Advent Day 8: "Forsaken"

Well, today brings us to the end of the first theme of the Advent cycle: the prophetic announcements. Let's take a brief moment to review the territory that we have covered so far.

Last Saturday we looked at the first Messianic prophecy. On the heels of Adam's disobedience and in the midst of the judgment that God declared, we find a promise that God will send a descendant through Eve who will "bruise the head" of the serpent - though in the process His heel would be bruised by the serpent. It shows us that even though man was now separated from God by his sin, because of His great love for man, God was making a way to restore their closeness.

The topic covered by Sunday's lesson (although it wasn't delivered until Monday) was the prophecy about the virgin birth of Jesus. This lesson showed us that God is able to do the impossible. It also showed us that the birth of the Messiah could not happen by man's will or through his agency, but could only be brought about miraculously by God.

Monday's lesson talked about some of the things that the Messiah would accomplish, but more importantly showed where much of His ministry would take place. We get a glimpse that the Messiah was not only here for the Jews but also for the Gentiles as well.

The fourth lesson in our series talked about Jesus' birthplace and put a lot of emphasis on the meaning of the names for Bethlehem. Not only would the Messiah be a descendant of David, but He would be the vine that is "fruitful" and would be the "bread" of life for all who would come to Him.

Wednesday we dealt with the theme of the suffering servant. Our passage made it clear that the Messiah would suffer mightily and would be misunderstood and rejected by the very people that He was coming to save. However, the passage also made it clear that it was worth every bit of the suffering for the prize that would be achieved through it.

The next topic in our series looked more closely at Isaiah 53:2 and considered the ramifications of the revelation that Jesus came here with no "special tools" in His belt. Although He was born free of original sin, Jesus took no advantage of His Divine nature, and instead chose to fulfill the law relying only on the help of the Holy Spirit.

Yesterday we considered the miraculous signs that the Messiah would perform, and discussed how as His disciples we are commissioned to go and do the same. Far better than Santa Claus if you ask me!

Which brings us to today's lesson, which I have titled "Forsaken."

Prophetic Passage: Psalm 22:1-18

Fulfillment of Prophecy: Matthew 27:35-46

"My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" This is the cry of anguish that greets us at the beginning of today's text (NASB). Although our text would allow us to return once again to the physical sufferings of the Messiah, I want to focus our attention primarily on this one verse. For this is a cry not of physical anguish, but one of the despair of the Son over the loss of the intimacy that He had enjoyed with His Father, God, His entire life. This was Christ's greatest sacrifice for us - not His life - but the sacrifice of His relationship with God as He took our sins upon Himself.

Jesus had spoken of this moment earlier in His ministry, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." (John 3:14-17)

We have seen some of these images already this week. Who was the serpent? Right, the devil. We learned that last Saturday. So is Jesus saying that He and the serpent are the same? No, not at all. But even as the serpent in the garden was the embodiment of evil, even so Jesus was going to take upon Himself the sin of every man and woman ever born. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us "He made Him who knew no sin (Jesus) to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

As the spikes were driven through His flesh into the cross, Jesus became accursed for our sake and bore on our behalf the wrath of an outraged God against sin - our sin. And Jesus lost His greatest treasure - the deep, intimate relationship that He had with God the Father. Though the physical pain that He had endured to that point had been superlative, not even Jesus was ready for the pain of His broken heart.

Jesus endured this, His greatest trial so that no one would ever have to experience the loneliness and despair that comes from being separated from God. For millions of people, (even those in the church) this time of year brings the greatest loneliness and despair of the whole year.

As Christ's disciples, we must learn to treasure our connection with God's presence as much as Christ did Himself. Jesus compared this relationship to a "pearl of great price" and "a great treasure hidden in a field."

Sadly, too often we are like the poor person who sells a Picasso at a yard sale for $2. We hold in our hands the answer to any problem anyone could ever have, and we have no clue. As we properly assess the value of God's gift to us, our joy will overflow to everyone around us. What is your relationship with God worth to you?

Questions and thoughts to discuss with your family:

1) Have you ever been depressed and/or lonely? Has it ever seemed like God has abandoned you? How did you respond to those feelings? How did Jesus respond when He was separated from God?

2) Have you ever been punished for something that you didn't do? How did that make you feel? Were you able to forgive the person who punished you? Were you able to forgive the person who deserved the punishment instead? What if the guilty person mocked you while you were being punished?

3) Have you ever given a gift to someone that didn't appreciate it? What did you want to do? What did you do?

4) Have you ever received a gift that you didn't appreciate? What did you do?

5) Have you ever had a very close friend who suddenly stopped talking to you? Who or what caused the break? Did you try to fix the relationship?

6) Hey, this sounds like an Easter story. What does this have to do with Christmas?

7) In what do you place more value than your relationship with God? If you aren't sure, consider the things that keep you from spending time with Him in His Word, prayer, fellowship, and service to others.