Jesus Christ: Despised, Rejected, & Forsaken - Lubbock Lectures 2023

Intro:

I’d like to begin by expressing my thanks to this good congregation for inviting me back to speak to you again.

I think the last time I was here was in 2019, right before the dreaded 2020, so a lot has happened since then!

A lot has occured in our family in that time as well - We’ve added a couple more kids, and we’ve gone from one “border state” of Texas (Louisiana) to another (Oklahoma).

Say what you will about those Okies, but they have been very good to us! :)

But we appreciate the elders here for inviting me to be with you again, and for brother Tommy and all of his work putting this lectureship together each year — I was going through my library looking at some of the lectureship books as I was preparing this lesson, and I was really impressed with the lessons as I perused them! (I need to go back and read more thoroughly).

My assigned topic today is “Jesus Christ: Despised, Rejected & Forsaken.”

When the list of possible topics was sent out, I jumped on that one pretty quickly — It’s something I knew I would like to study more of. It’s a broad topic, though!

There’s so much that could be said!

(And that last part — “Forsaken!” — is a tough one!)

But we will see what we can do with it!

We’re going to spend a good bit of time in the Old Testament looking at some of the Messianic prophecies this morning.

We know these truths — Jesus Christ was depised — People didn’t like Him!

Why?

Because of what He stood for!

Because He wasn’t what they expected!

Because He called them out when they were wrong!

Jesus Christ was rejected!

For reasons all the same!

… And Jesus Christ was forsaken!

(More on that in a little bit!)

Let’s begin by turning in our O.T.’s to Isaiah chapters 52 & 53.

Jesus Christ was DESPISED,

… and He was REJECTED by men.

Jesus Christ Was Despised:

Isa. 52:13 - Now wait a minute:

This sounds like Jesus being WELL-RECEIVED, does it not?! And GLORIFIED!

Well, He WAS! … To a point!

Remember? When Jesus rode into Jerusalem triumphantly on the colt of a donkey?!

Matthew 21:8–9 - “And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!’”

And yet, JUST LIKE THAT [snap!], they would turn on Him!

The same crowds that shouted “Hosana in the Highest” …

Shouted “CRUCIFY HIM” just a few days later!

So why do we read here that this (capital S) Servant of God would be exalted and extolled and be very high?

Because He WAS! (At least for a moment for those folks!) And we extol Him in the highest today, and imagine His extolment when we see Him in Heaven!

Isa. 52:14 - Jesus was an ASTONISHING Individual!

Do you remember when some of the people wanted to take Jesus in John chapter 7?

They ended up not doing it — Why?

Because they said in John 7:46 — “No man ever spoke like this Man!””

He ASTONISHED them!

Not only did His teaching astonish them, but so did His appearance.

We’ll see more on that in verse 2 of ch. 53 in a minute, but notice hear that his visage (appearance) was MARRED (disfigured), more than any man! Perhaps in reference to his having no form or comeliness, or perhaps what would happen to Him … on His cross!

Isa. 52:15 - “Sprinkle,” as in the sprinkling of blood by the priest to cleanse people in the O.T. — I’m also reminded of the N.T. verse in Hebrews 10:22 - “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Yes, Christians would come of many nations; Kings, also, would shut their mouths in awe of this Servant’s greatness!

They would learn something new — The way of Salvation through this Servant, prophesied by Isaiah!

But before all of this could happen, He would be DESPISED, we will now see.

Isa. 53:1 - Who is willing to believe what precedes, and what follows about the Christ?

Unfortunately, not many. :(

“The arm of the Lord” — His power — His power to save! (Rom. 1:16)

Isa. 53:2 - Talk about despised?!

None of these traits describe the typical king — Case in point: Saul (head and shoulder’s above the rest of people!) — Jesus wasn’t like Saul — But Jesus was King!

The traits described in this verse were totally undesirable if they were looking for the wrong things in a king — and most were unfortunately!

Isa. 53:3 - Here we have two of our three key words for this lesson — despised AND rejected!

Incidentally, this section is proof positive that the Messiah never was going to be somebody that the people at large desired!

Don’t get me wrong — The common people heard Him gladly (Mark 12:37)!

But the elites — The Pharisees, the scribes, the Saducees — Their power was threatened by Jesus!

Also, Jesus was a man of sorrows and aquainted with grief — We don’t have time to get into it here, but I’ve preached that at a lot of funerals (to remind us that Jesus knows how we feel in those moments).

Isa. 53:4 - In other words, He’s going to take a punishment that WE deserve, and take it upon Himself!

Isa. 53:5 - This is the reason why! Because of our sins, Jesus took chastisement!

And He did it for … OUR PEACE!

That is, that we may be able to HAVE peace with God!

Summed up in a word — PROPITIATION!

Isa. 53:6 - Rom. 3:23 (“all have sinned ...”) and Rom. 6:23 (“The wages of sin is death ...”) - JESUS, despised by men, would be made to taste of death FOR men!

Isa. 53:7 - When Jesus was tried in an illegitimate court, He answered not His accusers (See Matt. 26:62-63; 27:14).

Isa. 53:8 - This perhaps is a connection to the next O.T. passage we will look at Psalm 22.

Verse 30 there says - “A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation” -

In other words, this suffering Servant would have a SPIRITUAL lineage (and other meanings of this verse have been suggested as well).

Isa. 53:9 - Regarding His grave, this is fulfilled in Joseph of Arimathea (See Matt. 27:57ff).

Also “He had done no violence, nor was any deceit found in His mouth.”

He didn’t deserve what happened to Him!

Hebrews 4:15 - Jesus “was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Isa. 53:10 - This corresponds perfectly to 2 Cor. 5:21, and explains the true meaning of it!

2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Isa. 53:11 - The Gospel in a nutshell — Jesus made a Way possible for justification from sin by taking the punishment WE deserved!

Isa. 53:12 - So many things here — “Numbered with the transgressors” has reference to the two thieves crucified alongside Him!

There’s reference to His glory again.

And at the end of the verse we have the idea, as we sometimes sing, “He bore it all that I might live!”

Jesus was despised … and Jesus was REJECTED.

Take a look now at Psalm 22:

Here, we are going to see that Jesus forsaken.

This is the crucifixion Psalm — Sure, David wrote it — But Jesus fulfilled it!

And as you read through this, if you have even just a little bit of familiarity with the New Testament, surely you will recognize a lot of this language as taking place at the cross!

(Some of these verses we will just read; others, we will stop and make a comment or two).

V. 1 - Those have to be the saddest words in all of the Bible in my estimation!

Fulfilled of course in Matthew 27:46 - “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?””

So many questions men have asked about those words down through the centuries, and we’ll talk about that some more in a little bit!

VS. 2-6 - (Just read).

VS. 7-8 - Sounds like Matthew 27:39 - “And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads!” And Matthew 27:43 - They said, “He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

VS. 9-13 - (Just read).

V. 14 - Talk about a body that was MARRED on the cross!

As we saw in Isa. 52:14!

Talk about disfigurement!

V. 15 - Undoubtedly this points to the intense thirst that Jesus had on the cross, to the point that one of His seven sayings he could muster on the cross was, “I thirst!”

V. 16 - This verse prophecies the very nails that fastened Jesus to the cross.

This was prophecied also in ...

Zechariah 12:10 - “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

V. 17 - (Just read).

V. 18 - This was fulfilled in Matt. 27:35.

VS. 19-22 - (Just read).

VS. 23-24 — We’re starting to see a turn here:

Turning from despair, to …

Remembering the faithfulness of God!

VS. 25-31 — The Psalm ends on a high note, essentially prophecying the VICTORY that would come through this event! (And we could go to 1 Cor. ch. 15 for more on that!)

But let’s ask the question that we’ve all been waiting for!

Was Christ Forsaken in the Strictest and Ultimate Sense of the Word?

Now before we talk about that, let’s give some thought about what Jesus had gone through on the cross:

I found this in the Lubbock Lectures lectureship book The Word Became Flesh (2004) — A Sermon by brother Don Walker titled “The Death of Christ” on page 358 of that book:

“Dying on the Roman cross could be made worse by irritating factors not generally considered. ‘Not uncommonly, insects would light upon on burrow into the open wounds or the eyes, ears, and nose of the dying and helpless victim, and birds of prey would tear at these sights.’ Those who have a knowledge of human anatomy, and who are also acquainted with what was involved in the ancient crucifixion practices, have written concerning the probably medical/physiological aspects of this type of execution. They write: ‘Each wound apparently was intended to produce intense agony, and the contributing causes of death were numerous.’ The physical suffering of our Lord on the cross was momentous. For us, the mental portion of this torture is incomprehensible. Isiah prophesied that ‘his visage was so marred more than any man!’ (Isa. 52:14),” and we talked about that earlier!

Brother Don went on to explain Christ’s crucifixion either further agonizing detail on the subsequent pages.

So we need to sympathize with Jesus when He is brought to the point of saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!”

Well, there are a couple of different main ideas regarding this statement — I’ve studied it, I’ve read commentaries, I’ve polled preachers, I’ve read lectureship books — And needless to say, it is hard to come to a consensus!

This is from page 162 of the 2002 Power Lectures lectureship book - The Sayings of Jesus - A Sermon called called “Sayings from the Cross - Part Two” by brother Paul Sain:

“Many have expressed their thoughts and questions regarding this passage. Some have asked: ‘Did God turn His back on His Son, Jesus Christ while He was on the cross?’ ‘Did God actually forsake His Son?’ ‘In what way did Christ feel that His Father had forsaken Him?’ Likely we have spent far too much time on this matter. Likely we read into it far more than what is intended in Holy Writ. Whether we view the agony of the Father viewing His Son on the cross, or visualize Him turning His back because He could not stand to see the horrid view, the facts remain the same. God gave His only begotten Son to come to earth, to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10; Matt. 1:21). Our Lord was paying the ransom price for the sins of the whole world (Acts 20:29; Heb. 9:22). The scene is the most heinous event … that has ever been viewed by all mankind.”

And then this is from Christiancourier.com website — an article by brother Wayne Jackson called “The Haunting Question from the Cross”:

(In answering why Jesus asked this haunting question, Jackson says): “I must honestly say that I do not have an absolute answer. I believe there is more in that anguished cry than any mortal person can hope to fathom. When we have analyzed it a dozen different ways, we will come away feeling empty. Nevertheless, I am going to venture a speculation, recognizing that I must do so with great caution.” (And I’ll let you read that yourself so brother Jackson can speak for himself in the article).

The two different main ideas that I have found on this are:

Number 1 - That Jesus was momentarily forsaken on the cross, hence His crying out, “My God, my God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

Number 2 - That He FELT forsaken, which is why He said that, but God didn’t turn His back on Him.

Which is it?

Well, I wish I understood this more clearly!

Those who say number 1 - That Jesus WAS momentarily forsaken point to the fact that Jesus was the sin offering — 2 Cor. 5:21 — He took a punishment for sin that He didn’t deserve - That punishment was death — Sin separates from God (Isa. 59:1-2), so Jesus had to experience that as part of the atonement.

Back to Isaiah 53:11 - “He (God) shall see the labor of His (Jesus’) soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.”

But then some will point out — But wait a minute, Psalm 22:24 says “For He (God) has NOT despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He HIDDEN HIS FACE FROM HIM; But when He cried to Him, He heard!”

And they’ll say, “See, Jesus FELT forsaken, but God didn’t actually turn His face from Him.”

Furthermore, you have the difficulty of one Person of the Godhead separated from the other two — Think about that for a moment!

On the other hand …

Those who say number 2 — That Jesus only FELT forsaken …

Have the difficulty of explaining, Why did Jesus say: “My God, my God, Why HAST Thou forsaken Me?”

The language Jesus’ uses seems definitive!

I guess they could come back with, “Well, Jesus was quoting the Psalm to show us how He felt.”

Okay … But what do you do with the REST of Psalm 22, which has DEFINITE precise applications to Jesus on the cross?!

Such a difficult question!

Psalm 10:1 is an example of the Psalmist feeling like the Lord isn’t there: “Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide in times of trouble?”

But IS the Lord not there?

No, He’s always there! He is omni-present! That’s one of His divine atttributes!

But sometimes we feel that way.

We have this promise in Scripture, however — “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Heb. 13:5)

I KNOW that regardless of what “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me” means …

God has promised never to forsake ME!

… But what about me toward HIM?!

You know, when they came and arrested Jesus, you know what Matthew 26:56 says?

It says: “Then all the disciples FORSOOK Him and fled!”

But hold up — Don’t be too confident — Because how many of us would have done the SAME THING?!

If PETER and JOHN and JAMES and the others did it, do you really think we would have done any better?

Maybe we need to remember the words of Paul in Romans 12:3 - “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”

Yes, Jesus has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, but many a Christian has FORSAKEN HIM!

Just one piece of evidence - Hebrews 10:25 - “Not FORSAKING the assembling of ourselves together (the assembling which Christ died for!), as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

That text goes on to say that the one who does that TRAMPLES THE SON OF GOD UNDERFOOT — counts the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified as A COMMON THING, and INSULTS the Spirit of grace!

One more — 2 Tim. 4:10 - “Demas has FORSAKEN me (and when he forsook Paul, he was forsaking Christ!) ... having loved THIS PRESENT WORLD.”

How many Christians do that? ( … Far too many! Far too many.)

Jesus Christ — Despised, Rejected, and Forsaken!