David felt it and prophesied it a thousand years before Jesus was born. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22) Maybe you have felt that way too. If you have, it is probably because sin has put a barrier between you and God. But for Jesus there was no sin, not of His own. He had been tempted in every way we are and yet had lived His whole life in absolute purity.
But God the Father said that where there was sin, something had to die. (Heb. 9:22) So, Jesus was obedient to the Father’s plan and sacrificed Himself that Good Friday. For your sin and my sin and the sins of the whole world, Jesus died on that cruel cross. I can’t comprehend the physical pain He suffered but can you imagine the feeling of loneliness and shame He felt taking all those sins on Himself?
In Matthew 27 it records Jesus recalling the words of David from all those years before.
From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
Yes, Sunday is coming. We know the story and it ends gloriously and wonderfully but today on Good Friday, meditate for a while on what Jesus was going through as He paid your price for your sins.
— Todd