t’s a scene that’s etched in our hearts: Yeshua, nailed to the cross, bearing the weight of our sins, cries out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). This cry echoes through time, stirring within us a multitude of questions.
A Cry That Echoes Through Time
As Yeshua hung on the cross, He was not silent. He spoke seven significant statements, but the fourth – this desperate, heart-wrenching cry – often leaves us with a feeling of unease. How could Yeshua, the Son of God, feel abandoned by His Father, with whom He shares an inseparable bond?
To grasp the magnitude of this moment, we need to understand the unimaginable burden Yeshua bore. He wasn’t merely enduring the excruciating physical pain of crucifixion; He was carrying the sins of all humanity – past, present, and future. He was taking upon Himself the punishment we deserved.
In that agonizing moment, as the weight of our sins descended upon Him, Yeshua experienced separation from God the Father – something He had never known. He was tasting the bitter cup of sin’s consequence, a spiritual alienation from God, which is far more severe than physical death.
The Prophetic Psalm
But Yeshua’s cry wasn’t an expression of despair or disbelief. Far from it. When Yeshua cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” He was quoting the first verse of Psalm 22. This wasn’t a coincidence. Psalm 22 is a prophetic psalm that paints a vivid picture of Yeshua’s crucifixion hundreds of years before it happened.
The psalm describes in detail the sufferings of the Messiah – His hands and feet pierced, His bones out of joint, His strength dried up, His thirst, and even the casting of lots for His garments. By quoting this psalm, Yeshua was pointing those around Him and us to see the fulfillment of prophecy in His suffering.
The Love That Held Him There
But there’s more to this cry than prophecy and pain. It’s a testament to the unfathomable love of Yeshua Hamashiach. His cry reminds us that the cross wasn’t forced upon Him. He chose it. As He said to Himself, “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself” (John 10:18).
Yeshua chose to endure the cross, to face that moment of separation, out of love for us. He chose to take our place, to bear our sins, to pay the price we couldn’t pay so that we could be reconciled to God. It’s a love so deep, so wide, so high, that it surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:18-19).
The Assurance of His Presence
Dear friends, as we ponder Yeshua’s cry on the cross, let’s not forget the assurance it brings. Yes, Yeshua felt abandoned in that moment, but He was not forsaken. God the Father was with Him, just as He is with us in our darkest hours.
Yeshua’s cry assures us that no depth of suffering, no height of pain, can separate us from the love of God. As Paul beautifully affirms in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come…shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Yeshua Hamashiach our Lord.”
