⁴ Jesus, of course, said “My God” on the cross. Quite a significant misquote!

⁶ In Habakkuk, the solution to this problem is that after He has used them to fulfill His purposes in judging His people, God will then destroy the wicked Babylonians for their sins.

⁹ The Hebrew word translated “before me” comes from the word neged, which means “what is conspicuous, in front of, in sight of, opposite to.” Compare also the Septuagint translation of this verse: “I beheld the Lord always before my face.”

¹⁰ For a description of Jesus’ physical agony, see p. 86ff.

¹³ Hades (Greek) and sheol (Hebrew) are general terms for “the place of departed spirits.” There are separate realms within hades, or sheol, for the lost and for the righteous. For example, in the Old Testament the wicked are said at death to go to sheol, but are consigned to the “pit” (Is. 14:15; Ezek. 32:17ff.), whereas the righteous, who also go to sheol, enter the presence of God (Ps. 49:15; 73:24; Gen. 5:24). In the New Testament, the lost are shown to be in sheol/hades in a place of torment (Luke 16:19-31), whereas the righteous are in paradise or “Abraham’s bosom,” a place of comfort and blessing (Luke 16:22-25; 23:43). Furthermore, the righteous dead are said to be “with the Lord” (Phil. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:8).

¹⁵ For a complete study of this, please see Chapter Eleven.

²¹ Apart from the parallel passage in Matthew 27:45-47, of course.

²² And it does not even so much as suggest it, when understood.

²³ It is important to note that this verse is not didactic but narrative. In other words, it is not a specific teaching about Jesus’ atoning death, but simply a record of what happened.

²⁵ In Matthew 4:6-7, Jesus appealed to the whole counsel of God to refute Satan’s error which he had supported by a single Scripture taken out of context.

³⁷ I.e., as if Jesus were asking His Father a question to which He didn’t know the answer, and expected a reply.

³⁸ Cf. John 19:28, “…Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.” See Ps. 69:21.

⁴⁰ Psalm 69 and Psalm 109, parts of which foreshadow the sufferings of the Messiah as well, teach the same thing.

⁴³ Please notice that Satan never had control over Jesus’ life – not at any point!

⁴⁵ “Dogs” in Psalm 22:16 means Gentiles (see Matt. 15:26), and God clearly refers to the Roman soldiers in vv. 16-18. Those who have taught that these verses refer to demons in hell tormenting Jesus are in obvious error!

⁴⁹ Please see Chapter Twelve of To Enjoy Him Forever for a discussion of Jesus’ inward fellowship with His Father while He was on the cross, and how this is to be paralleled in our “cross” experiences.

⁵⁰ John 17:4-5; Acts 2:36; 5:30-31; Phil. 2:8-11; Heb. 12:2; 1 Pet. 3:22. This is what Paul meant, in 1 Tim. 3:16, when he said Jesus was “justified in the spirit.” See Chapter Fifteen.