“JESUS’ LAST WORD ON ANGUISH”
MATTHEW 27:46

I. Introduction
Today we once again find ourselves standing on Golgotha. We’ve been watching our Lord and Savior suffer and die as cruel and painful a death as sinful men have ever devised. Now it is 12:00 noon, the middle of the day, as we count time. But in first century Israel, the way the Jews count time, the day begins at 6:00 a.m. and ends at 6:00 p.m. And so, to the Jews, when the sun is at its zenith, at its brightest, as it is now, it is the sixth hour of the day.

Jesus has been on the cross for three hours. In that time we have heard His last word on the forgiveness of His enemies. He said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34).” We have heard His last word on the salvation of all sinners who will repent and trust Him. He said, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Para-dise (Luke 23:43).” And we have heard Jesus’ last word on compassion toward parents and loved ones when He gave the care of His mother over to “the disciple whom He loved.” He said to Mary, “Behold your son,” and to John, “Behold, your mother (John 19:26-27).”

Three hours into this ordeal the physical pain is excruciating. Many who have suffered this form of execution have by this time gone into shock and lost consciousness. But Jesus is fully conscious and fully aware of all that is going on around Him. He knows why He is there. He knows what He is doing. And He knows what He is accomplishing. Yet Jesus also knows what is coming. He knows what the next three hours – from 12:00 noon until 3:00 p.m. – will bring. And He knows that as bad as it’s been, it’s going to get worse.

The next three hours will go beyond physical pain and suffering to a level of anguish that I cannot convey. Jesus is about to suffer God’s wrath for the sins of the world. He is about to be deserted by His Father, abandoned and left alone to face the horrors of hell. This is what Jesus was dreading when He sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane.

I am not saying that Jesus didn’t dread the physical torture. But the physical torture and pain was not unique to Jesus. If history is accurate tens of thousands of Christians were crucified in the early years of the church. Multiplied millions of people, believers and unbelievers alike, have undergone unspeakable physical torture at the hands of men.

But Jesus is about to be plunged into a spiritual darkness that is so deep that we do not have the words to describe it. I’ve never experienced it. No Christian ever will! Jesus is about to do this for your sin and for mine. It is in this darkness where Jesus takes it all upon Himself. This is what the Prophet Isaiah was talking about.
Isaiah 53:5
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him…
*Matthew 27:45-46
45 now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
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II. Text
This darkness is more than the lack of light from the sun. This is a supernatural darkness. Consider how the Scriptures use light to speak of God. John the Baptist’s father, Zacharias, prophesied that Jesus would be “…the Sunrise from on high (who) shall visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death (Luke 1:78-79).” When Jesus was born an angel visited the shepherds, “…stood before them, and the glory (the light) of the Lord shone around them (Luke 2:9).” In John’s gospel Jesus call Himself light.
*John 8:12
12 Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

In His final call to salvation, Jesus says…
*John 12:35-36
35 Jesus therefore said to them, “For a little while longer the light is among you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness may not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes.
36 “While you have the light, believe in the light, in order that you may become sons of light.”

Later, when John wrote his first letter to the churches, he said…
*1 John 1:5-7
5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
7 but if we walk in the light, as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Jesus is the light of the world. “…in Him there is no darkness at all,” but now, after He has been on the cross for three hours, a thick darkness falls “upon all the land until the ninth hour.” Half the world is always in darkness anyway, but the word “land” is translated from the Greek word for earth. This darkness fell upon the whole earth.

Unbelievers and skeptics say it was merely an eclipse of the sun, but that isn’t possible because it was Passover and Passover is only celebrated when the moon is full. And when the moon is full it is on the opposite side of the earth and cannot block the light of the sun.
So what was it?
Just as the Scriptures use light to symbolize salvation in Christ, they use darkness to symbol-ize judgment. Hell itself is called black darkness. In Matthew’s gospel alone Jesus refers to hell as “outer darkness” on three separate occasions. The darkness at the cross is no eclipse. It is a miraculous act of God. It tells us that the cross is a place of judgment. Our sin – yours and mine – is being judged at the cross. Jesus is paying the price you and I cannot pay. The Innocent One is being judged so the guilty ones can go free. This is our salvation.

This is the wrath of God. This puts an end to the argument about who killed Jesus. Let us be clear on this point. God the Father killed God the Son. Period! Listen again to Isaiah.
Isaiah 53:4, 10a
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God…
10a But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering…

How did God kill Jesus? He used the unbelief of godless men to do the deed. He used them, but they will pay the price for Jesus’ murder. That is one of the core truths of biblical Christianity. It was taught and proclaimed in the very first sermon in the very first church.
*Acts 2:22-24 (Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost)
22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know –
23 this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
24 “And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.”

Look closely at v. 23. God delivered Jesus to be put to death. Isaiah prophesied it and Peter confirms it. God used unbelievers to accomplish His purpose. This is sovereignty in action.
Yes, the Romans and the Jews are killing Jesus, but God is judging Him for our sin. God’s wrath is being poured out on Him. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice for sin because He is with-out sin. Hebrews 4:15 says He “…has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 7:26 says He is “…holy, innocent, undefiled.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “He who knew no sin was made to be sin on our behalf.”

Once again we see the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement wherein Jesus, the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice, does for us what we could never hope to do for ourselves. In this thick darkness that falls upon the whole earth Jesus is paying the price for our sins. He is being judged for them, He is taking the punishment for them, and He is, as Hebrews 2:9 says, “tasting death” by dying in our place.

This darkness in Matthew 27:45 is a miracle, but there is a much greater miracle to come.
This second miracle is unique. It had never happened before and it will never happen again.
*Matthew 27:46
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Both God the Father’s wrath and God the Son’s life are nearly at an end when Jesus cries out. Judgment of sin is nearly complete. And finally, the physical pain from the nails, the crown of thorns, the multiple wounds from the beatings and scourging, and the stresses on His body from trying to breathe while being suspended on the cross are just too much. But there is no miracle in these things.

This second miracle is that for nearly three hours – as you and I count time – Jesus Christ has been separated from His Father. This is impossible for us to understand. During this time the fellowship of Holy Trinity itself was virtually torn apart. Some have called it a “miracle in reverse.” The pain and suffering of Jesus’ separation from His Father is worse, infinitely worse than the physical pain and suffering of the cross. And so Jesus cries out.

For these three hours God has turned His back on Jesus. The perfect fellowship that has existed from eternity past is broken. The perfect love God the Father has for God the Son is gone…or so it seems. Jesus is being treated, not as if God loves Him, but as if God hates Him. So Jesus, fulfilling the prophecy of Psalm 22:1, “…cries out with a loud voice, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’”

The Greek words translated “loud” and “voice” in Matthew 27:46 are crystal clear in their meaning. “Loud” is “mĕgas.” It means great or mighty. “Voice” is “phōnē.” It means sound or noise. When Jesus cries out He makes a great noise. In His physical agony and spiritual anguish He literally screams, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

“Forsaken” is the operative word here. The Greek is a compound word that means to leave behind, to desert, and to abandon. Why has the Father forsaken the Son? Why has God abandoned Jesus during these three hours?

There are two reasons, and they are directly related to each other. The first is that Jesus has been made sin. Jesus has become sin. 1 Corinthians 5:21 says “(God) made (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin…” And that leads us to the second reason why the Father has forsaken the Son. It is because God is holy, absolutely holy! And absolute holiness will not look upon sin. In Habakkuk 1, the prophet speaks of God’s holiness.
Habakkuk 1:13a
13a Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You cannot look on wicked-ness…

So God forsakes, deserts, and abandons His beloved and perfect Son. He crushes Jesus to death so that He doesn’t have to crush you and He doesn’t have to crush me.
Knowing and understanding this, how could any Christian ever question the depth and breadth of God’s love for us? The Father has literally separated Himself from His Son so that we might be made holy. And here is a great irony: “Holy” in Greek is “hagiŏs,” meaning “set apart.” God has separated us from the world and set us apart for Himself. When God saves us and declares us holy in His sight, He separates us from this lost world. At the cross our sin is placed on Jesus and – for all of us who will put our faith in His fin-ished work and receive Him – His holiness is placed on us!

Without Christ we are separated from God. This is what sin does. It separates us from God. This separation keeps the light of God hidden from our eyes, blinds us to spiritual truth, and keeps us in spiritual darkness. Unless God opens our eyes and we see the light of Christ, we will remain in darkness. And not just in this life, but for eternity as well.

The Bible says that hell is eternal darkness. But in Revelation the final hell is described as a lake of fire. How can there be darkness in the midst of fire? The answer is that Jesus Christ, the light of the world, will not be there. Therefore the darkness of hell will be spiritual and all consuming. Just as Jesus suffered on the cross, the physical pain of hell will be horrific, but the spiritual pain will be unbearable. May that be one of the critical lessons we learn from seeing our Lord and Savior on the cross.

But there are at least six other lessons we should take with us from Jesus’ suffering.

1. In Jesus’ death on the cross we see why He suffered so in the Garden of Gethsemane.
*Matthew 26:36-39
36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee (James and John), and began to be grieved and distressed. (heavy sorrow)
38 Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved (intense sorrow), to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”
39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”

The depth of Jesus’ grief and sorrow in Gethsemane becomes more understandable once we begin to comprehend His agony and anguish on the cross, doesn’t it?

2. In Jesus’ death on the cross we see His obedience, His faith, and His trust in His Father.
Even when God turned His back on Him and abandoned Him to the fury of judgment for sin, Jesus still obeyed God and trusted Him. Once when His disciples saw that Jesus had no food, they said to Him, “Rabbi, eat.”
John 4:32-34
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”
33 The disciples therefore were saying to one another, “no one brought Him anything to eat, did he?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.”

John 15:10
10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.”

It has been said that you cannot die in faith if you have not lived in faith. It is easy for you to trust God when all is going well. But do you still trust Him when darkness overshadows you? What about when you are mired in pain and grief and sorrow? Do you remember what Job said when he
thought he was without hope? “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him (Job 13:15a KJV).”

3. In Jesus’ death on the cross we see the awfulness and destructiveness of sin. Paul says…
Romans 6:23a
23a For the wages of sin is death…

Do you sin? Then you have earned your wages! Do we fully grasp this fundamental truth – that if there were no sin there would be no death? I’m not only speaking of physical death. If there were no sin there would be no spiritual death either. Until we came to faith in Christ and received Him as our Lord and Savior, we were all alive physically, but dead spiritually.
*Ephesians 2:1-3
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air (Satan), of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Before we were saved we were just like the lost world. We may not have known it, but we were following Satan. The destructiveness of sin had killed us and we were spiritually dead.

4. In Jesus’ death on the cross we see God’s absolute holiness and righteous judgment.
Both Moses and David and the seraphim praise God for His holiness.
Exodus 15:11 (Moses speaking)
11 “Who is like You among the gods, O LORD? Who is like You, majestic in holi-ness, awesome in praises, (and) working wonders?”

Psalm 22:3 (David speaking)
3 “You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.”
Isaiah 6:3 (angels speaking)
3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.”

Jeremiah 9:24 (God speaking through Jeremiah)
24 “…let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.

God’s holiness and righteousness demanded that He judge sin even though it was found on His own innocent Son.

5. In Jesus’ death on the cross we see that His shed blood is the basis of our salvation.
This has its roots all the way back in the first Passover.
Exodus 12:12-13
12 “For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment – I am the LORD.
13 “And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to de-stroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”

Why blood? The OT tells us.
Leviticus 17:11
11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.”

Why blood? The NT tells us.
Hebrews 9:22b
22b …without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Why Jesus’ blood? We’re reminded every time we take Communion.
Luke 22:20b
20 “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood”

1 Peter 1:19
19 (It is) precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

That’s why we can say with the Apostle John that “… the blood of Jesus…cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7b).”

6. In Jesus’ death on the cross we see His love for us.
If you have repented and trusted Christ for your salvation His love for you has already been made manifest in your life. And with the Apostle Paul you can say…
*Galatians 2:20
20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.”

Is there a greater love? Could there be a greater love?

So on the cross of Christ we have seen divine justice against sin. And on the cross of Christ we have seen divine love for sinners. How are we in the church to respond? What can we take from it? What can we do because of it? Let Jesus tell us.
*John 15:12-17
12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
14 “You are My friends, if you do what I command you.
15 “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
16 “You did not chose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you.
17 “This I command you, that you love one another.”

Shortly before He died Jesus cried out and said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” With these words we saw Jesus at the height of His suffering. God refused to look upon the sin of the world as He poured out His fury for it on His only Son. So He left Jesus and abandoned Him to suffer alone.

But in that terrible scene we also saw the full extent of God’s absolute justice against sin – “For the wages of sin is death…” And His perfect love for sinners – “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” In both of these, absolute justice and perfect love, we see a righteous and a holy God.
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III. Conclusion
In 1879 Elvina Hall wrote the words to a hymn we sing today. The refrain simply says…
“Jesus paid it all; All to Him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow.”

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” These words of Jesus give us insight into His extraordinary pain and suffering.
But they should also remind us that they are words that no believer will ever utter. This is because no believer will ever be forsaken by God. He has made this promise again and again. Listen…
Deuteronomy 31:6, 8 (to Moses)
6 “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”
8 “And the LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear, or be dismayed.”

Joshua 1:5 (to Joshua)
5 “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.”

Hebrews 13:5b (to the church)
5b (God) Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.”

Matthew 28:20b (to all of us)
20b “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

What more could we ask for? Does not Jesus deserve all of our love and praise?
*Revelation 5:12-13
12 “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, ‘To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.’”

~ Pray ~