Did the Father Really "Turn His Face Away"?

Did the Father turn His face away from Jesus on the cross? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, I'm Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez on this Good Friday. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We would love to hear from you. Here's our phone number.

It's 833-843-2673. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites. You can email us anytime.

If you've got a question, here's our email address. It's questionsatcorechristianity.com. Adriel, I'm assuming you have a Good Friday service at your church, and if so, what do you do every year? We do have a Good Friday service at our church, and I really love these services. A lot of scripture reading will go through basically the section of the Gospels leading up to the Passion of Christ and then the Crucifixion of Jesus. So scripture readings and then typically psalms or hymns that we're singing in between each scripture reading. So tonight we're going to be singing Psalm 22, and of course Jesus' words on the cross.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Taken from Psalm 22, we're going to be singing from Psalm 55 as well. Some of these psalms that have an association with the Passion of Christ or the things leading up to it, the betrayal and everything there. So a lot of Bible and a lot of singing, and so it's a good time. You know, it's interesting because Good Friday can be such a sorrowful, somber day, and yet we have that amazing celebration on Sunday to look forward to. And you often say on this program that we should be really celebrating Easter in our hearts all year long.

Yeah, we really should be. I mean, that's why we worship on the first day of the week on Sunday. Every time you go to church, you are proclaiming once again, Jesus is victorious over death. And I don't know about you, brothers and sisters, but I know for myself, I need that message every single day, every single week. I need to be reminded of the fact that death has been conquered finally and sin has been dealt with. My sin has been dealt with. And so what a thing for us, you know, what a gift that God has given to us to rejoice in that reality and to celebrate it every day, every week. Amen.

You're listening to CORE Christianity. Let's go to the phones. Susan is on the line from Bella Vista, Arkansas. Susan, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hello, Bill and Adriel.

Really appreciate your program. I do not understand why the church doesn't recognize that Jesus was crucified on Thursday. As Jesus said, he would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And his tomb was above ground. And supposedly he went down to Paradise to get the believers out of there and take them to heaven. Thursday, or the Friday, was a high Sabbath. So, you know, the Bible says he was taken down because it was a Sabbath. It was a high Sabbath.

Well, Susan, thank you for that question. Yeah, there is some question about what day specifically of the week did Jesus die on? Was he crucified on there? Some people say Wednesday, some people say Thursday, as you've just said, others will say Friday. We think of the celebration of Good Friday historically with the church.

And there are different reasons really given for each one. Some people say, well, if it was on Friday, was it really three days, three nights, as Christ had prophesied? You think of the prophecy of Jonah. And then some will say in response to that, sort of with the Jewish reckoning of a day, you have a part of a day reckoned as a whole day. So, you know, Friday evening, Saturday is day two, Sunday because he was still in the tomb, you know, for a portion of that day, that counts. And so there are different ways of looking at this. I don't think, you asked why doesn't the church address this. I think that our focus needs to be on what was happening, what was being accomplished when Jesus was on the cross.

The focus doesn't need to be what day specifically was he crucified. I'm not saying it's not important, and I think that we look at the gospels and we try to determine that. But the main focus needs to be what was actually being accomplished when Jesus was hanging on the cross there for our sins. And that's where the New Testament wants to focus. I think that's where the apostles wanted to focus.

And so that's where I want to focus. And you know what Paul said in the book of Galatians, chapter 3 verse 10. He gets us at what Jesus was accomplishing.

I want you to listen to this. He says, All who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, Galatians 3 10 again, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to do them. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith, but the law is not of faith, rather the one who does them shall live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. What was happening at the cross?

Well, Jesus was bearing our curse so that we might receive salvation, forgiveness, the gift of the Holy Spirit by faith, so that we might be the children of Abraham by faith. And that's where we need to focus. If the pastor's getting up there on Good Friday and he has a 45-minute sermon proving that Jesus died on this specific day and not that day, I think he's missing it.

People need to have Christ crucified, placarded before them, and they need to hear the message, You're forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ. That's what we cling to. That's what we cling to the cross of Christ. And so, again, not to say that it's not important.

I think it's good for us to think about these things and to get the history down. But I would say that's why I have not focused on that, and I think that's probably why others don't focus on it in the church as well so much. And so, Susan, God bless you, and thank you for giving us a call. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez, and I want to share an email we received from one of our listeners named John. He says, Such an excellent question, and you know what's interesting about this is the way we sing, what we sing communicates something. The words that we sing in worship, brothers and sisters, are so important. They don't just communicate what we believe, but in some sense they help to shape our beliefs so that if we sing things that are theologically inaccurate or unhelpful, we begin to embrace and believe those things. The faith is oftentimes prayed into our hearts, and so we need to be careful with the things that we sing and the things that we pray.

I think this is just a really important question for that reason. And with regard to this song in particular, where the song is How Deep the Father's Love for Us, which is actually in one of the hymnals that we use at the church that I pastor, I think there are ways to, if you believe that what the song is saying, when it says the Father turned his face away, if what you believe by that is that at the cross, God the Father and God the Son were in some sense separated, that there is this chasm within the life of the Trinity now, where the Father hates the Son or something like that, and I've heard some pretty outrageous things said by people, said by even preachers, that Jesus on the cross was hated by the Father, and there's this chasm within the Trinity. Well, that's a problem. If that's what people think took place on the cross, I would say they're actually compromising the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. For our doctrine of the atonement, what Christ did on the cross, it's important for us to understand it rightly. And any doctrine of the atonement that undermines the doctrine of the Trinity is not an accurate doctrine of the atonement.

And so we have to be really, really careful with that. But there is a sense, and I just read from Galatians 3, that we can say that Jesus Christ bore our curse. He did, in reality, fully and truly bore our curse. What was that curse?

It was the curse of death, the penalty of the law. But that doesn't mean that the Father didn't love Jesus while He was on the cross. In fact, Jesus Himself said in John chapter 16, He's talking to His disciples, He's warning them about how they're going to abandon Him while He's on the cross.

He says, Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered each to His own home and will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me. In other words, He's saying the Father is still with Me. In that hour of trial, in the hour of crucifixion, the Father is with Me. Well, then people ask, well, what did Jesus mean by His statement? They're hanging on the cross, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me, quoting from Psalm 22. And there are a number of ways that people in the history of the church have understood this, but ultimately, it's Christ in our place, bearing our penalty, our curse. It's not that the Father and the Son were separated, that the persons of the Trinity were no longer in communion or something like that. We have to reject that view while maintaining the fact that Jesus is bearing our penalty on the cross for our sins, for our justification.

And so that's my take. And I appreciate this question, and may God bless you. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We do receive voicemails here and try to review our voicemails at least once a day. And if you have a question for us, you can call us 24 hours a day and leave your message. Here's the number. It's 833-843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. Here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Holly. The question that I wanted to ask was regarding how the Bible is interpreted, and it seems like there are a lot of contradictions or paradoxes within the Bible and so many different ways that people interpret things of the Bible. It seems like there's some absolutes, but then there's also some areas where it's kind of left to individuals to decide for themselves. So my question is, how does a person interpret the things of the Word of God without it being a relative type of thing, like, you know, postmodern culture where everything's relative and it's just kind of like your experience?

I would just appreciate if you could shed some light on that. Thank you. Yeah, definitely, Holly. You're right. I mean, I think sometimes it's the scene of the small group Bible study where the leader just says, okay, you know, how did that passage make you feel? And then everybody kind of shares, you know, one after the other, well, it made me feel like this, or I kind of think it's this, and it just seems very subjective. We're not the ones who are giving meaning to the text of scripture. The scripture has meaning.

It's God's revelation. It's his speech to us, which is meant to shape us and transform us, and part of that is rightly understanding the scripture, interpreting it well, and using principles of interpretation, sometimes referred to as hermeneutics, that will guide us in unpacking the text in a way that's honoring to God. Now, let me give you a couple of, I think, helpful guides when thinking about approaching scripture. First, the only infallible interpreter of scripture is the scripture itself. Meaning, you know, me as an individual, I don't have the infallible interpretation of the Bible.

The pope in Rome does not have the infallible interpretation of the Bible. Scripture itself is its only infallible interpreter, and so scripture helps to interpret scripture. That's really important, especially, you know, as you think about the flow of the story of God, what we sometimes call redemptive history.

You know, as time progressed and revelation unfolded, you know, the New Testament really helps us to understand a lot of the things that we saw in the Old Testament as well. And that gets to another, I think, the second principle, a helpful guideline, and it's that we want to let the clear passages of scripture help guide us in understanding the less clear passages of scripture. Not all scripture is equally clear.

I think we could affirm that. You know, there's a doctrine related to the scriptures. When we think about the attributes of scriptures, we'll say that the scriptures are clear. It's sometimes referred to as the perspicuity of scripture, if you want a big, fancy-sounding word, but it just means that the Bible is clear, and that doesn't mean that all scriptures are equally clear. It just means that when it comes to the gospel, what we need to know about God and his word to be saved, to have a relationship with him, it's so clear that even a child can grasp it. You think of Jesus' words in Matthew 11, where he's praying to the Father, and he says, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, the sages, you know, the Pharisees, the scribes, and you have revealed them to the babes, to the little children. And so scripture is clear, and we want to let especially the clear parts of scripture help us to interpret the less clear parts of scripture.

Let me give you another one, because it's such an important thing. Christ has to be central. Remember what Jesus said in John chapter 5 to the religious leaders? You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

These are the very scriptures that testify of me. Or in Luke 24, after his resurrection, where Jesus is meeting up with a couple disciples on the road to Emmaus, and he opens the scriptures to them so that they can see how basically the entire Old Testament is pointing to him. Any principle of interpretation that is without Christ, that doesn't have Jesus, that doesn't lead us to Christ, I think is really problematic.

And I think Jesus himself said that. So there's this centrality to Christ. But we don't get there by just inserting Jesus into the Old Testament wherever we want.

We get there by rightly understanding the context, the historical context, the historical background. So part of rightly interpreting scripture is digging in deep and understanding the background, understanding the history, understanding passages in their original context, and then recognizing what God is communicating to the people he was addressing there and to us today. Because Paul says in 1 Corinthians that the things that were written then were jotted down for our instruction so that we might learn and grow. All scripture, Paul told Timothy, is inspired of the Holy Spirit and given for our instruction, for reproof, for building us up in godliness.

And so those are a few principles of Bible interpretation that I think will be helpful for you as you yourself approach the text of scripture. God bless Holly. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, Easter just a couple of days away, and we have a wonderful book that really will help you celebrate Easter all year long. We want to tell you about that right now. Yeah, the offer today is Tabidi Anyabwile's book, Captivated, Beholding the Mystery of Jesus's Death and Resurrection. We're excited about this resource.

We want to get it in your hands. You can access it over at Core Christianity or order it over at corechristianity.com. It's yours for a donation of any amount. And as Bill was saying, especially with Easter here now right around the corner, this is a helpful resource as you meditate on what Jesus has accomplished for you in his death and in his resurrection.

A beautiful book. You can find out more by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Again, that's corechristianity.com forward slash offers and look for the book Captivated. Well, we do receive emails here at Core Christianity.

And here's a really good one from a listener named William. And he says, How do I build my faith? I'm a new Christian and I'm not sure what to do next. Yeah.

How do I build my faith? Okay. Excellent question, brother.

And let me just say the first thing. I just want to encourage you that you want to grow in your relationship with Christ and your walk with the Lord. May God help us all to have that desire to long to grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus. And of course, that's what it's all about. The question is how.

How do we do that? Well, the way you asked the question first made me think of what Paul says in Romans chapter 10, where he says that faith comes by hearing. And in particular, not just hearing anything, but hearing the word of Christ. God uses his word to create faith in our hearts, to build faith, to sustain faith. And so the first thing I would say to you is put yourself under the influence, the impact of the word of God.

How do you do that? Well, I mean, reading it, studying it on your own. But also, and I think fundamentally, and this is something you've heard me say on the broadcast before, being in a church where the word of God is faithfully proclaimed, where you're going to hear somebody stand up behind the pulpit and preach the word of God, using those principles of Bible interpretation that I talked about with the previous caller, being faithful to the text, so that you might hear God's speech to you, to encourage you, to build you up. And so it's something that God does through his word and through other people. I think of Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 12, where he's talking about the fact that each of us in the body of Christ have different giftings. And you don't build yourself up in isolation on your own.

In fact, you can't, because you're just one part of the body. We're not capable with the gifts that God has given us to do that kind of in isolation. That's why the language of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 is God gives us these gifts within the body of Christ for the edification of the whole body, that is, other people and their gifts that God has given to them, building you up in your own faith. And we're working together as this family of faith to build each other up.

We need one another. That's Paul's big point there in 1 Corinthians 12. And so being under the ministry of the word, growing in that, and being in community, being with others who are brothers and sisters in Christ, who God will use in your life to encourage you and build you up, and who you'll be able to encourage and build up with the gifts that God has given to you.

And so those are the ways, I would say, the primary ways that I would encourage you to really be invested in growing in the word and growing in community. God bless. Great advice for any new believer. Thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to a voicemail from one of our listeners in St. Louis.

This is Arthur. Should believers in Christ who believe in the triune God be debating with those with hostility that don't agree with that doctrine? What's the minister's response and how would he handle that question? Should we be debating and possibly causing confusion with unbelievers or immature believers? The doctrine of the Trinity is at the center of the Christian faith. We're talking about who God is. Some of the earliest controversies in the Christian church, debates that were had, centered around the doctrine of the Trinity and the person of Christ, the God-man, the incarnation.

This is stuff that I think we need to stand up for and take seriously. Is it helpful or healthy to get into extended debates and conversations with those who reject those doctrines? I've had conversations with Mormons, with Jehovah's Witnesses. I think there comes a point where you're talking to an individual and you realize, yeah, this isn't going anywhere. This isn't fruitful and really this individual is actually not interested in the truth or in changing their mind, their clinging to what they believe, to the false doctrine that they believe.

I think maybe initially, if we're talking about those kinds of conversations, it's okay. We can, as believers, I think, contend for the faith and call people to repentance and say, let's search the scriptures and point them to passages that teach these doctrines like the doctrine of the Trinity. But if it persists in a way that's just, this isn't going anywhere and this individual, actually I brought up 10 passages and he hasn't had an answer for one or she hasn't had an answer for one, she's not interested in really searching the scriptures or letting the scriptures form her beliefs.

She's been basically indoctrinated or even brainwashed to believe things that are contrary to scripture and is unwilling to yield. I've seen that become unhelpful and unhealthy. So I think you need to know when to end the conversation as well. But also, generally speaking, just within the church, so if we're not talking about core Christian doctrines, we want to be careful to avoid those foolish disputes and to be careful for those on the outside who are trying to cause divisions.

This is what we read in places like Romans 16, verse 17. I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrines that you have been taught. Avoid them.

Avoid those people. If this is somebody who's just taking you away from time where you could be worshipping the Lord, serving the people around you, caring for your family, don't waste your time with that. And so may God give you wisdom as you navigate those questions and God bless. Thank you for giving us a call. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.