Questions
Why did Jesus say “My God, why have you forsaken me”?
The Father didn’t turn His back on His Son while He was on the cross. He folded His arms so to speak, and allowed the Son to be treated unjustly by ignorant men. The Father didn’t come to His aid, not because He was displeased with Him, not because He pretended He was a sinner when He was not. He allowed it to occur for a very specific purpose. Christ was tested and found to be without spot or blemish, demonstrating His righteousness, exonerating the Father and condemning Satan to be the liar he is.
What you were told
Usually when you hear a preacher say that the Father turned His back on the Son is when they are speaking about how God imputed the sins of the world onto His Son and was too holy to even look at Him.
They pull three lines out of three separate verses and put together the idea that “God is so pure He cannot stand to look upon sin; therefore when we sin God turns His face away. And this is why, on the cross, Jesus cried ‘why have you forsaken me.’”
He was quoting David
On the cross when Christ cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” penal substitution says this was the moment God abandoned Him, because our sins had been laid on Him. But Christ was quoting David — the Psalm that describes those who were punishing him unjustly as he awaited the deliverance of the Lord, while prophesying of the unjust treatment done to the future Messiah. The context is God leaving the Son in the hands of sinners who wrongly judged Him to be a wrongdoer.
The question that breaks it
It was at this time that He was entrusting Himself to the righteous judge who would soon deliver Him. God didn’t come to His aid or stop what was occurring, but allowed His death to transpire for a reason. If the Father put our sins on Him and treated Him as a sinner by turning His back on Him, why would the Son at the same time be entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously?
The psalm answers itself
Psalm 22 is a well known Messianic prophecy describing the suffering of Jesus Christ at His crucifixion. In verse 1 we read the words Jesus quoted on the cross “my God my God, why have you forsaken me?” Then in verse 24 of the Psalm, the answer is given to that cry, showing that God did not abandon His Son, as it says “For he has not … turned away his face from me; but when I cried to him, he heard me.”
Isaiah says they got it wrong
This is why in Isaiah 53 it says “we esteemed Him stricken smitten of God”. They thought He was being punished by God, but keep reading. Isaiah goes on to say that He wasn’t. “But He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
He didn’t leave Him there
In this passage, Christ prayed to be delivered from this injustice. And the Father didn’t leave Him in that state. He delivered Him by raising Him up and seating Him at His right hand.
So if Christ wasn’t being punished by the Father, then why did He die? That is the question this book answers.