Two quotes to stimulate your thinking as you contemplate the crucifixion of Christ on this Good Friday morning and His cry from the cross —
“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?'” (Mt. 27:46; NASB)
He who for all eternity has never been alone is now wholly abandoned. Such utter desolation has never even existed before in all eternity, because of the infinite love and fellowship of the Trinity, which can never be broken. But now the incarnate Son must be forsaken by the Father…because the Father is holy, and there in the Father’s sight is “the most grotesque display of ugliness imaginable,” as R. C. Sproul termed it.…Jesus doesn’t just feel forsaken: He is forsaken. In an unfathomable mystery, at that moment, as God’s wrath is poured upon Him as the substitute for our sin, Jesus is rejected by God. His Father turns away from Him. It isn’t a deceptive feeling; it’s reality. [C. J. Mahaney, Living the Cross Centered Life.]
And speaking more specifically of this cry itself, R. C. Sproul adds,
This cry represents the most agonizing protest ever uttered on this planet. It burst forth in a moment of unparalleled pain. It is the scream of the damned — for us. [quoted in Living the Cross Centered Life.]
Words of Grace 