Tonight is our Good Friday Service at 7:30P.M. at TCC

Luke 23:46, Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

This is the 7th phrase and this word shows completion, a finished work. Six days God created the earth and rested on the seventh day. He declared it very good. The seventh declares rest and satisfaction. These words reveal contentment, faith confidence and love.

He speaks in a loud voice. He wanted everyone including his enemies who judged Him guilty to let them know He was not forsaken. These last words were to set a precedent for all His people.

He had spent six hours hanging on the cross. He was surrounded by a taunting crowd in intense agony. He was suffering at the hands of men and suffering at the hand of God. But now we see Jesus calling His Father to have communion with Him. What a privilege it is to enjoy communion with God.

He calls out, “Father, Into Your Hands I commit my spirit.” This reveals the fulfillment of prophecy in Psalm 31:5, “Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.” The word Father is such a sweet, encouraging and assuring title. A son who calls upon His Father in the midst of trouble and distress. Jesus like a child finds rest in His arms. What a glorious picture the Father’s arms are a place of rest and protection. He commits His Spirit to the Father. At this moment His Spirit was being separated from the body. This was an act of faith again a precedent for all believers.
Dying believers are warranted and encouraged by Christ’s example by faith to commend their souls into the hands of God. Just as Stephen did as he was being stoned (Acts 7:59). He committed His Spirit to the hands of God. The truth is our soul outlives the body. As life progresses our bodies fail they become weak. When we die our bodies do not go with us they return to dust. The believer’s soul finds true rest is in God.

What a contrast we see here. He was in the hands of men, he could have avoided arrest but He voluntarily gave Himself up in the Garden and here we see Him delivering His Spirit into the hands of the Father. Never again to be a the mercy of the wicked. Never again to suffer shame, He commits Himself to the Father to look after Him.

Another contrast shows Christ’s uniqueness. For Him to be the sinless sacrifice. Complete satisfaction must be offered to God’s outraged holiness and offended justice. Jesus suffered the wrath of God. “And having said this he breathed his last.” He died. Hebrews 9:27 says, he need to taste death. He had to die and breathe his last to finish his purpose. Sacrifices were not just cut but killed. With the sinner it is death first then judgment but with the Savior it was reversed. He endured judgment then died. His death unique to all others. It also reveals how he always accomplished His Father’s will to the point of death. It showed his dependency upon God.

He died as a representative of His people. He presented the believer’s spirits along with His to the Father’s acceptance. Jesus Christ neither lived or died for Himself but for believers. The Father’s hands is the place of eternal security. We are weak in ourselves but kept the power of God. Every spirit born again is eternally safe in the Father’s hand.

What can we learn from this portion? Death awaits us all. Pink says, “You are in a world full of trouble. You are unable to take care of yourself in life, much less do it in death. Life has many trials and temptations. Your soul is menaced from every side. Every hand has dangers and pitfalls. The world, the flesh and the devil are all against you; they are too much for your strength. Here we see God a beacon of light among the darkness. Here we see the shelter from all storms. Here is the canopy that protects all from the fiery darts of the evil one.” Why does this culture promote immortality in this life in our physical bodies? Is it because the unbeliever fears death because judgment awaits?

For the believer in Christ death does not hold terror and fear. It holds safety and protection for the soul that when our bodies fail our residence is transferred into heaven. How is this accomplished? It is through the death and resurrection of Christ by God’s great mercy regenerating the believer’s heart from enmity with God to Christ imputing His righteousness making us holy in God’s sight. Finding rest in God’s arms. What a comfort we have just as Christ has, His Father is our Father. What assurance it conveys. God is my Father and He loves me and cares for me. Can we call upon Him as Christ called upon Him in our distress? Not only can we trust Him with our souls but we can trust Him daily with all our cares and concerns. What a glorious celebration at the moment of death to know our residence in forever in heaven. Our eternal purpose is to glorify Him for all eternity. Thank God for this blessed hope. Thank God there is a refuge from life and death.

1 Peter 1:3-5, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

May we say what Christ has declared, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”

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