The Final Words of Jesus
Jesus made SEVEN STATEMENTS as He hung on the Cross. Through these SEVEN STATEMENTS we can catch a glimpse of the KIND OF MAN JESUS REALLY WAS. We can see how He responded to adversity and suffering and injustice. We can learn how we are to react to situations that satan throws in our face and to trials and tests that come in our lives.
STATEMENT ONE: “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do…” (Luke 23:34)
Then…. after He was REJECTED and FORSAKEN by His friends and BETRAYED by His disciples… his closest followers and students and fellow ministers.
How do YOU deal with REJECTION? With BETRAYAL? With UN_FAITHFULNESS? What is your reaction to injustice and unfairness and false accusations? How do you feel toward those who LIE about you and GOSSIP about you and PLOT for your DOWNFALL? What would you do in similar circumstances?
Then… after He was taken to six illegal trials and hearings throughout the entire night? The legal and religious structure was bent in favor of His Enemies and lies and false accusations were cast in His Face.
Then… after He had been scourged (beaten and whipped mercilessly) with whips and rods. (12 thongs on the whip and each thong was tipped with bone, metal and glass fragments) Isaiah said His Visage (appearance) was so marred (disfigured) more than any man and His form more than the sons of men that many were astonished (shocked at the way He looked) at Him (Isaiah 52:14) His flesh had the texture of ground meat and yet He prayed: “Father, forgive them… they don’t really understand what they are doing…”
CAN YOU FORGIVE? HAVE YOU FORGIVEN? Do you have a grudge or grudges? Do you have bad feelings toward others? Are you not speaking and refusing to communicate? What right do you have to stay in strife and bitterness and unforgiveness? Has anyone done to you WHAT THESE DID TO JESUS?
Jesus looks beyond the OUTWARD ACT into the INTENTS of the HEART. “They do not know what they are doing…” In essence, Jesus is saying “They are not responsible for what they are doing… they are being driven by a force they do not understand… it is the nature of the devil in them… Father, be merciful to them… they do not realize what they are doing…” “O Father, see their POTENTIAL FOR GOOD not the visible actions of evil!!”
Lack of forgiveness hinders prayers and causes strife. It is the foundation of backsliding and the cause of bitterness. It wrecks homes and families and businesses. It keeps Divine Forgiveness from coming your way. Only as you FORGIVE can you be FORGIVEN. It breeds sickness and disease and hinders ministers and ministries. JESUS TAUGHT us HOW TO FORGIVE. Forgive those who despitefully use you and persecute you and speak all manner of evil against you falsely. Pray for them and Love them and Forgive them. FORGIVNESS is a CALVARY ATTITUDE and it is learned at the CROSS.
STATEMENT 2: “Today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise…” (Luke 23:43)
A guilty, tried and convicted common criminal simply asks for Mercy. “Remember me when you come into your kingdom…” REMEMBER ME. REMEMBER ME!! He was not a church member and had never been. He was not a disciple or a follower of Jesus. He had no character and no reputation and no good intention. He had run with the wrong crowd and justice had caught up with him. NOW… this common, uneducated, unwanted and guilty criminal RECEIVED and UN_DERSTOOD what the Jewish Nation and Organized Religion was BLIND to COMPREHEND. GOD is no RESPECTER of PERSONS!! He loves the unlovable and the unlovely. He cares for the criminals and the pimps and the prostitutes. He is compassionate toward drunks and the homosexuals and the thieves and the robbers and the rapists and the murderers!! JESUS is COLOR-BLIND!! JESUS is not just a WHITE, BLACK, YELLOW, BROWN, RED or AMERICAN JESUS!! HE IS GOD!! He is LORD OF ALL!! He is GOD of the UNIVERSE and all the INHABI_TANTS THEREOF!! He is committed to saving all who will call upon His Name!! “For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be Saved…” (Rom 10:13) His Kingdom is OPEN to WHOSOEVER WILL!! How strange that a CRIMINAL was the FIRST TROPHY of DI_VINE GRACE!! Cleansed and Restored and Forgiven and Made Acceptable by the BLOOD!!! The Cross is the PLACE OF MERCY and GRACE!!
STATEMENT 3: “Woman, behold thy son! Then saith He to the disciple, Behold, thy mother!! (John 19:26-27)
Even in the time of such great agony and suffering, JESUS was thinking of OTHERS. OTHERS who were hurting and lonely and wounded and bruised and sad. Jesus always CONSIDERS OTHERS!! That is the essence of the CROSS. OTHERS!! The NATIONS and KINDREDS and TONGUES and PEOPLES of the earth. The hurting and the wounded and the bruised and the broken. The sad and the grief-stricken and the hopeless and the forsaken. OTHERS. That is MISSIONS. That is the PURPOSE of the CHURCH. We are commanded and mandated to “PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR…” Jesus was thinking of OTHERS as he hung on the CROSS. His mother. Her hurt and disappointment. Her shattered hopes and dreams. Her broken heart. He committed her into the care of the disciple standing at the foot of the Cross. “From now on, she will be your mother… you must care for her and provide for her and comfort her. She needs help. She is now ‘your mother'”!!
Did you know that JESUS CONSIDERED YOU in His Death? He was thinking about YOU in His agony and suffering. His heartbeat was always for OTHERS. That includes YOU and ME!! “For the joy that was set before Him He endured the Cross…” (Heb 12:2)
STATEMENT 4: “I thirst…” John 19:28
Thirst is one of the most agonizing demands of the human body. It is compounded by the physical torture inflicted by Crucifixion. The body fluids are depleted. The fever rises and the tongue swells. The lips are dry and parched. Here we see the absolute Humanity of the Lord Jesus. He limited himself to the confines of human flesh. He was weak and vulnerable. He was hurting and He was thirsty. He Who was the LIVING WATER is now EMPTIED because of the sin of the human race. He suffered that we might reign. He was wounded that we might be healed. He was thirsty that we might drink of Him and “never thirst.” He is the Fountain but He allowed Himself to become dry so that we can be forever refreshed. His cry for water was a fulfillment of a prophecy in Psalm 69: 20-21: “Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink…” He became in totality what lost humanity was that we might become in totality what GOD MADE HIM TO BE.
Jesus is LIVING WATER. Jesus is REFRESHMENT. Jesus is LIFE.
STATEMENT 5: “My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken me? Mat 27:46
No sadder words are recorded in the Bible than these. Here we are confronted with the real cause of the Death of Christ. He died of a broken heart. A heart that was broken because His Father could not “look on sin” and was therefore forced to “forsake” His Only Begotten Son. God the Father turned His Back on Jesus because Jesus was made Sin for us. “For He (God) hath made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us… (2 Cor 5:21). The eternal Fellowship and Communion that they enjoyed was broken and breached because of my sin and yours. Jesus died of a broken heart. He was accustomed to being forsaken by friend and foe. He was accustomed to being forsaken by His Country and His Religion. He was accustomed to being forsaken by his own family. He had never… not one time…. ever…. been out of fellowship with the Father. And now that eternal relationship is severed by sin. He cried in agony “Father, why have you left Me? Why have you deserted Me?” No one will ever know the loneliness and emptiness Jesus experienced in order that we might NEVER BE FORSAKEN or LEFT ALONE or DE_SERTED. He became what we were (without God) in order that we can BE AS HE IS RIGHT NOW. “Hallelujah! What a Savior!!”
STATEMENT 6: “Father, into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit…” Luke 23:46
Jesus had declared earlier that: “I lay down my life for the sheep… no man taketh it (My Life) away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself…” John 10:15,18.
Jesus’ death was no accident. Contrary to the Hollywood hype, Jesus was not a wimp, and He was not confused or disillusioned. He came to die. He was Born to Die. Yet, He exercised total and complete authority over death by the Power of the Holy Ghost in Him. Death could not come to Him unless He allowed it to. No man could take His life from Him. He had the power of life and death. He willingly laid down His life… He voluntarily gave His Life, it was not taken from Him and satan did not kill Him. He chose death in order to give us Life. “I am come that you might have Life and have it more abundantly…” John 10:10. The Abundant, God-Kind of life comes out of His Death. He died that we might Live.
STATEMENT 7: “It is finished…” John 19:30
Jesus declared that IT is completed. IT is fulfilled. IT is accomplished. What is finished?
1. The fulfillment of Scriptures referring to His suffering and death
2. The defeat of satan and the powers of darkness
3. The breaking down of the “middle wall” of partition
4. Provision for personal access to God the Father
5. The cancellation of the reign of death
6. The cancellation of sin’s power and dominion
7. The demonstration of Love and Obedience of Jesus to the death
8. The Perfection of Jesus as the Sacrificial Lamb
9. Salvation and deliverance from all sin
10. Restoring of Peace between Man and God
11. The penalty of Death full paid
12. Man released from the kingdom of darkness
13. Satisfaction of the full justice of God in payment for sin
14. Physical Healing for all through the Blood
15. The way for the full anointing of the Holy Ghost
16. The establishment of the New Covenant
“It is finished” means that man has nothing to do but believe and accept. It means that it is not of works, lest any man should boast. It means that God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost have done all that is necessary for the full restoration of the Image of God in fallen humanity. It means that Jesus is the Perfect and Final Sacrifice… “once for all” He has entered into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled His Blood on the Mercy Seat perfecting Salvation for “Whosoever shall call on the Name of Jesus…”
Hallelujah!!
dickbraswell 
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