Psalm 88:5

Psalm 88:5

Remembered no more

The writer of this Psalm is, as we have seen, in a very dark and gloomy place. There is no hope. There is no help. He sees himself like a victim of the battlefield, a slain body lying in an open grave, a useless corpse whose time has gone.  In this place, there is no identity or individuality, a corpse is a corpse, it is forsaken and useless and remembered no more. It serves no purpose; its life has been sucked away and it is soon forgotten. We need to remember that in this life whilst we are living, breathing beings, we are always within the reach of God’s care. To die without Him means to enter a future existence without Him. For the ancients, who lived before Christ, there was no hope of resurrection. They had limited understanding of what lay beyond the grave, all they knew was that death was like a pit and the world beyond cut them off from the privileges, beauty and wonder, and relationships enjoyed during a life on earth. 

Jesus must have known that His death would take Him to a place outside of God’s care and protection. He must enter the darkness of Sheol / Hades and witness the torture and gloom of the disembodied spirits who dwelt there. He must suffer the curse of death and hell and in a state where there is no light, no life, no provision, and no purpose. Those who leave this world to enter such a place are cut off from God and remembered no more. 

Imagine that! God does not remember those who have left this world with no belief in Him! Jesus was about to enter a realm where God’s presence was non-existent, a place where He must survive alone. A place where no one is remembered. Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani!

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