This is a great book on the central theme of the Gospel message—the substitutionary work of Jesus on the cross. The book is Forsaken: The Trinity and the Cross, and Why It Matters and the author has the odious task of trying to correct much false teaching on Jesus’ cry from the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” It is at its core, however, a book about the correct understanding of the Triune God we serve.
Here is a quote to ponder:
“God is for us. It is not part of God that is for us-as if some divine persons or some divine attributes were opposed to me while others are for me-it is just God who is, in the impassible simplicity of the trinitarian life, radically for us.”
(Thomas H. McCall. Forsaken: The Trinity and the Cross, and Why It Matters (Kindle Locations 865-866). Kindle Edition.)
He means that when we consider the cross we should never see a wrathful Father punishing a reluctant Son. We should not see an angry Father and a sympathetic Son who is “for us.” Rather, all of God is for us. God is for us. The triune God is for us—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Father does not force the incarnation on the Son. The Son willingly, joyfully came, but the Father also joyfully sent the Son. After all, the oft quoted John 3:16 mentions the love of God (the Father). It is that the Father loved the world and sent His son. It was the Spirit who worked to bring about the birth. All of God acted in love for us.
In this we can rejoice. God is with us. All of God is for us.