What Does it Mean to be Forsaken by God?

In Luke 17 Christ Described the Condition of the damned soul, from which we may learn some of what it means to be forsaken by God. It is to suffer torment and thirst with nothing to diminish either verse 24;

“For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.”

To be without  comfort in verse 25;

“But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.”

Removed from the help of man and of God in verse 26;

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.”

It was to be awear of loved ones facing the same destruction, but unable to warn them in verses 27-30,

“They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

Christ and the apostles speak of the darkness of being forsaken by God – read the following;

Matthew 8:11-12 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 22:13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

Matthew 25:29-31  For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.  And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

II Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

Jude 6-7 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

Jude 12-13 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

And… remember the demons begged Christ not to send them to torment…

Matthew 8:29 And behold, they (demons) cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”

Luke 8:28-31 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him.

Just one of the many truths of the Gospel in which one should be thankful for this coming Easter… or every Resurrection-Day  for that matter.