The Father really did forsake Jesus on the cross, and objections to this arise from emotion and humanism rather than theological necessity. Jesus' cry, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, quotes Psalm 22:1 and identifies Him as the Messiah. The Hebrew azab covers types and degrees of forsaking, and here it includes the Father's temporary distance and refusal to intervene before He answered by resurrecting Christ from the grave. Scripture shows that God forsakes in righteous response to sin, as with Israel and Asa (II Chronicles 15:2), and also withdraws to test, as with Hezekiah. Since Jesus was tested in all points, the Father had to withdraw so what was in Christ's heart could be manifest, and He never turned from the Father's purpose. Christ was also made a curse (Galatians 3:13) and made sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21). Whether read as sin or sin offering, He became the substitute and representation of sin, bearing its full effects, including separation from God. The crown of thorns and the three hours of darkness over all the earth symbolize curse and judgment, with the Father withdrawing so His justice could be satisfied. This shows that sin is diametrically opposed to God's holiness. Yet the Father never stopped loving His Son; Jesus was forsaken not for His own sin but because of ours, taking our place to overcome that separation.

Jesus Christ, in His deepest agony on the stake at Calvary, cried out to His Father, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" This intense plea, spoken in Aramaic and recorded in both Matthew and Mark, revealed the profound sense of abandonment He felt. Hanging there, He was utterly alone, cut off from His heavenly Father, bearing the weight of humanity's sins. This separation, experienced during three hours of supernatural darkness, reflected the stark reality of sin's consequence—total isolation from God. As He took on the sins of mankind, Jesus endured the pain and anguish of this disconnection, a state most of the world remains unaware of today. Despite this, His cry was not without faith; He still addressed the Father as "My God," showing His enduring trust even in desolation. This moment underscored the immutable nature of God's laws, leaving no alternative but for the Father to withdraw from His Son, who had become sin for humanity. Through this, Jesus fully comprehended the human experience of being cut off from God, enhancing His intercession for mankind with deeper meaning and commitment.

In the final hours of His human life, Jesus experienced profound sorrow and distress, particularly as He faced separation from His heavenly Father. This intense agony, which began at Gethsemane, was marked by a sudden and deep sorrow that surpassed any human experience. As recorded in Matthew 27:46, about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' which translates to, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?' This cry, derived from the Greek verb egkataleipo, reveals Jesus' anguished plea to His Father, questioning why He had been deserted and left behind in His suffering. This moment of being forsaken, of being cut off from communication with His perfect, loving, and eternal Father, was among the most painful aspects of His sacrifice, contributing significantly to the depth of His travail.

During the crucifixion, as Jesus hung on the cross, He experienced immense suffering and abandonment. In the total darkness from noon to three o'clock, He cried out, quoting Psalm 22, expressing the anguish of being forsaken by God. At that moment, the weight of all the sins of the world was poured upon Him, and He bore this burden alone. Despite the mockery of those around Him, who taunted whether God would come to His rescue, Jesus endured this separation and suffering as part of His redemptive mission. His focus remained on fulfilling the purpose His Father had given Him, even in the deepest moment of isolation.

During the crucifixion, Jesus Christ experienced profound separation from God, as evidenced by His cry recorded in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" which translates to, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" This anguished utterance reveals the deep torment of being separated from the Father, a moment of intense suffering as He bore the penalty of sin, which is death and spiritual separation from God. This separation, described in Psalm 22:1, underscores the reality that Christ was forsaken, enduring the most terrifying experience of His life to accomplish salvation for humanity. Through this act, He faced the ultimate consequence of sin, ensuring that mankind could be reconciled to God.

Human sinfulness stands at the center of why God ever needed to forsake Jesus Christ. Because every person, from earliest childhood, sins continually and falls far short of God's glory, no human being could pay the price for sin or redeem another, since a sinful creature cannot serve as an unblemished sacrifice. Only a higher Being, someone more valuable than any human or angel, could pay this price. Christ, the Word who became flesh, humbled Himself to live sinlessly as a man among sinners and voluntarily gave His life as the atoning sacrifice. This sacrifice is pictured in Leviticus 16 through two goats forming one sin offering: the slain goat representing the shedding of innocent blood to redeem sin, and the live goat (the Azazel) representing the bearing away of sin into the wilderness after the high priest confessed over it "all the iniquities," "all their transgressions," and "all their sins." Both actions—payment and removal—were necessary, and both were fulfilled by Christ alone, just as Aaron alone performed all the work of atonement without assistance, foreshadowing that Christ alone accomplishes redemption while humanity can only receive it by faith. Isaiah 53 confirms that the Servant was "wounded for our transgressions," that "the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all," and that He bore the sins of many—linking the prophecy directly to both parts of the Leviticus sacrifice. This convergence of Scripture culminates at the crucifixion, recorded in Matthew 27:45-53, where Jesus cries out, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?"—"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" This cry marks the precise moment when the sins of the entire world were placed upon Him, just as the high priest transferred Israel's sins onto the live goat's head. At that moment, Christ became, in effect, the most repulsive being in the universe, laden with the accumulated evil of all human sin. Since God cannot abide sin, and since Isaiah 59:2 declares that sin separates humanity from God, it was humanity's sins—not Christ's own, for He was sinless—that caused the Father to forsake the Son. This was the first and only time Christ was ever apart from His Father, a separation as agonizing for the Father to witness as it was for the Son to bear. Shortly after this cry, Christ yielded up His spirit, and creation itself responded: the temple veil tore from top to bottom, signifying that access to God had now been opened through the death of the sinless Lamb. This momentary forsaking, though brief, was the necessary culmination of Christ's mission as Savior, High Priest, and Good Shepherd, who laid down His life willingly to reconcile God and humanity, purge consciences from guilt, and secure eternal redemption. The Day of Atonement's solemnity flows directly from this event, calling believers to humility and self-affliction in recognition that their reconciliation with God came at the cost of the Father forsaking the Son, so that those who accept this sacrifice might be reconciled, cleansed, and empowered to grow toward righteousness under Christ's ongoing shepherding.

The Day of Atonement uniquely commands fasting because it portrays a profound reality: Jesus Christ, not Satan, is the sin-bearer pictured by the goat of departure. Scripture declares that God laid humanity's iniquity upon Christ, who became sin for us, bearing the weight of our separation from the Father. This role extends beyond the crucifixion, pointing forward to Christ's continuing work of carrying away the sins of humanity and making forgiveness possible. Because believers are members of Christ's body and He is their Head, Atonement fasting is more than remembrance of His suffering—it represents empathy and spiritual participation in the burden He bears as Savior. Understanding this gives the fast a deeply personal meaning: we share, in a small but profound way, in the significance of Christ's ongoing work of reconciliation and atonement.