(I want to listen to this sermon)

Calm, Final Words

The first word that Jesus had spoken while being nailed to the cross was a word of prayer. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The fourth word – the middle word – was also a word of prayer but of a totally different sort. That word was an agonizing cry of dereliction. As the Son bore the full weight of our sins upon Himself the Father turned His face away and that terrible cry was wrenched from the Son's lips "My God, me God, why have you forsaken me?"

Now the seventh and final word is on Jesus' lips and again He is praying. But the clouds have past, the darkness has lifted. Jesus expires with a calm confident trust in His Heavenly Father. It is with these words that we must occupy our thoughts this evening and may the Spirit Himself enable us to grasp at least something of their significance.

The first thing to note is that Jesus once again is able to speak to His Father! All the work of propitiation has been achieved and accomplished. The Father who had been obliged to turn from His Son while the Son was made sin for us has no more wrath to pour out. He has no more reason to hide His face from His Son and His Son is able once more to address His Father in confident, trustful prayer. All that now remains is for the soul to be separated from the body for a few hours before resurrection will unite them once again never to be further separated.

Not for the first time we are told that Jesus cried out with a loud voice. Nothing done without a reason and here it is the same. Jesus wants those watching to know that He has not been finally abandoned by the Father. Having heard that terrible cry of dereliction the crowd must not think that God has given up on His Son – or that the Son has given up on His Father! Nothing could be further from the truth!! And so the final words spoken from the cross are spoken loudly so that many might hear.

The words are spoken loudly so that it might be clear that Jesus even now is still in control. Here is not the whisper of a dying man's last breath as life is dragged from His body. Death comes to meet us like that and we decline becoming weaker and weaker until we lose grip upon life and slip away. But Jesus' death was not like that – it was unlike the death of any other man. While death comes to meet us in Jesus' case it was He who went out to confront death! He dies when He is good and ready! He dies when He decides to commit His spirit into the hands of the Father. It is then and only then that He breathes His last.

I wonder if it has ever struck you that in the gospel accounts of the end of Jesus' life the gospel writers avoid writing that Jesus died. Dying is such a passive word – it is something that happens to us – and the gospel writers want us to understand that the end of Jesus' life was not passive.

The various ways in which the evangelists describe what took place are these: different words are used in the original documents but all teaching the same message.

·       He commits His spirit into His Father's hands

·       He breathes His last – the verb means breathing out His last breath

·       He yielded up His spirit

·       He gave up His spirit

We are not to read these expressions as though they are mere synonyms of death, squeamishly avoiding the word death itself. (In our society we don't overly much like talking openly of death particularly of those known to us and we use a variety of expressions to avoid mentioning the "D" word. Eg. We speak of "passing away" "kicking the bucket" "being called home" "being promoted" etc.) The gospel writers write as they do because Jesus was in control – as He had earlier said to His disciples:

Jn. 10:15, 17-18 "I lay down my life for the sheep…  For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father." 

Let's take a closer look at the word that Jesus uses as He prays this final time to the Father.

The word used is translated in a variety of ways: commend, commit, give, entrust. Now in Greek the word used comes from a banking context. The basic idea is this – it means to give someone something in trust. When you place a deposit in your bank account you do so fully intending to be able to access it again in due course. This word conveys the idea of depositing a precious treasure with another for safe keeping – the treasure will be recovered at some later date.

Now this is the word that Jesus uses as He prays to His Father.

He is entrusting His spirit/soul to His Father's safe keeping. Here is no sad end to the story, no solemn resignation. Rather Jesus is confidently entrusting His spirit into His Father's hands in anticipation of His resurrection when the spirit and the body will be rejoined.

Do you understand what this is saying to us all in the face of death? It is saying that death, the separation of the soul/spirit from the body is not the final end. As we gaze down upon the grave of a loved one, we are not looking at a final full stop but a comma or a semi-colon because real conscious existence goes on. As we consider the fact that we will all have to die (unless the Lord returns beforehand) we must be aware that the grave is not the terminus!

We find Jesus here committing Himself into His Father's hands. It is interesting to note that for the preceding 10-12 hours He has been suffering in the hands of wicked men!

Over a prolonged period Jesus had taught His disciples that He would indeed be betrayed and delivered into the hands of men and that once seized in this way He would suffer.

Eg. Mk.9:31 "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise."

Mt.17:22 "As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men,"

While He declared that this would happen it could not happen until the time was right – John tells us that there were times when men wanted to lay their hands upon Him but they couldn't because "His hour had not yet come". See Jn.7:30, 44.

And what did these men do to Him? They accused Him falsely. They tried Him unjustly. They rushed His condemnation through as quickly as they could. They mocked, scourged and crucified Him. They watched as He hung on the cross all the while continuing to scorn Him. And all the while these lawless, wicked men were accomplished that plan of salvation that God had established so long before!

And after suffering such despicable treatment at the hands of men Jesus commits His spirit to His Heavenly Father. Men have done their worst and now Jesus is to be delivered from them as He finds Himself safe once more in the hands of His Father.

My friend, this evening, whose hands are you in? Are all your hopes and pleasures bound up with men and what man can do? Or are you safe in the hands of the Father? Have you committed yourself into His safe keeping hands or are you still trying to get by without putting your trust in such a God?

You see as Jesus was committing His spirit into the hands of the Father He was acting still as the substitute of His people. All those who are united to Jesus Christ through repentance and faith are to be found benefiting from the loving protection of a Heavenly Father. There is no safer place to be!

Jn.10:28-29 "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand."

And if that were not enough there are multiple verses in the Bible that speak of Jesus still being associated with the hand of God. He is at the right hand of God, the right hand of the power of God, the right hand of the majesty on high. What does this mean? What is the significance? Well it means that Jesus, the Son of Man, our substitute and representative, occupies the place of authority in the presence of God the Father!  His is a place of exaltation now!

·       He is sometimes portrayed as seated there – His work is accomplished and He will never be removed from that presence ever again.

·       He is sometimes portrayed as standing there – He is active in using the authority that is His is ruling the affairs of the nations.

·       He is active there interceding on behalf of His people and defending them against attack.

Do you have any personal interest in all of this? Are you thrilled that He is now exalted and glorified? Or does it merely strike as one more theological detail? Are you concerned with just how He is exercising His authority as His Kingdom grows around the world? Do you benefit from this protection as He continues to function as your advocate defending you against all attacks?

As Stephen was being stoned to death he looked up and saw an encouraging sight – he saw Jesus, the Son of Man, standing at the right hand of God. Standing yes, ready to welcome Stephen home to heaven as he sealed his discipleship with a martyr's death.

We too are to take this into consideration as we lead our Christian lives:

Heb.12:1-3 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."

Do you realize that this same one, the Lord Jesus Christ, now seated at the right hand of Power is the one who "is coming with the clouds of heaven"?

Before we can conclude we need to take notice of one more thing that is underlined for us in the words that Jesus cried out at the end.

Jesus' concern is for His spirit (or we might also say for His soul) over His concern for His body. We mentioned earlier that the grave was not the end and in committing His spirit into the hands of the Father Jesus is making it very clear to us what is the most important part of our human existence. He entrusts not His body but His spirit into the Father's hands.

Yes, the body is important and the Father will take care of it for Him too. No bone will be broken and no corruption will touch His flesh as He lies in the tomb. But Jesus is primarily concerned about His spirit.

This is in total harmony with what He has taught all His earthly ministry: Mt.16:26 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?"

It is possible to live in a totally different way. In fact most of our contemporaries are doing so. They are living for the body, to satisfy the body, to pamper the body. They live for the here and now. They want comfort now, riches now, good health now. In fact so many are so bound up with the here and now that they never giver a thought to their eternal well-being! Do you remember the words of the parable Jesus recounted concerning the rich fool?

Lk.12:20 "But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’"

This man had much of this world's goods and he was planning only for this world – He had made no plans for the next!

My friend is that true of you?

You see if you are living your life only amongst men, sharing their interests and values, you won't come to Jesus Christ. If you don't come to Him you won't know the safety and security of being in the Father's hands.

And oh my friends there will come a time when you will be in His hands but it will be a terrifying time.

Heb 10:31 "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." That is if you have no Saviour to keep you because our God is a consuming fire. Indeed the fires of His wrath have burnt themselves out in Christ but outside of Christ they burn and burn and burn forever.

Are you in Christ tonight? You get in Him by calling out to Him in faith to have mercy upon you, to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you by His blood, to renew by His Holy Spirit. Are you in Christ tonight?

Amen.

                                                                      Back to Words from the Cross