Before us is the most important chapter in this book, or as most Christians would agree, “The most important chapter of human history.” This theme cannot be broken apart into smaller portions even for the convenience of the reader. This is the heart of the Gospel, and if we must labor through it, it is worthy labor indeed!
One of the greatest maladies of contemporary Gospel preaching is that the Cross of Christ is rarely explained. It is not enough to say that, “He died” – for all men die. It is not enough to say that, “He died a noble death” – for martyrs do the same. We must understand that we have not fully proclaimed the death of Christ with saving power until we have cleared away the confusion that surrounds it and expounded its true meaning to our hearers – He died bearing the transgressions of His people and suffering the divine penalty for their sins: He was forsaken of God and crushed under the wrath of God in their place.
Forsaken of God
One of the most disturbing, even haunting, passages in the Scriptures is Mark’s account of the Messiah’s great inquiry as He hangs upon the Roman Cross. In a loud voice He cried out:
“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
In light of what we know about the impeccable nature of the Son of God and His perfect fellowship with the Father, the Messiah’s words are difficult to comprehend, yet in them, the meaning of the Cross is laid bare, and we find the reason for which He died. The fact that His words are also recorded in the original Hebrew tongue, tells us something of their great importance. The author did not want us to misunderstand or to miss a thing!
In these words, Christ is not only crying out to God, but as the consummate teacher, He is also directing His onlookers and all future readers to one of the most important Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament – Psalm 22. Though the entire Psalm abounds with detailed prophecies of the cross, we will concern ourselves with only the first six verses:
“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; and by night, but I have no rest. Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel. In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and You delivered them. To You they cried out and were delivered; in You they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people.”
In Christ’s day, the Hebrew Scriptures were not laid out in numbered chapters and verses as they are today. Therefore, when a rabbi sought to direct his hearers to a certain Psalm or portion of Scripture, he would do so by reciting the first lines of the text. In this cry from the cross, Jesus directs us to Psalm 22 and reveals to us something of the character and purpose of His sufferings.
In the first and second verses, we hear the Messiah’s complaint – He considers Himself forsaken of God. Mark uses the Greek word egkataleípo, which means to forsake, abandon, or desert. The psalmist uses the Hebrew word azab, which means to leave, loose, or forsake. In both cases, the intention is clear. The Messiah Himself is aware that God has forsaken Him, and turned a deaf ear to His cry. This is not a symbolic or poetic forsakenness. It is real! If ever a person felt the forsakenness of God, it was the Son of God on the Cross of Calvary!
In the fourth and fifth verses of this Psalm, the anguished suffered by the Messiah becomes even more acute as He recalls the covenant faithfulness of God towards His people. He declares:
“In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and You delivered them. To You they cried out and were delivered; in You they trusted and were not disappointed.”
The apparent contradiction is clear. There had never been one instance in the history of God’s covenant people that a righteous man cried out to God and was not delivered. However, now the sinless Messiah hangs upon a tree utterly forsaken. What could be the reason for God’s withdrawal? Why did He turn away from His only begotten Son?
Woven into the Messiah’s complaint is found the answer to these disturbing questions. In verse three, He makes the unwavering declaration that God is holy, and then in verse six, He admits the unspeakable – He had become a worm and was no longer a man. Why would Christ direct such demeaning and derogatory language toward Himself? Did He see Himself as a worm because He had become “a reproach of men and despised by the people” or was there a greater and more awful reason for His self-deprecation? After all, He did not cry out, “My God, my God, why have the people forsaken me”, but rather He endeavored to know why God had done so! The answer can be found in one bitter truth alone – God had caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him, and like a worm, He was forsaken and crushed in our stead.
A Serpent and a Scapegoat
This dark metaphor of the Messiah dying as worm is not alone in Scripture. There are others that take us even deeper into the heart of the Cross and lay open for us what “He must suffer” in order to accomplish the redemption of His people. If we shutter at the words of the psalmist, we will be further taken back to read that the Son of God is also likened to a serpent lifted up in the wilderness, and to two sin-bearing goats – one slaughtered and the other driven out.
The first metaphor is found in the book of Numbers. Because of Israel’s near constant rebellion against the Lord and their rejection of His gracious provisions, God sent “fiery serpents” among the people and many died. However, as a result of the people’s repentance and Moses’ intercession, God once again made provision for their salvation. He commanded Moses to “make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard”. He then promised that “everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.”
At first, it seems contrary to reason that “the cure was shaped in the likeness of that which wounded.” However, it provides a powerful picture of the Cross. The Israelites were dying from the venom of the fiery serpents. Men die from the venom of their own sin. Moses was commanded to place the cause of death high upon a pole. God placed the cause of our death upon His own Son as He hung high upon a cross. He had come “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” and was made to be sin on our behalf. The Israelite who believed God and looked upon the brazen serpent would live. The man who believes God’s testimony concerning His Son and looks upon Him with faith will be saved. As it is written:
“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”
The second metaphor is found in the priestly book of Leviticus. Since it was impossible for a single offering to fully typify or illustrate the Messiah’s atoning death, an offering involving two sacrificial goats was put before the people. The first goat was slain as a sin offering before the Lord and its blood was sprinkled on and in front of the Mercy Seat behind the veil in the Holy of Holies. It typified Christ who shed His blood on the cross to make atonement for the sins of His people. It is a wonderful illustration of Christ’s death as a propitiation – He shed His blood to satisfy the justice of God, appease His wrath, and bring peace.
The second goat was presented before the Lord as the scapegoat. Upon the head of this animal, the High Priest laid “both of his hands and confessed over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins.” The scapegoat was then sent away into the wilderness bearing on itself all the iniquities of the people into a solitary land. There, it would wander alone, forsaken of God, and cut off from His people. It typified Christ who “bore our sins in His body on the cross,” and suffered and died alone “outside the camp.” It is a wonderful illustration of Christ’s death as an expiation – He our sin carried away. The psalmist wrote, “As far as the east is from the west, so far He removed our transgressions from us.”