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303. The Fourth Word

Key Verse: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from saving Me, so far from the words of My groaning?
Psalm 22:1

Before the foundation of the world, The Triune God was complete. If you think that He created us to keep Him company because He was lonely, you are sadly mistaken. He created us for His pleasure. Ask an artist why he paints, or a poet why he writes. He or she does it because it is an expression of their gift. They enjoy using their gift. The artist writes, sings, paints or the athlete runs, not necessarily out of need, but because it is a pleasure to do so. No artist uses his or her gift because they are lacking and through their creativeness they are completed. No, they are already complete. There expression is an overflow of themselves.

So it is with God. He is the ultimate creator. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were complete in themselves. They shared perfect unity and fellowship among themselves. We, and all creation for that matter, are the overflow of their pleasure in their completeness.

Sin changed all that. Like someone pouring black ink over a beautiful tapestry, sin marred what God had intended for pleasure.

Now, Jesus became that black ink. He took it onto Himself like a blotter, to soak up all our sin, to begin to restore creation to what it had been intended to be by Him, the creator of all things. God is Holy. "Be Holy for I am Holy." (Leviticus 20:26) Holiness cannot abide in sin. Sin separates us from God. Now, Jesus, who became our sin, was separated from God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. I said long ago that Jesus would experience loneliness. Well, here it is. By taking our sin, Jesus endured separation from God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, and knew more intense loneliness than we will ever know because it was against His nature to be so divided.

Think of any sin that you have ever done from the smallest lie to the biggest offense against God. In these moments, Jesus plead guilty to God the Father for all you and I have ever done and those wrongs came in between Him and His father so that we could be forgiven. Our sin caused Him to know loneliness.

Our sin causes our loneliness as well. Too often, we hold on to things, pet pleasures, false beliefs, and bad behaviors that keep us separated from God, and too often, others as well. We hold on to our sins, hoping to bargain with God to be allowed to keep them and walk with Him at the same time. Or, we hold on to what we want to see rather than the truth. That can't be done. We need to let go of our sin, lay it on Jesus’ back on the cross, turn from it and take up the victory that is ours, through Him, that He offers. There is nothing we can do to lessen His burden. We need to accept, with gratitude, the fact that he chose to be forsaken, to experience loneliness for us so that we could be restored to His pleasure and enjoy fellowship with the Trinity forever.

As the high priest entered the Holy of Holies, once a year to atone for the sins of the nation of Israel, now Christ, our high priest, entered alone into the sacrifice to atone for the sin of mankind. Only, it isn't a lamb’s blood He is bringing, He stands alone, offering His blood, once for all time. He is alone, suffering and bleeding for us. Without His priestly sacrifice, we surely must die.

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