I was with my mother when she died 24 years ago. However, I had stepped away for a few minutes as she was talking with someone else and I did not feel the need to be in their conversation. I may have only walked a few feet away when my mother suffered a massive heart attack and dropped to the ground. I ran to her and horrifically watched life leaving her body. It was quite traumatic.
Between the time of her death and the funeral, the individual she was speaking to made a point to contact me. She let me know what my mother was saying to her. My mother was talking about me. Concerned about me. Trying to secure an opportunity for me. My mother was expressing her love for me.
I have never forgotten this and although her passing was premature (she was only 48 years old), and not a day goes by even now, 24 years later, that I don't think about my Mama, I still find comfort knowing that I was on her mind as she passed.
Last words are memorable. Even last words from someone who is still alive, but you may not have seen for awhile. We tend to remember the last things that were said.
Jesus Christ spoke from the cross as He was dying for you and I. Each saying, each expression, was significant and motivated and wrapped in love.
Let's recapture our Lord and Savior's last words from the cross:
In no particular order:
(1) Matthew 27:46 tells us that about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Here, Jesus was expressing His feelings of abandonment as God placed the sins of the world on Him – and because of that, God had to "turn away" from Jesus. As Jesus was feeling that weight of sin, He was experiencing a separation from God for the only time in all of eternity. This was also a fulfillment of the prophetic statement in Psalm 22:1.
(2) "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Those who crucified Jesus were not aware of the full scope of what they were doing because they did not recognize Him as the Messiah. While their ignorance of divine truth did not mean they deserved forgiveness, Christ's prayer in the midst of their mocking Him is an expression of the limitless compassion of divine grace.
(3) "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). In this passage, Jesus is assuring one of the criminals on the cross that when he died, he would be with Jesus in heaven. This was granted because the criminal had expressed his faith in Jesus, recognizing Him for who He was (Luke 23:42).
(4) "Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46). Here, Jesus is willingly giving up His soul into the Father's hands, indicating that He was about to die – and that God had accepted His sacrifice. "He offered up Himself without spot to God" (Hebrews 9:14).
(5) "Woman, behold your son!" and "Behold your mother!" When Jesus saw His mother standing near the cross with the Apostle John, whom He loved, He committed His mother's care into John's hands. And from that hour John took her unto his own home. (John 19:26-27). In this verse Jesus, ever the compassionate Son, is making sure His earthly mother is cared for after His death.
(6) "I thirst" (John 19:28). Jesus was here fulfilling the Messianic prophecy from Psalm 69:21: "They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." By saying He was thirsty, He prompted the Roman guards to give Him vinegar, which was customary at a crucifixion, thereby fulfilling the prophecy.
(7) "It is finished!" (John 19:30). Jesus' last words meant that His suffering was over and the whole work His Father had given Him to do, which was to preach the Gospel, work miracles, and obtain eternal salvation for His people, was done, accomplished, fulfilled. The debt of sin was paid.
Carla
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment