But what did Jesus mean in saying he had been forsaken or abandoned? I heard it proclaimed by a preacher many years ago that in that moment God could no longer bear seeing the suffering of His Son, so He literally turned His face away from Jesus. Indeed, we sing a song at our church, an otherwise beautiful song, which makes that very claim – “The Father turns His face away.”
So did He do it? Did God turn His face on His own beloved Son? The answer is in Psalm 22.
I love this Psalm (literally “song”) of King David. Written about 1,000 years before Jesus’ coming, it is a prophetic song about the death of Jesus. Of all the Scriptures I’ve read, nothing brings me closer to the raw emotions that Jesus felt during those last hours of His pre-resurrection life. While this is not all of Psalm 22, here is a major portion of it:
1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in You;
They trusted, and You delivered them.
5 They cried to You, and were delivered;
They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
6 But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother’s womb
You have been My God.
11 Be not far from Me,
For trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded Me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.
13 They gape at Me with their mouths,
Like a raging and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.
19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me;
O My Strength, hasten to help Me!
20 Deliver Me from the sword,
My precious life from the power of the dog.
21 Save Me from the lion’s mouth
And from the horns of the wild oxen!
You have answered Me.
22 I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
23 You who fear the LORD, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from Him;
But when He cried to Him, He heard.
Look at verse 24 again. Who are the Hes and the Hims? Seeing that this is a psalm about Jesus’ death, there is only one explanation. “For God has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has God hidden His face from Jesus; But when Jesus cried to God, God heard.”
God did not hide His face from Jesus during Jesus’ most difficult hours!! Does that change the fact that Jesus’ felt abandoned when dying on the cross? No. Does that mean that God intervened and spared Jesus from the extreme trial He was having to bear? No. So what does it matter whether or not God turned His face? Let me explain.
I remember going to see the movie “Passion of the Christ” for the first time. I told myself that no matter what happened, I was not going to turn away from what I was seeing on the screen. Yet there were two scenes that I found to be so horrifying that I broke down and turned my head.
Now what was I doing in that moment? I was protecting myself from pain! Not from physical pain, but from the emotional shock that was being played out before my very eyes. So when we say that “God turned His face on Jesus”, we are saying that God was protecting His own self from pain at the very moment that Jesus was trying to endure what was undoubtedly the most painful experience of His existence. But my God did not turn His face!! He did not protect Himself from emotional pain! And I am proud of my God for that!
Remember that Jesus was dying for us! He was taking the punishment for our sins. His suffering appeased God’s wrath and freed God to forgive all who would put their faith in His Son. But if Jesus didn’t die for us, then justice would have demanded that we ourselves bear the punishment for our evil doings.
So when Jesus was dying, for God it was like having the highest degree of black belt in some martial art, then walking by an alley and seeing people beating your own son or daughter to death. You know you could take out the ones beating your child in a heartbeat, but you refrain. Instead you watch every gut-wrenching moment as tears stream down your face.
It is no wonder than that God has exalted Jesus and given Him the name above every name. It is no wonder that Jesus is the only name by which we can be saved. God is extremely passionate about what Jesus did for us having seen all that Jesus endured. So as far as God is concerned, if we reject Jesus, we reject Him. If we believe and love Jesus, we believe and love Him.
So what are the implications for us? We may be going through the darkest hours of our own lives and just like Jesus, we may feel abandoned by God. And in fact, God may have abandoned us to the trial. He may not be doing anything at that moment to intervene in what we are experiencing.
But our God is not unaware of our pain and suffering!! His heart and mind is with all those who love Him and seek Him with all their heart! He does not spare Himself from His own pain while we endure ours! He will save us! He will reward us! He will not allow the trial to last forever! Just trust God. Trust His ways and you can endure anything the devil may be allowed to throw your way in this life.
