The scriptures tell us that Jesus bore the sins of the whole world.  He suffered all of the pains and troubles that a human being might suffer.  It was on the cross that that he uttered the words that are referred to in the question.  There are two principal interpretations for these words coming from the mouth of Jesus on the cross. 

The first explanation is that Jesus is quoting from Psalm 22 which begins with the words, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”  The thought is that Jesus is using the first line of this Psalm to call to people’s minds the rest of the text of the Psalm which tells of Isaiah’s Suffering Servant.  That would be much like a modern Christian crying out in the words of the famous hymn “Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound.” And by that reference calling to mind all that the hymn means to each of us.  This is a clever and even convincing argument.  Surely Jesus did not have much breath as the very nature of the cross was to make it difficult for the victim to breathe.  So maybe by saying “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Jesus did actually lay claim to being the Messiah that Isaiah prophesied.

But that seems to be a convoluted way of avoiding the issue of whether Jesus actually felt forsaken by God, and more importanly, whether Jesus was actually forsaken by God in his last hours on earth.  Those seem like important questions to answer.  Did Jesus really feel that he was forsaken?  And was Jesus, in fact, actually forsaken by God?

I am going to speculate here a bit.  But I will provide a rationale for my speculations.  I know of nowhere in scripture that would actually prove either of those questions, either way, but I think we can reason our way to a conclusion on both accounts.  First, Jesus, as the Suffering Servant, the Messiah, paid the price for the sins of the whole world, not just in general, but he paid for each individual sin committed by every human being since the eating of the forbidden fruit.  There is no penalty exacted from anyone for any sin, that Jesus didn’t suffer in truth and in reality.  As I write that, it strikes me that it is an awe inspiring truth.  One that should humble each and every one of us.  There is one person in the history of mankind that suffered the penalty of being forsaken by God.  And we are told about it in th First book of Samuel.  That man was the very first King of Israel, Saul.  Saul, in his war with the Amelikites directly disobeyed the direct command of God.  The penalty Saul paid was that not only did God withdraw his favor from Saul, but he withdrew His presence and his Spirit from Saul leaving him completely forsaken by God.  A more horrible punishment is difficult to contemplate.  Now my argument is this, if Saul suffered this punishment for his sin, then Jesus must have suffered that same punishment in order that Saul could be redeemed from his sins.

If we can agree that Jesus suffered forsakenness, then surely he must have felt in a very real way the lack of fellowship with God.  Not to make this incredible fact a joke in any way, but the thing that sprung into my mind was what happens to me when my wife is mad at me.  Please understand that I am not trivializing Jesus’ suffering, but anything that I may suffer is certainly trivial in comparison, but maybe I can make my point with out being completely sacreligious.  By Holly’s silence, I become aware that she is unhappy with me.  It is not anything she does or says, it is in reality that something is missing in our relationship that gets my attention.  God’s withdrawal of himself and his spirit from Jesus must have left a massive emptiness in the soul of Jesus and filled up that place with a painful emptiness.  For Saul, his forsakenness drove him mad even to the point where he lived as a beast of the field for some length of time.

So, having never really thought about it before, I have come to a new appreciation of what Jesus suffered on the cross.  Yes, he suffered the physical torture, and the psychological torment that any human would have known from the cross, but he also suffered the loss of the one thing that He had always enjoyed from eternity; The eternal fellowship of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.