Did God Forsake Jesus On The Cross?

Some teach, falsely, that Jesus and God came out of fellowship on the cross because Jesus became sin, literally. Friends, this could not be farther from the truth. Please, let us examine Scripture, honestly, to see whether or not these things be so. 

He said it because he FELT forsaken. Jesus and God NEVER came out of fellowship with each other and God did NOT avert his gaze by turning His back on Jesus. Notice the following Scriptures which teach the opposite of what some say, God forsook Jesus:

“Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me” (John 16:32).

Notice that Jesus in a certain hour (the trials of the cross) will not be alone because the Father is with me. The time stamp on that is the hour of His glory (John 17:1). 

“Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard” (Psa. 22:23-24).

Notice, if you fear the Lord (context Jehovah) raise him BECAUSE He (Jehovah) has not…HID HIS FACE FROM HIM 

“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:10-11).

Notice that God is pleased at the Suffering Servant. Also, God shall SEE the travail of the Suffering Servant. God did not turn His back nor look away at the suffering of Jesus.

Now, how, if Jesus were pleasing to God, can Jesus be out of fellowship with God? 

The answer is, He can not.

Jesus cried our from a place of desperation….He FELT forsaken, but we have proven with Scripture that God was with Him.

Some say, “but what about God’s pure eyes which can not behold evil” and make the argument that God turned His back on Jesus and that’s the reason the earth was dark from the sixth hour until the ninth hour (Mark 15:33). Again, we have proven with Scripture that God did not forsake Jesus. So, let’s deal with this quibble of an argument. 

“Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he” (Hab. 1:13).

People use the above verse to say that God turned His back on Jesus because Jesus became sin. This is foolishness. This is a figurative statement by the prophet. It is hyperbolic in nature. 

If God could not look upon sin then we have a problem with other verses:

“And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee” (Gen. 31:12).

“And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows” (Exo. 3:7).

“And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people” (Exo. 32:9).

“Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people” (Deu. 9:13).

“Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the LORD; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the LORD” (2 Ki. 9:26).

“Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD” (Jer. 7:11).

“I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be” (Jer. 13:27).

“And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err” (Jer. 23:13).

“I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah” (Jer. 23:14).

Do we need to keep going? Can we see all the verses in which it is said, by God, that God has SEEN sin, whether sin itself, or sinful people? 

So, lets not use Habakkuk 1:13 to teach something it does not. The fact is this: God knew from the foundation of the world what was going to happen. Jesus fulfilled the righteousness of God and died a cruel death on a cross. This was pleasing to God. God does not forsake anyone, especially those in whom He finds delight and pleasure. 

Tony Brewer