Answers

By   •   August 24, 2006   •   Topics: , ,

Q:

We've been studying one of the Gospels in our small group Bible study at church, and recently we came across a place where Jesus says God has forsaken Him. Why did He say that? How could God have abandoned Him right when He needed God the most? Will God ever forsake us?


A:

No, God will never forsake us if we have truly committed our lives to Christ. God’s promise to His children couldn’t be clearer: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

And one reason God will never forsake us is because His Son was forsaken in our place. When Jesus Christ went to the cross, He did not deserve to die. He wasn’t guilty of any crime in the eyes of the law (in spite of what His enemies claimed), nor had He committed any sin in the eyes of God. In fact, since He was God in human flesh, He was without sin of any kind.

But on the cross, something happened we can barely understand: All our sins were placed on Him. To put it another way, He became guilty in God’s eyes of every sin the human race had ever committed. Think of it! He was sinless—but He allowed all our sins to be transferred to Him. The Bible says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

And in that terrible moment Jesus fell under the judgment of God—not because of His own sins, but because of ours. That is why He cried out as He died, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). He took the judgment we deserved—and He did it because He loves us. Have you responded to His love? Don’t let another day go by without Christ in your life.