Have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Although he was in the form of God and equal with God, he did not take advantage of this equality. Instead, he emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant, by becoming like other humans, by having a human appearance. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5-8
ANSWER: Actually this cry, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” is a fulfillment of the prophesy in [Psalm 22:1]. But to better understand this cry, let us read Psalm 22 from verse 1 to 2;
[Psalm 22:1-2]
1 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning,
2 O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest.
COMMENT: From analyzing the verses, definitely it is not a personal entreaty of Jesus to the Father because in verse 2, the Psalmist is restless by night, and his cry is not answered by God. While Jesus was never deserted by the Father, in fact the Father dwelt in him [John 14:10]. The passage above is a pleading prophecy of a sinner (sinful mankind) who is forsaken by God. Since Jesus was the bearer of our sins and the taker of our punishment, he’s presenting himself to God as a sinful mankind who was sentenced to death because of sin. The begging and crying of Jesus is the begging and crying of mankind which he represented.
Prophet Isaiah foretold about the suffering Messiah or Jesus, to quote;
[Isaiah 53:4-6] Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
[Isaiah 53:12] Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
COMMENT: The above verses foretold the fate of Jesus who will be the bearer of our sins and the taker of our punishment. He will become the intercessor between God and sinful mankind.
Jesus although also God (since he is the spirit of God) did not use his power to his advantage, instead he emptied himself to become an ordinary human. He humbled himself, and followed perfectly the law assigned to humanity even death on a cross. Consider the verses below;
[Philippians 2:5-8] Have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Although he was in the form of God and equal with God, he did not take advantage of this equality. Instead, he emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant, by becoming like other humans, by having a human appearance. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, death on a cross.
Jesus had authority on Himself if He wanted to but He intentionally gave up His human life to redeem us, as He said;
[John 10:18] “No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”
Right after the first parents sinned because of the Serpent’s deception, God already had set up a plan to destroy Satan’s work, He said to the Serpent Satan;
[Genesis 3:15]“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel”.
COMMENT: This mentioned seed was fulfilled in Jesus who was born to a woman (Mary). The reason why Jesus was sent by God is to destroy the devil’s work through His death. So that in Jesus death, He might deliver us from the power of death inflicted by Satan. Kindly read;
[1 John 3:8] He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil
[Hebrews 2:14-15] Since then the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
The wages of sin is death, therefore mankind should die. God looked for a sinless man to be the reason He would not destroy mankind, but found no one [Ezekiel 22:30 & Isaiah 59:16]. Because of His great love for humanity, God raised a man (Deuteronomy 18:18) and dwelt in him (John 14:10) in order to save mankind by perfect obedience of the law. Jesus took the penalty of death in place of us so that we may not perish because of sin [Psalm 73:27]. He bore our iniquities and died on our behalf so that we may become righteous and justified through Him [Romans 3:25-26]. By His suffering and anguish on the cross, God’s wrath became satisfied. As Isaiah prophesied;
[Isaiah 53:11] As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.
Jesus was following the will of the Father , His fate was already written in the Scriptures since thousand of years before His birth. In fact His last word was, “it is finished” [John 19:30], referring to the fulfillment of all the prophecies about Him. Kindly check this speech of Jesus to His apostles after His resurrection;
[Luke 24:44] “These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled”
Furthermore, Christians are the modernizers of the world. They are the inventors of electricity, spaceship, computers, internet, cellphones, satellites, and many more. Therefore, Christians are genius for they are guided by God. Do you think when it comes to identifying God, they are so dumb? Christians believe Jesus as God because they have convincing reason. You study the Bible and you will see that Jesus is God. Imagine the world without Christians, the world of today would have been still barbaric. As a matter of fact even until now, many of the Islamic countries are still barbaric. Marrying a cousin, marrying a child/sex with a child , raping/selling slaves, and beheading/mutilating people are still practiced.
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