Welcome to Hank’s Place
Here we are rejoicing over our Great Salvation in JESUS! Today’s thought: “He was FORSAKEN by the Father so we would never be rejected.”
Jesus and the Father were truly inseparable. Jesus told His disciples “I and the Father are ONE.” John 10:30. The Father Himself declared, as thunder from heaven, “This is My Son Whom I love and with Him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17
But when darkness descended on the cross that day at Calvary there was a huge separation between them. There had to be, for Jesus allowed the sin of the world to be placed upon Him.
For the first time in all of eternity, Jesus was alone. Abandoned. No Father. No — answers. Only silence. At Gethsemane Jesus said darkness would reign that hour. Luke 22:53. Luke 23:44-45 says darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour (that’s 3pm) for the sun stopped shining.
It must’ve been a terrifying time. Unexplained and total blackness. Some people think it was an eclipse. But we know from astronomy that when the moon is full, as it always is for Passover, a total eclipse is impossible. Isn’t this amazing, that at the moment of Jesus’ death on the Cross, the light of the physical sun died because the One who holds the universe together by the word of His power was dying as well. If you can fathom that one please let me know!
Church doctrine said that Jesus descended into hell. That is the price of sin. It might be a place where the absence of God feels like the most depressing burden imaginable. And there is unspeakable agony. Or did Jesus suffer abandonment and agony for the sin of the world while on the Cross, and descend into the Paradise portion of hell to preach the Gospel to the Old Testament saints? Good questions!
We may not have all the answers, but we know that Jesus was forsaken at Golgotha because of our sin. Now because of the redemption Jesus purchased for us in darkness, we can live forever in God’s light. Because of the separation He endured for us, we, who so often have turned our backs on the Father, now have a guarantee that He will never for sake us.
My friend, you are eternally accepted in the Beloved, so — COME ALIVE!
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