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Was Jesus Confused by the Cross? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Welcome back to the Ask Pastor John podcast, a longtime author and Pastor John
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  Piper and Pastor John. As we near the end of this January, we
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  arrive at Psalm twenty two. For those of you reading along with us in
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  the Navigator's Bible reading Plan, Psalm twenty two has been in front of us
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  now for a few days. It is a haunting Psalm. Haunting from the
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  very opening line, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
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  Psalm twenty two, verse one, very heavy, and it's especially a
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  haunting because this line becomes one of the cries of Jesus from the cross.
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  Psalm twenty two is all about Christ, and it's on his lips and the
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  crucifixion accounts in Matthew twenty seven forty six and Mark fifteen thirty four. But
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  to hear him recite Psalm twenty two to one leads us to ask, this
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  was Jesus confused by the Cross? That's what a listener by the name of
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  Bridget wants to find out today. Here's our email, Pastor John, and
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  I love the Lord deeply. My faith continues to grow, but I've always
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  struggled with Matthew twenty seven five and forty six, where Jesus recites Psalm twenty
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  two, verse one. Why would Jesus question the Father like this in asking
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  why have you forsaken me? When he certainly knew the answer? It was
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  for this very reason Jesus came to die, to be forsaken on our behalf.
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  Could you give insight into this so that this hurdle in my faith can
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  be removed? My God, My God? Why have you forsaken me?
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  Those terrifying words occur in the two Gospels Matthew and Mark Matthew twenty seven forty
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  six and Mark fifteen thirty four as Jesus is on the cross near death,
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  so it says about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice,
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  amazing. How did he have any any strength to do a loud voice?
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  Eli lemma sabathan the Aramaic form that is, my God, my God,
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  why have you forsaken me? Now? One very important fact to remember
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  is that these words are the exact first words of Psalm twenty two. And
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  that's important because Jesus seems to have known that the whole Psalm, in some
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  way or other was about him, because at least three other parts of this
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  psalm are quoted in the story of his death. So you got verses one
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  and two. This is what the psalm says, Why are you so far
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  from saving me from the words of my groaning? Oh, my God,
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  I cry by day, but you do not answer, And by night I
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  find no rest? My God, my God? Why have you forsake me?
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  And then verse seven, all who seek me see me mock at me,
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  they make mouths at me, they wag their heads, and that those
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  exact words they wag their heads quoted in Matthew twenty seven thirty nine, and
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  those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads to show that this psalm
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  is being played out in the death of Jesus. And then verse sixteen of
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  the psalm, they have pierced my hands feet, And then verse eighteen,
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  they divide my garments among them, and they for my clothing they cast lots.
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  So the words, my God, my God, why have you forsaken
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  me? Are part of this psalm that contains, as it were, a
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  script for Jesus last hours. Now, why did he say it? She
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  wants to know why the why? Why? Why did he Why did he
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  say it? And here's a three part answer. One, there was a
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  real forsakenness. That's why, My God, my God, why if you're
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  forsaken me means he really did. He really did. He's bearing our sin,
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  he bore our judgment. The judgment was to have God the Father pour
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  out his wrath on us. Instead, he pours it out on him,
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  and that necessarily involves a kind of abandonment. That's what wrath means. He
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  gave him up to suffer the weight of all the sins of all of his
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  people, and the judgment, the judgment for those sins, and we cannot
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  fathom. I don't think we can begin to fathom all that this would mean
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  between the Father and the son. To be forsaken by God is the cry
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  of the damned, and he was damned for us. So he used these
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  words because there was a real forsakenness. That's first reason. Second, the
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  why, it seems to me is not a question looking for an answer,
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  but a way of expressing the horrors of abandonment. A couple of reasons for
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  thinking this. Jesus knew ahead of time what he was doing and what would
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  happen to him, and why he was doing it. His father had sent
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  him for this, this very moment, and he had agreed to come,
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  knowing all that would happen. Listen to these words. This is John eighteen
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  four. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward
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  and said to the arresting mob, who do you seek? Gave himself up,
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  so he knew. He knew it was coming, He knew everything.
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  And another reason is the moment was one of agony, not theological curiosity.
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  The moment was one of agony. And a third thought on the fact that
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  he's not asking a question so much as expressing a horror, is the words
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  are a reflex of immersion in Psalm twenty two seems I mean, they're a
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  direct quotation. But you don't when you're hanging on the cross, you don't
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  say, I want to quote some scripture here. It either is in you
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  as the as the very essence of your messianic calling, or it's not.
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  And if it's in you, then you give vent at the worst moment of
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  your life, with the appointment of your father scripted in Psalm twenty two.
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  That seems to be right at the heart of what's going on. Let me
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  let me. Let me read verses twenty two to twenty four of this psalm.
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  It goes like this, Psalm twenty two. I will tell of your
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  name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation. I will praise you,
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  you who fear the Lord. Praise him, all you offspring of Jacob,
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  glorify him, stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel.
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  For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and
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  he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard when he cried.
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  In other words, this psalm ends with a note of triumph. So
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  Jesus isn't curious about wondering how is this going to turn out. He had
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  embedded in his soul both the horrors of the moment of abandonment, and he
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  had embedded in his soul for the joy that was set before him. I've
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  got a promise, and God will not despise me in the end. He
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  will take me back. So at some level he knows it's not a final
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  cry or an ultimate cry. He endured the cross for the joy that was
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  set before him, and the why is not a request for a theological answer.
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  It's a real cry of spiritual desolation with words that were second nature,
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  because his whole life was scripted by God. And I think the last reason
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  we should say for this, therefore, is that this psalm was his life
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  crying out reflexively in agony. With these words of this psalm show that is
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  horrible as it is, it was all going according to plan. All of
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  it was the fulfillment of scripture. Even the worst of it was the fulfillment
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  of scripture. And that moment was probably the worst moment in the history of
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  the world, and it was scripture fulfilled. So he said these words,
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  one because there was a real forsakenness for our sake. Two he was expressing
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  desolation, not asking for an answer. And three he was amazingly fulfilling scripture
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  in the horror of it all and witnessing to the perfection of the plan of
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  salvation. Amen. Yeah, it is both horrifying and beautiful to reflect on
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  these gospel realities. Think of bestor John for this reflection. And Psalm twenty
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  two this script for Jesus' last hour hours, and we have just read it
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  together in our Bible reading plan over the past week or so. In twenty
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  twenty four, Pastor John and I are reading through our Bibles together using the
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  Navigator's Bible Reading Plan. You can join us if you haven't already. It's
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  still early in the year. You can jump in now and catch up,
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  or just start at the beginning of February. Download the Navigator's Bible Reading Plan
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  online for free and join us for month number two and day one and just
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  pick it up there. And as you read your Bible with us this year,
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  if you come across something that you can't figure out, even though you've
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  tried, ask Pastor John, email us at ask Pastor John at desiring Good
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  dot org. Well. Over the years, we've taken up a lot of
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  questions from listeners who struggle with self doubt, wondering if they are in fact
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  an unbeliever, asking whether they have committed the unpardonable sin, asking whether they
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  have or will fall away, asking whether they are one of the non elect.
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  A lot of so sober, fearful, self reflective questions like these come
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  up all the time, And another one is up next time. I'm your
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  host, Tony Ranky. We'll see you on Thursday