Shortly before Jesus died an excruciating death of crucifixion He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Mat 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”

Why did Jesus cry out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”  Did God really forsake His Son on the cross?  If so, then this seems to contradict Hebrews 13:5, which states that God will never forsake you.

Heb 13:5  Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU.“

To understand why Jesus cried out what He did, we need to understand that Jesus quoted from Psalm 22, which starts out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Psalm 22 is a psalm of King David.  It starts out by David asking God why He hasn’t helped him but quickly changes into a detailed prophecy of Jesus’s death (verses 6-21a).  The last half (verses 21b-31) describes how God hears and delivers those who fear Him.  The Psalm teaches us that although it may seem at times that God has forsaken us, in the end God always delivers those who fear Him.

Conclusion

When Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”, it wasn’t a cry of desperation wondering why God had forsaken Him.  No, not at all, for Jesus knew that God would never leave nor forsake Him.  It was a cry pointing us to Psalm 22, a Psalm containing a detailed prophecy of His crucifixion that He had just fulfilled (the first half), and the assurance that God delivers those who fear Him (the second half).  Jesus knew that His deliverance was at hand; He knew the Father would resurrect Him three days and three nights later.