Alone and Rejected

Matthew 27:46b …”My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Darkness had covered the land and also had invaded the soul of the Son of Man. He, who was the Light of the world was now experiencing the darkness of the soul which accompanies sin. He that knew no sin had been made sin for us and it left Him rejected and all alone exposed naked between heaven and earth. His only audience was those who had made a sport of mocking and ridiculing Him.

Much greater pain did he endure than the scourgings that had ripped his flesh and the nails tearing at his hands and feet. The greatest pain was that which tore His heart. He had been brought to total humiliation as He who had created all things had been rejected by His own creation. Even His closest friends had fled in this moment of His deepest agony. The sin that had been laid upon Him, our sin, had left our Creator and Redeemer all alone. Truly did the prophet proclaim, “He was despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as if it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him” Isa 53:3. Not only did He experience the rejection of men, but also of His Father, who could not look upon Him due to our sin. Isaiah would later remind us of the consequences of sin, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you. 59:2. When Jesus took our sin He also accepted its consequences: rejection from God.

On this darkest day of humanity this Man of sorrows was left alone, all alone, rejected by man and by God. And why? He did it for you and me. He became the Man of sorrows to carry our sorrows.

“Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Isa 53:4-6

What a Savior!