Beloved of the Lord......"My God My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" There are the words of our dear Christ who languished upon the cross in agony for our sins. Tonight we will briefly look into this suffering, and likewise learn how Christ thereby satisfied God's wrath against our sin, reconciling God and man. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and committed unto us the words of reconciliation." First:
I. The suffering of Christ. While the entire life of Christ was one of suffering, for He was always despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, it was especially His last two days which led to His death, whereby He intensely suffered both in body and soul for our sins. We call this His Great Passion.
When we hear the words, "My God My God why hast Thou forsaken Me", we are hearing something which shatters our hearts into a thousand pieces. Jesus did nothing to deserve this rejection and condemnation of God, but because our sins were there, God utterly forsook Him. This transfer then of our sins to Jesus, was a judicial act of God. When this happened, for our salvation alone Christ allowed all our sins to be heaped and placed upon Himself, even receiving our sins into His own body, hence "God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin." And while the outward torments of His body on the cross were excruciating, the inward torment of His soul was immeasurably worse. God's condemnation of Christ touched the very heart of Christ so that the conscience of Christ was tormented itself. In unspeakable anguish He felt the terrible guilt of billions upon billions of sinners, but far worse than this, God the Father had truly forsaken God the Son, turned His cold back upon Him - and that hurt Christ more deeply than anything else. Luther said when this happened our "righteous and innocent Christ had to tremble and fear like a poor, condemned sinner, and in His tender, innocent heart had to feel God's wrath and judgment over sin." Through it all however, even in the midst of torments, Jesus never despaired but continued to love the Father, though He felt only the cold shoulder of God's wrath.
As for the question, "How could Jesus eternally suffer when He was only six hours on the cross?"…..we answer JESUS IS GOD and "with God all things are possible." In other words, if God places Himself in the scales of God's justice on your behalf, God himself must be satisfied with the justice God Himself pays, yet "not with gold or silver, but with his holy and precious blood." This brings us to Part two:
II. By suffering all our punishment, Christ satisfies His own soul. It is written, "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." Now…..who sees the travail of whose soul? Travail here means a laborsome, weary, and miserable anguish of soul. This includes also His divine nature which suffered. Naturally as Christ outwardly suffers in His body, His soul within experiences eternal anguish, for God's justice is punishing Him for our sin. But that is not all. Christ is not only the willing sacrifice who offers up Himself to God in payment for sin, but Jesus is also God whose own justice must be satisfied. As God who demands of man perfect payment for all sin, Christ now must examine and judge His own sacrifice, the travail of his own soul. Is it enough? Does the suffering of this heart through and through pass all the holy requirements of God's divine wrath and justice? Is the Judge satisfied? Has thisTransgressor done everything as a Substitute to satisfy Christ's own holy justice? These are really questions Christ must ask of Himself, yet THANKS BE TO GOD….. "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied."
This means Christ examined Himself, His own offering of Himself, and as God the Judge Christ was satisfied. Even with an examination of His own heart, it was clear to Christ His justice against this world's sins were fully satisfied. To put it another way, the very soul of the Judge had been satisfied.
So for all of us here tonight, if we ask the question, is there any debt left we need to pay to God for our sin? Or…. Is there any work you can do which can compare to Christ's work, even the anguish of His soul?....the answer is a clear and emphatic NO, for God was in Christ, reconciling the whole world unto Himself. And if Christ as God is satisfied in His soul with the offering of Christ Himself given for our sin, not only is God satisfied and reconciled with you, but you should by all means be satisfied and reconciled with Him. Therefore do not allow your soul to be in anguish over your sins any longer, for Christ Himself is satisfied. Believing in Him, your soul will also be satisfied with forgiveness, and "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." Amen
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