No matter what trial or difficulty we face in this life we never have to face it alone. Even when we feel abandoned or forgotten, our feelings are deceiving us. Scripture reminds us of what is true, and that truth is that Jesus is always with us.
He could not forget us.
Even when we can’t see Him, He is there.
Always.
Jesus made sure that we would always know His presence.
Read 2 Corinthians 5:21 silently.
Jesus never knew sin. He never felt the separation from God that sin causes.
But on the cross, He chose to become sin and suffered that separation from God for us.
In the garden the night before the crucifixion He prayed three times for there to be another way.
He knew there wasn’t.
He knew how horrible separation from His Father was going to be.
He knew and chose me anyway.
Read Matthew 27:45-46 silently.
The world stood around the cross and mocked Jesus. They dared Him to come down. Tauntingly brought wine to Him on a hyssop. They rolled their eyes and ridiculed His prayer, asking why He would call for Elijah.
They thought it was weakness.
They thought He was giving up.
But His horrible, terrible cry was never from a place of weakness.
There was anguish, but never despair.
My Bible uses the words “cried out” to describe Jesus’ prayer.
“My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?”
“Cried out” does not even begin to capture the magnitude of what Jesus was experiencing. Matthew used the verb ἀνεβόησεν (aneboesen) in verse 46 to describe how Jesus spoke from the cross. Literally, the verb means “a powerful shout or roar directed toward heaven.” As He endured the unfathomable agony of our sin separating Him from the Father, He roared.
In His final moments, the Lion of Judah roared.
He roared from the pain of bearing all of my sin.
All of your sin.
Everyone’s sin.
He was alone and separated from God, so that we never have to be.