My God, My God

12/6/23

My God, My God: Two articles concerning the same subject.

Article 1.

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” is found in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34, both quoted from Psalms 22:1.

These were the words the Lord spoke before He died in Calvary. Jesus had faced false witnesses, harsh interrogation, and false accusations. He was beaten, spit on, tied up, brought before Pontius Pilate, humiliated by Roman soldiers, had a crown of thorns driven into His head, beaten again with reeds, whipped, nailed to a cross, and struggled to breathe until He died of suffocation and loss of blood.

What most theologians teach concerning the words “My God, my God” is that He was speaking to His Father. 

Section I 

 I have many doubts concerning this teaching. Who else could Jesus have been speaking to? There are several possibilities. Scripture will support my doubts.

 1. Could He have been speaking to those who had denied Him = (the Jews)?

 2. Could He have been quoting Psalms 22:1 in response to what the people had unknowingly shouted to Him? Those shouting at the Lord in Matthew 27:43 were quoting Psalms 22:8, 

 3. Or it could have been a combination of the two. 

 

Section II 

 Let’s examine this topic a bit closer and gain further insight into the events that led up to Christ’s agonizing expression. Specific facts about the Lord must be understood to reach a correct conclusion.

Jesus said in John 10:18, “No man taketh it = (His life) from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” Does the verse mean that Jesus laid down His own life and that the Jews and Romans had no power in this matter? It is what the verse is saying.

As the Christ (Messiah), Jesus said He is acting upon the Divine will of His Father. He volunteered to die. To die for us was His choice; he had power over all the events that led to the cross. No other person could ever make this claim.

He surrendered His life, yet His assertion of His right to life was still in His power. He laid down His life of His own free will, and because He is God, He raised Himself from the grave, and in doingFather’s is fulfilled. “This commandment have I received of my Father.”

Examine the following questions, then examine them against what the Scriptures teach. The correct Biblical answers will show us that Jesus could not have been speaking to His Father.

  1. Do you believe that Jesus is the God of the Bible?
  2. Did God the Father send His Son?
  3. Did Jesus, of His own free will, leave heaven, come to earth, and take on the form of a man to finish His Father’s work?
  4. Was Jesus aware of the death He was to suffer before it had taken place?
  5. Did Jesus die for any sin that He had committed? Yes No
  6. Was Jesus a man, and yet God?
  7. From eternity past to eternity present, has Jesus ever changed?
  8. Would the Father send His Son to finish His work, knowing the results of what was to happen on the cross, and then abandon Him?
  9. If you as a parent had to send your son or daughter on a mission, and that mission had the possibility of failure, a failure that would result in their death, would you abandon him or her?

If you answered No, why would the Father abandon His only begotten Son?

 

 

 

Section 3 

Let us say the Father did forsake His Son. What kind of an example would this be for us? If the Father did forsake His only Son, whom He had sent, then why, and how could I trust Him?

Jesus said in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” He also said, “When you have seen me, you have seen the Father,” and that He is “The brightness of His (Father’s) glory and the express image of His (the Father’s) person.”

Hebrews 1:3: If the Father did forsake his Son, how could we trust what Jesus said, “I will never leave thee (Christians), nor forsake thee.” Jesus would never forsake us, neither did his Father abandon him on the cross. 

From the Bible evidence, I could never believe that God the Father had forsaken His Son, even for one split second. And why would He? If God the Father abandoned His Son, that would be like saying He abandoned Himself.

Also, if we said the Father had abandoned His Son, would this not play into the hands of his accusers, and of the devil? Jesus claimed to come from the Father to do the Father’s will and to finish His work. Now, before his persecutors, He asks His Father, “Why have you forsaken me?” 

As a persecutor standing before Him, as He hung from His cross, they would have said, “see, if He was God’s Son, and God had sent Him, God would never have forsaken Him.” His own words prove Him to be a liar. 

 Section 4 

“My God my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” is quoted from Psalms 22:1. King David spoke and wrote these words. Another verse is Psalms 22:8, which is mentioned in Matthew 27:43 by the scribes, chief priests, and elders, reads:

“He trusted in God = (the Father), let him deliver him now if he will have him.” 

The only difference between Psalms 22 and Matthew 27 is the order. David said in verse 1, “My God, my God,” and then in verse 8, “He trusted in God,” etc. In Matthew, the people said in verse 43, “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now,” Jesus responded in verse 46, “My God, my God.”

    As King of the Jewish nation, David had great reverence for God and pleaded for Divine help on the grounds of his relationship for the following reasons.

1. Because God had always been good to His people.

2. Because God encourages hope in His people.

3. And because David and the nation were in imminent danger. 

 

Section 5 

From the time of Christ’s death, the people and the nation of Israel have been in great distress. They have cried unto God, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken us? 

In their blindness, to this very day, they do not understand; they had forsaken their God. God never gave them up. I believe the cry of Jesus was to be the lamentation of the Jewish people for the next 2000 years.

David’s cry, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” was a cry to God for himself and his people. David must have felt he was not being heard, so he cried out to the Lord twice, “My God, My God.” The danger facing him was both present and future. David fully understood that God was their only chance of survival. 

 

Section 6 

In Jesus’ life on earth, the Jews’ felt God was on their side and that Satan had sent Jesus. Jesus, as the rejected King, cried out the words of King David, knowing the horrors that were to come upon the people and nation of the Jews. 

They rejected their own King and Saviour. Therefore, God pulled away His saving grace until a future time. Today, Jews pray at the Wailing Wall in Israel for peace, safety, and for the Messiah to come. Jesus cried, “Why hast thou forsaken me,” this was the cry of a rejected King, Jesus, to His people.

The wailing of the people will one day turn to shouts of joy. In this same Psalm, we read in verse 22, “I will declare thy name = (Jesus) unto my brethren = (the Jews): in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.” Quoted in Hebrews 2:12.

In Psalms 22, we read of the grief of the people, then the victory and glory of God’s deliverance that followed. This is yet to be fulfilled; it will come to pass because God has declared it. 

 

Section 7 

Let us begin to answer the above questions.

Question 1. Is Jesus God?

A. John 1:1 and 1:14. These two verses speak of Jesus. John tells us that Jesus is called the “Word of God. Verse 14 declares, “The Word = (Jesus) was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Verse 1 also tells us, “The Word was God.” So God = (Jesus) dwelt among His people.

B. 1 Timothy 3:16, “God was manifest = (came) in the flesh.” It was Jesus who was manifest in the flesh. Again, Jesus must be God.

C. Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah the prophet writes, For unto us a child is born = (Jesus), unto us, a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” Remember, Isaiah was a Jew who believed in one God and declared the child to come will be God, manifest in the flesh.

D. John 20:28, The apostle Thomas doubted the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. In verse 28, when he finally understood who stood before him, Thomas cried out to Jesus, ” My Lord and my God.” If Jesus were not God, this would have been considered blasphemy.

The above verses declare Jesus as the supreme Jehovah God. So, the answer to question one is Yes. 

E. See also Romans 9:5, Heb. 1:8, 1 John 5:20. Compare Revelation 19:17 and verse 7.

    Revelation 2:6, Philippians 2:6, etc. These verses prove Jesus is the God of the Bible, to the glory of His Father. 

 

Section 8

Question 2. Did the Father send His Son Jesus?

1. John 6:38, Jesus said, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him = (the Father) that sent me.” This verse speaks for itself.

2. John 5:30, Jesus said, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”

3. Matthew 26:39, “Jesus said, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

The word “wilt” in Greek is “thelo, or ethelo.” It means having in mind, purpose, intend, and, to please. So, we get the idea that Jesus came to earth to fulfill the purpose and intent of the Father.

4. John 4:34, Jesus said, “My meat = (food) is to do the will of Him = (the Father) that sent me, and to finish His work.”

From the above verses, we can conclude that Jesus was sent by the Father to complete the work of the Father. So, the correct answer to question two is Yes. 

 

Section 9 

Question 3. Did Jesus come of His own free will?

1. John 14:31, Jesus said, “but that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.” 

2. John 5:36, Jesus said, “For the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.”

3. John 6:38, Jesus said, “For I came down from heaven,”

4. John 3:13, Jesus said, “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”

5. John 6:58, Jesus said, “This is that bread which came down from heaven.”

The answer to question three is Yes, Jesus came down from heaven of His own free will to do the work of His Father. 

 

 

Section 10 

Question 4. Was Jesus aware of the death He was to suffer before it happened?

The book of Isaiah and other writers foretell the events that would befall Jesus in His life on earth. Jesus, knowing the Old Testament text, quoted it many times.

1. Isaiah 53:3, He = (Jesus) is despised and rejected of men.” In the Hebrew, “rejected” is “cha-dal.” It means discontinued, left off, ended, abandoned, forsaken, as of, or by men. Isaiah writes that men would forsake the coming Messiah.

2. Isaiah 53:3, Jesus would be, “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we = (the Jews) hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” This word esteem implies a negative contempt for the Messiah. The people were going to weave and fabricate their evil plot to serve their Father, the devil.

3. Isaiah 53:4, Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we = (the Jew) did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”

The leaders and the people of Israel esteemed Jesus as stricken; this was judicial. It came in the form of their legal justice. Death was the sentence they had declared upon Him. Did the Father send His Son to be killed for any sin He had committed? Was Jesus a sinner before His Father? No to both questions.

The charge of being a sinner was leveled against Jesus by men. As leprosy is a direct judgment by God for sin, the anger of these men was kindled against him, for they considered Jesus to be a leper. Being forsaken by His own, He departed and went into glory.

Revelation 13:8, Jesus was “the Lamb (Jesus) slain from the foundation of the world.” God had ordained this before he had established the foundation of the world. Of course, Jesus knew how and when He was to die. He wrote the book.

4. John 13:1, “Now before the feast of passover, Jesus knew that his hour was come, and that he would depart out of this world to the Father.” 

5. Matthew 26:2, Jesus said, “Ye know that after two days is the feast of passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” So, the answer to question Four is yes. 

 

Section 11  

Question 5. Did Jesus die with any sin?

1. 1 Peter 1:19, “but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

The Greek word for “blemish” is “amomos.” It means blameless, irreprehensible. It can be found in the following books: Philippians 2:15, 2 Peter 3:14, Philippians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 3:13. And 5:23.

The Greek word for “spot” is “aspilos.” It speaks of a victim, typically of Christ, spotless, without blemish.

 2. Hebrews 9:14, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit = (Holy Spirit) offered himself without spot to God (the Father) .”

3. Hebrews 4:15 Speaks of Jesus, “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Jesus died without sin, without complaint; he was the perfect sacrifice. The answer to question Five is, No!

 

Question 6. Was Jesus in His flesh, both man and God?

1. Colossians 2:9, “For in him = (Jesus) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” The Greek word for “Godhead” is “theotes.” It is applied to the deity. It is God’s divine nature and perfections; this is who and what Jesus is.

2. As God, He forgave sin, predicted future events, and knew men’s thoughts and their hearts. He knew His betrayer beforehand, of His coming death, healed those who believed, etc. Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” John 8:58. He came from eternity and went back into eternity. His nature never changes. Therefore, even in His flesh, He had the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Him.

3. As a man, He was born of a woman, worked, played, learned, felt both joy and sorrow, suffered, prayed, etc. Yes, He was both man and God.

So, the answer to question six is Yes. 

 

Section 12 

Question 7. From eternity past to eternity future, did Jesus ever change?

1. Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”

Translated, it means Jesus is the same unto the ages. “Jesus Christ,” both His proper name (Jesus) and His office (Christ), are given. This has never and will never change who He is and what His office is.

2. Hebrews 12:2, “Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;” As the author, He is the Prince, the Leader. He come from eternity, goes before us as the Originator of the faith, and is the unmatched example for us to follow.

As the finisher of our faith, Jesus is perfect.

The answer to question seven is No! Jesus is God, and God never changes. 

 

Section 13 

Question 8. Would the Father ever abandon His Son? The answer is no.

So, who was Jesus speaking to? And do we have Scriptural proof as to who did forsake Him?

The Greek word for “forsake” is “egkatalelpo.” It means to leave behind in any place or state. To leave out on a lurch, to desert, or abandon. Let us begin in Matthew.

Before His crucifixion, Jesus said in Matthew 26:31 to His disciples, “All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd = (Jesus), and the sheep = (the apostles, disciples, and others) of the flock shall be scattered abroad.”

In a moral sense, the word offended means to be a stumbling block to anyone, to give or cause offense. So Jesus is telling His disciples that I will become a stumbling block and an offense to you in my hour of pain and death. You will be scattered because of your fear of death and the outward rejection of the Messiah.

In Matthew 26:56, His words were fulfilled, “Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.” Not one disciple remained with their teacher. Not one person went to the cross alongside their Master. They all fled in fear, having forsaken their Lord; the sheep were scattered.

Matthew 27:41, “Likewise the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.”

To mock someone is to scoff at, have derision or contemptuous ridicule of someone, or to be the object of ridicule. Even after all the wonderful works and miracles done by the Lord that these men had witnessed, they asked to see further miracles; they shouted, “Come down from the cross, and we will believe him.” 

 

Section 14 

These were the religious leaders, those who were to keep the oracles of God, and those who were to represent God. They were to observe and teach the law, maintain the temple, give sacrifices for the people, and be the leaders of the people. 

Yet they knew not the written word. Then, with hatred in their hearts, they raged against the Son of God, sending him without cause to His death. They had forsaken God’s Son.

Matthew 27:55-56, “And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.”

These women showed more courage than the disciples. The disciples had promised to die for him rather than forsake him. Yet these women stood at a distance. The phrase “afar off” in Greek means, from a distance. These women stood at a distance for a couple of reasons.

1. Fear of death or prison, and

2. Those crucified were put to death naked.

 

Section 15

Matthew 21:7-8-9, Jesus is riding into Jerusalem on the back of a colt. The Jewish people spread their garments before Him, cutting branches from trees and spreading them before him. They cried, “Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the LORD; Hosanna in the highest.” High praise, Yes. Yet, within days, this praise turned to hatred.

Matthew 21:9 quotes from Psalms 118:26. “Blessed be he = (Jesus) that cometh in the name of the LORD = (the Father).” These same people were now at the cross, screaming at Him, shaking their fingers at him, doubting him, shouting, “If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Traitors, deceived by the lies of men. Their words were in utter contempt for their Saviour. They had forsaken their Lord.

Matthew 27:44, “The thieves also which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.” One of the thieves blasphemed against the Lord, and the other repented. The one thief had accused Jesus, saying in Luke 23:39, “If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.” This thief, who was guilty as charged, now accuses Jesus, who was completely innocent.

Is this any different from what many people do today? They always point the finger at someone else to take the spotlight of guilt off themselves. The guilty sometimes say, “Why does God let this happen to me?” or, “What about them?” or “They made me do it.” or “Everyone else does it.” Ignorant people, cowards, not willing to take responsibility for their actions. So even the guilty thief rejects the only one who could have saved him.

 

 

Section 16

The chief priests of the Jews went to Pilate and asked that the sign above Jesus’ head be removed and changed. They had requested that it read, “he said, I am King of the Jews.” What had been put up by Pilate was “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” This was not a mistake made by men; it was the will of God. When you take the first letters of each word, Jesus, Nazareth, King, and Jews, it spells out the Hebrew name of God (JHVH). Today, we have added the vowels and spelled it Jehovah, so the Jews had it right.

David, as King, spoke for the people. God loved David and said, “David was a man of His own heart.” So was his Son Jesus as King of kings. David and Jesus both spoke for a fallen race and nation on the brink of destruction.

Matthew 23:37, Jesus said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.”

Psalms 91:4, He = (God) shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust:”

Psalms 17:8, “Keep me = (The Jewish nation) as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.”

2 Chronicles 24:20, “Because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you.” 2 Chronicles 36:16, “They mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy.”

In summary, we see that the apostles, the Jewish religious leaders, the general population of people, Jesus’ friends, family, and the criminals all rejected and ran from their Savior. After Jesus spoke these words, “My God, my God,” He said three things that I believe will further prove that He was not speaking to His Father.

1. Jesus asked for water and received vinegar, fulfilled the prophesy in Psalms 69:21, “In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Jesus was still aware of His physical needs.

His words and their actions fulfilled the Scriptures, giving further proof to the religious leaders. It also reads, “They gave (me) vinegar.” The personal pronoun me provides evidence that Jesus gave King David this message of prophesy 1000 years before the event occurred.

2. One thief acknowledged him as Lord, and Jesus responded, “Verily I say unto thee (the thief), today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” 

The verse proves that the Lord acknowledged the resurrection of His physical body. He knew that He was to be the first fruit of the resurrection. Does this sound like a person who was rejected by His Father or was out of his mind with pain?

3. Jesus, with His last physical breath, cried out, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Again, does this sound as if He thought the Father had forsaken Him?

Critics say that Jesus could have been insane with pain. But we read in John 19:26-27 that He spoke these words to John and His mother, Mary. “Woman, behold thy Son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!” Does this sound like a man out of his mind?

John 19:30, Jesus said, “It is finished.” He knew the Old Testament promises of God to both Jew and Gentile were now finished salvation to the whole of the human race. The Father’s will, His great work of salvation, finished. He had broken Satan’s hold on man, setting us free.

If you believe in this beautiful work, repent, receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and today your eternity begins, you will not suffer the second death. Revelation 22:20, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

 

 

Second article:

For many years, I have asked, “Who was Jesus speaking to as He hung from the cross and said with his dying breath, “MY God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?  

Concerning the opinions of others, almost all the responses are the same, repeating Word for Word, “He was speaking to the Father.”  

For the record, let’s examine the facts as presented in Scripture. We have two possibilities:  

Jesus was speaking to His Father in heaven:                    

Jesus was speaking to the temple priests and the people who were standing before him as they were shaking their fingers at him and mocking him. 

To arrive at the truth, we must prove or disprove one significant fact, “Who is Jesus Christ?” Once this is understood, the answer to whom Jesus spoke should be obvious. Let’s begin with the verse in question.

Matthew 27:46, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” an exact quote from Psalms 22:1. The writer of this Psalm is crying out to God, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” 

Jesus had been hanging from the cross between 9 A.M. and 3 in the afternoon when he cried out. Standing before him were many people from the city, the religious elite, Roman guards, and the Lord’s disciples. Alongside his cross were others who would be crucified for crimes committed. 

“Why hast thou forsaken me?” to forsake means to abandon or to desert. Now let’s examine another Greek word, “forsook.” 

In Matthew 26:56, Jesus and his disciples were in the garden of Gethsemane when the chief priests, elders, and a multitude of people came to arrest him. It was then we read, 

Matthew 26:56, “Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.” 

They ran off in fear of being arrested. The Word forsook means to forsake, abandon, or quit on a person. We find the Word forsook or synonyms used in,

Matthew 4:11, “Then the devil leaveth him (Jesus),”

Matthew 8:15, “The fever left her:” 

John 10:12, “He that is a hireling (hired man) and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaveth (abandons) the sheep and flees:” 

Now we know what the Greek words for “forsaken and forsook” mean. 

But the key to this, “Is Jesus Christ the God of the Old Testament?” Is He Jehovah, who walked with Adam in the garden, covenanted with Abraham, gave the law to Moses, wrestled with Jacob, and spoke to the OT prophets? 

Matthew 1:23, we read concerning Jesus, “His name shall be called Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us.” 

Immanuel was not to be Christ’s proper name, but “Immanuel” signifies that God would be with us in the person of Jesus Christ. 

The Greek for God here in Matthew is “Theos.” It speaks only of Divinity, the Supreme Lord and Father of all, Jehovah. 

This statement, “God with us,” raises two more questions: 1. Does Jesus have a Father? 2. Is Jesus our Father? 

The error many people make when answering these questions is that they apply the understanding of an earthly father to that of our heavenly Father. 

Concerning an earthly father, he is, 

  1. A male parent, and 
  2. A man who has begotten a child.

Concerning our heavenly Father? He who sits on the throne in heaven is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in respect to that peculiar relationship in which Christ is the Son of God. 

Unlike all children whose beginning is at conception, the Son of God is without beginning, one of the great mysteries hidden in God. Why has it been hidden? Because it’s God’s prerogative to do so. 

Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong unto the LORD God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever,”

The mysteries that remain hidden in God are, in their nature, an ultimate fact beyond which any man can reason or in which our reasoning could never attain. 

Is there anywhere in Scripture where the Father and Son are expressly distinguished?

Matthew 11:27, Jesus is speaking, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” 

OK, so Jesus has a Father who sits on His throne in heaven. The next question is, is Jesus Christ our Father?  

Isaiah 9:6, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: —- and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” 

Note, in Hebrew and Greek, the definite article is used to restrict the meaning of the noun, Father, to a specific person. Therefore, Jesus is said to be our everlasting Father. 

What is our relationship with Jesus as our Father? 

John 14:13, Jesus said, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do,” Why?

 So, “that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” 

Matthew 7:7, Jesus is speaking, “Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” 

As our Father, Jesus is our shield, our Lord, our Savior, our Helper, portion, healer, teacher, our provider of food and drink, our wisdom, our spiritual Rock and our Strength, our deliverer, our vine, our branch, our light, our life. And the list goes on and on. And one day, He will be our Husband, and we shall be His bride.   

Let’s move on: In the KJB, we read in,  

1 Timothy 3:16, “God was manifest in the flesh.” In other Bible’s, God has been removed and replaced with “he, or it” was manifest in the flesh.” 

The Greek Word for manifest means to be made apparent, to be made known, to show openly. So, what Paul has revealed to us is God has established himself in the person of Jesus Christ. 

In, Revelation 1:8, Jesus declared himself to be Jehovah; He said, 

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” 

In the Greek, the Almighty speaks only of the Omnipotent God. 

John had much to say about the Lord Jesus. First, we read in, 

John 1:1, speaking of the Lord, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word (Jesus) was with God (the Father), and the Word was God.” One individual cannot be God and be with God simultaneously. 

In the following, John speaks of Jesus’ life and co-existence with the Father. 

“In the beginning” speaks not only of Jesus’s incarnation but his existence before all time. Incarnation is the doctrine that the Son of God assumed human form in the person of the child Jesus and, in so doing, is ultimately both God and man. He is God veiled in the flesh of man.   

John 1:3-4, “All things were made by Him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

Light here in reference to the Lord as the great Teacher and Savior of the world, who brought life and immortality to light in his gospel. 

2 Timothy 1:10, “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:” 

John 1:14, “And the Word (Jesus) was made flesh, and dwelt among us,” 

The Word, or the Logos in John’s writing, speaks of the pre-existent nature of Christ, as in the spiritual and divine nature spoken of in the Jewish writings before and about the time of Christ. In Proverbs, Jesus is also called the “Wisdom of God.”

Proverbs 8:12-22, “I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.” 

Verse 22, speaking of wisdom, “The LORD (the Father) possessed me (wisdom) in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.” 

The Hebrew word “possessed” here declares that wisdom was the source of all God’s works of creation and salvation. 

Verse 23, “I (Wisdom or the Word) was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.” 

To “set up” means to be anointed.

Now, concerning the Lord’s work in the beginning of the creation:

Colossians 1:16, “For by Him (Jesus) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him.”

John 1:3, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” 

Hebrews 1:2, the Father, “Has in these last days spoke unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;”

Now let’s take all the information from the above verses and apply it to,

Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” 

The Word here in Genesis 1:1 for God is “Elohim.” It’s a compound word formed from the Hebrew “ail.” John, in his gospel, revealed to us that, 

John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus) and the Word was with God (the Father),” 

So, we have the Father and Son (Elohim) together, making the creation ready. But let’s not forget the 3ed person of creation. 

Genesis 1:2, “And the (HOLY) Spirit moved (hovered) upon the face of the waters.” We also read in,

Job 26:16, “By His (God’s Holy) Spirit he has garnished (adorned) the heavens;” 

Acting upon the spoken Word, the Holy Spirit moved on the spoken Word, preparing the things of the earth, but He also beautified the heavens with the marvels of the universe. 

So, there is your trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all involved in the creation. 

One other thing is to be cleared up before we move on. Scriptures tell us there is but One God, yet the Scriptures refer to 3 God’s. So, do we have a contradiction here? 

In the following verses, we read,

Zechariah 14:9, “And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be One LORD, and His name One.” 

Malachi 2:10, “Have we not all one Father? hath not One God created us?” 

Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is One LORD.” 

Yet, in other verses, they speak of more than one God. 

Genesis 1:26, God said, “Let US make man in our image, after our likeness:” 

“Us,” a pronoun objective case of “WE.” Plural 

Genesis 11:7, God said, “Let US go down, and there confound their language.” 

Also, remember what John wrote, that the Word was with God, and the Word is God, Father and Son!

Jehovah speaks to Isaiah in the following verse, and the text suggests three persons.  

For context, read the first 15 verses here in Isaiah 48. Then, apply verse 16 to what you’ve read.   

Verse 16, “I (Jehovah) have not spoken in secret from the beginning (from the foundation of the earth); from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God (the Father), and his Spirit (Holy Spirit) hath sent ME.” 

Jehovah tells us His Father and the Holy Spirit sent Him. The following verse supports the teaching of “trinity.” 

Matthew 28:19, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” 

OK, what’s the answer to this dilemma? The idea of one God in three is oneness. Synonym’s being, harmony; being of one accord; unified in mind; one in purpose and design.

The plan of creation and salvation was by way of the Godhead, consisting of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and in all things, these three are of one mind. 

It is remarkable throughout the Scriptures that Jesus assumes the Father’s identical characteristics. We read about this in,  

Hebrews 1:8, the Father calls his Son “God.” Verse 10, as He speaks of His Son’s creative work. The Father said of His Son,

Father speaking, “And thou LORD, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands.” 

Because the above is true, we have shown without doubt that Jesus Christ is God. He is Jehovah of the OT and is called Jesus in the New Testament. 

The following are a series of questions that need to be asked and answered to reveal the truth of the first question. 

  1. Question: can God never be God, even for one moment? The answer is No! If even for one moment He was not God, discharging His Divinity, Satan would have crushed him, and the sacrifice of a man would have been for nothing.  

We know He is the “Alpha and omega —– the Almighty.” 

Hebrews 1:3, He is “the brightness of His (the Father’s) glory, and the express image of His (the Father’s) person, and upholding all things by the word of His power.”

1 Corinthians 11:7, He is “the image and glory of God (the Father.)”

Hebrews 13:8 reveals to us, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”

  1. Did Jesus know he would take on the form of a man? Yes! 700 years before his birth, Isaiah wrote the following, 

Isaiah 9:6, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:” 

Did He know He would be born in Bethlehem? Micah was also written 700 Years before Jesus’ birth.

Micah 5:2, “But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of (towns and cities) of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel: whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting.” 

The beauty of this verse is that there were two Bethlehem’s. Beth-lehem Ephratah was the smallest and poorest of the two. It lay southwest of Jerusalem, where the Lord was born.

Was John the Baptist set up to announce the coming of the Messiah?

Isaiah 40:3, “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the LORD (Jehovah), make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” 

This verse is quoted in Matthew 3:3 and also concerned John the Baptist.  

Did the Lord know He would ride into Jerusalem on the back of an unridden colt of an ass? 

Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” 

Did He know He would be betrayed by one of his own for thirty pieces of silver?

Zechariah 11:12, “And I said unto them, if ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.” Compared with Matthew 26:15, the same thing.

Did the Lord know He was to be beaten and mocked? Yes! 

Isaiah 53:3-5, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” —- he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:”

Verse 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 her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.” 

Daniel was to write concerning the confirmation of a new covenant the Lord would bring with him, a new covenant to be confirmed for seven years and was/is to replace the Mosaic law. Daniel goes on to write, 

Daniel 9:26, but, “After threescore and two weeks (3 ½ years) shall Messiah be cut off,” 

Jesus’ earthly ministry lasted 3 ½ years, from October 27 AD until April 31 AD. 

How do I know this? Jesus was born between the middle to the end of October 4 BC. To become a priest in the Temple, he must be 30 years old. Jesus had turned 30 when baptized by John in the river Jordon. 

Luke 3:23, “Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age,” 

It was then the 3 ½ years began. 3 ½ years later would take us to the day before Passover, April 7, 31 AD. 

Did Jesus know He was going to be crucified? 

Revelation 13:8, “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Slain in the eternal counsel of the Godhead even before the foundation of the world was laid. 

Just before His trial, Jesus told his disciples, 

Mark 9:31, “The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.” 

Verse 32, “But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.” 

There were many other Old Testament prophesies written concerning the Lord. 

Question: who gave these prophesies to the prophets of the OT? Of course, we know it was the Lord himself. 

The Lord gave David the prophecy in Psalms 22 concerning His crying out 900 years before he would cry out, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” 

After reviewing the above information, I realize that every occurrence from his birth until his death originated in heaven, so why would He cry out to the Father, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” Answer: he wouldn’t! 

Again, if the Lord’s divinity had departed from him for even one moment, leaving only His human nature, this redeeming act would have been valueless. 

Jesus spoke these words to the religious leaders, proving he was the expected Messiah. 

The Jews knew and believed David’s Psalm 22 well. While standing before him as He hung from the cross, they quoted, 

Psalms 22:8 says, “He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.” 

Compare that with their actual words as they stood before him,

Matthew 27:41-43, “the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders said, —– He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.” 

To which our Lord immediately answered them, “My God, my God, why hath thou forsaken me?” 

Phillip LaSpino www.seekfirstwisdom.com

 

 

Second article:

For many years, I have asked, “Who was Jesus speaking to as He hung from the cross and said with his dying breath, “MY God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?  

Concerning the opinions of others, almost all the responses are the same, repeating Word for Word, “He was speaking to the Father.”  

For the record, let’s examine the facts as presented in Scripture. We have two possibilities:  

Jesus was speaking to His Father in heaven:           

Jesus was speaking to the temple priests and the people who were standing before him, mocking him. 

To arrive at the truth, we must prove or disprove one significant fact, “Who is Jesus Christ?” Once this is understood, the answer to whom Jesus spoke should be obvious. Let’s begin with the verse in question.

Matthew 27:46, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” an exact quote from Psalms 22:1. The writer of this Psalm is crying out to God, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” 

Jesus had been hanging from the cross between 9 A.M. and 3 in the afternoon when he cried out. Standing before him were many people from the city, the religious elite, Roman guards, and the Lord’s disciples. Alongside his cross were others who were to be crucified for their crimes. 

“Why hast thou forsaken me?” to forsake means to abandon or to desert. Now let’s examine another Greek word, “forsook.” 

In Matthew 26:56, Jesus and his disciples were in the garden of Gethsemane when the chief priests, elders, and many people came to arrest him. It was then we read, 

Matthew 26:56, “Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.” 

They ran off in fear of being arrested. The word forsook means to forsake, abandon, or quit on a person. We find the word forsook or synonyms used in,

Matthew 4:11, “Then the devil leaveth him (Jesus),”

Matthew 8:15, “The fever left her:” 

John 10:12, “He that is a hireling (hired man) and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaveth (abandons) the sheep and flees:” 

Now we know what the Greek words for “forsaken and forsook” mean. 

But the key to this is, “Is Jesus Christ the God of the Old Testament?” Is He Jehovah, who walked with Adam in the garden, covenanted with Abraham, gave the law to Moses, wrestled with Jacob, and spoke to the OT prophets? 

Matthew 1:23, we read concerning Jesus, “His name shall be called Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us.” 

Immanuel was not to be Christ’s proper name, but “Immanuel” signifies that God would be with us in the person of Jesus Christ. 

The Greek for God here in Matthew is “Theos.” It speaks only of Divinity, the Supreme Lord and Father of all, Jehovah. 

This statement, “God with us,” raises two more questions: 1. Does Jesus have a Father? 2. Is Jesus our Father? 

The error many people make when answering these questions is that they apply the understanding of an earthly father to that of our heavenly Father. 

Concerning an earthly father, he is, 

  1. A male parent, and 
  2. A man who has begotten a child.

Now concerning our heavenly Father, He who sits on the throne in heaven, who’s the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in respect to that peculiar relationship in which Christ is the Son of God. 

Unlike all children whose beginning is at conception, the Son of God is without beginning, one of the great mysteries hidden in God. Why has it been hidden? Because it’s God’s prerogative to do so. 

Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong unto the LORD God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever,”

The mysteries that remain hidden in God are, in their nature, an ultimate fact beyond which any man can reason or in which our reasoning could never attain. 

Is there anywhere in Scripture where the Father and Son are expressly distinguished?

Matthew 11:27, Jesus is speaking, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” 

OK, so Jesus has a Father who sits on His throne in heaven. The next question is, is Jesus Christ our Father?  

Isaiah 9:6, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: —- and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” 

Note, in Hebrew and Greek, the definite article restricts the meaning of the noun, Father, to a specific person. Therefore, Jesus is said to be our everlasting Father. 

What is our relationship with Jesus as our Father? 

John 14:13, Jesus said, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do,” Why?

 So, “that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” 

Matthew 7:7, Jesus is speaking, “Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” 

As our Father, Jesus is our shield, our Lord, our Savior, our Helper, portion, healer, teacher, our provider of food and drink, our wisdom, our spiritual Rock and our Strength, our deliverer, our vine, our branch, our light, our life. And the list goes on and on. And one day, He will be our Husband, and we shall be His bride.  

Let’s move on: In the KJB, we read in,  

1 Timothy 3:16, “God was manifest in the flesh.” In other Bible’s, God has been removed and replaced with “he, or it” was manifest in the flesh.” 

The Greek word for manifest means made apparent, to be made known, to show openly. So, what Paul has revealed to us is God has established himself in the person of Jesus Christ. 

In, Revelation 1:8, Jesus declared himself to be Jehovah; He said, 

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” 

In the Greek, the Almighty speaks only of the Omnipotent God. 

John had much to say about the Lord Jesus. First, we read in, 

John 1:1, speaking of the Lord, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word (Jesus) was with God (the Father), and the Word was God.” One individual cannot be God and be with God simultaneously. 

In the following, John speaks of Jesus’ life and co-existence with the Father. 

“In the beginning” speaks not only of Jesus’s incarnation but his existence before all time. Incarnation is the doctrine that the Son of God assumed human form in the person of the child Jesus and, in so doing, is ultimately both God and man. He is God veiled in the flesh of man.  

John 1:3-4, “All things were made by Him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

The light here refers to the Lord as the great Teacher and Savior of the world, who brought life and immortality to light in his gospel. 

2 Timothy 1:10, “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:” 

John 1:14, “And the Word (Jesus) was made flesh, and dwelt among us,” 

The Word, or the Logos in John’s writing, speaks of the pre-existent nature of Christ, as in the spiritual and divine nature spoken of in the Jewish writings before and about the time of Christ. In Proverbs, Jesus is also called the “Wisdom of God.”

Proverbs 8:12-22, “I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.” 

Verse 22, speaking of wisdom, “The LORD (the Father) possessed me (wisdom) in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.” 

The Hebrew word “possessed” here declares that wisdom was the source of all God’s works of creation and salvation. 

Verse 23, “I (Wisdom or the Word) was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.” 

To “set up” means to be anointed.

Now, concerning the Lord’s work in the beginning of the creation:

Colossians 1:16, “For by Him (Jesus) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him.”

John 1:3, “All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” 

Hebrews 1:2, the Father, “Has in these last days spoke unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;”

Now let’s take all the information from the above verses and apply it to,

Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” 

The Word here in Genesis 1:1 for God is “Elohim.” It’s a compound word formed from the Hebrew “ail.” John, in his gospel, revealed to us that, 

John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus) and the Word was with God (the Father),” 

So, we have the Father and Son (Elohim) together, preparing the creation. But let’s not forget the 3ed person of creation. 

Genesis 1:2, “And the (HOLY) Spirit moved (hovered) upon the face of the waters.” We also read in,

Job 26:16, “By His (God’s Holy) Spirit he has garnished (adorned) the heavens;” 

Acting upon the spoken word, the Holy Spirit moved on the spoken word, preparing the things of the earth, but He also beautified the heavens with the marvels of the universe. 

So, there we have proof of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all involved in the creation. 

One other thing to do before we move on: The Scriptures tell us there is but One God, yet the Scriptures refer to 3 Gods. So, do we have a contradiction here? 

In the following verses, we read,

Zechariah 14:9, “And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be One LORD, and His name One.” 

Malachi 2:10, “Have we not all one Father? hath not One God created us?” 

Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is One LORD.” 

Yet, in other verses, they speak of more than one God. 

Genesis 1:26, God said, “Let US make man in our image, after our likeness:” 

“Us,” a pronoun objective case of “WE.” Plural 

Genesis 11:7, God said, “Let US go down, and there confound their language.” 

Also, remember what John wrote, “The word was with God, and the Word is God,” Father and Son!

Jehovah speaks to Isaiah in the following verse, and the text suggests three persons.  

For context, read the first 15 verses here in Isaiah 48. Then, apply verse 16 to what you’ve read.  

Verse 16, “I (Jehovah) have not spoken in secret from the beginning (from the foundation of the earth); from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God (the Father), and his Spirit (Holy Spirit) hath sent ME.” 

Jehovah tells us His Father and the Holy Spirit sent Him. The following verse supports the teaching of “trinity.” 

Matthew 28:19, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” 

OK, what’s the answer to this dilemma? The idea of one God in three is oneness. Synonym’s being, harmony; being of one accord; unified in mind; one in purpose and design.

The plan of creation and salvation was by way of the Godhead, consisting of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and in all things, these three are of one mind. 

It is remarkable throughout the Scriptures that Jesus assumes the Father’s identical characteristics. We read about this in,  

Hebrews 1:8, the Father calls his Son “God.” Verse 10, as He speaks of His Son’s creative work. The Father said of His Son,

Father speaking, “And thou LORD, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands.” 

Because the above is true, we have shown without doubt that Jesus Christ is God. Jehovah of the OT is called Jesus in the New Testament. 

The following are a series of questions that need to be asked and answered to reveal the truth of the first question. 

  1. Question: can God never be God, even for one moment? The answer is No! If even for one moment He was not God, discharging His Divinity, Satan would have crushed him, and the sacrifice of a man would have been for nothing.  

We know He is the “Alpha and omega —– the Almighty.” 

Hebrews 1:3, He is “the brightness of His (the Father’s) glory, and the express image of His (the Father’s) person, and upholding all things by the word of His power.”

1 Corinthians 11:7, He is “the image and glory of God (the Father.)”

Hebrews 13:8 reveals to us, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”

  1. Did Jesus know he would take on the form of a man? Yes! 700 years before his birth, Isaiah wrote the following, 

Isaiah 9:6, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:” 

Did He know He would be born in Bethlehem? Micah was also written 700 years before Jesus’s birth.

Micah 5:2, “But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of (towns and cities) of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel: whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting.” 

The beauty of this verse is that there were two Bethlehem’s. Beth-lehem Ephratah was the smallest and poorest of the two. It lay southwest of Jerusalem, where the Lord was born.

Was John the Baptist set up to announce the coming of the Messiah?

Isaiah 40:3, “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the LORD (Jehovah), make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” 

This verse is quoted in Matthew 3:3 and also concerned John the Baptist.  

Did the Lord know He would ride into Jerusalem on the back of an unridden colt of an ass? 

Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” 

Did He know He would be betrayed by one of his own for thirty pieces of silver?

Zechariah 11:12, “And I said unto them, if ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.” Compared with Matthew 26:15, the same thing.

Did the Lord know He was to be beaten and mocked? Yes! 

Isaiah 53:3-5, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” —- he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:”

Verse 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 her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.” 

Daniel wrote concerning a new covenant, one to be confirmed for seven years. It was to replace the old. Daniel goes on to write, 

Daniel 9:26, but, “After threescore and two weeks (3 ½ years) shall Messiah be cut off,” 

Jesus’ earthly ministry lasted 3 ½ years, from October 27 AD until April 31 AD. 

How do I know this? Jesus was born between the middle to the end of October 4 BC. To become a priest of the Temple, the priest must be 30 years of age. Jesus had turned 30 when baptized by John in the river Jordon. 

Luke 3:23, “Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age,” 

It was then the 3 ½ years began. 3 ½ years later would take us to the day before Passover, April 7, 31 AD. 

Did Jesus know He was going to be crucified? 

Revelation 13:8, “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Slain in the eternal counsel of the Godhead even before God established the foundation of the world. 

Just before His trial, Jesus told his disciples, 

Mark 9:31, “The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.” 

Verse 32, “But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.” 

There were many other Old Testament prophesies written concerning the Lord. 

Question: who gave these prophesies to the prophets of the OT? Of course, we know it was the Lord himself. 

The Lord gave David the prophecy in Psalms 22 concerning His crying out 900 years before he would cry out, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” 

After reviewing the above information, I realize that every occurrence from his birth until his death originated in heaven, so why would He cry out to the Father, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” Answer: he wouldn’t! 

Again, if the Lord’s divinity had departed from him for even one moment, leaving only His human nature, this redeeming act would have been valueless. 

Jesus spoke these words to the religious leaders, proving he was the expected Messiah. 

The Jews knew and believed Psalm 22. While standing before Christ as He hung from the cross, they quoted, 

Psalms 22:8 says, “He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.” 

Compare that with their actual words as they stood before him,

Matthew 27:41-43, “The chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders said, —– He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.” 

To which our Lord immediately said, “My God, my God, why hath thou forsaken me?” 

Phillip LaSpino www.seekfirstwisdom.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hebrews 12:2, “Jesus the author (the originator) and finisher (perfector) of our faith;”

  1. Is Jesus God?
  2. Can Jesus ever not be God?
  3. Did the Father send his Son?
  4. Did Jesus come of his own free will?
  5. Did he know of his pending death on the cross?
  6. Was Christ’s death prophesied in the O.T? Did the Father send His Son?
  7. Did Jesus of His own free will leave heaven, come to earth, take on himself the form of a man, all this in order to finish His Father’s Work?
  8. Did Jesus die for any sin that He had committed?
  9. Was Jesus both the son of man, and the Son of God?
  10. Has Jesus ever changed, or will He ever change?
  11. Did his apostles forsake = (abandon) Him?
  12. Did the Jewish people forsake Him?
  13. Did the Jewish religious leaders forsake Him?
  14. Did the Romans leaders, both political, and military forsake Him?
  15. When Jesus went to the cross, how many people went to suffer and die with Him?
  16. Who was it that raised the Lord from the grave?
  17. Was there any other way for men to be forgiven of their sins if Jesus did not go to the cross?
  18. Matthew 27:46, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Also found in Mark 15:34, quoted from Psalms 22:1.
  19. Psalms 22:1, “David said, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.”
  20. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, “We are, — persecuted, but not forsaken.”
  21. 2 Timothy 4:10, Paul wrote, “Demas hath forsaken me,” verse 16, “No man stood with me, but all men forsook me.”
  22. Hebrews 10:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,”

Verse 13:5, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

  1. Deuteronomy 31:6-8, “The LORD — He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee.”
  2. Isaiah 1:8, “They that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.”
  3. Isaiah 62:4, “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken.”
  4. Isaiah 62:12, “The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, sought out, a city not forsaken.”
  5. Isaiah 49:14, “Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my LORD hath forgotten me.”
  6. Isaiah 54:6-7, “For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou was refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.”

Also, Past particle, expresses completed action. As

Acts 2:27, “Thou wilt not leave (forsake, abandon) my soul in hell,” quoted from Psalms 16:10, where Septuagint is, “leave.”

Above is how the word forsaken is used, its meaning, to be abandoned, deserted, left out on a lurch, left alone.

From the words themselves, Jesus appears to be speaking to His Father. But is there any evidence that we can produce that would disprove that teaching?

Let’s go back to the 17 questions.

If you answered YES to the first question, “Is Jesus God,”

We need to ask ourselves, if Jesus is God, then how can God the Father “forsake” God the Son? It would be as if the Father had abandoned Himself. Because the Father sent His Son to do and finish His work, and Jesus came of his own accord to finish that work; If the Father had forsaken His Son, how could I trust Jesus not to forsake me if things go bad?

Did Jesus forsake His apostles when they were caught and killed? This sort of deduction would set a bad precedent. Also, it would enforce the cults teaching that Jesus is not really God, our Creator, but only a god, a prophet, or a good man, but definitely not God.”

The answer can be applied also to question two. When can Jesus not be God? He can’t. “He is always, from eternity past to eternity present, “Upholding all things by the word of His power.” Not for one moment can He not be God, never, or ever.

Did the Father send His Son? The answer is Yes.

  1. John 3:16, “God (the Father) so loved the world, the He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus.)
  2. John 3:17, “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world: but that the world through Him (Jesus) might be saved.”
  3. Mark 9:37, Jesus said, “Whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but Him (the Father) that sent me.” So why would He forsake the one He sent?

Did Jesus of His own free will leave heaven, come to earth, take on the form of a man, this in order to finish His Father’s work? Yes!

Did Jesus know of His pending death, and expect to die? Answer yes!

Was Christ’s death prophesied in the O.T? Answer is Yes.

Psalms 22:16, “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.” Read all of Psalms 22, and all of Isaiah 53.

Did Jesus die for any sin that He had committed? Answer is No.

He was, 1 Peter 1:2, “A Lamb without blemish and without spot.”

Was Jesus both the son of man, and the Son of God? Answer Yes! The flesh was that of man, the soul and spirit of Christ was from the Holy Spirit. His name shell be called, “Emmanuel, God with us.”

Has Jesus ever changed, or will He ever change? Answer is No.

Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”

Did the disciples forsake = (abandon) Jesus? Answer is Yes.

Matthew 26:56, “All this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook Him (Jesus) and fled.”

Did the Jewish people forsake Him? Answer is Yes.

Mark 15:13, “And they (the people) cried out again, crucify Him.”

Did the Jewish religious leaders forsake Him? The answer yes! 

Did the Romans leaders, both political, and military forsake Him? Answer yes, they honored Caesar as their lord.

When Jesus went to the cross, how many people went to suffer and die with Him? Answer none!

Psalms 22:11, “There is none to help.”

Who was it that raised the Lord from the grave?

It was Jesus Himself. John 10:17-18, Jesus said, “My Father loved me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to TAKE IT AGAIN. This commandment have I received of my Father.”

For those who will say that the Father could not look upon sin as Jesus hung from the cross. My reply is this, when did Jesus or the Father ever look upon sin favorably? Yet in the O.T. under the law, when did God ever reject any offering of a First-born Lamb, one without spot or blemish as a sin offering, this for the sins of the people? He never did.

Some may say it was the pain He was suffering that made Jesus cry out, “My God, My God. This may be true but I don’t think so. My reasons,

As for the pain and agony He suffered, no one will never fully realize. We can look at the following to best get an idea of the agony He suffered. The words excruciate, and excruciating, comes from the Latin, Ex. and Crux meaning, “to torment from a cross.” This word was invented to reveal the amount of pain suffered in the crucifixion, for no other Greek word came close to revealing the pain and agony of crucifixion.

Before the crucifixion Jesus had been beaten by fists, had a crown of thorns driven into His head, beaten again with reeds, was scourged, meaning whipped him with a Roman scourge. With these scourging on His back and legs, He most likely lost a lot of blood. The sharpened animal bones places at the end of the lashes cut Him to the bone. The metal tied to the end of the lashes gave the skin very deep trauma. Now spikes were driven into His wrists, and feet. each hitting very sensitive nerves, causing extreme pain.

Jesus hung in a position where it has been estimated that His joints in the shoulder, elbow, and wrist came out of joint and his arms were stretched out from 2 to 4 inches. His tendons and ligaments kept his arms from tearing away from His body. Most likely He was in shock, His blood pressure was extremely low from a loose of blood. Was he incoherent, or delirious?

He was coherent for He spoke the following,

John 19:26, While hanging on the cross, “When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He (Jesus) saith unto His mother, Woman behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple Behold thy mother!”

Here Jesus seems to be aware of his surroundings, and able to comprehend and reason out His answer to this situation concerning His mother. He told the apostle John to care for His mother upon His death.

One of the thieves on the cross said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Understanding the request, Jesus replied, “Verily I say unto thee, to day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

Again, Jesus seems to comprehend the words of the man, and responds to him as one having authority and control.

Moments after he said, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Jesus said, John 19:28, He, “knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.”

He seemed to understand His goals and finished the work of the cross. Also, that He was aware of His physical needs, for He said, “I thirst.”

The last thing He said, was, Luke 23:46, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Does this sound like a man who was out of His mind with pain, and a man who had been forsaken by His Father?

Again, His last words were, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost (He died.)”

The above makes me to understand that Jesus did not say what He said because He was out of His mind with pain, nor was He incoherent, insane, nor did He feel forsaken by His Father, but forsaken by the people he loved and died for.

Did God ever reject the offering (the lamb) from a high priest if the priest had purified himself properly, and followed the law according to the way it was set down? Now apply this to Christ. He was a Lamb, sent by the Father, without spot or blemish, the perfect offering for sin. This answers question # 7. The Lamb, Jesus,

Revelation 13:8, “A Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

A sacrifice made before the foundation of the earth was formed. This whole event had been foreordained by both Father and Son from before the world was, for Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.

To understand what, or who was forsaken, you have to understand the incarnation of Jesus Christ. You are looking at two very different natures, Deity and humanity, perfect humanity without sin. God has not flesh and blood so therefore God could not have died on the cross. That would be impossible. The Logos took on flesh and became the Son of God, the son of man, both God, and man.

Matthew wrote in,

Matthew 1:20-21-22. “Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived = (begotten) in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou (Joseph) shalt call His name Jesus.”

Matthew 1:23, “they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, “God with us.” Here we see the deity, and the flesh become one man, Begotten of the Holy Ghost. 

1 Timothy 3:16, “God was manifest in flesh.”

1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the MAN Christ Jesus.”

In this form of a man, Jesus still did what God could only do. He prophesied future events, He forgive sins, raise the dead, healed, and made promises only God could, or would keep.

Now the most powerful argument can be found in,

John 10:17-18, Jesus said, “My Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power (authority) to lay it down = (die,) and I have power to take it again = (be resurrected back to life.)

What He was saying is; neither the Jewish nor Roman authority had any power over Him. He lay down His life voluntarily and gladly, and that no man could take it from Him. Then He said, I will give to you the fullest proof of this authority that I will raise in three days that very mutilated, beaten, body from the grave by my own power and authority. See,

John 10, and also John 2:19, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple= (His body) and in three days I will raise it up.” Notice personal pronoun in all cases, “I have power,” and “I will raise it up.”

So, I conclude that from the above, Jesus was not speaking to His Father because of pain. I also conclude that to say to the Father, “Why have you forsaken me,” would have cast much doubt as to the trust He had in His Father, his own words, and for the whole plan of salvation. He did say in,

John 16:32, “Yet the Father is with me.”

I believe the meaning to these words can be applied to Jesus being King of the Jews. As the King of the Jews, Jesus was speaking of the future demise of the people, as David had done. David was a man after God’s own heart when David spoke these words it was the people of Israel that had been left forsaken by God, not David himself. Once Jesus had quoted these words, the Jewish authority recognized them from the Psalms, and knew what they had done.

Read also the history of the Jews from the time of Christ’s death. They were destroyed by the Romans, both as a nation and a people. Most were sent into captivity, many killed or persecuted by various nations over the centuries; by the inquisitions; the holocaust; the terror the Muslim nations; Spanish inquisitions; Russian persecution of the Jews; the Turks, etc.

Yes! Jesus was speaking as King, prophesying the future catastrophes that would come upon this people and this nation. Now cursed for having killed their Messiah.  

It was the people, the nation that had forsaken Him as Messiah, they are crucifying the Son of God who had been sent to save them. This was a just reward upon this people for the murder of their King and Savior.

Phillip LaSpino www.seekfirstwisdom.com