My God, My God, why have you forsaken me...?

"Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" we read in the book of Matthew 27 and Mark 15, Christ cried out in anguish as he hung on Calvary's cross, which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

I wondered, why was the plea of the Son of God in the final moments of his life not, "My Father, my Father, why have you forsaken me?" Instead, it was "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.?"

Here was the plea of every man in his desperation. Here was the cry of desperation from every man, woman, and child at the lowest point in their lives. Here was my cry when I'd been down and out.

Who was this man hanging on the cross crying out - My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

If only we could see him through the eyes of Prophet and Apostle John as he wrote the book of the Revelations - the fearsome and awesome God in whose presence one day we will stand!

If only we could see through the eyes of Prophet Daniel - a God most adored by hundreds of millions of angels!

If only we could see through the eyes of Prophet Isaiah - a holy God in whose glorious presence the mighty Seraphims covered their faces and feet with their wings as they flew and worshiped him in a loud chorus, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty. The whole earth is filled with his glory!"

If only we could see through the eyes of Prophet Ezekiel - a God who reigns in indescribable majesty and glory!

If one would look with a little care through the lens of the old testament prophets, he was also the ever merciful God, who even today pursues his love - you and I - at any cost even as we have prostituted ourselves to every lustful desire of our evil heart.

Jesus did call out to his father - at the garden of Gethsemane before the trial and suffering began, he cried out "Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine." (Mark 14:36) But his Father, God the creator of you and me, rejected his son's plea on behalf of his creation (we) by not taking the cup of suffering away from his son.  Rather he let him face the suffering that was our cup to drink, for our sins. His sacrifice was the price paid for you and I to be called the sons and daughters of the most high God.

On Calvary's cross Jesus was not the God who by his God nature somehow lessened his pain and suffering, but endured it all as a man who had lost complete and total control of his situation and had none to turn to for a little solace.

Here was the holy, glorious, awesome, and mighty creator of whom Apostle Paul summarized in the book of Hebrews, chapter 2, "Because God's children are human beings - made of flesh and blood - Jesus also became flesh and blood by being born in human form. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the Devil, who had the power of death." Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and life. The one who believes in me will live, though he dies." (John 11:25)