Forgiveness, The First Word Of The Cross Series

LUKE 23:32-34 [JESUS’ LAST DAY SERIES]

FORGIVENESS, THE FIRST WORD OF THE CROSS

[Isaiah 53:1-9]

Mankind here is caught in the act of doing their worst. The One who made the world was being completely denied, despised and desecrated. The Lord of Glory who came in human flesh and tabernacle among men was rejected. The Son of God had yielded Himself into their hands. He had gone through a mock trial and though His judges found no fault in Him, they nevertheless, yielded to the insistent demonic clamor of those who hated Him as they cried again and again “Crucify Him, Crucify Him.”

The Lord of Glory was beaten, whipped, and paraded up the street. Now He is stripped, nails are driven in His hands and feet, and the Old Rugged Cross is dropped into place. How did the Lord of Life respond, with a cry for pity? With the pronouncement of a curse? Or with words of judgment and anger? No, the first word spoken from the Cross is a prayer, a prayer for forgiveness. How significant! What an example the suffering Savior has left for us.

Christ’s ministry on the cruel Cross began with the forgiveness of sin, with a plea for forgiveness, the full and free forgiveness for a world of lost sinners ruined by the fall. In His prayer, “Father, forgive them,” the suffering One revealed Himself as the interceding Mediator pleading for the guilty. In His life He prayed for others and in His death, He did the same. A wondrous blessing of our holy faith is that Jesus ever lives to make intercession for those redeemed by His precious blood.

I. THE PROCESSIONAL TO FORGIVENESS, 32.

II. THE PLACE OF FORGIVENESS, 33.

III. THE PRAYER OF FORGIVENESS, 34a.

IV. THE PEOPLE OF FORGIVENESS, 34a.

V. THE PROPOSAL OF FORGIVENESS, 34b.

VI. THE PUTTING-OFF OF FORGIVENESS, 34c.

VII. THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS.

Our text begins in verse 32 were it states that Jesus was crucified between two criminals. “Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him.”

The events of this section recall language and imagery used by Isaiah where the Messiah is presented as a Suffering Servant. The prophecy in Isaiah 53:12 says, “He was reckoned with the transgressors.”

We call it “Good Friday,” but no one standing there that day would have called that Friday “good.” The best man that history has ever known was nailed to a Roman cross and murdered. For His enemies it was a victory of sorts; for the soldiers it was simply another day’s work; for His followers it was the death of their brightest hopes and greatest dreams. But no one would have called that Friday “good.”

That is true of many “bad Fridays” if you consider them apart from Resurrection Sunday. They make life seem futile– without purpose and meaning. But God’s most striking victories rise out of the graves of apparent defeats.

In his book Idols for Destruction, Herbert Schlossberg wrote, “We are not the lords of history and do not control its outcome, but we have assurance that there is a Lord of history and He controls its outcome. We need a theological interpretation of disaster, one that recognizes that God acts in such events as captivities, defeats, and crucifixions. The Bible can be interpreted as a string of God’s triumphs disguised as disasters.” [Our Daily Bread. Triumph in Tragedy]

Face each day with trust in Jesus Christ. Remember, God’s most striking victories come out of the graves of apparent defeats.

II. THE PLACE OF FORGIVENESS, 33.

Verse 33 describes some of the scene of the crucifixion. “When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.”

The Greek word for skull is Kranion (cranium), in Aramaic, Golgotha and in the Latin Vulgate Calvaris, i.e. calvary. The place was probably so named because it looked like a skull. The hill protruded from the ground much as a head does from a body. Most likely this site is where the church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem resides today. [Many appreciate Gordon’s Calvary and the Garden Tomb because they give a better picture of what the site is presumed to be like in the early centuries. Edward E. Hindson and Woodrow Michael Kroll, eds., KJV Bible Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1994), 2067.] In Jesus’ day, before Herod Agrappa I built the next (third) wall, this place was outside the second or northern wall but near the city (Jn.19:20,41).

Note the few words, only three in the original, “there they crucified Him” are used to indicate this most significant event! They, refers to the soldiers, the Sanhedrin, the nation, and to each of you. It was your sins that put Him on the cross.