There is a deep mystery in these words, which no mortal man can fathom. No doubt they were not wrung from our Lord by mere bodily pain. Such an explana- tion is utterly unsatisfactory, and dishonorable to our blessed Saviour. They were meant to express the real pressure on his soul of the enormous burden of a world's sins. They were meant to show how truly and literally He was our substitute, was made sin, and a curse for us, and endured God's righteous anger against a world's sin in His own person. At that awful moment, the ini- quity of us all was laid upon Him to the uttermost. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him, and put Him to grief. (Isaiah liii. 10.) He bore our sins. He carried our transgressions. Heavy must have been that burden, real and literal must have been our Lord's substitution for us, when He, the eternal Son of God, could speak of Himself as for a time " forsaken."
Let the expression sink down into our hearts, and not be forgotten. We can have no stronger proof of the sinfulness of sin, or of the vicarious nature of Christ's sufferings, than His cry, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me .?" It is a cry that should stir us up to hate sin, and encourage us to trust in Christ.*
* The following quotations deserve notice, and throw light on this pecuharly solemn portion of Scripture.
'' Our Lord said this, under a deep sense of His Father's wrath unto mankind, in whose stead He now underwent that which was due for the sins of the whole world. When He said ' Why hast thou forsaken me,' He implied that God had for the time withdrawn from Him the sense and vision of His comfortable presence. "VYlien He said, ' My God,' He implied the strength of His faith whereby
MATTHEW, CHAr. XXVII. 395
Let us observe, jn the second place, lioio much is con- tained in the words which describe our Lord's end. We are simply told, " He yielded up the ghost/'
There never was a last breath drawn, of such deep import as this. There never was an event on which so much depended. The Roman soldiers, and the gaping crowd around the cross, saw nothing remarkable. They only saw a person dying as others die, with all the usual agony and suffering, which attend a crucifixion. But they knew nothing of the eternal interests which were involved in the whole transaction.
That death discharged in full the mighty debt which sinners owe to God, and threw open the door of life to every believer. That death satisfied the righteous claims of God's holy law,yand enabled God to be just, and yet the justifier of the ungodly. That death was no mere example of self-sacrifice, but a complete atonement and propitiation for man's sin, affecting the condition and prospects of all j mankind. That death solved the hard problem, how God could be perfectly holy, and yet per- fectly merciful. It opened to the world a fountain for all sin and uncleanness. — It was a complete victory over Satan, and spoiled him openly. It finished the transgression, made reconcihation for iniquity, and brought in everlast- ing righteousness. — It proved the sinfulness of sin, when it needed such a sacrifice to atone for it. — It proved the He did firmly apprehend the sure and gracious aid of His eternal Father." — Bishop Hall.
" All the waQings and howlings of the damned to all eternity, will fall infinitely short of expressing the evil and bitterness of sin with such emphasis as these few words, ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?' " — Jamieson.