Good Friday

Recap

Matthew 21:1–11

Psalm Sunday

Jesus’ public presentation as King

The beginning of events leading to the cross

A. Jesus’ Intentional Entry (v.1–3)

Jesus sends disciples to get a donkey

This was planned, not spontaneous

Insight: Jesus is in full control of the moment

(Hebrew: ) = “Save us now” Hosanna Hoshia-na

Crowd, the Disciples

Background

Matt wrote about the moments before the Death of Christ siting how God forsook Him.

Christians sing lyrics every Lenten season proclaiming how Father God turned His face from God the Son as He hung on the cross. I’ve listened to numerous pastors proclaim that this supposed abandonment was the most excruciating pain Jesus experienced. But is this true?

Supporting arguments

Those that believe God can’t stand in the presence of sin reference: Habakkuk 1:13 “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?”

Psalm 5:4 “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.”

New Testament 1 John 1:5–6 “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

Finally, Christ final words

Counter arguments

This is a rhetorical question because Christ knows full well why God does this.”

Notice also what David, who expressed feelings of divine abandonment during his pain, wrote in Psalm 139:7–12 “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”

This passage displays God’s omnipresence, meaning He remains in every location…the is nowhere in any universe where God doesn’t dwell.

Jesus states this to His disciples, before He went to the Cross: John 16:32 “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.”

What Actually Happen

Proclaiming Himself the Messiah-Jesus wasn;t saying He was actually fosaken, Instead He was making His identity clear to Jewish onlookers when He quoted Psalm 22:1 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?” Those familiar with Tora would immediately think of this passage.

It starts with anguish and suffering by ends in victory Psalm 22:22–24 “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.” ,Psalm 22:31 “they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.”

God Has Shown Himself

God from the beginning has chased humans after the fall: Gen 3 God ought out to ask Adam and Eve about their disobedience, God provided a way to for mankind to cover their sins for fellowship, He established a nation of whom lineage would come the Savior of the world.

Consider the book of Job where the accuser of the brethren (the evil one) approaches His thrown of God

Why so Dangerous

In my journey, the notion that my sin repelled God caused me to approach Him with a pass-fail mentality. I assumed He withdrew from me when I messed up, and returned when I behaved in a way that honored Him. This resulted in increased shame and self-condemnation rather than more fully experiencing the freedom Christ gives me. I’ve since discovered He is closest when I need Him most, and He invites me to find strength, healing and transformation in His merciful embrace.

Scripture makes it clear, He offers forgiveness to all, for as 2 Peter 3:9 states, He doesn’t want “anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” We either accept His offer and live in an ongoing, ever-deepening relationship with Him, or we distance ourselves from Him when we don’t like the truth He reveals. In the case with the latter, we are the ones to do the rejecting. Whereas our Savior promised He will never turn anyone away. He won’t leave or forsake us, in life or death, any more than His Father forsook Him in His final hours.