The Cross: Why have you forsaken me?
Matthew 27:37-43 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 38 Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (NIV)
Matthew 27:45-46 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). (NIV)
WE ONLY SEE PART OF THE STORY
1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (NIV)
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (NIV)
WHAT TO REMEMBER WHEN YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND
1. God is Good.
Mark 10:18b “No one is good—except God alone.” (NIV)
2. God is for me.
Romans 8:31b-32 If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (NIV)
3. God is with me.
Hebrews 13:5b “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (NIV)
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (NIV)
THE BETTER I KNOW GOD…
- The less I ask “WHY?”
- The more I ask “WHAT?”
2 Corinthians 5:21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (NIV)