Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 255

September 11;   Mark 15:34;   43/260(II);   ‘My God, My God’

Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" 

Our good friend of GFC, Rev.  Jim Hockaday, recently ministered at the church.  He taught about this verse something I had never thought about.  If the Lord Jesus Christ truly was our Substitute, dying on the cross for our sins and sicknesses, becoming the curse for us, then He had to experience everything we would have experienced had Jesus not died in our place.  Rev. Hockaday went on to say that when the Lord Jesus became sin, since God the Father is holy, the Father actually did forsake Jesus and Jesus felt hopeless, as if He was separated from His Father for eternity.  What an incredible thought.  Jesus Christ, the Second Member of the Trinity.  Having no beginning, co-equal with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, screaming out in terror, experiencing the feeling of eternal separation from His Father.  I have always been amazed, humbled and grateful beyond words for everything the Lord Jesus did for me.  That was before this truth of His feeling hopeless, thinking He would never see His Father again.  This new revelation, only reveals a love for humanity and a willingness to do all that could be done to reconcile us back to God the Father, that is almost beyond comprehension.  The Apostle Paul said that he would be willing to be lost eternally so that the Jewish people would be saved.  In essence that is what the Lord Jesus did.  I encourage all of us, to examine our heart and our commitment to fellowship with the Lord and be diligent to spend quality time reading the Word daily.  If I meant that much to Him, serving Him, putting Him first in my life is an honor for me.