30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 23 44-49 THE DEATH OF JESUS 14 28Jan2022 Luke 23 46 Together with the Father
📖 Luke 23:44-49
14 - 28Jan2022 – Together with the Father - Luke 23:44-49 - THE DEATH OF JESUS - Bible reading: John 17:11
“Lord Jesus, as we meditate on the words that You spoke from the cross, we can comprehend the enormous blessings that You have made available for us. We worship and praise You. In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen.”
We have considered the fourth word from the cross, which is, Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"
We then went to the Gospel of John to look at the fifth and sixth words spoken by Jesus from the cross.
John 19:28-30 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!" (29) Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. (30) So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
We now come back to the Gospel of Luke to consider the seventh word spoken from the cross.
Luke 23:46 And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, 'INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.' " Having said this, He breathed His last.
This was the physical death of Jesus. His Spirit left His body, and we say Jesus died on the cross.
Usually, when people refer to Jesus dying on the cross, they are referring to His physical death, of His Spirit leaving His body. We have now understood that the actual death that Jesus died, took place before His physical death.
Jesus paid for man’s death by His death on the cross and then as a sign of victory, He triumphantly died, physically, by entrusting His Spirit to His Father.
"Father, 'INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.' " Jesus cried out these words with a loud voice.
Jesus had been on the cross for six hours. We can only imagine to some extent the exhaustion and physical torture that He would have been through. Every breath, medical experts say, for a person hanging from a cross, would be excruciatingly painful. For Jesus to have cried out with a loud voice, after hanging from the cross for six hours, speaks volumes of this great victorious shout of Jesus.
For Jesus to have cried out, “Father…”, has huge implications.
At the first word that Jesus spoke from the cross, He was able to address God as ‘ Father ’. Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." And they divided His garments and cast lots. Other Bible translations indicate that these words were not spoken once but the Lord was repeating these words as He was being crucified.
Jesus addressing God as Father tells us that the relationship between Jesus and God was unbroken. The Father-Son relationship was in place.
Nevertheless, when we come to the fourth word from the cross, Jesus could not call God as ‘Father’. There was a break in the relationship. Yes, Jesus identified Himself, fully with man and was cut off from the Father just as man is cut off from God.
We still must reckon with the fact that something took place in the heavenly realm, which we are not able to fully grasp. Jesus could not call God as Father.
When we look at Jesus in eternity, we always see Him as the Lamb that was slain.
Revelation 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Though Jesus is the Son of God in eternity, He is the Son of God, who has nail prints on His hands.
We hear Jesus crying out, triumphantly, “ Father… ”
This seventh word tells us that everything was settled for eternity and Jesus was once again in the bosom relationship with the Father.
It will take us all of eternity to understand what took place between the Father and the Son, because of the sin of man. Yet, we rejoice, all things were now fully restored at the seventh word from the cross.
Jesus, always made it known that He was with the Father.
John 10:30 I and My Father are one." This is an eternal position. Something took place on the cross, to this eternal status, which was caused by our sin.
John 17:21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
Jesus is extending to us the relationship that He has with the Father.
He is calling us to be one, amongst ourselves and together, as one, we are to be a part of the intimate relationship of the Father and the Son. We are being made one with God, as Jesus cried out those triumphant words.
We must keep in mind that we are not being made one within the Father-Son relationship, individually, but corporately, as the church. We are under debt to constantly cultivate oneness amongst ourselves as His church and then, together, we are to be one with the Father and the Son.
Thought to ponder
The finale of the cross is triumphant.