Who was forsaken by God … ?

We can not begin to fathom what Christ went through here. We are often very superficial beings who can only see that which is right in front of our eyes. It is unfortunately like that for us humans. Christ, the Lamb of God, the anointed and beloved Messiah was forsaken by God. Did He not have any grounds for complaint here? Didn't he have the right to call for justice? Was He not unjustly convicted, beaten, tortured, despised and crucified? Is all that happens to us which causes us sorrow only a punishment? Can this really be? We read in Isaiah, what really happened to our Lord Jesus Christ (Isaiah 53: 7-12). This makes it clear to us that we were and are never forsaken by God. It is clear that He was forsaken by God in our stead. In verse 5 (Isaiah 53:5) this is made abundantly clear: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed! This is the proof! He was forsaken! He was punished! He was abused, spat upon, kicked and finally abandoned by God so that we didn't have to endure this fate. He saved us from our rightly deserved punishment and death...! Do we feel forsaken, punished, mocked, betrayed, spat upon and depressed in our daily lives? It certainly happens sometimes, but everything that happens to us is not a punishment by God, but rather His tender, loving nurturing. We have the assurance that no matter what happens, we will triumph in the end, as He has already done what was necessary to ensure that.

Or are these merely pious, beautiful sounding words in our ears? No, this is not to merely sweep away or deny the hard times in our lives, but that we should constantly be aware of the basis upon which it all occurred! It is the same Lord who sends the trials and tests who also brings them to an end thereby enabling us to endure them (1 Corinthians 10:13). He bore, in our stead, the firestorm of punishment, relieving us from it eternally. The enemy is thus unable to do anything to us. Everything is directed and controlled by our Lord. Everything has a very specific, proper purpose and nothing is random, futile, senseless or desperate. It seems random to us, but it isn't. It seems beyond measure, but it isn't. It is what it says in Romans 8:28-32: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

God determined it so. Amen.

Roland Schaufler