Did the Father Turn His Back on the Son
Introduction
Many sermons, hymns, and popular sayings assert that during the crucifixion the Father turned His face away from Christ or that God separated Himself from His Son. The thought is often attached to the Lord’s cry, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, and to a slogan that God cannot look on sin. A careful reading of Scripture shows a different testimony. The cross was not the moment the Godhead fractured. It was the united work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost to judge our sins in a perfect Substitute and to accept that sacrifice as a sweet savour. Paul explains the meaning of the cross for the Body of Christ, and his explanation leaves no room for the notion that the Father abandoned the Son.
Where the idea comes from
First, people hear the cry from the cross in Matthew 27 verse 46 and Mark 15 verse 34, which quotes Psalm 22 verse 1, and they stop there. Second, they quote Habakkuk 1 verse 13, thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, as if God cannot even see sin. Third, they combine verses about substitution and curse, such as 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 and Galatians 3 verse 13, with preaching lines and hymn lyrics that say the Father turned away. The sources are real, but the conclusions ignore the full context of the passages and the clear teaching of the apostles about what actually happened at Calvary.
Psalm 22 in its own context
When the Lord cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, He identified Himself with the righteous sufferer of Psalm 22. That psalm begins with anguish and moves to vindication and praise. The turning point is plain. Psalm 22 verse 24 says, For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard. The psalm the Lord quotes says that the Father did not hide His face and that He heard. The cry at the beginning is real suffering under judgment. The end of the psalm declares heard, accepted, and public praise among the brethren. The quotation does not teach abandonment. It identifies the promised Sufferer, certifies that the Scripture is fulfilled, and points to divine acceptance when the work is done.
What forsaken means and what it cannot mean
Forsaken names the depth of affliction and judgment the Sufferer bears. It does not mean the divine essence divided. The same psalm that voices the cry also gives the correction. He hath not hid his face from him. In the language of the psalms, the righteous often describe seasons where God hides His face in government toward the nation or withdraws protection from the wicked. Yet the righteous are never finally abandoned. Psalm 37 verse 25 says, I have not seen the righteous forsaken. Psalm 22 uses lament to reveal the weight of judgment and then answers the lament with heard and accepted. The cross meets that pattern. The Son drinks the cup. He bears the wrath against our sin. He is heard and accepted when the work is finished.
God does see sin and judges it
Habakkuk 1 verse 13 does not teach that God is unable to see evil. It teaches that God is too pure to behold evil with approval. The very context continues, wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously. The prophet complains that God seems to look on the treacherous for a season. Scripture is clear that God does see sin. Proverbs 15 verse 3 says, The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Job 34 verse 21 says, For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. Second Chronicles 16 verse 9 says, The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth. God does not avert His eyes from sin. He beholds and judges it in perfect holiness.
The Gospels show unbroken fellowship at the cross
Before the crucifixion the Lord said, Ye shall leave me alone, and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me, John 16 verse 32. On the cross He prays, Father, forgive them, Luke 23 verse 34. He says, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, Luke 23 verse 46. Those are not the words of a Son cut off from His Father. They are the words of a Son who trusts His Father while bearing our sins. He also says, It is finished, John 19 verse 30. He declares completion of the work, not a broken relationship. Earlier He taught, I do always those things that please him, John 8 verse 29. He said, Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again, John 10 verse 17. In John 12 verse 28 the Father answers, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. These statements frame the cross as the pleasing, God glorifying obedience of the Son, not as a moment of divine estrangement.
The united work of the Godhead in the atonement
Scripture presents the cross as the coordinated purpose of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Acts 2 verse 23 says Christ was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Isaiah 53 verse 10 says, Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him. Hebrews 9 verse 14 says He through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God. Ephesians 5 verse 2 declares that Christ hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour. These passages describe a sacrifice planned by the Father, offered by the Son, empowered by the Spirit, and accepted by God. That is unity of purpose, unity of love, and unity of will.
Darkness and the rent veil
From the sixth hour to the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land, Matthew 27 verse 45. Darkness signifies judgment. It does not prove separation inside the Godhead. When the Lord died, the veil of the temple was rent in twain, Matthew 27 verse 51. The rent veil signifies opened access. Hebrews speaks of boldness to enter by a new and living way. Paul teaches that through Christ we have access by one Spirit unto the Father, Ephesians 2 verse 18, and that we who were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ, Ephesians 2 verse 13. The historic sign in the temple and the doctrinal explanation in the epistles both point to acceptance and access, not to divine withdrawal.
The sweet savour of an accepted offering
Ephesians 5 verse 2 calls Christ’s self offering a sweet smelling savour. That language echoes the offerings in Leviticus where the whole burnt offering ascends as a sweet savour unto the LORD. In the KJV the phrase appears repeatedly to mark an offering accepted. The connection is simple. The Father did not reject the Son on the cross. He accepted the sacrifice. He set Him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness, Romans 3 verses 24 through 26. Propitiation means God is satisfied. A sweet savour means God is pleased. The message is acceptance, not abandonment.
Substitution and curse explained without separation
Second Corinthians 5 verse 21 says, For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin. Christ was made sin for us by imputation. He remained the spotless One who knew no sin. He bore our sins in his own body on the tree, 1 Peter 2 verse 24. Galatians 3 verse 13 says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. The curse fell upon the Substitute as He stood in our place under the judgment the law demanded. None of this teaches that the Father ceased to love the Son or that He hid from Him as if the Son had become sinful in nature. He through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, Hebrews 9 verse 14. Spotless in nature. Sin bearing by imputation. Accepted in full.
Paul’s explanation of the cross for the Body of Christ
Paul declares that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 19. That is union in purpose, not separation. Paul says God made Him to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21. Paul says we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Romans 3 verse 24. He says God set Him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness, Romans 3 verses 25 and 26. He says, Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 5 verse 1. He says, He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, Romans 8 verse 32. Every line pushes in the same direction. The Father acted to give the Son. The Son willingly offered Himself. The Spirit empowered the offering. God accepted the sacrifice. The result is reconciliation and peace to all who believe.
Frequently misused statements corrected by Scripture
People say the Father turned His back on the Son. Yet Psalm 22 verse 24 says He did not hide His face and that He heard. People say God cannot look on sin. Proverbs 15 verse 3 and Job 34 verse 21 say He sees all. People say the Son became sin in nature. Second Corinthians 5 verse 21 says He knew no sin and Hebrews 9 verse 14 says He was without spot. People say the Trinity was broken. John 10 verse 30 says, I and my Father are one. John 16 verse 32 says the Father is with me. The Scripture answers the slogans with clear testimony.
The seven sayings and the Father
Consider what the Lord says from the cross that directly involves the Father. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. These are prayers of communion and trust addressed to the Father. They frame the one lament, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, and they interpret it. The lament is the voice of the Sufferer under judgment. The prayers are the voice of the Son in fellowship with the Father. The whole record points to an unbroken relationship within the Godhead while the Son bears judgment for us.
The person of the Son never ceased to be the beloved
The Father testified from heaven, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, at the baptism and at the transfiguration. The cross did not change that. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, Philippians 2 verse 8. Obedience pleases the Father. The cross was the highest obedience. It was not a moment of divine disgust toward the person of the Son. It was the hour when the Father bruised Him for us and accepted the offering for us.
Distinguishing person and position at the cross
At the cross the Son stood in the position of the guilty. He was made sin for us by imputation. In His own person He remained holy, harmless, undefiled. God judged our sins there. God did not change His mind about His Son. The judgment fell on the Substitute. The acceptance belongs to the Substitute. The veil rent. The way opened. The Father satisfied. The Son glorified.
The Body of Christ needs Paul’s explanation, not traditions
Right division matters. The Gospels record the event and the prophetic frame. Paul gives the meaning of the cross for the Body of Christ in this present dispensation. The gospel that saves today is that Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, 1 Corinthians 15 verses 1 through 4. Paul preaches reconciliation now, without law performance, to all who believe, 2 Corinthians 5 verses 18 through 21. He never teaches that salvation rests on the Father having to stop looking at the Son. He teaches that God looked upon the sacrifice and was satisfied. The Body’s access is taught plainly. Through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father, Ephesians 2 verse 18. That access rests on an accepted offering, not on a broken fellowship within the Godhead.
Old Testament patterns that point to acceptance
The burnt offering in Leviticus rises as a sweet savour unto the LORD. The day of atonement in Leviticus shows blood carried within the veil and sprinkled before the mercy seat. Scripture attaches acceptance to blood presented in God’s presence. Paul says we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, Ephesians 1 verse 7. He says we are made nigh by the blood of Christ, Ephesians 2 verse 13. He says God set Him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, Romans 3 verse 25. The Bible’s pattern is consistent. Blood presented brings acceptance. The cross is not God looking away in rejection. It is God looking upon the blood and declaring mercy for all who believe.
Common objections answered in detail
Objection. The word forsaken proves the Father turned away.
Answer. Psalm 22 verse 24 declares that God did not hide His face and that He heard the cry. The psalm the Lord quoted gives the inspired interpretation. The cry is the voice of suffering under judgment. The end of the psalm is heard and accepted.
Objection. God cannot look on sin, so He had to look away from the Son.
Answer. Proverbs 15 verse 3 and Job 34 verse 21 say that God sees all. Habakkuk 1 verse 13 means God does not look with approval. At the cross God looked upon the sacrifice that satisfied His righteousness and judged sin there.
Objection. If He became sin for us, then the Father must have rejected Him.
Answer. He was made sin by imputation, not by becoming sinful in nature. He remained without spot, Hebrews 9 verse 14. The offering of a spotless Lamb is what God required. God accepted that offering.
Objection. Separation is needed to show how serious sin is.
Answer. Scripture shows the seriousness of sin by judgment that satisfies God’s righteousness. Romans 3 verses 24 through 26 says God is just and the justifier. Justice is satisfied in the Substitute. Separation inside the Godhead is not required and is never taught.
Practical implications for preaching, assurance, and worship
Preach the cross as a work that God planned, accomplished, and accepted. Magnify the Substitute. State clearly that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. Rest your assurance on what God has declared. If God accepted the sacrifice as a sweet smelling savour, then all who trust that finished work are accepted in the beloved, Ephesians 1 verse 6. Shape public worship and language by Scripture. It is better to say God judged our sins in His Son and accepted the offering than to repeat a line that the Father turned His face away. The first is the language of Scripture. The second is a tradition that obscures acceptance.
A concise Pauline summary
The cross is not a broken Trinity. The cross is the united work of God. The Father delivered up the Son. The Son offered Himself through the eternal Spirit to God. The blood satisfied divine justice. The sacrifice rose as a sweet savour. The veil was rent. Peace with God is preached to all who believe. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 5 verse 1. That is the message that saves and gives certainty. God did not abandon the Son. God judged our sin in the Son and accepted the offering.