Did God Forsake Jesus on the Cross?

Some Christians have been taught that Jesus was forsaken by God on the cross as our sins were imputed to Him. Thus, God could no longer look upon Him and turned His face away, forsaking Jesus. We find this belief repeated in modern hymns like, “How Great the Father’s Love for Us” by Stuart Townend with lyrics that say,  “The Father turns His face away”. It is also taught by televangelist like Joseph Prince who wrote on his blog,  “On the cross of Calvary, Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” so that you and I will never be forsaken by God. A divine exchange took place. Jesus took our sins and gave up the presence of God, while we took Jesus’ righteousness and received the presence of God that Jesus had..” (Emphasis added)

The belief that Jesus was forsaken by God seems to be popular, however it is not Biblical. Nor it is not found in the Church Fathers,  so it is not historical and was not handed down by the Apostles. The doctrine is heretical in many ways which we will soon show. But first for background on this false doctrine I found that John Calvin is the likely original source:

It is said that he descended into hell. This means that he had been afflicted by God, and felt the dread and severity of divine judgment, in order to intercede with God’s wrath and make satisfaction to his justice  in our name, thus paying our debts and lifting our penalties, not for his own iniquity (which never existed) but for ours…..Yet it is not to be understood that the Father was ever angry toward him. For how could he be angry toward his beloved Son, “in whom he was well pleased”? Or how could he appease the Father by his intercession, if the Father regarded him as an enemy? But it is in this sense that he is said to have borne the weight of divine severity, since he was “stricken and afflicted” by God’s hand, and experienced all the signs of a wrathful and avenging God, so as to be compelled to cry out in deep anguish: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” –  John Calvin, (Catechism of Geneva 1538, chapter 20. 4; published in Hesselink, Calvin’s First Catechism, pg. 24)

Christ then praying in a loud voice, and with tears, is heard in that he feared, not so as to be exempted from death, but so as not to be swallowed up of it like a sinner, though standing as our representative. And certainly no abyss can be imagined more dreadful than to feel that you are abandoned and forsaken of God, and not heard when you invoke him, just as if he had conspired your destruction. To such a degree was Christ dejected, that in the depth of his agony he was forced to exclaim, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”</em> …it is evident that the expression was wrung from the anguish of his inmost soul. (Inst. 2.16.11)

Calvin’s comments are direct blasphemy against God. For one, he attempted to make God the cause of Jesus’ agony and death as he says that by God’s hand Jesus was afflicted, however in Luke 22:53 Jesus says that man and evil are the authors of what is about to happen to Him:

When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Emphasis added)

John Calvin’s own words prove that God did not forsake Jesus on the cross or was appeased by taking wrath out upon Him:

For how could he be angry toward his beloved Son, “in whom he was well pleased”? Or how could he appease the Father by his intercession, if the Father regarded him as an enemy”

So according to John Calvin, God basically exhausted His wrath towards us onto Jesus, I suppose only pretending to be angry. Thus,  it was in some way staged, because HOW COULD Jesus appease God if God regarded Him as the enemy? What kind of God would need to punish the innocent in place of the wicked to forgive? The Bible tells us to forgive, just as God forgives. Does this mean we need to expel our anger in order to forgive others?  God is made to seem very prideful and hateful as He rages against His son, in whom He is the most pleased with, but yet He still basically attacks Him and turns His love for Him off for a moment as He looks away, leaving Jesus to feel abandoned by His father. This doctrine is wrong on so many levels as it divides the trinity, it makes God out to be a brat and a abusive father and it goes against every teaching of Jesus that we must forgive in love, in order to be forgiven.

Leaving all that behind, let’s get to the verses that are used to claim that God forsook Jesus.  Matthew 27:46 is cited as proof text just as John Calvin quoted:

46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Matthew 27:46 is a direct quote of Psalm 22:1:

1 (21:1) For the end, concerning the morning aid, a Psalm of David. O God, my God, attend to me: why hast thou forsaken me? the account of my transgressions is far from my salvation.

Psalm 22 is a Messianic Prophecy. If we continue reading Psalm 22 we see at verse 24 that God did not forsake the Messiah:

24 (21:24) For he has not despised nor been angry at the supplication of the poor; nor turned away his face from me; but when I cried to him, he heard me. (Emphasis added)

There we have it, God never turned His face away from Jesus. He was never angry, He was never wrathful towards Jesus either. Thus, the doctrine that Jesus was forsaken by God while imputed with our sins is proven false.

If we compare Matthew 27 and Psalm 22 in full we see a different perspective of what is happening at the crucifixion that matches Jesus’ words in Luke 22 quoted at the beginning of this article:

As both passages read through we see that we are the cause of Jesus’ abuse and suffering. Our evil, our sin, our disbelief did this to Him, not God punishing Him with wrath and turning from Him.  Even though in his humanity Jesus felt alone and even separated from God in some way, He was never alone or without His divinity or the presence of His father. God was with Him the whole time.  Psalm 22:4 5 shows what the Bibles tells us over and over again, that God is faithful and does not leave those who love and serve Him.

As we move on to Psalm 22:7-8 and Matthew 27:40-43, we see again that it is humans that are testing Jesus and in turn God. In their pride, jealousy and hatred of Jesus, they are attempting to prove that He is not the Messiah and that God will abandon Him and not help Him. Again, this does not show that God turned His face away from Jesus, but the opposite.

As both passages continue we see in Psalm 22:27 onward the prophecy that Jesus’ death will be remembered and this will cause people to come to belief in God. There will be people who come after Jesus who will teach of Him, His death and resurrection and all the divine wonders that took place during this time. So yes, while God knows what man kind will do and that we would put the Messiah to death, God did not author Jesus’ death to take His wrath out on His son.

This is what people miss…death was defeated. This is the historic view of the crucifixion called Christus Victor along with what is called the ransom theory. Death is our biggest enemy. It was brought on by Satan and the fall. Death is equated with sin in the Bible,  because sin is what causes our death. Jesus did take on our sin. He took on death and freed us. He felt all the temptation we feel, but He never let Satan tempt Him away from God. God was never wrathful or angry at Jesus. This is paganism. We humans tend to be easily tempted just as Adam and Eve were. but if we are strong and follow Jesus and keep our faith,  death has no hold on us anymore. And this is the truth of the crucifixion, not that God forsook Jesus, but that God is faithful and loves us so much despite our sins, despite our disbelief, despite our mockery, that He gave His son to take on death and save us basically from ourselves. And if we believe, we follow, we change, we will be saved from death as well.

In the Wisdom of Solomon 2:12-20, there is a Messianic Prophecy concerning the Messiah’s death, but that God is faithful to Him the whole time:

12 “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training. 13 He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. 14 He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; 15 the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange. 16 We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his father. 17 Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; 18 for if the righteous man is God’s son, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. 19 Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. 20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected.” (RSVA)

For more on the crucifixion from a historical perspective see the  Early Church Fathers Quotes by Topic on the Atonement

And other related post:

Penal Substitution and Isaiah 53

Did God require Sacrifice?