Psalm 38:21-22

Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me.

Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.

These two verses are Messianic in nature. Verse 21 is very similar to Psalm 22:1 where we read, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?” What was happening to Christ as He was on the cross? He was enduring the equivalent to an eternity of being under the wrath of God for those whom He came to save. Remember that hell is punishment for sins and the Bible tells us that hell is forever, Mark 9:43. But why does Christ speak as though He believed God would forsake Him, doesn’t He remember that He and the Father are One? Our Lord Jesus Christ can not be held by death, whether physical or spiritual, Acts 2:24. Our Lord Jesus Christ is eternal God Himself and as a matter of fact He will be the One on the last day who will be doing the judging and placing the unsaved into a place called hell. The reason why Christ speaks this way is to show us His anxiety in enduring God’s wrath. When in the garden of Gethsemane He was in so much anguish that the Bible tells us in Luke 22:44, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Hell is for real and to truly think about a place called hell is almost unbelievable. The problem is we do not realize how awful our sin is, we do not realize what it means to break God’s law, but most of all those who have experienced God’s salvation will never experience what our Lord Jesus experienced. The opposite is sadly true, those who have not experienced God’s salvation will experience God’s wrath. If this is you then may it be that you would cry out to Him for salvation.

Pastor Alfred J. Chompff