How could God forsake Himself?

If Jesus and God are one and the same, and Christ is God in the flesh...., then explain why Jesus, while upon the cross even bleeding to death, would cry out: "My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me?" How could God forsake himself?

You ask an excellent question when you ask how God could forsake Himself upon the cross. In answering this question, you must also remember that God is one God and yet three Persons (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The Bible says: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD...." (Deuteronomy 6:4); and also, "I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous. Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the LORD God, and his Spirit, hath sent me. This saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go" (Isaiah 48:15-17. Here all three Persons of the Trinity are named). Jesus Himself commanded baptism "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19).

Psalm 110:1 says, "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Jesus (in Matthew 22:41-46) cites this passage to show that the Messiah is both David's son and David's Lord (God the Son). One might also ask the question: "How could God tell God to sit at His right hand?" The answer is, of course, that it is God the Father telling His own dear Son (in the Person of Jesus Christ) to sit at His right hand until He makes His enemies His footstool. You might also read Psalm 2, where a discourse between the Father and the Son (who is also the LORD's Anointed, or the Messiah in Hebrew) is recorded.

Now to answer your question more directly, I would refer you to the Old Testament prophecy recorded in Isaiah 53:1-12, where the sufferings, death, and resurrection of God's righteous Servant (Jesus Christ) is described. Verse 6 says: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Prior to His sufferings and death, Jesus Christ (Son of Mary and Son of God - cf. Luke 1:26-38) lived and walked in perfect fellowship with God the Father, for Jesus was without sin and always did the will of His Father (cf. John 8:28-29; 46-47; Hebrews 4:15). Indeed, Jesus was one with the Father (John 14:5-14; John 17:1-26). But, in order to redeem us from our sin and disobedience, God the Father laid upon His own dear Son, Jesus Christ, our sins and the sins of the whole world. As Isaiah says, "The LORD hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all." Therefore, as Jesus hung there upon the cross dying for our sins, He could truly say the words of Psalm 22:1: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46). Indeed, God the Father condemned and forsook His own dear Son upon the cross and counted Him guilty for your sins and mine! Jesus truly suffered the tortures of the damned in hell there upon the cross that we might not have to suffer these torments forever!

Isaiah 53 describes this further when it says: "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" (vv. 10-12).

2 Corinthians 5:21 describes it this way: "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." To explain, God the Father made Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us; that we, who have sinned, might be counted perfectly righteous and holy in God's sight for Jesus' sake.

So God the Father condemned and forsook His only begotten Son upon the cross because the Son was bearing the wrath and punishment of God upon our sins that we might be forgiven of God and have life everlasting.

Incidentally, Jesus had to be true man to take the place of man under God's law and fulfill it for us and then to take our punishment and suffer and die upon the cross; and Jesus had to be true God in order for His righteousness and His innocent sufferings and death to be sufficient ransom for the sins of all mankind (cf. Galatians 4:4-5; Hebrews 2:14-17; Psalm 49:7-9; 1 John 2:2; Romans 5:18-19; Mark 10:45).

I hope this answers your question. If not, or if you have further questions, please write again.

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