Jesus, The Crucified One 1-25-26 AM
I. The separation of Jesus.
a. The famous phrase, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me, is one that stays with us.
i. There are seven sayings of Jesus that are on record in scripture.
ii. We might not remember each of them, but we remember this one.
b. There is debate about the meaning of this saying when Jesus says it.
i. On one side of the debate are those who say that Jesus quoted from Psalm 22 to teach those at the cross that He was the fulfillment of that Psalm, the Messiah.
ii. On the other side of the debate are those who believe Jesus, though quoting the psalm, was crying out in desperation because of His being separate from the Father for the first time.
c. Good brethren are on both sides of this issue.
d. My stance on it is, and this could change, is that the human side of Jesus longed for the presence of God but knew God could do nothing for Him if mankind was to be saved, but the divine side was still teaching – really a mix of both views.
i. If God did send Him relief or save Him from the cross, you and I have no hope for salvation.
ii. This is the reason Jesus came into the world and He was well aware of it.
e. Jesus was experiencing a separation from God the Father that had never occurred, nor would ever occur again.
i. Jesus and God were one (Jn. 10:30).
ii. They were constant companions during the earthly life of Jesus.
f. In this moment, Jesus felt abandonment because God could not do anything for Him.
i. The psalmist said he felt like a worm and a reproach (Ps. 22:6).
ii. No doubt Jesus felt this way on the cross.
g. The very next verses in Psalm 22 says…(Ps. 22:7-8).
i. This is exactly what happened at the cross.
ii. Matt. 27:39-43.
h. Can you imagine being so close with someone and that person be unwilling to help you in your moment of greatest need?
i. Imagine this from the Father’s point of view though.
i. There He is, looking down at His only begotten Son.
ii. He sees each slap, lash of the whip, each blow on a nail with the hammer.
iii. He sees the thorns pressed down on His brow and into His head.
iv. He could have stopped it but it would ruin the plan He had created before the world began to provide salvation for His special creation.
v. It is no wonder that God caused the sun to be dark for three hours in the morning of that fateful day.
j. I cannot fully comprehend what the Father and Son were both feeling that day.
k. I have never endured what Jesus was enduring and I have never been in a situation where I could help one of my children but it would make life worse for all others.
l. Jesus also wanted to save people.
i. They needed to understand who He was.
ii. He was the Messiah for whom they were looking and this death should have let them know.
iii. The Jews all believed that this psalm was Messianic in nature.
iv. They knew that David had never experienced the piercing of his hands and his feet.
v. They knew that David never had his garments distributed to others and gambled for by those around him.
vi. Those people at the cross needed to understand who Jesus was.
m. The human side of Jesus cried out because of the separation from God He felt, while the divine side of Jesus cried out for the salvation of those at the cross.
II. The suffering of Jesus.
a. In Psalm 22, the psalmist describes how his enemies felt to him (Ps. 22:12-13, 16, 21).
i. They felt like bulls of Bashan – Bashan was known for its lush pastures, which allowed for the bulls of that area to grow strong.
ii. It seemed to David as if his enemies had the power of lions.
iii. The biting of dogs was in the mind of David at this time.
iv. It seemed to David as if his enemies were about to gore him like an ox would gore someone, which is the meaning of the KJV unicorn.
b. Listen to how David felt in the moment (Ps. 22:14-17).
i. He is empty, poured out like water.
ii. He aches in pain.
iii. His heart is melted.
iv. His strength is gone like broken pottery.
v. His mouth is so dry that his tongue is sticking to the roof of his mouth.
vi. He feels he is about to die.
c. All of this vividly describes what Jesus suffered while on the cross.
d. All of us have known physical pain to varying degrees.
i. We may have broken bones.
ii. We may have been pierced by a knife or some sharp instrument.
iii. We may have experienced a lack of water for some time.
e. We can empathize with the Savior in that regard.
f. However, none of us have ever experienced the weight of all the sins of mankind, never having committed a sin ourselves.
i. We all know the weight of our own sins and the pain they bring.
ii. Jesus was the sinless, perfect Son of God.
iii. He bore the weight of all of our sins while on the cross.
iv. 2 Co. 5:21.
g. Think of what Jesus endured when you read those verses in Psalm 22.
i. Those nails were pushed through His skin and pierced through nerves, so we can understand His aches and His strength being gone.
ii. He experienced a great amount of blood loss, so we can understand He feels like He has been poured out like water.
iii. He cried out that He was thirsty, so we can understand His tongue clinging to the roof of His mouth.
iv. We read that when the soldier pierced His side that forthwith came out blood and water – Jesus died of a broken heart, so we can understand why the Psalmist would say His heart was melted.
h. Both the human and divine side of Jesus suffered greatly while on that cross.
III. The sureness of Jesus.
a. David, in Psalm 22, closes his writing by praising God as if God had taken him out of the terrible situation.
i. He was absolutely sure that God would save him.
ii. This is the great faith that David had in God.
iii. God had been there for him in the past, and even though He was not answering David right away, God would be there for him now.
b. Despite the fact that Jesus felt separation from God in that dark time, He knew that God would not leave Him completely.
c. I find the wording of Mark 15:33-34 very interesting.
i. Mark tells us that there was darkness over all the land at nine in the morning.
ii. We mentioned the darkness earlier and why we could understand God doing this.
d. But, did you notice the timing in these two verses?
i. There was darkness from the 6th to the 9th hour.
ii. It was at the 9th hour that Jesus cried out, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me.
iii. This reads, at least to me, that when our Lord cried out, God restored light, as if to say to Him, I’m still here.
e. Jesus, though feeling separate from God, is reminded that the Father was present and it gave Him a sense of sureness in the fact that God would take care of Him.
i. Despite all that had gone on, the Father was there.
ii. The Father had promised to resurrect Him and Jesus was sure that He would keep His word.
f. It was after this that Jesus said, “Father, into your hands I commend My spirit” (Lu. 23:46).
g. Every time that Jesus told His disciples He had to die, He also would say that He would be resurrected.
i. Jesus was sure of this.
ii. Even in the moment of His last breath He was sure that the Father would take care of Him and bring Him back to life.