My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far
from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?--Psalm xxii.
1.
If we would know whose language this is, we must by faith ascend the
hill of Calvary; there, taking our stand at the foot of the cross
of Jesus, we hear him utter the dolorous cry, "My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me." We do not find a word of complaint of the
pains and sufferings of his mangled body escape his lips. They are
borne in patient silence, the cruelties inflicted by the puny arm
of flesh, cannot extort a groan or a murmur from the holy sufferer.
This mournful exclamation, was not occasioned by the agonies of his
body. He was not incapable of feeling them in their highest extent,
(for his human nature was left to its infirmities, that he might
fully suffer) but he was so entirely swallowed up with the weight of
his Father's wrath; that it overwhelmed the sense of bodily pain.
Here again we are constrained to eye Jesus in the character of a
surety. He had become a surety for rebel man, and he truly smarted
for it. He felt the awful extent of the tremendous debt he had
engaged to cancel, he found the wrath of God "as an overwhelming
flood," as "deep waters in which there was no standing." At that
soul-appalling season, the phials of divine vengeance were poured
out, and he drank of the cup of trembling from the hand of the
Lord; not a sip merely, but he drank of it to the very dregs. He
felt by bitter experience that God's wrath is a consuming fire; for
by it, his "heart was melted like wax, in the midst of his body."
The sorrows of his soul, were occasioned by the sins of the world
imputed to, and charged upon, him, and for which he then endured
the wrath of God. Yes, in the six hours Jesus hung upon the cross,
he had to struggle with the sorrows of death and with the fierce
anger of God; he was forsaken by his Father, and suffered his
divine wrath, which indeed constitutes the tremendous curse. If the
thought should arise in the mind, how that Infinite Being who is
emphatically described as a God of Love, could find in his heart
to use such severity toward him, whom he styles "his only-begotten,
well-beloved Son, he in whom the Father is always well pleased,"
it should be remembered, that God sustains two relations towards
Christ; the love of a Father to him as a Son, and the claim of a
Judge toward him as a surety. Although God never expressed so much
anger toward Christ,[89] as when he hung upon the cross, yet in
fact, he was never so well pleased with him as then.[90] Yea, he
was more pleased with him, than he had been displeased by all the
sins that creatures have committed or can commit. It is true, mercy
is God's delight, but justice is his sceptre, whereby he rules,
governs, and judges the world. His attribute of wisdom, gives to
both their fullest demonstration and accomplishment. The plan
of reconciliation, the scheme of redemption, by Jesus; is God's
masterpiece: in which all his attributes meet, and harmonise.[91]
If we would know the abhorrence God bears toward sin, then we must
look at the cross of Jesus. There it is God has exhibited the
greatest manifestation of his hatred toward it, by his treatment of
him who became the sinner's surety. The drowning of the old world,
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, together with the eternal
punishment of the miserable inhabitants of the bottomless pit; never
can display God's detestation of sin so forcibly, as the astonishing
events which once transpired at Gethsemane and Calvary. If Jesus
could not endure to be deprived of the light of God's countenance
for a few short hours; then how wretched the state of those who are
banished his presence for ever! Jesus well knew the blessedness of
God's favour; he could bear with composure, the utmost torments that
wanton cruelty could inflict; but he could not behold in silence,
the angry countenance of his Father, or endure to be deprived of the
refreshing presence of the Lord. Does not this display the love and
compassion of our Jesus, in a most endearing point of view, when we
behold him voluntarily submitting, not only to corporeal punishment,
but also to the curse and wrath of God for us, and for our salvation?
[89] Zechariah xiii. 7.
[90] John x. 17.
[91] Psalm lxxxv. 10.