Did God Forsake Jesus On The Cross

 

Did God Forsake Jesus On The Cross

 Published 20200826 -:- Revised 20250828

I am dyslexic so please bear with me. Scripture references are from Modern King James (MKJV) unless noted other wise.

Introduction
How many times have you heard a comment like this, “God can’t look on sin so that’s why He forsook Jesus on the Cross”. Do you really think God would forsake His own son, in his greatest hour of need?

Aim
I would like you to come with me through the scriptures to check if that comment above is valid, and if so what are the consequences.

1. Can God look on sin or not?
2. Did God forsake Jesus or not?
3. If God did forsake Jesus, His own son, then what’s to stop God from forsaking you if He can’t look on your sins?

Question 1: Can God look on sin or not?
I have covered this in more detail in a previous talk entitled ‘Can God Look On Sin?’ I sifted through hundreds of passages where the Lord was speaking, to find passages where God is clearly aware of, and can see the sins of men. Using various key words I found some interesting scriptures. A brief of that talk is as follows: -

When Jehovah, was speaking to Abraham about Sodom and Gomorrah and He said in Gen 18:21 “I will go down now and see”? Would God really need to go down to SEE for himself? Perhaps God said that for Abraham’s sake, in order to keep him ‘in the loop’. After all God did say, "Shall I conceal from Abraham what I am going to do? Yet we see in Ezekiel chapter 8, God takes Ezekiel on a whirlwind tour of ALL the abominations going on in the Temple. It’s quite clear that there is no iniquity hidden from Gods sight. Then we have in Jeremiah 16:17 ‘For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.’ After reading this, how can you still think God can’t look on sin?

Conclusion:
God Himself is saying, “nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.” So God CAN look on sin!

Question 2: Did God forsake Jesus On The Cross?
Lets get to the main subject. Now where do you think this idea comes from? Well try this next time your in church, just ask that question above, ‘Did God forsake Jesus On The Cross?’ And you can bet your bottom dollar that most ‘church goers' will refer to the crucifixion and quote the passages from Mathew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 “..Jesus cried…My God, My God, why did You forsake Me?” Or they might miss quote Isaiah 53:4, and say, ‘but He was stricken by God’. Then they would ‘gift wrap’ the sales pitch with this idea. ‘And because Jesus was covered with our sins when He was on the Cross, and God cannot look on sin, then that’s why God forsook Jesus on the Cross!’ But what do the scriptures actually say? First lets look at how many time did Jesus quote scripture.

To do this I did a search using the catchword, “written”, as in, ‘it is written’. I found quite a few, then I sifted through to find the verses in which it was Jesus quoting scripture or makes reference to it. I have listed them below, and where the same passage is in two or more of the gospels, I have referred to each. Then I have reduced them to one line to save space. Except for the passage in Luke 4:17-21, but you will see why it is listed here in full.

Written

Mat 4:4 & Luk 4:4 But He answered and said, It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, ….
Mat 4:7 Jesus said to him, It is written again, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God."
Mat 4:10 & Luk 4:8 ..Jesus said to him, Go, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God..
Mat 11:10 & Luk 7:27 For…it is written, "Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, …
Mat 21:13, Mar 11:17 & Luk 19:46 ..He said.., It is written, "My house shall be called the house of prayer”…
Mat 26:24 & Mar 14:21 The Son of Man goes, as it has been written of Him, but woe to that man by whom…
Mat 26:31 & Mar 14:27 …For it is written, "I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock…
Mar 7:6 ...as it is written, "This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
Mar 9:12 ..Elijah..does come first…been written of the Son of Man…should suffer many things and be despised?
Mar 9:13 …Elijah has indeed come, and they have done to him whatever they desired, as it is written of him.

Luk 4:17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And unrolling the book, He found the place where it was written, :18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on Me; because of this He has anointed Me to proclaim the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and new sight to the blind, to set at liberty those having been crushed, :19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." :20 And rolling up the book, returning it to the attendant, He sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on Him. :21 …He began to say to them, Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your ears. 

Luk 10:26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?’
Luk 18:31 ..we go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man..
Luk 20:17 … this which is written, "The Stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the Head of the corner?
Luk 21:22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
Luk 22:37 that this which is written must yet be accomplished in Me, "And he was reckoned among the transgressors"..
Luk 24:44 ..all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses ...the Prophets and in the Psalms about Me.
Luk 24:46 …“So it is written, and so it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,
Joh 6:45 It is written in the Prophets, "And they shall all be taught of God." …
Joh 8:17 It is also written in your Law that the testimony of two men is true.
Joh 10:34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, "I said, You are gods?"
Joh 15:25 But that the Word might be fulfilled that is written in their Law, "They hated Me without a cause."

Then one night at 4am, listening to the bible, the Lord got my attention with this phrase, “Have you not read”. And I found a few more, so I have listed them below and have also reduced them to one line.

Have You Not Read
Mat 12:3 But He said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him, 

Mat 12:5 Or have you not read in the Law that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath …
Mat 19:4 He…said to them, Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning "made them male and female", 
Mat 21:16 …Yes, have you never read, "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings You have perfected praise?" 
Mat 21:42 Did you never read in the Scriptures, "The stone which the builders rejected, this One has become the head…
Mat 22:31 But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken to you by God, saying, 
Mar 2:25 …Have you never read what David did, when he had need and was hungry, he, and those with him? 
Mar 12:10 And have you not read this scripture "The Stone which the builders rejected has become the Head of the corner: 
Mar 12:26 …have you not read in the book of Moses…God spoke…in the Bush, saying, "I am the God of Abraham…
Luk 6:3 …Have you not read this, what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him; 

 

Other Quotations by Jesus
To get these I hunted through E-Sword in their Reference Library. I found the “Companion Bible Appendix, by E.W. Bullinger.” In which I found these two chapters. Appendix 80 ‘Isaiah, Quotations And Allusions In The New Testament’, and Appendix 107 - Quotations from Old Testament. Then I just ran the curser over each verse ‘link’ reference, to see what lite up in red, to see if it was Jesus speaking and what was He saying. I found about 60; less those that I already have used in the above key words and duplicates. It left me with about 42. But I don’t want to bore you with more to read, so I’ll just give you the scripture reference.

Mat 8:20, Mat 26:64, Mar 2:10, Mar 4:12, Mar 10:7, Mar 10:45, Mar 12:10, Mar 12:11, Mar 12:26, Mar 12:29, Mar 12:30, Mar 12:31, Mar 12:36, Mar 13:20, Mar 13:26, Mar 14:62, Luk 4:12, Luk 4:18, Luk 4:19, Luk 4:20, Luk 4:21, Luk 8:10, Luk 9:22, Luk 9:56, Luk 10:20, Luk 11:30, Luk 17:24, Luk 17:26, Luk 19:10, Luk 20:37, Luk 20:42, Luk 21:27, Luk 22:22, Luk 22:48, Joh 3:13, Joh 3:14, Luk 5:24, Joh 5:25, Joh 6:27, Joh 8:58, Joh 12:23, Joh 13:31,

This is obviously not a complete list of all the occasions that Jesus quoted the O.T. The point I am trying to bring out is that Jesus quite often quoted scripture.

So What If Jesus Quotes Scripture?
We know Jesus quoted scripture; it is a well-known fact that He did that! But what’s the significance of that? Well consider this, with His dying breath what scripture do you think Jesus would quote? Or more to the point what were the last things Jesus said on the Cross? Well we have four accounts of the crucifixion in the gospels.

Lets look firstly at Luke 23:34 “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” etc. And to the thief crucified beside Him in verse :43 ...“Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Then in verse :46 “Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” Having said this, he breathed his last.”

And in John chapter 19 Jesus looked down at his mother and one of the disciples vs:26 ..“Woman, behold, your son!” Then looking at the disciple..vs:27 “Behold, your mother!” then vs:28 “I am thirsty.” in vs:30 “Jesus...said, “It is finished.” and he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.” To my knowledge there is no quotation of scripture in these passages from Luke and John. But lets look at Matthew and Mark.

‘My God, my God’
But in Matthew and Mark they are almost a mirror image of each other, word for word. Lets look at. Mark 15:34 “At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Then vs :37 Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit.”

Now for those who believe that God forsook Jesus on the Cross, this is the classic verse to which they refer. But it is also a quote from Psalm 22. Lets go through the Psalm. Note that I have highlighted the various parts of the verses that directly refer to the actions happening at the time of the crucifixion. Just imagine if they had allowed Jesus to continue speaking this Psalm?

Why Have You Forsaken Me?
Psa 22:1 “To the Chief Musician, on the deer of the dawn. A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me, and are far from my deliverance, and from the words of my groaning? :2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not answer; and in the night, and am not silent. :3 But You are holy, enthroned on 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 who see Me mock me; they shoot out the lip; they shake the head, saying, :8 He trusted on Jehovah; let Him deliver Him; let Him rescue Him, since He delights in Him! :9 For You are He who took Me out of the womb, causing Me to trust while on My mother's breasts. :10 I was cast on You from the womb; You are My God from My mother's belly. :11 Be not far from Me; for trouble is near, for there is none to help. :12 Many bulls have circled around Me; strong bulls Of Bashan have surrounded Me. :13 They opened wide their mouths on Me, like a ripping and a roaring lion. :14 I am poured out like water, and all My bones are spread apart; My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels. :15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; :16 and You have brought Me into the dust of death. For dogs have circled around Me; the band of spoilers have hemmed Me in, piercers of 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 cast lots for My clothing. :19 But You, O Jehovah, be not far from Me; O My strength, hurry to help Me! :20 Deliver My soul from the sword, My only one from the dog's hand. :21 Save Me from the lion's mouth; from the wild oxen's horns.

Then there is a change in the tone of the Psalm from misery to praise!

You have answered Me. :22 I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise You. :23 You who fear Jehovah, praise Him; all of you, the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear Him all the seed of Israel. :24 For He has not despised nor hated the affliction of the afflicted; and He has not hidden His face from him, but when he cried to Him, He heard. :25 My praise shall be of You in the great congregation; I will pay My vows before the ones who fear Him. :26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek Jehovah shall praise Him; your heart shall live forever. :27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to Jehovah; and all the families of the nations shall worship before You. :28 For the kingdom is Jehovah's; and He is the ruler among the nations. :29 All the fat ones on the earth shall eat and worship; all those who go down to the dust shall bow before Him; and none can keep alive his own soul. :30 A seed shall serve Him; it shall be spoken of Jehovah to the coming generation. :31 They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness to a people that shall yet be born, that He has done this.” 

Have you thought about what could have happened if Jesus had been left alone to resight this Psalm from the lofty heights of the Cross, if He had the strength to do so? Jesus could have well said to them… “Have you never read that Psalm?” It would have caused an uproar, ‘more blasphemy!’, ‘shut him up!’ A friend once brought to my attention what happened next with the vinegar. I always thought, yes it’s a drink, odd that its vinegar, so what? Lets read.. Mat 27:48 “Immediately one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him a drink.” My friend said, ‘Well you try it, fill a sponge with vinegar then cover your nose and mouth with it, and try to speak!’ So I did, its awful, it takes your breath away! So were they trying to silence Jesus? It would appear so, if we look at the very next verse. Mat 27:49 “The rest said, “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.” They were virtual saying ‘take the sponge away and let Him spout off more blasphemy.’

So it would appear that the ‘Temple entourage’, standing at the foot of the Cross, know exactly what Jesus was quoting from the Psalms. And when we read the praise half of that Psalm, verses 22 to 31 it is quite obvious that Jesus was not under the impression that He had been forsaken. Remember after Jesus was raised from the dead, refer to Luke 24:44 “And He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms about Me.” So lets hunt through the Prophets and some other scriptures to see what we can find.

Psa 91:14 “Because He has set His love on Me, therefore I will deliver Him; I will set Him on high, because He has known My name. :15 He shall call on Me, and I will answer Him; I will be with Him in trouble; I will deliver Him, and honor Him.” Be with Him, deliver Him and honour Him! That is God speaking of the Messiah, Christ. Does that sound like God will abandon or forsake Christ on the Cross. Defiantly not!  

Go to Isaiah chapter 53 and Acts chapter 8. This was the passage that the Holy Spirit led Philip to explain to the Ethiopia eunuch in his chariot. Act 8:35 “Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same Scripture and preached the gospel of Jesus to him.” Now lets look at Isaiah.

Isa 53:1 Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of Jehovah revealed? :2 For He comes up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; He has no form nor majesty that we should see Him, nor an appearance that we should desire Him. :3 He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as it were a hiding of faces from Him, He being despised, and we esteemed Him not. :4 Surely He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” NOTE it says WE esteemed Him, Not He was stricken of God. This is often misquoted!

Continue with verse 5 “But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was on Him; and with His stripes we ourselves are healed. :6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, each one to his own way; and Jehovah has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. :7 He was oppressed, and He was afflicted; yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. :8 He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of My people He was stricken. :9 And He put His grave with the wicked, and with a rich one in His death; although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. :10 Yet it pleased Jehovah to crush Him; to grieve Him; that He should put forth His soul as a guilt-offering. He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper in His hand. :11 He shall see the fruit of the travail of His soul. He shall be fully satisfied. By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify for many; and He shall bear their iniquities. :12 Therefore I will divide to Him with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His soul to death; and He was counted among the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for transgressors.”

Note in verse10, “..Yet it pleased Jehovah to crush Him; to grieve Him..” It is Gods plan for all of the horrors of the crucifixion to take place, and everything is going according to plan. These verses above clearly show that God is praising and honouring the suffering of Christ. So try to imagine God with His eyes shut or His face turned away and then reread that passage above. It is not logical! Go back to Gen 22:10 “And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. :11 And the Angel of Jehovah called to him from the heavens and said, Abraham! Abraham! And he said, Here am I. :12 And He said, Do not lay your hand on the lad, nor do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me.” Do you think God could expect Abraham to sacrifice his ‘only begotten son', but God cannot do the same thing with His ‘only begotten son' ?  

The Ministry of Reconciliation
2Co 5:18 “And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation; :19  whereas God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and putting the word of reconciliation in us.” God was in Christ, on the Cross. Are you forgetting that Christ is God. They are one, the Godhead. Refer John 10:30 “I and the Father are one!” or John 14:10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me?”

Conclusion:
At what point in time did God and Christ separate at the crucifixion? Luke 23:46 “…Jesus said, Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit. And when He had said this, He breathed out the spirit.” Christ had to die, at which time he was separated from God, so that He could go down to preach to the souls in hell. Then He created absolute havoc down there and came back with “the keys”. But that’s ‘a can of worms’ that discussion. The point is that when Christ was on the Cross, scriptures clearly show that God could not have ‘turned His back on Christ’, ‘shut His eyes’ or forsake Christ on the Cross! 

The last question mentioned at the start: If God did forsake Jesus, His own son, then what’s to stop God from forsaking you, if He can’t look on your sins? The answer is: -

 

(ESV) Hebrews 13:5   “…for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 

Or (Weymouth) "I WILL NEVER, NEVER LET GO YOUR HAND: I WILL NEVER NEVER FORSAKE YOU."

Hope you have found this brings more light on that subject. If you were still convinced that God forsook Jesus on the Cross, then I would dearly love to hear from you, with the scriptures to back your line of thought.

GBY (God Bless Ya!)

Yours Adrian

Some other subjects I have covered are listed below: -

British Israel - 1.01 [For Beginners]

When Did Jesus Become The Messiah

Iniquity Of The Fathers Upon The Sons To The Third And Fourth Generation

The ‘Futurist Interpretation’ Automobile