32 p

Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with
him. 33 qAnd when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they
crucified him, and the criminals, pone on his right and one on his left. 34 And
Jesus said, “Father, rforgive them, sfor they know not what they do.”2 And
they cast lots tto divide his garments. 35 And uthe people stood by, watching,
v
but wthe rulers xscoffed at him, saying, y“He saved others; zlet him save
himself, aif he is bthe Christ of God, chis Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers also
mocked him, coming up and doffering him sour wine 37 and saying, e“If you
are fthe King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 gThere was also an inscription
over him,3 “This is fthe King of the Jews.”
39 h
One of the criminals who were hanged irailed at him,4 saying, “Are you not
j
the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do
you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
41
And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but
this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me
k
when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to
you, today you will be with me in lparadise.”

Crucifixion was a method of punishment invented by the

Phoenicians which was adopted and perfected by the
Romans to execute enemies of the state who committed and
are guilty of crimes like rebellion or insurrection, civil
disobedience, or treason.
This is how the Roman Empire flexes its muscle in
saying, “Don’t oppose the State (the government) or the
systems of the state. Don’t mess with the ones who are
making a profit from those systems, cause if you do, you’ll
end up hanging on a tree at the edge of the city.'

This is exactly what we happened in the passage we just

read. In one of the most familiar scenes in the Bible… the
edge of the city named Calvary, or Golgotha, was, according to
the Gospels, a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where
Jesus was crucified. Matthew's and Mark's gospels translate the
term to mean "place of skull", in Latin rendered Calvariæ Locus,
from which the English word Calvary derives.… three crosses
propped up on the hill, sun setting in the background with
clouds gathering for an impending storm… three lives, one
is innocent, slip away in slow and excruciating death.
Among the witnesses are mourners. If we listen, we hear
whispered cries from friends and loved ones- hushed
conversations and condolences to the family- “I’m so
sorry…”"He was so young..." and only the sound of the wind
fills the silence between the tears…

But among the witnesses, there are also

mockers. Those who, for whatever reason, thought it
amusing to poke fun at the condemned Jesus. Maybe they
were desensitized, numbed, or anesthesized; maybe they
were trying to alleviate some of the horror of it all. Making
jokes in painful situation tends to ease our discomfort. We
even have a name for it. We call it “comic relief.”
Humor distances us from intimacy- from the atrocity that we
are allowing to happen before our eyes, or even participating
in.
35
And uthe people stood by, watching, vbut wthe rulers xscoffed at him,
saying, y“He saved others; zlet him save himself, aif he is bthe Christ of God,
c
his Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and doffering
him sour wine 37 and saying, e“If you are fthe King of the Jews, save yourself!”

But what’s different is that in this scene, one of those

suffering, the thief on the left, found a place among the
mockers. By the way, the names Dismas and Gestas do not
come from the New Testament. The names Dismas and Gestas
are first found in the apocryphal writing entitled “The Gospel of
Nicodemus” that historians typically agree was written in the 4th
century. Since this document was written over two centuries after
the events and is found in a book containing other disputable
information, it is therefore, uncertain.

Finally, it should be mentioned that Dismas (sometimes spelled Dysmas) was the name
associated with the good thief who asked Jesus to remember him in paradise (Luke 23:43), while
Gestas was the one who taunted Jesus along with the crowd. In the Roman Catholic tradition,
Dismas was canonized as a saint whose feast is celebrated March 25.

The thief on the left had journeyed to the cross, up the

same hill as Jesus. His final moments on his own feet on
the road to the place of the skull were no less filled with fear
and trembling than anyone else who comes face to face with
their own death. His mind was probably racing frantically for
a way out- lips whispering desperate prayers to an unknown
God- his senses ceased to function. The people and world
that surrounded him as he climbed the hill to the cross must
have been a blur or fuzzy.
When we are afraid, all the sounds around us muffle or
silenced - except that of our own heartbeat. That sound is
deafening.
Feeling the chill as his clothes are ripped
away, the roughness of wooded cross on his back as he is
laid on the cross, so scared he is unable to cry out as his
trembling body is stretched and fastened by arms and legs -
so vulnerable- so alone as the crosses are lifted up and
settled to their bases.

'But wait- there are others here,' he thinks. 'There are

three of us,' and initially perhaps- that thought upon settling
to the raised position- and finding himself, not yet
dead- perhaps brought a bit of comfort. The fact that he was
not totally alone, well, misery and company are indeed good
bedfellows.
But then the sensations of his own body heighten…
sweat begins to bead on his forehead and eventually drip as
the effort of holding his own body weight becomes more
strenuous (determined, spirited or active). He drops his
head to the left to keep the sweat out of his eyes, but as he
does, he sees the first of what promises to be many visitors
he will have on the cross that day- a small black spider
that has made its way up the back of the cross and is now
crawling on to his arm!

The terror of his situation is too much for him to handle -

and he scans the landscape for something to distract him-
anything that can take his mind somewhere else! He allows
sound to return to his ears! And he hears laughter, below
him- around him...
'What are they laughing at?' he wonders. "Oh, the man in
the middle- the one they have nicknamed "King of the Jews"-
they say he calls himself messiah. Yes... please let me, let
me join in on this, this tasteless talk show ridicule... let me
take part in this cruel form of entertainment at the expense
of one who truly suffers... because I am suffering too...’

And with that thought the thief on the left becomes a mocker-
one who is trying to both suppress or distance himself from
the situation, but maybe at the same time hoping…
hoping that somehow, he will be saved from his own fate. So
in full voice he gives a desperate plea to the man in the
center...

“If it’s true what they say about you- then save
yourself! Show us… because if it’s true… you can save
US... For Gods sake, man, get us down from here!!!”

But instead of and answer from Jesus, he hears a new voice,

this one from the cross on the other side… “What are you
doing? Are you crazy? We’re all dying... You and I
are sharing the same fate as this guy you’re mocking! At
least you and I are up here for the things we’ve done- we
deserve this death! This man has done nothing.”

The voice from the thief on the right continues… "Jesus,

remember me today when you come into your kingdom…”
And Jesus turns his head to the thief of the right, and sees
that he understands… Jesus can see that this man "gets it."
The thief on the right realizes that Jesus has been
sentenced to death for standing up against the systems of
corruption in the world- both governmental and religious- the
very same systems he had been a participant in. He sees
that Jesus’ way, although it led him to death, is the only way
to peace…. to making the world whole… to righteousness…
Jesus hangs on the cross with no guilt- no shame about the
things he has done- no remorse about corrupt actions- he is
transforming the world and dying for it.

And Jesus responds…

“Today… you will be with me in paradise… As Jesus was
hanging on the cross, paying our penalty for sin, He made a
promise to a dying, repentant thief. By the grace of God and the
power of Christ, that promise was kept. The thief’s sins were
washed away, and his death that day was his entrance to
paradise.

"My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?"

by Matt Slick
In Matthew 27:45-46, it says, "Now from the sixth-hour darkness
fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. 46And 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?" If Jesus is God, why would He say this?
First of all, Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1 which begins with, "My God,
My God, why have you forsaken Me?" Jesus quoted this Psalm in
order to draw attention to it and the fact that He was fulfilling it
there on the cross. Consider verses 11-18 in Psalm 22:
"Be not far from me, for trouble is near; For there is none to
help.12 Many bulls have surrounded me; Strong bulls of Bashan
have encircled me. 13 They open wide their mouth at me, As a
ravening and a roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, And
all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted
within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my
tongue cleaves to my jaws; And Thou dost lay me in the dust of
death. 16 For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has
encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can
count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; 18 They divide
my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.
The term 'dogs' was used by the Jews to refer to Gentiles (cf.
Matt. 15:21-28). His heart has melted within Him (v. 14). During
the crucifixion process, the blood loss causes the heart to beat
harder and harder and become extremely fatigued. Dehydration
occurs (v. 15). Verses 16b-18 speak of piercing His hands and feet
and dividing His clothing by casting lots. This is exactly what
happened as described in Matt. 27:35.
Psalm 22 was written about 1,000 years before Christ was born.
At that time, crucifixion had not yet been invented. Actually, the
Phoenicians developed it, and Rome borrowed the agonizing
means of execution from them. So, when Rome ruled over Israel,
it became the Roman means of capital punishment imposed
upon the Jews whose biblical means of execution was stoning.
Nevertheless, Jesus is pointing to the scriptures to substantiate
His messianic mission.
As stated in 2 Cor. 5:21 which says, "He made Him who knew no
sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him." It is possible that at some moment
on the cross when Jesus became sin on our behalf, that God the
Father, in a sense, turned His back upon the Son. It says in Hab.
1:13 that God is too pure to look upon evil. Therefore, it is
possible that when Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross
(1 Pet. 2:24), that the Father, spiritually, turned away. At that
time, the Son may have cried out.
 One thing is for sure. We have no capacity to appreciate the
utterly horrific experience of having the sins of the world put
upon the Lord Jesus as He hung in excruciating pain from that
cross. The physical pain was immense. The spiritual one must
have been even greater.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Matthew 27:45,46
It was a very unusual day in the history of the world that at high
noon, a horrifying darkness, of which scholars described as pitch
black, covered the land. The darkness that came over the land
for those three hours had to have been an eerie feeling. I surmise
that darkness was not only a physical darkness but also a spiritual
darkness. It is also my conjecture that it was an act of God.
Maybe it was a sign of judgment to the Jews for what they were
doing. Some people might say, “Could it have not been an
eclipse?” It could not have been an eclipse because the moon
was full at Passover time. But it was in that third hour that Jesus
said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus spoke
it in Aramaic. Jesus probably spoke at least three languages,
Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. It is believed that Jesus more
commonly spoke in Aramaic. It’s amazing when you look at
Psalm 22 how it goes along with so much of the crucifixion story.
The first verse of that Psalm was Jesus’ statement here. It has
been suggested by many that Jesus was simply repeating that
Psalm to himself as a picture of his own situation. Of course that
Psalm ends on a very high note of trust and confidence in God.
Just as this situation would end on a very high note three days
later and Christ did know that.
Bible scholar William Barclay said, “It is an attractive suggestion;
but on a cross a man does not repeat poetry to himself, even the
poetry of a psalm…” again this wasn’t any ordinary man. Jesus
quoted scripture for everything else in His life, he certainly could
have been again. But I do believe that at that moment that sins
of the world were thrust upon Christ. In that time that he who
had no sin became sin, it brought him separation from His
Father. Sin separates us from God. Isaiah told the people in Isaiah
59:2 “But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you.” His Father had hidden
His Face from Him as He took on the sin of the world.
It was an agonizing feeling for the one who lived in total intimacy
with His Father, depending on Him each step of the way. How
many times did we see Jesus trying to sneak off and be alone
with His Father. How many times did He pray to His Father to
seek the strength he needed. As painful as the physical cruelty of
the cross was, I believe the pain of isolation from his Father
during that time hurt him more than any nail piercing His skin.
But I don’t believe the pain stopped with Christ, can you imagine
how hard it was on the Father to have to turn away as His son
paid the price for us. As this statement speaks of the isolation
and loneliness that Christ was experiencing. I just want to remind
you of the reasons why Christ was separated from His Father.
Christ was separated from his Father because of your sin and
mine. Isaiah spoke to the day of Christ taking on our sins
hundreds of years in advance. Listen to what he said in Isaiah
53:4,5 “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and
afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was
crushed for our iniquities…”
Being crushed I don’t believe was just physical, but it was
spiritual as well as he felt His Father turn from Him. Now I know
that I already mentioned that his separation came from taking
on the sins of the world. But when we say the sins of the world
that can be so impersonal that we lose perspective on our part
of it. The truth is that Christ experienced this pain and isolation
on the cross because of your sin, and my sin. Each of us played a
part of Him being on that cross and experiencing that isolation
from His Father. Christ not only paid the price for the sins of
those who had gathered around the Cross and mocking him, or
those who had abandoned him and denied him at the hour of his
greatest need for support, but the price He paid went all the way
to thousands of years later. Christ wasn’t only doing it for the
present but He was doing it for the future. He knew that there
would be other people who would sin and God is a just God.
There has to be a price for those sins. But what Christ did covered
not only the sins that we have committed in our lives so far, but
if we fall in the future, if we do something we shouldn’t have
done, if we allow our minds to become captive to thoughts that
we shouldn’t have, those sins have been covered when in
repentance we trust in Christ and what He did for us. When you
truly think about what your sin and my sin caused Christ to have
to go through, not only physically, but also spiritually, there is no
way that you cannot hate sin if you truly love Christ.

I remember those times of separation that I’ve gone through. I

remember when I was 12 years old when stowed away from
home. It was a heartbreaking experience to be alone where life
is full of uncertainties. In my heart tears were streaming down
my face, and even though there were a handful of people I
already knew, I felt so alone. I wanted to say, “wait, I’ve changed
my mind. I want to go with you.”
There were so many times during that first couple of months that
I just wanted to start walking that highway and go home. Some
of you may have gone through separation from your earthly dad
or other family members and you remember the pain that you
felt and some of you might still be feeling.
As much as that separation brought agony to you, the agony that
Christ went through was so much worse. And it was our sin that
brought it upon Him. Christ was separated from His Father so we
wouldn’t have to be. Christ went through that period of
separation from His Father so we could live life in intimacy and
fellowship with God. You see at the beginning of creation things
were the way they were supposed to be. Adam and Eve walked
in fellowship with God in the midst of a beautiful garden. But
when they sinned that fellowship and intimacy with God was
broken. We are told that when they heard the Lord God coming
they hid from Him among the trees of the garden. They went
from intimacy and looking forward to their walks with God to
hiding from him because they knew they had done wrong. We
know how that is in our own life when we’ve disappointed
someone we love, we don’t look forward to seeing that person.
We don’t want to see the disappointment and hurt on their face.
When we commit sin, we don’t want to go before Him because
we are mad at ourselves, we are embarrassed. Which is the
wrong way to handle it. But all praise to the Lord Jesus Christ,
man’s relationship with God was reconciled. Christ was the
answer to Adam’s mistake. Listen to what Romans 5:19 “For just
as through the disobedience of one man the many were made
sinners, so also through the obedience of one man the many will
be made righteous.” Through the obedience of Christ, taking on
our sin upon himself, those who trust upon Him will be made
righteous. Which means that we can be in the presence of God
in intimate fellowship. We don’t have to wait until our death to
be in intimate fellowship with God either. We can have that
intimate fellowship with Him now. Just as Christ constantly
sought to get away from the crowds and the demands on His
time and seek strength and fellowship with His Father. We can
do that same thing, we can seek that strength and fellowship
with the Father that comes through an intimate relationship with
Him because when we trust in Christ and believe that he bore
our sins on the cross we are righteous in the eyes of God. \
But Christ did face that terrible time of separation from His
Father so that we could be in fellowship not only on this earth
but with eternity. One notable scholar said, “God created us for
eternity.” He created us to spend the rest of forever with Him.
He created us not for what we can do for Him now, but He
created us so that we can spend the rest of forever in fellowship
with Him. Maybe it will be like those long walks in the garden
that He used to have with Adam and Eve. God wants to
fellowship with you now, and He wants to fellowship with you
forever. And because of that great love for us, Christ went
through that period of separation from His Father so you and I
don’t have to. Some of you are walking through life with
separation from God now and you know that you aren’t enjoying
life the way that you could. You’re doing your best run and hide
routine from God. Christ went through that agony so you
wouldn’t have to be separated from God. There is no better time
than this morning to let what Christ did be that bridge that brings
you back to the Father. Something that I read from William
Barclay this week kind of helped me to see what Christ did in a
different perspective. Christ was separated from his Father to
show us that He has experienced the very worst of the human
condition. Now we know from scriptures that Christ came and
he walked this earth and he experienced every temptation that
was common to man. After all Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have
a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we
are--yet was without sin.” I got to thinking about that scripture
and the human condition. Christ experienced everything that
you and I have experienced in one form or another. As hard as it
is to believe that means that Christ would have faced sexual
temptation, he would have faced the temptation to do things in
a different way then His heavenly Father wanted him to do it. All
of us have been tempted to do things our own way instead of
doing things the way God would have us to do them. The list of
temptations go on and on. You name the temptation and I
believe that Christ probably had that temptation in one way or
another. Sin hasn’t really changed from Biblical times, Satan just
uses new packages for the same old things. It may really look
different on the outside, but inside it’s the same old lie and the
same old things. But there is one major difference between us
and Christ. He never did bite! He never sinned! And as we said
earlier, sin brings us separation from God. Being separated from
God is the very worst thing of the human condition. Those who
choose to walk through life not accepting what Christ did on the
cross for us are walking this earth with a separation from God.
That is something that up to that point Christ had not
experienced. Like we said earlier, we see repeatedly in scripture
where Christ went and spent time in fellowship with His Father.
I believe it was His dependence upon and fellowship with the
Father that strengthened Christ and enabled him to live a sinless
life. But Christ had never faced separation from his Father until
He who had no sin became sin. And at that moment he cried out,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” I believe you
can almost sense the separation in His words. He never called
his Father, My God. It was always “my Father, or maybe even
Abba, which the closest translation is daddy. Yes, you see when
Christ was on the cross and he took on himself, your sin and my
sin and the sin of the world, he had to feel the filth and the dirt
of the world. To someone who was so pure and holy because He
was God in the flesh it had to be a total feeling of dirt. But
because Christ did take on the sins of the world and because of
that sin that He willingly took upon himself, He was separated
from His Father because His Father could not abide with sin. The
very worst experience of the human condition Christ had now
experienced what sinful separation from His Father must be like.
So you see Christ really has experienced the very worst that the
human condition has to offer. But He paid the price for those sins
of ours and now we can be victorious over sin and death just like
He was. What a great God we serve! How can anyone question
God’s love for us. This really is one of life’s great mysteries.
Someone might ask, if Christ was fully human and yet fully God,
how did God forsake God? It’s hard to fathom it all isn’t it? But
we understand enough to know that God loved us so much that
He gave us His only begotten Son that who ever believes in Him
will not die.”

That shows us clearly how much God loves us.

7. Father, Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit (Luke 23:46)

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

"44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land
until the ninth hour, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the
temple was torn in two. 46 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 23:44-46)

For three long hours, the Lord Jesus had been hung through His nail pierced
hands and feet on the cross. That was the idea -- a prolonged, tortuous
death for criminals would not only inspire horror in the hearts of the
populace, but also provide a public reminder of the danger of any attempt to
resist Roman power.
Criminals would often last for days before they finally succumbed, though on
this day, the day before a Sabbath, any surviving criminals would be killed
by breaking their legs (John 19:31-33) and their bodies removed from the
cross through some kind of agreement brokered with the chief priests so as
not to overly offend Jewish sensibilities.

Temple Curtain Torn

It was a time of ominous signs in the heavens and on the earth beneath.

"44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole
land until the ninth hour, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of
the temple was torn56 in two." (Luke 23:44-45)

It was an eerie darkness brought about by the sun not shining, the curtain of
the temple was rent.

The curtain mentioned is the inner curtain that separates the Holy of Holies
from the Holy Place.57 Edersheim tells us that it consisted of two curtains
that were 60 feet long and 30 feet wide, as thick as the palm of a man's
hand, woven in 72 separate squares, and joined together.58 Think of the
force that would have been required to tear this massive curtain! Perhaps
the earthquake caused the fall of a lintel to begin the vertical rip that went
from top to bottom (Mark 15:38).59

But what does the rent curtain mean? The Gospel writers don't tell us. But it
probably signifies: (1) an opening of the way between people and the very
presence of God, brought about by Christ's redemption on the cross, or (2) a
forewarning of the obsolescence and final destruction of the temple. Perhaps
it means both of these.

Jesus Final Word (Luke 23:46)

"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)

These words are from a Psalm written by David:

"Into your hands I commit my spirit;

redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth." (Psalm 31:5)

They are part of an evening prayer used daily by devout Jews.60

Notice the loud voice -- scarcely what one would expect from a man about to
die. But Jesus seems determined that his final words be heard. His words
are firm and confident. Let's examine three aspects of this Seventh Word.
1. A Word of Intimacy

First, Jesus speaks to God with intimacy. His time of desolation expressed by
the Fourth Word is past. He prays to the Father as he has done throughout
his ministry. For Jesus, death is no out-of-control enemy. No matter how
bleak the moment, he knows his Father is present with him -- now present
to receive his spirit.

2. A Word of Trust

Second, Jesus entrusts himself to his Father. In Psalm 31:5 the word
"commit" is the Hebrew verb pāqad. In our verse it occurs in the Hiphil
stem, with the meaning "commit, entrust."61 The corresponding Greek verb
is paratithēmi, meaning, "to entrust to someone for safekeeping, give over,
entrust, commend," particularly, "to entrust someone to the care and
protection of someone."62 As he lets go of this life, Jesus trusts his eternal
destiny to the Father's everlasting arms.

3. A Word of Surrender

Finally, Jesus speaks a word of surrender. He gives up his human life to his
Father who gave it to him 33 years before. The word "spirit" is the common
word pneuma, "breathing, breath of life." It can refer to the Holy Spirit, but
here refers to the personal spirit of Jesus, part of the human personality
(Hebrews 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:23).63

Today we come to the last statement of our series on the Seven Statements from the Cross. We’ve
seen a wide array of theological truths that have the power to transform our lives. We’ve seen
Christ asking the Father to forgive the very people who at the time were mocking him and had beat
and mistreat him. A forgiveness that wasn’t dependant upon the remorse of others. We’ve seen
Jesus give the gift of eternal life to a thief on the cross as in the last hours of his life he turned to
Christ and asked him to remember him. Christ said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” It
shows us that no matter what you’ve done and no matter what hour if you turn to Christ with true
repentance in your heart it’s never too late. We’ve seen Jesus in the pain and agony of the cross
take time to entrust his mother to his beloved friend and disciple John. We’ve heard the agony in
the voice of Christ at the moment that He took the sins of the world upon himself and was separated
from his Father. He said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He endured that
separation from His Father so we wouldn’t have to. I won’t go through them all, but all of them
have brought tremendous truths to our lives. Talk about a person who made every word count.
Jesus surely did! Today as we come to the close of our series, it’s not exactly a typical Easter
passage. But I do believe there are tremendous lessons in it for us, and I do believe there is a Easter
message with it as well.

Luke 23:46

“That is Psalm 31:5 with one word added--Father. That verse was the prayer every Jewish
mother taught her child to say last thing at night. Just as we were taught maybe to say,
‘This night I lay me down to sleep,’ so the Jewish mother taught her child to say, before
the threatening dark came down, ’Into thy hands I commit my spirit.’ Jesus made it even
more lovely for he began it with the word Father. Even on the cross Jesus died like a child
falling asleep in His father’s arms.” (The Gospel of Luke, The Daily Bible Studies Series,
Westminister John Knox Press, William Barclay, pp.288) Now I want you to notice
something. Once again in this passage, Christ goes back to saying, Father. It was no
longer, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” You see when Christ said “it was
finished“, it was finished, the price had been paid and I truly believe that at this point
fellowship with His Father had been restored. And in that fellowship we see Christ
entrusting his spirit into his father’s hands as he gives it up. I believe the first thing that
this message teaches us is: The Father’s hands are trustworthy. Christ had no problem
putting his spirit into his Father’s hands because He knew there were no better hands
than His Father’s and He knew that He could totally trust His Father. Like we said it was
just like a child falling asleep in his Father’s arms, total trust. We need to know that we
can entrust our spirit, we can entrust every part of our lives into God’s hands because
there is no one more trustworthy. When you truly entrust your spirit to God you will entrust
all of you to Him. You may remember the Allstate commercials from years ago. They
encouraged people to put their trust in them, the good hands people. The good hands
people became their motto. But I’m here to tell you that their hands do not come anywhere
near being as trustworthy as the hands of our Father. There are people who are afraid to
put their spirit, afraid to put their life in the hands of God. Some are scared because their
not sure what God might have them do or what He might have them give up. Others won’t
put their hands in the life of God because their not ready to take their hands off the stirring
wheel. They want to be in charge of the direction of their life. And here is an opportunity
to bring in my favorite scripture. It’s been a few months since I’ve used it. Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm
you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.” That scripture isn’t just for Jeremiah it’s for
each one of us. He has a plan for our lives that will benefit us. He has a plan that will bring
hope to our lives. Yet some of us are so set in charting our own course that we refuse to
put our lives in God’s hands and see what He has for us. It reminded me about what I
was reading in my devotions the other morning. The Israelites wanted a king. All of the
other nations around them had a king. That is not the course that God wanted for them.
He knew what an earthly king would do to them. He knew how they tended to get caught
up in their pride and how they tended to treat people. And he wanted them to be satisfied
with him being their only king. So God warned the people through Samuel about all the
different things a king would do to them like drafting their men into an army and making
slave laborers and taking the best of their crops for themselves or giving it to his friends
and even taking a tenth of their harvest and flocks. God wanted Israel to be different than
any other country. He wanted them to be a shining example to the other countries about
what He could do for a people who put themselves totally in His hands. He wanted them
to be the one country that had him as the King of their life. He wanted them to entrust all
of themselves to him and what he could do for them. But Israel refused to listen, they
wanted what they wanted and they turned a deaf ear to all of the negatives and demanded
a king so God gave them what they asked for. And they found out that the course they
chose for themselves would cause a lot of unnecessary problems that they wouldn’t have
had to deal with if they had just totally put themselves into the hands of God and let him
be their guide. Listen to what God would say to the Israelites later in Isaiah 65:2 “All day
long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good,
pursuing their own imaginations.” That happens today, God is holding out his hand saying
put your life in my hands. You can trust me. But instead people continue to pursue their
own desires and wants and imaginations. Some of you out here this morning may say,
“I’ve seen people who have entrusted their life in the hands of God and bad things happen
to them just like they do anyone else.” That’s true when we entrust our lives into the hands
of God it doesn’t mean that we won’t have bad things that happen to us. This world is full
of tragedy and Christians aren‘t exempt. But we have a God who gives us the strength
we need and a God who promises us in Romans 8:28 that he works for the good of those
who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. That means even when
we have tragedy that strikes our life that God can take that tragedy and bring about good
for us. It maybe that through the tragedy that God takes it and uses it to shape us more
like His son. We don’t know what He may do to use that tragedy for good but we have
that promise that He will work it to our good. Just like David said, “Blessed is the man
who makes the Lord his trust.” This morning would be a great morning for you to say,
“Father into your hands I commit my spirit.” If you say it and really mean it, I guarantee
that you won’t be sorry. I believe that it also teaches us that when we trust him with our spirit,
He takes us from spiritual death to a resurrection of a new life. Paul describes our life perfectly
before we entrusted our spirit to him when he wrote this to the church at Ephesus. “As for you,
you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the
ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those
who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our
sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of
wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ
even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us
up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the
coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us
in Christ Jesus.” When we were living life the way that we wanted to live it and when we were
steering our own ship, we were dead in our transgressions. Spiritually we were dead. That means
spiritually that there was no pulse in our relationship with God. When you are spiritually dead you
can have no fellowship with God. But just like Christ was raised from the dead we can be made
alive in Christ. We can be resurrected from our spiritual death. Like the scriptures said and like we
talked about last week, it is only by grace that you can be saved, you can’t earn it, the work Christ
did on the cross paid the price. But you have to trust the work of Christ and the provision the Father
made for us. God wants to bring that spiritual resurrection to our lives so that He can lavish His
love upon us. But when God brings that spiritual resurrection to our lives, we are resurrected to a
new person. We are no longer the same person we used to be. Just like Paul said in 2 Corinthians
5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
Sure we look like the same person. It’s not that people won’t recognize us when they see us out
on the street. It’s just that they won’t recognize our actions anymore. Through the Holy Spirit God
begins to change your heart and when your heart is changed so will your actions be. Praise God
that you can be raised from the dead this morning. Trust him in what He said we must do, accept
his gift of salvation through His son, and put your spirit in his hands and you will have new life.

I believe the other lesson that this statement teaches us is this: When we entrust our spirit to God
we know with confidence that physical death is not the end. Jesus knew that when he gave up his
spirit that it wasn’t over. He had complete trust that this wasn’t the end. He knew that He would
continue to have life. He knew that once again in the future He would be in the presence of his
Father. And because of that day when the Angel of the Lord said to the women at the tomb, “He
is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” We too can have victory over death and we can have
confidence that our physical death isn’t the end. Paul experienced that confidence when he said in
Philippians 1:22,23, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the
body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I desire to depart
and be with Christ, which is better by far…” Paul knew that for him to depart this world he would
be in the presence of Christ. We can know just like Paul and countless others, that God indeed has
prepared something for us that is so good that we can’t even begin to imagine or conceive just how
great it will be.
“Once upon a time, twin boys were conceived in the womb. Seconds, minutes, hours passed as the
two embryonic lives developed. The spark of life grew and each tiny brain began to take shape
and form. With the development of their brain came feeling, and with feeling, perception--a
perception of surroundings, of each other, and their own lives. They discovered that life was good,
and they laughed and rejoiced in their hearts.

One said to the other, ‘We are lucky to have been conceived and to have this wonderful world.’

The other chimed in, ‘Yes, blessed be our mother who gave us life and each other.’

Each of the twins continued to grow and soon their arms and fingers, legs and toes began to take
shape. They stretched their bodies and churned and turned in their little world. They explored it
and found the life cord which gave them life from their mother’s blood. They were grateful for
this new discovery and sang, ‘How great is the love of our mother--that she shares all she has with
us!’

Weeks passed into months and with the advent of each new month, they noticed a change in each
other and themselves.

‘We are changing,’ one said. ‘What can it mean?’

‘It means,’ said the other, ‘that we are drawing near to birth.’

An unsettling chill crept over the two. They were afraid of birth, for they knew that it meant leaving
their wonderful world behind.

Said the one, ‘Were it up to me, I would live here forever.’

‘But we must be born, said the other. ‘It has happened to all the others.’ Indeed, there was evidence
inside the womb that the mother had carried life before theirs. ‘And I believe that there is life after
birth, don’t you?’

‘How can their be life after birth?’ cried the one. ‘Do we not shed our life cord and also the blood
tissue when we are born? And have you ever talked to anyone that has been born? Has anyone
ever re-entered the womb after birth to describe what birth is like? NO!’ As he spoke, he fell into
despair, and in his despair he moaned, ‘If the purpose of conception and our growth inside the
womb is to end in birth, then truly our life is senseless.’ He clutched his precious life cord to his
breast and said, ‘And if this is so, and life is absurd, then there really can be no mother!’

‘But there is a mother,’ protested the other. ‘Who else gave us nourishment? Who else created this
world for us?’
‘We get our nourishment from this cord--and our world has always been here! Said the one. ‘And
if there is a mother--where is she? Have you ever seen her? Does she ever talk to you? NO! We
invented the mother when we were young because it satisfied a need in us. It made us feel secure
and happy.’

Thus while the one raved and despaired, the other reigned himself to birth and placed his trust in
the hands of his mother. Hours turned into days, and days into weeks. And soon it was time. They
both knew their birth was at hand, and they both feared what they did not know. As the one was
first to be conceived, so he was the first to be born, the other following.

They cried as they were born into the light. They coughed out fluid and gasped the dry air. And
when they were sure they had been born, they opened their eyes--seeing life after birth for the very
first time. What they saw was the beautiful eyes of their mother, as they were cradled lovingly in
her arms. They were home.” (More Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks, Zondervan Publishing,
Wayne Rice, p105,106)

When this world is all you know it’s very easy to fear what happens at death. But
there is no reason for us to fear. Like Jesus saying that Jewish children’s prayer. “Into
your hands I commit my spirit.” Christ, with a faith even stronger than a child, willingly
closed his eyes and gave up his spirit knowing that a better life waited. When that day
comes upon you, I pray that you entrust your spirit to the hands of God with a confidence
knowing that when you awake you will see the eyes of your Father welling up with love
saying, “Welcome my child!” Thanks to an empty tomb today, we can experience that if
we just trust and believe.