When God Looked Away: The Observer Effect and the Mystery of the Cross by Wayne Sutton

By Wayne Sutton
In the realm of quantum physics, there's a principle known as the observer effect—a strange and fascinating truth that simply watching something at the quantum level changes its behavior. Particles, when left unobserved, exist in a state of superposition—both here and there, both wave and particle. But the moment an observer interacts, the wave collapses, and the particle assumes a definite state. Observation brings order. It brings reality. Now imagine this: What if the same principle—on a much grander, divine scale—was at play during the most pivotal moment in history?
When God Looked Away: The Observer Effect and the Mystery of the Cross by Wayne Sutton
 
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In the realm of quantum physics, there's a principle known as the observer effect—a strange and fascinating truth that simply watching something at the quantum level changes its behavior. Particles, when left unobserved, exist in a state of superposition—both here and there, both wave and particle. But the moment an observer interacts, the wave collapses, and the particle assumes a definite state. Observation brings order. It brings reality.
 
Now imagine this: What if the same principle—on a much grander, divine scale—was at play during the most pivotal moment in history?
 
When Jesus hung on the cross, in agony and isolation, He cried out with haunting words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Theologians have long wrestled with the mystery of that moment. Was it despair? Was it a quotation from Psalm 22? Was it the cry of the Son experiencing separation from the Father?
 
What if it was all of that—and more?
 
What if, in that holy moment, the Father turned His face away—and the spiritual observer effect took place?
 
Scripture tells us that Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). He didn’t just carry our sin like a burden on His back. He became it. The spotless Lamb was transformed into the embodiment of all that is unclean, broken, and damned.
 
Now, think back to the observer effect. When the observer is present, the system has order. When the observer looks away, chaos reigns. Could it be that when the Father removed His gaze—when the divine observer turned away—the very nature of the Son shifted? The wave collapsed. Holiness gave way to sin. The One who had always been in perfect unity with the Father suddenly stood alone, abandoned, the embodiment of every transgression.
 
It wasn’t physics. It was love.
 
It wasn’t science. It was sacrifice.
 
But perhaps the language of quantum mechanics helps us grasp what words alone cannot describe.
 
God, the ultimate Observer—the One who sees all, knows all, and holds all things together—turned His face from the Son… not out of anger, but out of love for us. In that instant, Jesus stood where we should have stood, experienced what we deserved to experience.
 
And because of that divine exchange, we now live under the gaze of God’s grace. The Observer is not distant. He is present. Watching. Guiding. Loving. Holding all things together again.
 
In a universe where observation defines reality, the cross stands as the ultimate paradox: When God looked away, reality was forever changed.
 
Wayne Sutton