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Passage: Heb 13:5-6
There is no way we will ever comprehend the spiritual terrain
Jesus journeyed in those three remaining hours on the cross from noon (the
sixth hour) until three in the afternoon (the ninth hour). Darkness was upon
the land (Mk 15:33; Lk 23:44) like a surreal storm that came out of nowhere. There was something different about this darkness, however; the kind that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stick straight out. From clear sunny skies to darkness wasn't normal. There was something ominous in the black eerie silence. No one knew below the cross what was taking place above; God Almighty was unleashing the fury of His wrath upon His Son in judgment for sin, our sin.
In this spiritual
landscape Jesus suffered “the spiritual desolation and separation” from
God the Father. In those three eternal-like hours, Jesus was purchasing our
salvation by taking our rightful place on the cross to atone for our sin by
offering up His life instead, as our Substitute (2 Cor 5:21; Rom 5:8; 1 Jn2:2, 4:10).
He accomplished by His death what we could never do; He satisfied (propitiated)
the just demands of the thrice Holy and righteous God for sin; and the physical
resurrection of Jesus three days later proved that Great Satisfaction without a doubt!
God was propitiated with Jesus payment for sin on our behalf!
Now it would depend upon us to accept that sacrifice by grace through faith that satisfied
God or to easily reject it. The blood of Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, must be applied by faith for the forgiveness of sin to the lintel and doorposts of the heart, figuratively
speaking, for the second
death (spiritual separation from God) to no longer have any effect.
Beaten to a bloody pulp by the hands of man, Jesus was nailed to
the cross like a criminal or a defeated enemy; given his physical torment (Isa 50:6) and
disfigurement (Isa 52:14), the worst was still to come! Then came the unparalleled event around
noon time; God began pouring out His wrath upon His Son, Jesus. The darkness
symbolized the judgment of God.
By 3 PM the darkness and silence was broken by a loud cry of undeniable
despair, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mk 15:34). Shortly
thereafter, He cried aloud once again illustrating that He was not a victim in
all of this, “Father into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Lk 23:46a-b). Jesus
died on His own terms! When He received the bitter wine, there remained strength
for only one more outburst to show forth His obedience to the Father in all
that He was called to do, “It is finished” (Jn 19:30b). Then
“Jesus breathed His last” (Mk15:37b; Lk 23:46b); "And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit" (Jn 19:30b); “He yielded up His spirit” (Mt
27:50b).
Because of what Jesus did on the cross that forsaken experience
resonates in His promise to never leave us nor forsake us, foreshadowed in the
OT. In fact our feelings of spiritual loneliness or abandonment are, in
actuality, not Scripturally based or pleasing to God. During these times, our
spurious feelings are delivered to our door, courtesy of the father of lies who
loves nothing more than to magnify our feelings in times of crisis over the
facts of Scripture.
Why does he do this? He does this in order to tempt us to doubt
God’s Word over some calamitous experience, to get us to challenge His goodness and
charge Him with leaving us high and dry, mocking and questioning His love for us in our overthrow. Feelings are never a more reliable benchmark than the Word
of God to spiritually assess any situation. “Did God say He would never leave
you or forsake you?” The devil hints. The devious question sounds very similar
to the Garden chat Satan had with Eve, “Did God say….” The best way to address
the evil one is to do as Jesus did when tempted by him, let the Word do the
talking – “It is written.”
Jesus did not like being separated from the Father one bit, not
for a nano-second, but “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”
(Heb 12:2). What a man, what a God, what a God-Man is Jesus, our Savior!
In this passage in Hebrews, there is a rare construction of emphasis in the
Greek that gives rise to the solid confidence of God making good on a particular promise.
Suffice should God declare a thing once; good as gold it is. But for the
Holy Spirit to stress something five times is unheard of! It is unprecedented and monumental. The Holy Spirit through the writer of Hebrews wants for us to
understand a thing where there can be no doubt; He could not make Himself any
clearer. There is no convolution of "Did God say?" He utilized five negations to explicitly
and emphatically communicate in no uncertain terms the impossibility of Christ
ever leaving us or forsaking us. Unfortunately, we don't pick up on this in our English translations.
Why is this such a big deal? Can't we get it the first time? No, because this is exactly what crops up
every time a crisis crosses our path, feelings of divine desertion. Nothing
could be further from the truth. It is actually a theological impossibility. There are a lot of truths nestled in God’s
abiding presence: contentment, sufficiency, confidence, security, provision,
protection, guidance, fellowship, peace, hope, loved, courage, belonging, and
so on. All of this potentially collapses under the weight of false feelings of
desertion by the Lord! Make no mistake about this truth; it’s huge, but so is
the solidity and surety of the promise – 5 x Never!
Heb 13:5 paraphrases the promise made long ago to Jacob (Gen 28:15),
to Israel (Deut 31:6, 8), to Joshua (Josh 1:5), to Solomon (1Chron 28:20), to
New Testament believers, and to us today. This 5 x Never promise is as strong as it gets in Greek; the Holy Spirit
is obviously being redundant for emphasis. We need to get this and not forget
this. It is like saying, according to John MacArthur, "There is absolutely
no way whatsoever that I will ever, ever leave you." Wow!
God wants us to be content, the opposite of covetousness, with
His Romans 8:28 rule over our lives. Today, ambition is often nothing more than
a storefront word for greed and avarice. The world looks at contentment as
lacking ambition as if that is some kind of dreaded disease of the “self-made”
man, but contentment is more about what’s inside a man or woman than outside
temporal stuff. Pursuits are fine as long as we are Spirit-made men and women who live according to the principles of Scripture. Paul learned to be content in the extremes of life, full or
hungry, abounding or suffering need, or right down the middle because he knew God was in control. In whatever state he
could find strength to do all things through Christ (Php 4:11-13). Guzik in his
commentary on the NT was right on, unfortunately, when he said, “It is amazing
that we are often more likely to put security and find contentment in things
far less reliable and secure than God Himself!”
Paul never said all things were good; only that all things work
together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according
to His purpose (Rom 8:28). Wherever the will of God should take us,
Jesus will (1) never, (2) never, (3) never, (4) never, (5) never leave us nor
forsake us! He knows the feeling and reality of being forsaken more than anyone
when nailed to that cruel Roman contraption called a cross in those dark hours. Jesus redeemed us
on the cross and now wants to rule over us from within and from His throne on High. We need to
trust the Scriptures and trust in His Sovereignty no matter what. More than
acknowledging the truth, it’s time we yield to the authority of the Truth.
If you mean this, pray to God these words, “I acknowledge that You
are in control of whatever comes into my life. ‘I will not fear what man can do
to me’ because of Your abiding presence within my heart, Your everywhere
presence outside my life, and Your personal promise to 5 x Never to leave me nor forsake me. Be my Helper, Lord, in living
out these realities for Your glory. Thank you, Jesus! Amen.”
He really is our Helper! We just got to make it personal – “my
Helper” (Psa 118:6-7). When we are conscious of His presence in every situation of life and practice the reality of His presence based upon the 5 x Never promise, we have the assurance He is with us in the wreck or the wow, right here, right there, right now and forever. <><
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