Committed Unto Death Series

LUKE 23: 44-49 [JESUS’ LAST DAY SERIES]

COMMITTED UNTO DEATH

[Psalm 31:5; John 10:17-18; Hebrews 10:19-22]

In our text today we have the last act of the Savior before He died. It is an act of commitment, faith, confidence and love. While Jesus hung upon the cross seven times His lips moved in speech. This is His final word, His seventh word from the cross.

What our Lord accomplished on the cross was an eternal transaction that involved Him and the Father. The first word was "Father forgive" and now His last word, "Father into Thy hands I commit My spirit." Between those utterances He had hung there for six earthly hours: three spent in sufferings at the hands of man and Satan; three spent in suffering at the Hand of God, as the sword of Divine justice was "awakened" to smite God's substitutionary lamb. During those last three hours, God had withdrawn from the Savior, evoking that terrible cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" But now all is finished. The cup is drained; the storm of wrath has spent itself; the separation is past, and the Savior is seen once more in communion with the Father, never to be broken again.

Let us look at the culmination of the event that opened heaven's door for you and for me.

I. THE DARKNESS OF THE CROSS, 44

II. THE TEMPLE VEIL TORN, 45.

II. THE LAST WORD OF THE CROSS, 46.

III. THE PEOPLE AROUND THE CROSS, 47-49.

Luke notes four things that occurred at the time Jesus died [the other gospel writers note others]. First, two symbolic events took place while Jesus was on the cross. At the mid-point in Jesus’ crucifixion verse 44 states that an unusual darkness falls over the whole land. “And it was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour and the sun failed.”

Luke calls our attention to a tangible darkness. The day was counted from 6 a.m. as the first hour, to 6 p.m., the twelfth hour. The three hours of darkness, from roughly noon to three o'clock, were supernatural, like God had turned off the lights of His glory. It could not have been an eclipse because it would not have been possible during the Passover season when there was a full moon. The darkness that covered “the whole land” I believe was God-sent [due to the seriousness of the cosmic tragedy that was occurring (Amos 8:9)]. It shrouded the cross while the Son of Man was made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). It was as if nature itself closed its eyes in mourning while its Creator suffered and died.

Both Matthew (27:45f) and Mark (15:33f) record our Lord's heart breaking cry at the end of these three hours of unimaginable agony: "Eloi, Eloi, Lama sabachthani"--My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me? While this abandonment is not explained it is most likely God turning His back on Jesus when He became sin for us.

Our Lord would then cry, "It is finished!" (JN 19:30) a declaration of victory over sin. Jesus had finished the redemptive work the Father gave Him to accomplish. The work of ransom was finished, the prophecies fulfilled (Heb. 9:24-25) and God’s justice was satisfied. The Savior could now rest.

II. THE TEMPLE VEIL TORN, 45.

To show that this was an hour of victory and not defeat, verse 45 continues with Luke noting the supernatural renting of the temple veil. “And the veil of the temple was torn in two.”

This significant event symbolized what had happen through Christ's work on the cross. The temple had three parts: the courts for the daily sacrifices; the Holy Place, where only priests could enter; and the Most Holy Place, where the high priest alone could enter once a year with blood to atone for the sins of the people. It was in the Most Holy Place that the ark of the covenant, and God's presence with it, rested. The curtain that was torn was the one that closed off the Most Holy Place from view. At Christ's death, the barrier between God and man was split in two. Now all people can approach God directly through Christ (Hebrews 9:1-14, 10:19-22).

The curtain of the temple was not some delicate piece of fabric but was a very heavy curtain with layer upon layer of folded fabric. It would have been next to impossible to tear by natural means, but God obviously had torn the curtain in the temple. The tearing from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51) symbolized the fact that now, because of Jesus’ atoning death, people had free access to God as they no longer had to go through the sacrificial system (Rom. 5:2; Eph. 2:18; 3:12). Jesus was the only Sacrifice needed to enable people to have a proper relationship with God. A new covenant had just been inaugurated (begun) in the broken body and shed blood of Jesus.