Jesus had perfect fellowship with God the Father for all eternity-- "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30) "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one" (1John 5:7) For all time, Jesus and the Father were one. They had perfect fellowship: perfect communication: acted and thought in unison. Sometimes it is easy to think of Jesus as something more than a man, since we know He had perfect fellowship with the Father. Yet it is clear that He did become a man... "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) But in the same verse we see that Jesus was different, in that He was born without sin--"full of grace and truth." We know the miracles He did as a man filled with the Holy Ghost. We tend to think that He was something more than we are--and in a way He was. We even tend to think that He knew the fate that was to befall Him. He voluntarily went to the cross-He told the disciples he would go-- "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:" (John 3:14) "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." (John 8:28) Jesus knew of His date with the cross--He was in perfect obedience to God the Father. Perhaps we sometimes have trouble relating to Jesus when we see His perfection even unto death. "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phillipians 2:8) But when he went to that cross-something incredible happened. Something that we can barely grasp or understand, but so very important!"And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 15:34) Jesus was forsaken by God the Father. Jesus became sin-- "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." (2Corinthians 5:21) Jesus became one of us--in fact He became all of us--he took on all the sin that ever was or ever will be, in His own innocent body, to cleanse us, to give us a right standing with God, and to heal us. Everything that makes us fall short of God's perfection was taken at the cross! "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Look carefully at those words. Jesus Himself did not know what had happened--he became separated from God the Father, and did not understand why. He was abandoned by His Father--He lost touch with God. He could not understand what had happened--why--why He asks. Have you ever said these words? Have you ever been separated from your fellowship with God? Have you ever lost God's presence and wondered where He went.? [Now we need to understand something. What happens with us is not a true separation from God. What happens to us is that we temporarily have fallen from faith in the Word of God. The Bible says that God never leaves us] ...."I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13:5) Are you in a situation that seems impossible? And you keep crying out to God and it seems as if He does not hear you--that He has forsaken you? Have you been abandoned by your earthly mother or father? Perhaps you were abused as a child. Jesus know what it is like to be separated--abandoned--in a way that is deeper than anything we would have to go through. He who had perfect fellowship with God was left abandoned--dying-stripped-beaten. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." (1 Peter 2:24). "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:3-5) Jesus took all those things so we may be healed! He bore our specific griefs and sorrows, our pain and stress, our afflictions--physical, spiritual and emotional. Jesus understands what it means to be abandoned and forsaken. He knows what it means to loose something. He knows what it means to cry out to God and not hear a reply. We truly have a Savior who understands what we feel.. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15) Jesus understand perfectly what you are going through. He, though completely innocent, was tempted, hurt and abandoned in exactly the way we are, in fact in a deeper way than any of us can truly claim, as none of us is without sin as He was. We cannot begin to imagine the agony of His abandonment. Yet He did it for a reason---a glorious reason--to heal! ....."and with his stripes we are healed."

Pray to Jesus now and ask Him to heal you. Surrender the pain you have been carrying to Him--bring it to the cross. With Your stripes I am healed!

Lord Jesus, I surrender my sickness to you, I surrender my worry, my pain, my stress, my abandonment. Lord you took my pain when you went to the cross--it was for my pain that you were forsaken. Lord Jesus you know what I feel--you are touched with my feelings, with my infirmities. You carried them to the cross at Calvary and buried them at the tomb of Golgotha--but then you rose! You conquered my sickness--you undid my sin and disease. You were completely restored in glory by your resurrection and so you paid the price for my healing. My abandonment belongs to you at the cross, but my healing and life belong to the power of the risen Christ. Lord Jesus, by your stripes I am healed.

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