Many people point to Jesus’s prayer on the cross as evidence that the Father is a separate person from Jesus Christ. They believe that the Father left Jesus to die alone on the cross. Actually, Jesus was clear that the Father would not leave Him at the cross.
John 8:28-29
Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone;
When He was lifted up, they would know that the Father hadn’t left Him. We were reconciled by His death. When Jesus paid the wage of sin, death, God was still in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:19
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them
What did Jesus mean when he said, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
1. Possibly He was for the first time feeling sin. Sin separates us from God. As a man, He felt like a God forsaken sinner. As the scripture says, He became sin for us.
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 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. It is also very likely that Jesus was pointing the crowd’s attention to a prophecy being fulfilled in their midst. David in his Psalms would often express His sorrows and need for God’s intervention. In the midst of a personal psalm of distress, he would prophetically begin to explain the distress of the suffering Savior that would come after him. This occurs in Psalms 22.
Psalm 22:14-18
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
Since Psalms didn’t have titles, the first line could serve as a de facto title. What is the first line of this Psalm describing the crucifixion?
Psalm 22:1
22 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
It is possible that Jesus identified the Psalm in which the prophecy was contained by quoting the first line. He may have been simply identifying the Psalm, and not actually expressing any feelings of being forsaken. It is sometimes difficult to know within a Messianic psalm when David is speaking of himself and when he is expressing the feelings of Christ. A portion of David’s lament in this psalm is plainly speaking of Christ, but this does not necessarily prove that the rest of the psalm, including the first verse, is speaking of Christ. For example, Psalms 69:21 describes the soldiers giving Jesus vinegar to drink while He was on the cross, yet part of the same psalm, verse 5, consists of David confessing his sins. The entire psalm is written as a first person account as David fluctuates between his experiences and the coming experiences of Christ.
The Trinitarian view of God is just as difficult to reconcile with the cry on the cross. Jesus never said that the Father forsook him. He said, “My God”. If God means “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost” and Jesus was literally forsaken, then God, including God the Son, forsook the Son. Could God the Son leave the Son of God on the cross?