Did the Father really turn away?
Did the Father turn away from Jesus and so cause Him to cry out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
I remember being somewhat troubled, but not greatly, that Jesus the Son would feel abandoned by the Father. Then one day while praying the thought came to me, quite unsolicited, that there was another reason that Jesus cried out as He did. It was like all of the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle gathered themselves together in my mind to form the picture by themselves.
I remembered that the books of the Psalms were the hymnbooks of the Jewish people. They considered Psalms to be five separate books, not just one. I knew that they knew and had a love for their Scriptures like no one else as they were reared in the Scriptures, committing whole books to memory as children and continuing always to learn as adults. I remembered that Psalm 22 is a Messianic Psalm that describes very accurately the scene of the crucifixion. It begins, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Then it goes on to illustrate what we know in hindsight as Calvary. It reads
But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: 8 "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." 11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. 12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. 13 Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. 18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
I realized that if I were to begin by quoting the first line of a very popular saying, whether a song or whatever, maybe even a Scripture like John 3:16, known almost universally, and began it by saying, “For God so loved the world…” that most would finish it in their minds at least if not aloud, “that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The Jewish people knew their Scriptures well enough to complete the rest of the Psalm. They would realize if they had not beforehand that this very Psalm was being fulfilled while they looked on. Surely some would realize also that Jesus must be the Messiah. Even as Psalm 22 ends, “for he has done it” so Jesus’ last words were, “It is finished” or, “It is done.”
Isaiah 53 also speaks of Calvary. Pay particular attention to verse 10.
1Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
7He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
8By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
9His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
10But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
11As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
12Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.
How could the Father be pleased to crush Him while having to turn His back to Jesus because He could not bear to look on as is commonly taught. God cannot turn His back so as not to see. David knew that there was no place that he could go that God could not see him. Psalm 139 records his thoughts,
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
There is no place that God cannot see so turning His back as it were would make no difference.
I also know from Scripture that God will never forsake me, “He Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). If He wouldn’t forsake me why would I believe that He would forsake Jesus when He declared that He was well pleased with Him in the Gospels.
I shared my thoughts with others as opportunity arose. I knew that it was different from that which was commonly held to. But it seemed to fit that Jesus would even in death point others to Himself, to the truth. I’m not sure if anyone accepted my understanding or not. I myself was no longer troubled by Jesus words or that God would actually turn His back on His own Son for any reason.
This morning I was to go to a different church than usual because a guest speaker was in town for a seminar that I dearly wanted to attend but was unable to. I could attend the Sunday morning service though that he would be speaking at. As I began to pray this morning I was overwhelmed by the same thoughts. There was no reason from within me that this should be. I had not considered it for some time. But the thoughts were relentless so that I could not focus my prayers on anything else. I asked the Lord if perhaps He would have me to ask the speaker his thoughts on this matter. On the ride to the church I shared my thoughts again with my companion. As the speaker spoke I thought that perhaps I would just email him or share my thoughts with the pastor of the church whom I knew or would send him an email and ask him to forward it to the speaker. He spoke on grace but my ears perked up when he spoke to the thought that God cannot look upon sin. I knew that when he said, God does not recoil when He looks upon sin,” that I would have an introduction to what I wanted to ask of him.
I waited in line to ask him to autograph the book, actually 2 copies, that I had brought. I started to ask him concerning the remark that he had made about God not recoiling at sin when the lady next to me exclaimed that she was going to ask him the same question. I proceeded to share with him that I didn’t think that the Father turned His back on His Son and he, to my surprise, agreed wholeheartedly and said that he would share some Scripture that would support this. I talked of Psalm 22 and he said that he knew exactly where I was going as this was the very Scripture that he was going to share. I could hardly believe that someone was in full agreement with me. He shared that this was a misconception that he is addressing in his talks, that God did not recoil when He looked upon the Son on the cross and He does not recoil at our sin when he looks upon us. I came away from there almost dumfounded. This was for me confirmation that what was revealed to me previously was true. I say revealed because it came from no one else. Now I would not hesitate to share this with others, not that I ever actually hesitated as my friends would tell you. But now I knew that I was not alone with this understanding. I got home and googled, “Did the Father turn His back?” and realized that we were not alone either, that there were many who held the same view. Some pointed out that Jesus always referred to God as the Father not simply as God except for this one time when He quoted the beginning of Psalm 22. It makes perfect sense to me and leaves no questions in my mind why Jesus would cry out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” It was to point those who looked upon the cross and all that was taking place at Calvary to the truth. It was to point them to Psalm 22.
