By Chaplain Craig Muehler
Hear the Son of God: First, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34 ESV). First, sinful man rebelled against God and now they killed His Son. We deserve only destruction! However, Christ does not die to seal your fate and condemn you, but He announces that He dies so that you might be forgiven and live.
He speaks a second time, this time to the penitent robber, and promises, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43 ESV). Cling to these words for yourself. When death draws near, you will likely be haunted with memories of sin, but He has saved you, and paradise is yours.
He speaks a third time. To Mary, “Woman, behold your son!” To John, “Behold your mother!” (John 19:26-27 ESV). There is wonderful comfort for you. He is still at work to keep the commandments. You have no hope of salvation by keeping God’s Law for you have not kept it perfectly, but you do have hope of salvation because Jesus has kept it perfectly for you—even as His blood was shed.
He speaks a fourth time: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46 ESV). Jesus is now abandoned by His Father, and so He suffers hell on that cross. Why does God forsake His Son? So that He will not forsake you. Jesus suffers that abandonment for you and your sin.
Again, He speaks, a short fifth word: “I thirst” (John 19:38 ESV). At the cross, the Lord has taken the sinner’s place in judgment and death; thus, He has no life left and so He thirsts for living water. He is thirsting in your place, forsaken by God so that you might be delivered.
His sixth word is one of great comfort: “It is finished!” (John 19:30 ESV). What is finished? The plan of redemption is finished—the payment for your sin. Christ has paid in full for the sins of the world, and He will not suffer for it anymore, ever again. Neither will you.
He speaks one last time as He breathes His last: “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46 ESV). Treasure those words, too: The Son was forsaken by His Father, but no longer. As He dies, He is once again in His Father’s care. He dies with the glad confidence, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord” (Psalm 118:17 NKJV).