THE LAST SEVEN SAYINGS OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS

Proclamation:

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  Luke 23:34

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in paradise.”  Luke 23:43

“Woman, here is your son … Here is your mother.”  John 19:26-27

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  Matthew 27:46

“I thirst.”  John 19:28

“It is finished.”  John 19:30

“Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.”  Luke 23:46

Explanation:

After He had been beaten, scourged, and mocked, Jesus, The Christ, was nailed to a cross in a place called Golgotha.  While on the cross, He prayed to His Heavenly Father and asked Him to forgive them.  Then He briefly ignored His suffering to offer salvation to one of the criminals who was being crucified beside of Him.  He also took the time to provide for the care of His earthly mother.  He suffered physically and mentally and cried out in a loud voice while He was on the cross.  When He had finished all that He had to do, He gave up His spirit and died.

Application:

Jesus, The Christ, was chastised, beaten, bruised, scourged, wiped, wounded, and crucified for our transgressions and iniquities. (Isaiah 53:5)  We are all included in the people that He prayed for His Heavenly Father to forgive because we made it necessary for Him to pay the price for our sins, and to take our place and suffer the punishment we deserved.  He was considerate and concerned for others even while He was suffering.  He who was without sin, took on the sins of the world, and paid the price for our sins, past, present and future. (John 1:29)  He suffered and gave us His life for us.  We should remember that, and how He suffered, especially when we take communion.  The good news is, that is not how the story ends.  Three days later He conquered death and rose from the dead.

"FATHER INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT"

Proclamation:

“Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.’  When He had said this, He breathed His last.” Luke 23:46 (NIV)  In The King James version of The Bible it reads “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, ‘Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit; and having said thus, He gave up The Ghost.”

Explanation:

Under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God Luke, the physician and traveling companion of the Apostle Paul, recorded these words which are considered to be the seventh and final of the last seven saying of Christ that He spoke while on the cross.  Normally death by crucifixion on the cross is a long, slow, painful process.  However, Jesus was only on the cross for a little over three hours before He died. (Luke 23:44)  Jesus was in control of the situation and ended His own life by quoting a verse from the Old Testament. (Psalm 31:5)  He had already told His disciples beforehand that no man could take His life, He had the power to lay down His life and to pick it back up again. (John 10:18)  Jesus ended His own earthly life after He had all that had to be done for the redemptive process of man. (Matthew 20:28)

Application:

When we die, the soul and the body separate, (James 2:26) the soul returns to God created it and gave it to us. (Genesis 2:7)  The body remains on earth to be buried, cremated, or disposed of in some manner prior to it returning to the dust of the earth. (Ecclesiastes 3:20 and 12:7)  When Jesus died His soul went to paradise and on that third day morning His earthly body was resurrected.  (Luke 23:43 and 24:6-7)  Now He sits at the right hand of The Father making intercessions for us. (Romans 8:34)  In order for us to be saved we must confess and believe that God raised Jesus, The Christ, from the dead. (Romans 10:9)  We can entrust our soul to the hands of God knowing that there is no place which is more secure.