The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Anjela Paje of Spokane, WA, from the tape, GC 1301-X, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 26." A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. ©1983. All Rights Reserved.
Questioner
In light of the fact that Christ said, “It is finished” before He died,
physically, and, because He addressed God the Father again, [saying] “My God, My
God,” isn’t that more or less proof that the fellowship of Christ with the
Father had been restored before His physical death, and that the atonement was
accomplished through His spiritual death, rather than His physical death?
John MacArthur's Answer
Well, I’m not sure that I necessarily follow that logic, that reasoning. What He
called the Father, or what He called God doesn’t necessarily carry in it
evidence to support that particular viewpoint.
Questioner
Well, He was being judged at that time.
John MacArthur's Answer
Yes. I think, He could’ve said, “Father, Father, why hast thou forsaken me?”
But, He said, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me,” as a direct quote out
of Psalm 22. And, if you understand the Old Testament, you will understand that
in the Old Testament, there are no references that I can think of to God as the
Father of an individual. He appears in the Old Testament as the Father of a
nation, not of an individual, so it would’ve been uncommon if the Psalmist had
said, “Father, Father, why hast thou forsaken me.” It would have been more
consistent to say, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me,” because the
Father concept isn’t really fully developed until the Savior develops that
concept in the New Testament time. So, I think Christ on the cross bore sins’
penalty, both physically and spiritually.
Questioner
Can I respond to that for a second? Wasn’t there a great deal of physical
agony experienced by Christ prior to the cross?
John MacArthur's Answer
"The sweating as it were great drops of blood" in the garden?
Questioner
No. I mean, the scourging from the Romans and a lot of bloodshed prior to the
cross.
John MacArthur's Answer
Yes.
Questioner
And, it also says that He was physically marred before He even went to the
cross, and He never cried out in physical pain, but, it was the spiritual, at
noon, darkness covered the face of the earth. Now, some say that between nine
and three He was on the cross. But, when that thick darkness covered the place
of the Atonement, that was when He was bearing the sins of the world. And, when
He was crying out, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
John MacArthur's Answer
See, it’s so mysterious that we really can’t know. Again, trying to
compartmentalize all these things is very difficult. Trying to find two rigid
categories for them. Where do you draw the line between the Savior’s suffering
in anticipation of sin-bearing and suffering bearing sin? In other words, in the
Garden, is He suffering and sweating, as it were, great drops of blood? Is His
whole physical system collapsing, so that He begins to hemorrhage all over His
body in anxiety or anticipation of what He is about to undergo? Because if
anyone in the world knew what it was going to be, He knew, because He knew
everything. The pain of sin-bearing could have been as great before
it happened as when it happened in a sense physically, right?
Let’s assume that He knows everything, so He knows what it would be like to bear
the weight of sin. It could be great enough to crush Him in the Garden. He had
not yet drank the cup because He says, “Let this cup pass from me.” But I do believe that Christ bore the weight of sin physically. But, I
think, as you’ve said, the greater weight of sin, the greater death was the
spiritual separation from God.
Now, what you’re asking is, was there a
restoration before He actually physically died? I don’t know. Obviously, when He
said, “Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit,” there was a great sense of
rest in His heart, and you may be right. It may be that by that time the
sin-bearing was over, and as He was dying, at that instant, He knew it was over.
And, I believe, that when He said, “Father, into thy hands, I commend my
spirit,” at that split-second, He died. Now, whether He said that knowing in a
spilt-second the sin-bearing would be over, or sensing that it was already
over, [we don't really know].
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur's Questions and
Answers" by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
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