DECEMBER 04 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#33 “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

 DECEMBER 04  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#33  “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  (Matthew 27:46)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord there will never be enough words to express the gratitude that I should utter to Praise God for His Faithfulness, His Mercy, and His Grace. Lord we do not know the depth of True Love that can only be reached by knowing God, believing in His only Begotten Son, and accepting the Divine Gift of the Holy Spirit that God Himself promised would take up Eternal residence within each of us. There is no concept that our limited intellect can grasp that can explain the ETERNAL so why would we be so arrogant as to say that we can be grateful for what we cannot understand — well, the answer lies in FAITH in the ETERNAL, for FAITH is the KEY to the ETERNAL so my prayer is to grow in FAITH that my THANKSGIVING may HONOR GOD, HONOR THE SON, and HONOR THE HOLY SPIRIT!!!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has been betrayed by Judas, abandoned by His disciples, declared “innocent” by Pilate, rejected by His own people for the criminal Barabbas, and has now been “delivered…to be crucified.” (Mathew 27:26) Everything that was prophesied by Isaiah about the Suffering Servant is now in full motion and Jesus is about to undergo the preparation of the Passover Lamb where God instructed Moses on the Eve of the nation Israel’s deliverance from their slavery in Egypt: “Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying…speak to all the congregation of Israel…every man shall take for himself a lamb…without blemish, a male…then the whole congregation of Israel shall kill it…take the blood…put it on the doorposts [of each household that desires God’s Deliverance and obeys His Instructions to us]…It is the LORD’S PASSOVER.” (Exodus 12:1-11) Jesus is about to undergo what Isaiah described as, “Behold My Servant…His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men…He is despised and rejected by men…” (Isaiah 52:13 - 53:3) as Matthew records that Jesus was “scourged” and delivered “into the Praetorium” and the “whole garrison [of soldiers]” gathered around Jesus “And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head…they spat on Him…and struck Him on His head…and led Him away to be crucified.” (Matthew 27:27-31) We cannot imagine the humiliation and physical pain Jesus endured during the scourging received at the hands of the soldiers but it could not have been worse than the spiritual pain Jesus felt when He knew His last drop of Blood was shed and the Sacrifice was drawing to its completion and that God the Father must let His Son “pay the penalty for sin” which God had declared (with the first Adam) as “DEATH” and in order for God to be FAIR AND JUST to ALL, Jesus must suffer the pain of “DEATH” and JESUS being the ONLY ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE must SUFFER AND DIE ALONE which meant that God the Father must let Jesus the Son take ALL SIN UPON HIMSELF and GOD, BEING HOLY, COULD NOT LOOK ON SIN THEREFORE GOD THE FATHER MUST “FORSAKE” HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON AS THE BURDEN OF ALL SIN IS PLACED UPON JESUS!!!   Jesus has asked all His previous Questions to man in order for us to understand God but the last Question Jesus asked was to God Himself in order for man to understand how serious God is about the “Remission of Sin”!!!  Through God’s Action in abandoning Jesus on the cross at the point of Death, GOD THE FATHER demonstrated HIS JUSTICE ——— and when JESUS THE SON was “Resurrected on the Third Day” God demonstrated His Grace and Mercy. God has kept every PROMISE He has made to us and we like Abraham having “received the promises… conclude that God [IS] able to raise [ALL] up, even from the dead”! (Hebrews 11:16-19)  God indeed “forsook” Jesus on the cross but we should understand that God’s Actions toward Jesus on the Cross was the Completion of the Master Plan of Salvation and demonstrated God’s Grace and LOVE toward mankind and proved the level of Commitment God has in Keeping His Promises!!! Jesus with His Last Question on the cross was still Teaching for if we look at the Question Jesus asked of God with the concept of Faith in GOD’S POWER OVER DEATH AND THAT GOD WILL RESURRECT US FROM THE DEAD IF WE TRUST AND BELIEVE HIM, we can recall the words Jesus said just before Lazarus was resurrected from the grave as Jesus prayed to the Father: “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” (John 11:41-42) Maybe it would not be a stretch then to paraphrase Jesus and say for certain that “God so loved the world {{that He forsook His Only Begotten Son, the Passover Lamb, on the cross}} that whosoever believed in [JESUS THE SON OF GOD] {{that even if death takes us that God will resurrect us}} and that we shall {{have our sins forgiven and shall}} not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16 {{paraphrased}})  “Do you believe God would forsake His Son for sinners like us?”