Cross Words - The Cries of Jesus From the Cross
7 - His Last Word
Luke 23 Verses 3 to 46 - “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”
Over the years I've sat beside and held and prayed with those who were dying. I’ve heard them speak for the last time.
And I’ve watched families get as close as they can so as to catch every single word.
Why? Because last words are important words. You see, what we say in the face of death is extremely revealing.
As Jesus died, He cried. 7 cries. He spoke 7 times from the cross. His crosswords.
His final cry, His last word was just before He died and it's extremely revealing. In fact, no dying words were more revealing.
They are recorded in Luke chapter 23, verse 46: "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.”
Let’s notice 3 things about the last words of Jesus.
To begin with, they’re words of prayer, "Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit." (KJV)
It’s the very same prayer that David prayed in Ps 31 hundreds of years before. It's the very same prayer Stephen, the first Christian martyr, prayed in the book of Acts.
In fact, it's a prayer Mary His mother taught Him as a child.
Like every Jewish boy He would’ve recited these very words as soon as He wakened in the morning and again as He lay down to sleep at night: “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit." (NKJ)
And so here we have a prayer and what’s more it's coming from the lips of a man of prayer.
So here’s Jesus. The dying Jesus. Only a short time left to live. This is it. The final countdown.
He’s in agony and yet, as He hangs on the cross He communes with His Father, He converses with His Father, He talks to His Father, He prays to His Father.
“Father, I trust Myself to You, I leave Myself with You, I give Myself into Your care, I commend My Spirit to You." They are words of prayer.
And they're words of power. "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit." (NKJ)
Isn’t that something? Here’s Jesus in total control, He lays down His life, He gives up His spirit, He orders His own death.
Just think of it. He’s in charge of the method of His death. He’s in control of that.
Of course, they tried to stone Him, they tried to throw Him over the edge of a cliff.
But He wasn’t to be stoned, He wasn’t to be crushed on the rocks. NO! He was to suffer the curse of the cross.
And so He set His face resolutely, like a flint, to go all the way to Jerusalem, to death, to the cross to shed His blood.
And all the while, He’s in charge. He’s in charge of the method of His death.
He’s also in charge of the manner of His death.
John tells us that "He bowed his head". (KJV)
He carefully and deliberately positioned His head. What control. What power.
He was in charge of the Method of His death and the Manner of His death and the moment of His death.
Listen! For us death is the master. But for Him, death is the servant. He dismisses His spirit and He does so with absolute precision and sovereign authority.
Augustine was right, when he said, “He gave up His life, because He willed it, when He willed it, and as He willed it.”
Words of Prayer and words of Power.
And lastly, words of peace.
During the whole sorry episode Jesus is completely composed.
In spite of the pain, in spite of the suffering and the misery and the agony, amazingly we still find that He's in control of all of His faculties. He’s calm and composed.
And here again it’s the very same. Wonderful assurance, wonderful confidence. Confidence in His Father.
He commits Himself, He places Himself, He gives Himself, He entrusts Himself into the safest, the greatest, the strongest hands ever.
"Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit."
Into the hands that created the universe, into the hands that scooped out the oceans, into the hands that flung the stars into space, into the hands that heaped up the mountains and rule the nations and the affairs of men.
Into the Almighty hands of the Almighty God. And He does so with calmness and composure and peace and certainty and unwavering assurance.
When Jesus cried out He knew that after the cross, would be the crown, that after the crucifixion, would be the coronation, that after the agony, would be the victory and that after the pain, would be the peace and after the hell, would be heaven.
Words of Prayer, words of Power and words of Peace.
Some lessons.
First of all, to pray is Christlike, we're never more like Jesus than when we’re praying.
If we want to grow and develop and mature as Christians, there’s no other way. No shortcuts. No quick fixes. It takes prayer. A lifetime of prayer.
No prayer, no growth. It's as basic as that. Do you want to be more and more like Jesus? Then pray. That's the first lesson.
The second lesson is this: We have a mighty Saviour and His power is infinite and even man’s last fearful enemy is no match for Him. When it comes to death, He calls the shots.
Aren’t you glad about that? His own death and our death. None of us will go before His time.
Please remember that. Jesus is in charge. God has put all authority in heaven and in earth onto His shoulders. That's a lesson to learn.
A third lesson is this: To be in His hand is to be safe forever.
We can put our head on the pillow at night and know that we're safe not just for time but safe for all eternity.
Before Satan can separate you from Jesus Christ, he would have to tear down all the battlements of heaven, he would have to throw God off His throne, he would have to slay all of the hosts of angels, he would have to silence Christ’s intercession on our behalf. And that’s impossible!
I want to tell you, you can face life and you can the life to come with confidence because of Him. You’re safe and you're secure.
Peter told us that Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow. We're to live the way that He died. Peter went on to say, when He suffered He threatened not, when He was reviled He didn't revile in return but He kept on committing Himself to the One who judges righteously.
And that’s not only how He died, that's how we are to live every day, every moment of every day. God, here I am, take me, hold me, help me. I'm committing myself to You, entrusting myself to You.
7 crosswords.
“Father, forgive them, they do not know what they're doing.”
“Assuredly I say to you today you'll be with Me in Paradise.”
“Woman, behold your son, son, behold your mother.”
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?”
“I thirst.”
“It is finished.”
And lastly: “Into Your hands I commit my spirit.”
The crosswords of Jesus.
Aren’t you so glad for the cross? Aren’t you so glad for the cries from the cross. Aren’t you so glad for the One wo died on the cross?