Did God the Father forsake Jesus on the Cross?
Ok, this post is open for discussion... Your input is welcomed. Just let us avoid mud-slinging.
I've just read a blog by a young American pastor who is typically fed up with the "christianese" culture that has ravaged the church in the USA. Like most of his kind, he seems to understand that God is Good, above all. That's an important start. But like many others who are grappling with their faith, looking at it with a new perspective, I get the feeling he is leaning toward making Jesus just another Good Man. And this is the danger of taking supernatural revelation by The Spirit, and grappling with it intellectually on our level.
(I am not saying He is making this statement outright, but this argument leads down the road to such a conclusion.)
Yes, God is not out to judge or condemn you. He sent His Son, Jesus for that. But don't allow your new found freedom of God's Love and Grace ever undermine the work of Jesus on the Cross!
The article in question posed the debate "did God the Father forsake Jesus on the Cross?" I was intrigued because I just recently had a conversation with a friend regarding this very subject.
My friend's argument was the same as the blogger's: God did not forsake Jesus on the Cross, because God is too loving and would never forsake His own children. (This is essentially what they are saying.) Jesus just felt forsaken because in that moment He took on the weight of the sin of the entire world.
The blogger then continues to argue that when we sin, we just feel forsaken and condemned. But we aren't really.
I have a major problem with this argument.
This argument implies that Jesus wasn't really forsaken, He only felt as though He was. And therefore when we sin we feel the same way because we are carrying the burden of our sin.
This doesn't work for me, because this argument leads to Jesus just being another Good Man. Not The Saviour. It says that we can be just like Jesus, and live good lives, and when we sin we may feel condemned we aren't really because God loves us anyway.
For me, this waters down the Glorious Work of the Cross. I believe Jesus was forsaken by the Father on the Cross. I believe He really died and, mysteriously, for 3 days He was cut-off from the Father. He didn't go to Heaven. He was cut-off from the Father. (Hell)
And once the entire just judgment of mankind's sin had been fully paid for once and for all, the Spirit of Almighty God breathed life into His Body and He rose again and He defeated death!
He did all this so we can never ever be forsaken! EVER AGAIN! NEVER to feel condemned ever! No matter what! He died so that we may have True Life! Always! Abundantly!
It was a Divine Exchange! Not a model for us to follow! It was a real gift that Jesus came to give us, God's children. Jesus came to give us Life, and in exchange He died.
This perspective makes one realise how Glorious a Work the Cross actually is. It wasn't just an example of sacrificial love that we should aspire for, but it was THE magnificent work of Almighty God, an official act to pay for mankind's rebellion once and for all!
An official act that not only displayed how Loving He was, but officially paid a Way for us to BE Loved by Him and become His children and enter into an eternal relationship with Him!
So my friends, please, let's watch ourselves. That we do not take the mysteriously remarkable Good News of Jesus and water it down to our palatable level. What Jesus did for mankind on the Cross will never be fully understood and grasped! We will remain in awe of that Work for all eternity!
IT IS THAT BIG! IT IS THAT AWESOME!
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Again, your comments are welcomed. If you disagree, that's great. Just support your disagreement and do not do so in an unnecessarily heated manner.
I've just read a blog by a young American pastor who is typically fed up with the "christianese" culture that has ravaged the church in the USA. Like most of his kind, he seems to understand that God is Good, above all. That's an important start. But like many others who are grappling with their faith, looking at it with a new perspective, I get the feeling he is leaning toward making Jesus just another Good Man. And this is the danger of taking supernatural revelation by The Spirit, and grappling with it intellectually on our level.
(I am not saying He is making this statement outright, but this argument leads down the road to such a conclusion.)
Yes, God is not out to judge or condemn you. He sent His Son, Jesus for that. But don't allow your new found freedom of God's Love and Grace ever undermine the work of Jesus on the Cross!
The article in question posed the debate "did God the Father forsake Jesus on the Cross?" I was intrigued because I just recently had a conversation with a friend regarding this very subject.
My friend's argument was the same as the blogger's: God did not forsake Jesus on the Cross, because God is too loving and would never forsake His own children. (This is essentially what they are saying.) Jesus just felt forsaken because in that moment He took on the weight of the sin of the entire world.
The blogger then continues to argue that when we sin, we just feel forsaken and condemned. But we aren't really.
I have a major problem with this argument.
This argument implies that Jesus wasn't really forsaken, He only felt as though He was. And therefore when we sin we feel the same way because we are carrying the burden of our sin.
This doesn't work for me, because this argument leads to Jesus just being another Good Man. Not The Saviour. It says that we can be just like Jesus, and live good lives, and when we sin we may feel condemned we aren't really because God loves us anyway.
For me, this waters down the Glorious Work of the Cross. I believe Jesus was forsaken by the Father on the Cross. I believe He really died and, mysteriously, for 3 days He was cut-off from the Father. He didn't go to Heaven. He was cut-off from the Father. (Hell)
And once the entire just judgment of mankind's sin had been fully paid for once and for all, the Spirit of Almighty God breathed life into His Body and He rose again and He defeated death!
He did all this so we can never ever be forsaken! EVER AGAIN! NEVER to feel condemned ever! No matter what! He died so that we may have True Life! Always! Abundantly!
It was a Divine Exchange! Not a model for us to follow! It was a real gift that Jesus came to give us, God's children. Jesus came to give us Life, and in exchange He died.
This perspective makes one realise how Glorious a Work the Cross actually is. It wasn't just an example of sacrificial love that we should aspire for, but it was THE magnificent work of Almighty God, an official act to pay for mankind's rebellion once and for all!
An official act that not only displayed how Loving He was, but officially paid a Way for us to BE Loved by Him and become His children and enter into an eternal relationship with Him!
So my friends, please, let's watch ourselves. That we do not take the mysteriously remarkable Good News of Jesus and water it down to our palatable level. What Jesus did for mankind on the Cross will never be fully understood and grasped! We will remain in awe of that Work for all eternity!
IT IS THAT BIG! IT IS THAT AWESOME!
---------
Again, your comments are welcomed. If you disagree, that's great. Just support your disagreement and do not do so in an unnecessarily heated manner.
