When God was judging Christ as our Substitute made sin for us and bearing our sins, God forsook Christ economically. Regarding this, Matthew 27:45 and 46 say, “Now from the sixth hour darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ”Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” The sixth hour is our twelve o’clock noon, and the ninth is our three o’clock in the afternoon. The Lord Jesus was crucified at the third hour, at our nine o’clock in the morning (Mark 15:25), and He suffered on the cross for six hours. In the first three hours He was persecuted by men for doing God’s will; in the last three hours He was judged by God for the accomplishment of our redemption. During that time God counted Him as our suffering Substitute for sin (Isa. 53:10). Hence, darkness came over all the land because our sin and sins and all negative things were dealt with there, and God forsook Him because of our sin. God forsook Christ on the cross because He took the place of sinners (1 Pet. 3:18), bearing our sins (1 Pet. 2:24; Isa. 53:6) and being made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). This means that God judged Him as our Substitute for our sins. In the sight of God Christ became a great sinner. Because Christ was our Substitute and was even sin in the sight of God, God judged Him and even forsook Him.
According to the four Gospels, the Lord Jesus was on the cross for six hours. During the first three hours, men did many unrighteous things to Him. They persecuted and mocked Him. Thus, in the first three hours the Lord suffered man’s unrighteous treatment. But at the sixth hour, twelve noon, God came in, and there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour, until three o’clock in the afternoon. The coming of darkness was God’s doing, and in the midst of it the Lord cried out the words quoted in Matthew 27:46. When the Lord was suffering the persecution of man, God was with Him, and He enjoyed the presence of God. But at the end of the first three hours, God forsook Him, and darkness came. Unable to tolerate this, the Lord shouted loudly, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” As we have pointed out, God forsook Him because He was our Substitute bearing our sins. Isaiah 53 reveals that this was the time God put our sins on Him. In the three hours from twelve noon to three o’clock in the afternoon, the righteous God put all our sins upon this Substitute and judged Him righteously for our sins. God forsook Him because during these hours He was a sinner there on the cross; He was even made sin. On the one hand, the Lord bore our sins; on the other hand, He was made sin for us. Therefore, according to His righteousness, God judged Him and forsook Him economically.
The Lord was born of the begetting Spirit, who is God reaching man, as the divine essence, who never left Him essentially. Even when He was on the cross crying out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He still had the begetting Spirit (God in the essential sense) as the divine essence. Then who left Him? It was the anointing Spirit (God in the economical sense), through whom He presented Himself as the God-man to be the all-inclusive sacrifice to God (Heb. 9:14), who left Him economically. After God accepted Christ as the all-inclusive offering, the anointing Spirit left Him. But although the anointing Spirit left Him economically, the Lord still had the begetting Spirit essentially.
When the Lord Jesus, the God-man, died on the cross under God’s judgment, He had God within Him essentially as His divine being. Nevertheless, He was forsaken by the righteous and judging God economically.
Home | First | Prev | Next