Metaphysical meaning of sabachthani (mbd)
sabachthani, sa-bach-tha'-ni (Gk. fr. Chald.)--thou hast forsaken me; thou hast left me; (to what) hast thou surrendered me? (why) hast thou forsaken me ?
In sabachthani we find the root idea of loosening, setting free; letting alone and forsaking are secondary developments. The real root idea of the word expresses the cutting loose of bondage, or freeing from slavery.
On the cross Jesus cried, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani ? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" (Matt. 27:46).
Meta. The cry of the soul at the darkest hour of crucifixion. When the sensual is passing away it seems as though man were giving up all his life, including every good. The sensual looms so large at this hour that for the time being it shuts God from the consciousness of the individual who is going through the experience. But God never forsakes His children; there can be no real separation from the Divine, and a glorious resurrection into a greater degree of spiritual life than was ever realized before always follows each letting go of the old. "Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus." "That like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life."
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