Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
Our Lord’s final cry from the Cross.
Wednesday, April 7, 2004
You are not really prepared to live unless you are prepared to die.
2CO 5:6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord – for we walk by faith, not by sight –
2CO 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
He confronted the last enemy – death – and courageously faced its sorrow, its trial, its pain, its finality –
1CO 15:26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
PSA 31:5 Into Thy hand I commit my spirit; Thou hast ransomed me, O Lord, God of truth.
TLJC did not have to be ransomed or redeemed.
When TLJC prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” LUK 23:34, He was fulfilling ISA 53:12, “He… made intercession for the transgressors.”
When He cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me,”
MAT 27:46, He was quoting PSA 22:1.
When He said, “Father, into thy hands I commit My spirit,” LUK 23:46, He fulfilled PSA 31:5.
PSA 31:8 And Thou hast not given me over into the hand of the enemy; Thou hast set my feet in a large place.
PSA 31:15 My times are in Thy hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
ACT 2:23 this {Man}, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put {Him} to death.
Before Jesus Christ laid down His life, He forgave His enemies.
Before He laid down His life, He gave salvation to a repenting thief.
Before He laid down His life, He cared for His mother.
Before He laid down His life, He finished the work God gave Him to do.
Today we ought to forgive our enemies, just as He did, in case we should die.
As He did, we want to come to the time of death having shared salvation with others.
We want to be faithful in taking care of those who depend upon us.
We want to be able to come to the end of life and surrender to God willingly, having finished the work God wants us to do.
TLJC also died victoriously.
The veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom, and God opened the way into the Holy of Holies, MAT 27:51.
The veil was almost a foot thick. It stands forty feet high, and it was ripped from top to bottom.
God Himself ripped that veil to show that entrance into heaven was now available for not only Old Testament believers but for any believer who dies now.
Apparently these individuals had just recently died because for them to appear to “many” as a miraculous event, the many would have had to know that they died and that they have seen TLJC in Hades.
Christ proved that His power over death was not limited to Himself by resurrecting many of the Old Testament saints on this Feast of Firstfruits and offering these saints to God.
Jesus Christ proved Himself to be victorious over sin (the torn veil) and over death (the opened graves).
It reminds us of the earthquake at Mount Sinai when God came down and gave the Law, EXO 19:18.
It announced the fulfillment of the Law!
You can die confidently, with the assurance that you are going to the Father’s house.
You can die with the promises of God’s Word to give you grace and strength and comfort.
You can die in the safest place in all of the universe, in the hand of God.
JOH 10:27-28 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
The seventh and final phrase can also be described by the word, contentment, LUK 23:46.
Human spirit – went into the presence of the Father,
Soul – went into Hades to Paradise,
His body went into the grave.
The seventh cry was the beginning of the end; and yet the end was a new beginning, for TLJC would arise from the grave in resurrection body, walk among men for a short time, then ascend into the presence of the Father to sit at His right hand as our great High Priest and make intercession for us forever.
There is a change in the vocative from “My God, My God,” in MAT 27:46, the previous phrase to, “Father.”
All references to the blood of Christ refer to His spiritual death rather than to His physical death.
PSA 31:5 Into Thy hand I commit my spirit; Thou hast ransomed me, O Lord, God of truth.
JOH 7:46 “Never did a man speak the way this man speaks.”
In His death, He was not driven beyond the power of thought, He was not unconscious, He did not die of weakness, He was strong even while He was dying.
The first statement dealt with the word forgiveness for His enemies, LUK 23:34.
The second one dealt with salvation, LUK 23:39-42.
The third statement from the cross, JOH 19:26-27, dealt with the word compassion.
The fourth statement dealt with anguish, MAT 27:46.
The fifth cry on the cross can be identified by the word suffering – JOH 19:28 “I am thirsty.”
The sixth saying of the cross can be described by the word victory –
JOH 19:30 “It is finished!”
The seventh and final phrase can be described by the word contentment –
LUK 23:46 “Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit.”