Devo 19: A Cry from the Cross

Picture the cross and think about this statement, “God received God’s own wrath.”

We always look at Jesus as the loving, caring, kind One suffering for all mankind, and God the Father as the mean, angry, vengeful Judge waiting to condemn us to death for the wrong we have done; yet, Jesus is God, and God the Father was fully manifest through God the Son.

We can see this in the way each person of the Trinity interacts with one another in love. In John 17, Jesus prays for his disciples to have the same relationship that is shared in the Trinity. He prays, “that they would be one as We are…” (John 17:11) and also “that the love with which You love Me would be in them (17:26).” Each member of the Trinity is mentioned in this prayer of Jesus with loving affection. It reveals the interaction of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In the garden of Gethsemane, we see Jesus interacting with the Father once again—two persons of the Trinity speaking to each other. Jesus is sweating blood and in terrible agony over what is about to happen. Yet, his agony was not because the Father was forcing Jesus to do this, but because Jesus—as a man—was forcing Himself to do it. He was aligning His will with His Father’s will out of love and trust, not out of obligation or condemnation.

When we read Mark 15:33-35 where Jesus was hanging on the cross and cried out “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani!” (Aramaic: My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!)—we typically interpret that cry to mean that God the Father hated Him, poured out His wrath, and left Him to die on the cross completely abandoned.

However, this cry of Jesus was the first line from a psalm of David (Psalm 22), well-known by the Hebrews. It was quoted and sung at feasts and memorized in school. I believe this is the reason why some ran to get him vinegar, because they knew from the psalm that He was thirsty (Ps. 22:15). They also evidently knew some kind of hope was in Him because they thought he was calling for Elijah.

Psalm 22 is a prophetic oracle of David that continues on to describe Jesus’ death on the cross. It portrays His agony as He hung there and the animosity from His enemies. In verse 19, however, the focus begins to change as He cries out to the Lord and states that the Lord has answered Him (vs 21). Pointing to hope in God and His faithfulness, He begins to worship the Lord and admonish the assembly to do the same. It reaches a climax in verse 26 when He says, “Let your hearts live forever!” I prefer the NIV and NASB translations here that say, “May your hearts live forever!”

I believe that even though this cry came from Jesus’ lips, he was pointing to that psalm and the hope contained in it. Not only that, but with His dying breath, he prayed, “Into your hands, I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

I first began to experience this revelation when I was sitting in Jody Owens hermeneutics class at Johnson. He said that Jesus was quoting a psalm there, and my eyes began to open to this revelation. It totally rocked my thinking.

God had always seemed mean, angry, and completely unfather-like. How could He forsake His Son in His moment of utter desperation and helplessness? How could He be a good Father, loving and kind?

Slowly, I am finding that God cannot lay aside one part of Himself for the sake of another part of His nature. He is not a compartmentalized person. He will not lay aside His justice for His mercy or His sovereignty for His compassion. So why do we think He would lay aside His love for His wrath?

God received God’s own wrath in the same way that God receives God’s own love. The Trinity is the most affectionate, loving, caring relationship in existence. It is also the most serving, giving, and selfless relationship. That’s why God commands us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, because He loves us as much as He loves Himself.

Therefore, He can also receive His own vengeance and justice if He so chooses. Jesus was not forsaken. He was fully God. As a man, He may have felt forsaken, but He knew He was not forsaken. God the Father was in anguish over the death of His beloved Son.

Why am I making this point? Because John 3:16 will mean nothing to you if you don’t see this: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” It was agony for Him. It hurt Him tremendously, yet it was love. If you don’t see this, you will feel as though God is waiting to destroy you—as if He is angry at you and will forsake you. If that were true, it would mean that God stops loving us when we sin. It would mean that He does not love people who don’t yet have a relationship with Him. Neither one is true.

Yes, God is Just, but God is Love. Yes, Jesus is a Man, but Jesus is God. God poured out His wrath on Himself, and even though Jesus may have felt forsaken as a man—He was never forsaken. God will never leave us nor forsake us, and He did not lay aside His love at the time when He poured out His wrath. His wrath and His love were both fully manifest at the same time. Jesus was not forsaken, and neither are we.

Shalom,

Amanda

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