3/21/08 - Good Friday - Matthew 27:46

"MY GOD, MY GOD"
- Words of hell
- Word of heaven

The sins we commit create a lot of problems in life, don’t they? If you lie, you have to tell another lie to cover it up, and then another and then another. If you covet - If you want something or someone you can’t have - that sin may lead to the sin of jealousy or the sin of hatred or the sin of stealing or the sin of envy or the sin of discontent. The sin of gossip ruins relationships, the sin of laziness leads to misusing the gifts God has given you, the sin of pride ends up taking the glory away from the Lord. The sins we commit lead to sinful consequences. Of course, any and every sin leads to an even bigger problem. Every sin makes us that much more deserving of hell. And that is a well known concept of Scripture that we’re all familiar with. But sometimes hell remains only a concept. Because we don’t know what hell is really like. We’ve never been there, seen it, or talked to anyone who has experienced it. We know that’s the punishment for our sins, we know we forced Jesus to suffer the tortures of hell because of what we’ve done, but we don’t really understand exactly what we made Jesus go through. Tonight we’re going to take a close look at hell. But it will not be in any description of hell in the Bible, it will be in the description of Christ on the cross. We will see hell in the words we just read in Matthew 27. We will see it in the name Jesus calls his Father while in the midst of that agony, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
“My God, my God,” Jesus screams. And the phrase “my God” is not significant in and of itself. But the fact that Jesus uses that name here is. Because throughout the four gospel accounts, Jesus always refers to his Father as “his Father.” He calls him “my Father,” “the Father,” or just “Father” whenever he speaks about him or to him. It’s an endearing term. It’s a name that signifies the very close and special relationship between God the Father and God the Son. And there is a very unique relationship between those two. They are one. They are one God along with the Holy Spirit. And so when Jesus calls him his “Father,” the love and the respect and the unity they have for each other is all included. In fact, Jesus called him “Father” while he was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. And even on the cross, before the incident recorded in our text for tonight, Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). And after the words of our text, right before Jesus gave up his life, he again said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). But not here. Not in Matthew 27. Jesus doesn’t use that name of endearment, he doesn’t use that name of love and mercy. He doesn’t call his Father “Father” at this point because Jesus was going through hell itself.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus was going through the actual and real pains of hell when he shouted these words. And this is the first time, in his 33 years of life, that Scripture records for us that Jesus called his Father “my God.” He had never called him that before. He had never addressed his Father with that name - until now. Until he was in the middle of suffering hell and everything that came with it. And those sufferings were so terrible Jesus could not help but cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” But his God didn’t answer. Because his God wasn’t listening! God the Father was ignoring his own Son. God the Father had abandoned his Son because that is what hell is. God abandons you. God separates himself from you. He no longer holds the devil back. He no longer gives you the ability to think clearly, he no longer gives you the strength to even take a breath. He leaves you completely alone, completely lost, and without any hope in anything. And he makes sure you know it. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me - abandoned me, left me all alone?” Jesus cried. Jesus called him “my God” while suffering the torments of hell because God was not being Jesus’ Father at that point on the cross, he was being Jesus’ Judge. God refused to show him any mercy, he refused to show him any love because that’s what your sins deserved. That’s what you deserve. You are responsible for Christ’s sufferings. You are the reason Christ shrieked those startling words in agonizing pain. These words of Jesus are not simply words of discomfort or sorrow or uneasiness. These are words of hell.
That’s why this moment of Christ on the cross and the words he screamed give us the clearest insight into what hell is really like. A place so awful that it made Jesus himself cry out to his Father in distress, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” A place so terrible, so unbearable, that while suffering its pains the Son couldn’t find it in himself to address the one he loved, the one he was at one with - he couldn’t address him as the Father he had known from eternity. The name Jesus used here should make you cringe. “My God” tore from Jesus’ mouth because of your sins. You should hear hell in Jesus’ voice. But you should also hear heaven.
There is heaven in this name Jesus spoke. There is plenty of hell, of course. There are plenty of the consequences of sin in the name “my God,” but that is exactly the reason why we can also hear heaven in those words. Because tonight we are watching an execution unfold before our eyes. We are seeing the death penalty being carried out on the one who was on death row. And as we see him dying, as we hear him screaming to his Father “my God, my God,” as we watch his very last breath leave his lifeless body, heaven is ours. When you see Jesus cast into hell, that means you will never see it for yourself. When you see God turn his back on Christ, that means God is turning his face towards you. When you hear Jesus cry out “my God,” that means you can now call the Lord “my Father.” Your future in heaven is the result of Christ’s hell tonight. And Jesus wouldn’t have it any other way.
Doesn’t that almost make you want to cry? Jesus wouldn’t have it any other way! He was glad to have stakes pounded through his flesh! He was glad to have thorns shoved his skull! He was glad to have his own Father reject him as if he were in illegitimate son! He was glad to have gone through the deepest crevices of hell! He was glad to have felt life itself be ripped away from his body! He didn’t like it, don’t get me wrong! It hurt him, it tore him apart! But he was glad to do it if it meant he could do it for you. Because he saw you from eternity. He saw your situation from eternity. He saw what you would have to suffer for eternity and he didn’t want you to have to go through it. Your face was on his mind as he hung on that cross. Your very life was the motivation for his death. And it worked. Jesus’ plan worked. His death paid the price. His trip to hell was the only trip that needs to be taken. And you will now go to live with your Father forever because Jesus went to where his Father was not.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Words of hell in all of its nastiness, but words of heaven in all of its glory. What penetrating words to go home with tonight! Let them sink into your heart as you lie in bed this evening. Let them bite your conscience. Let them calm your soul. And hang on to this name for these next few days, ponder this name that thundered out of Jesus’ mouth on the cross until you are able to peak into his grave on Sunday morning. Because there you won’t hear a thing. No one will be there to say a word. And that magnificent silence of the empty tomb will harmonize with Jesus’ screams of tonight in a glorious hymn of praise to the glory of God our Father and our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen.

“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” - Romans 16:20