaccurate. It's not good theology. The Son, the Word, according to His humanity, was crucified on the cross.

That doesn't mean that the Father and the Spirit were not interested in or connected to. Every work outside of God is done by the three persons. but the passion, the incarnation, terminate on the Son of God. So what we have here is not a breach in the Trinity. What we have here is not a breach in the union of the divine and human natures in the Son.

And what we have here is not the three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, suffering on the cross for the sins of His people. No, it's the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Word became flesh, according to his humanity, suffering on the cross for our sins.

Psalm 22 and Its Fulfilment

I would suggest, secondly, we're looking at what it doesn't mean. Secondly, we need to appreciate the psalm from whence the quote comes. If you look at your Bible, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? If you're using a modern, when you're all using a modern translation, it's probably italicized, which indicates it's an Old Testament quotation.

It's Psalm 22. And scholars have wondered, commentators have wondered, is David writing about David and his experience in Psalm 22? No, he's not. David is writing about his greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The torture, the abuse, the impact of persecution and suffering upon the person in Psalm 22 far exceeds anything that David ever experience. Now, David didn't have a life of, you know, health, wealth, and prosperity. He wasn't. I just saw a little clip of that Kenneth Copeland guy, you know, the world's most, you know, the richest pastor.

Could you imagine a worse thing to be known for? The richest pastor in the world. that that would be miserable. What should you want to be known for as a pastor? Faithful to the Word of God?

Faithful to the God of the Word? Faithful to the congregation? The richest pastor It's a horrible, atrocious, wicked thing to sort of be known for, but back to our text and back to our understanding here, David had his challenges. He was hated by Saul.

He was hated by Philistines. He had to flee often, but everything that he suffered was not what he's writing about in Psalm 22. Psalm 22, the psalmist petitions for God's intervention based on God's past faithfulness, verses one to 10. The psalmist petitions for God's intervention based on his present calamity, in verses 11 to 21a.

And then the latter half of the psalm takes up exaltation. and glory and blessedness on the heels of the cross, the suffering comes the resurrection and the exaltation. Psalm 22 is about the Lord Jesus. So Jesus takes Psalm 22 and he prays it on the cross. And when he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

We've already seen what he doesn't mean.

What the Cry Does Mean

But what is it that he does mean? Because there's some forsakenness going on. There's a popular hymn today. It's in our book.

I was a bit hesitant to sing it because at one stanza it says, the father turns his face away. And it's a reflection on this cry of dereliction. The father turns his face away. There's a way we can say that that's theologically sound, but my concern is that most Christians don't say it in a way that's theologically sound.

So I just choose not to pick that hymn ever. What does it mean? The Father turned His face away. Is there a breach in the Trinity?

Is there something happening metaphysically or ontologically in terms of the triune God? What does it mean that the Father forsook the Son? What we know that is turning His face away does not mean completely. It cannot mean absolutely.

It cannot mean unequivocally because Psalm 22 goes on to indicate that the Father, in fact, hears the Son. Matthew 28 shows that the Father hears the Son. He raises Him from the dead. The fact that the cross was always the purpose and plan of God the Father.

And the fact that the Father never wavered in His love for the Son. So whatever that popular mentality is that the Father turned his face away from the Son, we have to qualify it, we have to nuance it, and we have to distinguish it so that we don't end up thinking that there was a breach amongst the persons of the Trinity at the cross. Because that's not what's happening. Flavel responds to the charge that God perhaps loved him less at this time.

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, and these next three words are important, as our surety. I would suggest that the cry of dereliction, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me, has to do with Jesus, according to his humanity, functioning as our surety, standing or hung on that cross to receive the punishment that was due for our sins.

As some older theologians have rightly described it, the reality that the Father did not deliver the Son from the agony of the cross. Why have you forsaken me? It's specifically with reference to the agony of the cross. In fact, the rest of Psalm 22.1 shows that forth.

Why are you so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning in this present distress? in this act of crucifixion, in this act of curse bearing, in this act of substitutionary atonement. And I think that this cry of dereliction underscores the true humanity of the Savior. Just like Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from you. Everybody who understood what the cup of God's wrath meant would pray that prayer.

Everybody who was forsaken of God at the level of God's smiling countenance, of God's close communion would know or anybody that's experienced that would say, why has thou forsaken me? It underscores the true humanity of the Lord and illustrates that what John says in John 1.14, the Word became flesh. He didn't become kind of like flesh. He didn't just sort of look like flesh, but he became flesh.

With all the attendant properties associated with flesh, he suffered. He agonized, he bled, he ultimately dies, he eats, he drinks, he rests. Those things are not predicated of divinity. Divinity doesn't suffer, divinity doesn't bleed, divinity doesn't eat, divinity doesn't thirst, divinity doesn't need rest.

These are all predicated upon the Son of God according to his humanity. So this cry of dereliction is a recognition of that true humanity. With reference to other texts in the scripture that show us the same sort of a thing, the prophet Isaiah 5310, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief.

And in that instance, as one is being put to grief, as one is being bruised, it is typical of true humanity to cry out under that distress. As well, what we see is the withdrawal of God's nearness and favor. Again, not a break in the persons of the Trinity, not a division at the level of metaphysics or ontology, but the smile in favor of God. Jesus knew that smile in favor of God throughout his earthly ministry.

But here, guess what was absent? It was the smiling favor of God. This evokes the cry, why hast thou forsaken me? Again, listen to some of the older brothers as they comment.

Matthew Poole says, it must be understood with respect to God's consolatory manifestation. In other words, consolation from the Father to the Son at this time of great grief. 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. Again, that as our surety focuses upon the person of Christ according to his humanity.

This wasn't divinity crying out against divinity or for divinity. This was Christ according to his humanity crying out. Turretin says, 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. It's a blessed reality that he says what he says because it underscores the reality that he is satisfying divine justice.

And all that that entails, the removal of the favor of God, the consolation of the favor of God at that place, at that time when he's being punished for our sins and our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was laid upon him. As the Apostle says in 2 Corinthians 5, God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. As that sin is imputed to the Savior and as that Savior is being punished, He is bearing in His own self the weight of our wretchedness and feeling for it the divine justice expressed by God's wrath on the cross.

So when he cries, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? It's not that there's a breach, it's that in the plan and purpose of the Most High, the Son who takes our humanity is going to go through this and he has resolved to go through this so that he can save us from our sins and bring glory to God Almighty. The reason for this withdrawal of the favor and the kindness and the smile of the Father is because of substitution. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us.

He took our sin. Hillary says, nay, it was we who were forsaken and disregarded so that it was as appropriating our personality that He offered these prayers. He says, appropriating then our person and ranking himself with us, and he used these words, for we are bound in the fetters of sin and the curse is faithless and disobedient and therefore forsaken. Matthew Henry picks up again on this concept of surety.

Christ was made sin for us, a curse for us, and therefore, though God loved him as a son, he frowned upon him as a surety. That's what the text means. That's what's being upheld. The true humanity of our Savior without any compromise to the true divinity of our Savior in that blessed hypostatic union, it evokes from Him in this moment of God's wrath and justice and curse for our sins to cry, why hast thou forsaken me?

Now, in terms of the manifestation of this distress in the cry, he knew why this was happening, so it wasn't a question properly. It was to affirm the psalmist, or psalter, that it was of him, but it was because it was normal and ordinary. You know, let me just try to bring this to us, because that's all that matters, right? Whenever we go through difficulties, or whenever we go through what appears to be some absence from the presence of God, we cry, or we should.

I don't know that you need to fall down on the floor and puddle the floor with all that, but we shouldn't be content with any breach between us and God. Maintain short accounts. You sin, confess, forsake, find mercy, and heal the breach. And that's not for justification.

That's for the ongoing peace that we have with God in sanctification. But if we don't have that sort of closeness or nearness of God, we feel it keenly. I know that. My own experience and talking to others.

How you doing? Well, it just seems like I'm going through the motions, but I'm not really connecting with God. Well, the fact that you're complaining about that's probably a good sign. Pagans don't complain about that.

Pagans complain if God is near them. Christians complain if God isn't. So this whole idea of crying out, it's perfectly normal, ordinary behavior for a human being. that enjoys favor and communion with the Father and then comes to a fork in the road where that favor and communion with the Father is no longer present. The cry of the Savior on the cross is as our surety, according to his humanity, as the covenant mediator who's taking in himself the justice and the damnation and the wrath and the fury and the curse that is ours.

We should expect this cry of dereliction from one who knew the nearness of God as his good and then in this sense did not feel that nearness. And as well, the fact that he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I think it tips the scale in that favor as well. He's speaking, again, as the surety, as the mediator of the new covenant.

In his authorized role as the representative, as the priest, the high priest on the cross, he says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He's speaking on our behalf to the Father with reference to this whole situation. Matthew Henry again says that our Lord Jesus, even when he was thus forsaken of his father, kept hold of him as his God notwithstanding. It's another observation.

If the father turned his face away to have nothing to do with him at all, Jesus didn't get the memo because Jesus is still laying hold of him. In fact, Psalm 22 evidences this constant dependence upon the God who's overall that is happening to the suffering servant. There's no breach in the Trinity. There's no dissolution in the hypostatic union.

There's no stopping in terms of who Jesus is and what he's accomplishing for us men and for our salvation. The cry of dereliction evidences his true humanity as he suffers the wrath and fury of God for us and our salvation. It's a beautiful and a blessed and a wonderful statement that I hope will encourage us as we consider our blessed Savior on our behalf.

The Wrath of God and Human Depravity

Well, before we leave, I think it is important for us just to remind ourselves with reference to what man is really like. What man is really like? We've seen that in John's gospel. We know that Judas was the betrayer.

We know that the Sanhedrin was complicit and evil. They spat upon Jesus. They buffeted Jesus. They turned Jesus over to Pilate.

We know that Pilate thrice confesses that I find no fault in him. Three times he makes this declaration. You don't have the right, Pilate, to just execute innocent people in the Roman Empire. That's simply not acceptable.

So what do the Jews do? They exercise political blackmail. If you don't do what we say, then you're no friend of Caesar's. So what does he do?

He does what they say so that he can't be accused of not being a friend of Caesar's. So there's just a lot of baseness and a lot of depravity and a lot of wickedness going on at the foot of the cross. Well, if you turn back with me to Psalm 22, it's described there in vivid detail. And as I mentioned in our studies in the passion.

The gospel writers don't get into a long, detailed explanation of the physical torture that the Lord underwent. It's there, you know, just to understand what crucifixion is and to define that. We get a hint at what happened in terms of the physical torture of Jesus, but they don't celebrate it. There's no stations of the cross in the gospels.

There's no waving of incense as we, you know, ponder when Jesus fell or any of those sorts of things. But where we find the most description of the physical torture of the Son of God on the cross is Psalm 22. I'm always amazed when people balk at psalm singing in the church. Jesus isn't in the psalms.

Jesus is the subject, the object, the author, the content of every psalm. It's all about Jesus. And Psalm 22 is certainly no exception to that. So notice how he describes the various persons at the foot of the cross.

Verse 12, many bulls have surrounded me, strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me, they gape at me with their mouths like a raging 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. This is the language of crucifixion.

My strength is dried up like a pot shirt and my tongue clings to my jaws. You have brought me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me. The congregation of the wicked has enclosed me.

They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

But you, O Lord, do not be far from me. O my strength, hasten to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen.

The way that he's describing these sinners, he's using beastly language, he's calling them bulls, he's calling them dogs, he's calling them lions, he's calling them oxen. He is saying and telling us that the depravity of man is such that even animals don't act as bad as they do. But then notice in verse 21b, you have answered me. This idea that the father turned away from the son and there was some breach, the father answers his prayer.

He gives up his spirit. He's resurrected from the dead. He's ascended on high. He's exalted at the right hand of the most high.

The father answers his prayer. The father gives him all blessing and the father conveys upon him universal empire. So what we have in the narrative concerning the cross is not only the glory of the Son of God, but it's also the wretchedness of the sons of men. Yes, the Jews were wretched.

Yes, Pontius Pilate was wretched. Yes, Judas was wretched. You know, there is a sense, and I'm not one of those guys that does this, even though I'm about to do it, but Paul summarizes the Gospel in Romans 4, 25. He says that Jesus was delivered up because of our offenses and he was raised for our justification.

Yeah, we're not Judas, brethren, thankfully. We're not that Sanhedrin, thankfully. We're not that Pontius Pilate gutless wonder that condemns a guiltless man. And we're not that mob of the multitudes at the city of Jerusalem, away with him, away with him, crucify him.

We're not there asking for Barabbas' release instead of Jesus. But there is a sense where he was delivered up because of our offenses. And he was raised for our justification. We need to own our part in it.

We need to understand that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And that love is not seen in the goodness of the world. I would argue it's seen in the badness of it. God so loved the world.

Wouldn't be an incredible statement if the world was altogether lovely, but that God so loved the world, this world, this world, The world that you and I traverse, the world that you and I pollute, the world that you and I live in while we transgress God's law, where we lack conformity unto it, where we raise our fists at the Most High and as Christ, that He so loved that world that He gave His only begotten Son, that's amazing. Let us never forget that though there are, you know, degrees of sin, in fact, Jesus says this to Pilate, the ones who delivered me up have the greater guilt. That means Pilate had some guilt. If we don't have the greatest of the guilt in the crucifixion of the Son, we cannot conclude for a moment that we had no guilt. because he was delivered up because of our offenses and he was raised for our justification.

The Punishment of Loss

I would suggest at the foot of the cross with reference to this fourth saying, secondly, we learn something of the wrath of God. The darkness and the suffering of the Savior underscores the wrath of God. He doesn't cry out when they pierce his hands with nails. He doesn't cry out when they pierce his head with thorns.

I'm not suggesting he didn't cry. I don't know. I can't imagine feeling that degree of pain and not making some sound. Again, true humanity.

But what is recorded for us? What is it on the cross that evokes this cry? It's not why has man forsaken me? He expected that, he knew that, he came to his own, his own received him not.

He understood opposition all too well from his fellows in this arena, but it's why has thou forsaken me? In the history of theology, theologians make a twofold distinction when it comes to hell. They say there's a punishment of sense, sense, S-E-N-S-E, things that we feel. You can see that in the New Testament.

You see that consciousness, that everlasting torment, there is a punishment of sense. But the other side is the punishment of loss. And what do they mean by the punishment of loss? It means that there is the deprivation of all goodness from God.

It's not that there is no God in hell. God keeps hell helling. God is responsible for the everlasting punishment of unbelievers. But in this world, the worst sinner gets good things, don't they?

They do. If the worst sinner today goes to a good restaurant, he can have a nice steak. If the worst sinner today finds a garden hose and takes a drink of water, he's benefiting from the goodness of God. One of the things we've mused on as we've gotten older is that every kid today has their own water bottle, always close by.

We play out for hours, and if you had a chance, you'd get the hose and you'd take a little quick swing. That's a mercy, goodness. The worst sinner on the face of the earth is not deprived from all the goodness of God. God's goodness is everywhere.

The fact that there's a sun, the fact that there's rain, the fact that there's seasons, the fact that there's food, the fact that there's drink. What's that punishment of loss? Hell is the deprivation of all the goodness of God. Oh God and His justice and His wrath and His fury towards sin and sinners, but all of His goodness.

It's that punishment of loss that Jesus cries out about. Why hast thou forsaken me? Make no mistake, He's suffering hell on the cross. I think that's why He says, I thirst.

He is suffering hell on the cross for us men and for our salvation. But what evokes the cry is that punishment of loss. John Flavel makes this observation, 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. He cried that cry in his punishment of loss so that we, by grace, believing in him, will never have to. There's every reason in the world why God should forsake us. But the one counter reason is the gospel of Jesus Christ the Lord.

And if you are not a believer, I want to encourage you to believe, to look to him in faith, to understand that you are a sinner, God is holy, there is a judgment day coming, there is an everlasting hell for the devil, for his angels, and for those who know not God and have not obeyed the gospel. The way of salvation is clear. The way of salvation is simple. The way of salvation is by God's grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is to sing what we sing sometimes. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Foul I to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die. And when Paul says he was delivered up because of our offenses and he was raised for our justification, Paul means it.

So believe on Him and you will be saved.

Closing Prayer

our encouragement for our edification. We praise you that he cried this cry, and we will never have to as a result. We bless you for the gospel of our salvation. We bless you that there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared.

We bless you that you have given us a righteousness by which we are accepted in the beloved. And we praise you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Scripture References

• Song of Solomon 5:10
• Psalm 22:1-21
• Isaiah 53:10
• Amos 5:18-20
• Matthew 27:32-56; 28:6
• Luke 22:53; 23:34; 23:43
• John 1:1; 1:14; 3:16; 19:28; 19:30
• Romans 4:25
• 1 Corinthians 5:7
• 2 Corinthians 5:21