Hakeem Toluwaloju Abina these words of Jesus are very significant and it’s worth spending a moment to appreciate their context and meaning. I don’t see Satan as anymore involved at this stage, he hardly needed to be. Jesus is now suffering the consequences of the damage Satan has ever done in the entire history of humanity.
These words of Jesus were not some delirious random cry of anguish. They came at the lowest point of Jesus ordeal.
They broke the preceding 3 hours of darkness:
“When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:33-34 HCSB)
It was during that 3 hour period that Jesus had felt complete abandonment and isolation for the first and only time.”Forsaken” is the ultimate spiritual separation. It is something God ordinarily promises never to do (Deuteronomy 31:6; Hebrews 13:5). But this was no ordinary moment. Jesus is literally being “made sin” having the sins of the world put upon Him. He knew forsakenness for our sake so that our sins should never separate us from God again. This is the sinners portion:
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2)
God is holy and righteous, so much so that unholy men are in danger if they try to draw close to him — “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24; cf. Hebrews 12:29). We must keep our distance. Our sins and iniquities have caused a separation between us and God — a great gulf or chasm between us. The Hebrew verb is bādal, “divide, separate, sever.” That he has “hidden his face from you” (Isaiah 59:2b) means that we can’t experience communion with him or sense his presence in our lives. “He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2c).
If our sins are enough to separate us from God, we cannot imagine how having the entire weight of the sins of the world made Jesus feel. His desolation, abandonment and forsakenness were total and absolute. The Father who cannot look upon sin turned away. The 3 hours darkness – a supernatural event of real palpable darkness, reminiscent of the total darkness that covered all Egypt for three days (Exodus 10:21-22) in both cases unexplained by any celestial event – both symbolised and physically manifested that turning away.
And finally Jesus knew Psalm 22. He knew its references to His ordeal. He knew it was about Him. Now He shouted it aloud to the world. This was no apt Scripture quotation for the sake of a dramatic conclusion. Jesus wasn’t just quoting the Scripture. It was no time for that.
This was the prophetic word being fulfilled. The Scripture was being fulfilled in the hearing of the witnesses to the crucifixion. Jesus was being, living and dying the events not just foretold but preordained by Psalm 22. At that moment Jesus was expressing the desolation He knew and felt, the question “why” is rhetorical – He was not asking for an answer. It is for us to reason why He had to die.