THE SEVEN LAST WORDS OF JESUS FROM THE CROSS

Part 2

Luke 23:33-34

Morning Meditation 8/15/17

"And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots."

The next words uttered by Jesus on the cross,

MADE PROVISIONS FOR HIS MOTHER

John 19:25-27 John says, "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."

At the circumcision of Jesus on the eighth day an old believer who was waiting for the coming of the Lord recognizes the baby Jesus as the one for whom Israel had been waiting. What happened is described in Luke 2:25-35, "And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." Mary was the true mother of His humanity and she had a mother’’s love and Simeon’’s is recognizing this. Old Simeon is so certain that Jesus is the long awaited one he prayed in his prayer, "(Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

John Gill comments: "That the thoughts, &c. This is connected with the preceding verse: "He shall be a sign, a conspicuous object to be spoken against, that the thoughts of many hearts may be made manifest"——that is, that they might show how much they hated holiness. Nothing so brings out the feelings of sinners as to tell them of Jesus Christ. Many treat him with silent contempt; many are ready to gnash their teeth; many curse him; all show how much by nature the heart is opposed to religion, and thus are really, in spite of themselves, fulfilling the Scriptures and the prophecies. So true is it that "none can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost, " 1 Cor. 12:3.

When Jesus looked in His dying hour at those around the cross, His eyes fell on Mary and John. It is believed by most Bible scholars that Joseph had died and left Mary, Jesus mother, a widow. Jesus looks at John. He knew He could count on John and there would never be a complaint. So He looks at John and says, "Behold thy mother!" and the Scripture says, "And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home." She never had to worry about her livelihood again. John would fulfill the Lord’’s request.

I know it is not possible in a lot of cases, but I have such great admiration for a son or a daughter, taking a mother into his/her home for care, when her husband is taken in death. An older woman is so helpless when this happens. And in many cases she suffers "a hell of loneliness." It is easy in that condition for one to feel totally forsaken. That is one of the most distressing situations that a person can have.

One of Jesus last words on the cross was a word of commitment of His mother to John. It is worded this way in verse 26, "When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!" And following in verse 27 He said, "Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home." There wasn’’t a disobedient bone in John’’s body. He counted it such a privilege to care for His Saviour’’s mother.

Then the next word Jesus uttered had to do with the,

ATONEMENT

Christ’’s fourth word that came from Christ on the cross was reveals the awful price He had to pay to atone for our sins.

Someone said, "From noon until three p.m. there was darkness. What happened to our Lord Jesus during those three hours we do not know. We must respect the silence of Scripture. The darkness was Nature’’s way of sympathy with its Creator. Extraordinary light attended His birth; extraordinary darkness attended His death. At last the silence was broken by a cry. So there was not only the darkness of nature, but there was darkness in the soul of the Saviour."

It is hard for us to imagine. Sin and sinful thoughts do not surprise me. I am not satisfied with them but because I am by nature what I am I can understand. But Jesus experienced all that we experience and He did it without sin. Hebrews 4:15, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." His sinlessness had to come in contact with the sinfulness of mankind in order for Him to pay our sin debt. There was no other way. But for me to tell you the agony in which this placed His holy person would be an utter impossibility.

Jesus was God’’s sinless Lamb given to take away the sin of the world.. When Abraham in the typical sacrifice of His Son offered the Ram in the stead of his son, got a minor view of the cost it was to God the Father and God the Son as he had the raised knife ready to plunge it in the heart of Isaac. He also experienced the relief of grace when the Angel said in Genesis 22:11-13, "And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son." The offering of the Ram in the stead of his son made an atonement for sin.

The word atonement is found one time in the New Testament. It is in Romans 5:11, "And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." The word "atonement" translates "katallage" and means, "exchange of the business, of money changers, exchanging equivalent values,

adjustment of a difference, reconciliation, restoration to favour, in the NT of the restoration of the favour of God to sinners that repent and put their trust in the expiatory death of Christ." The word "katallage" is found in our KJV 4 times. It is translated reconciliation 2, atonement 1, reconciling 1; for a total of 4 times. What Jesus did on the cross was to restore man to favor with God. In order for restoration to favor or reconciliation to take place, favor was restored by Jesus paying the price in full so that mans debt was settled. God is satisfied now for the sins man has committed by the shedding of Jesus blood in payment for sin.

Then the next words that Jesus uttered from the cross are,

I THIRST

As long as Jesus was alive on the earth, He had the same needs we do. His thirst for water came about through the shedding of his blood and hanging in the parching sun of the Jerusalem skies in that day.

Physical thirst is not the only way the word thirst is used in the Bible. Psalms 42:1, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?" This Psalm describes an intense longing in the heart of a believer for God. There is nothing that satisfies the longing soul more than a drink from the fountain from which the Lord Himself is the source.

Jesus said in John 7:37-38, "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." The fountain is open and the thirsty are invited to come and drink. Jesus is the one person who can quench the thirst of any person.

We will look at the sixth and seventh words from the cross tomorrow. May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White