Father Into Thy Hands I Commend My Spirit`

The 7 Last saying of Christ

“Father into Thy Hands I Commend My Spirit.”

by

District Elder M.L. Maughmer, Jr.

Luke 23:44-47 -- "And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost. Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man."

Theme Verse: - Luke 23:46 Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. “This is Psalms 31:5 with one word added--Father. That verse was the prayer every Jewish mother taught her child to say as the last thing at night. Just as we were taught to say, ‘Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep. So the Jewish mother taught her child to say, before they went to sleep, “Into thy hands I commit my spirit.” However, when Jesus said it on the cross He not only made it exceptionally lovely, but showed something very significant when He added the word Father. He proclaimed relationship and He even showed us while on the cross how to die like a child falling asleep in His father’s arms.”

We have and are commemorating on tonight the last 7 sayings of Jesus Christ. It is said that the way one lives is the way one dies. There is a story about a man that was very successful in the deli business he had stores all over the country. On his death bed the top executives from his company all gathered around to hear the last words of this man because they knew that he would give them everlasting wisdom as he departed from this life. With his dying breath the man said “Slice the ham thin”. As he lived so he died. This being true we find Jesus dies as He lived in relationship and in with prayer with the Father.

His first saying was that of forgiveness. We see in the 1st saying Christ asking the Father to forgive the very people who at the time were mocking him and had beat and mistreated him all night long. They scourged him and beat him beyond recognition, yet His 1st saying on the cross if forgiveness. This is a forgiveness that wasn’t dependant upon the remorse of others but on the Agape love of God.

His second saying was that of salvation. Although He was soon to die He never stopped doing what He was sent to do. Jesus gave the gift of eternal life to a thief on the cross just in the last hours of his life he turned to Christ and asked remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” It shows that even unto death we must be faithful, it show us that no matter what you’ve done and no matter what hour if you turn to Christ with true repentance in your heart it’s never too late. Understand that I am not an advocate for death bed repentance because that’s to close, but as long as you have breath in you body you can repent.

His third saying was that of affection. We see Jesus in the pain and agony on the cross yet He takes time to entrust his mother to his beloved friend and disciple John.

His fourth saying was that of anguish. We hear the humanity of Him when He said I thirst. Although this thirst was to be quenched with the bitterness of vinegar it was sweet to our souls. I thirst was THE EXPRESSION OF THE DESIRE OF HIS HEART. He thirsted for water no doubt, but His soul was thirsty in a higher sense; indeed, he seems only to have spoken that so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled as to the offering Him vinegar. Understand that He was always in harmony with Himself, and His own body, He was always expressive of His soul’s cravings as well as of its own longings. "I thirst" meant that His heart was thirsting to save men. This thirst had been on him from the earliest of his earthly days. He thirsted to pluck us from between the jaws of hell, to pay our redemption price, and set us free from the eternal condemnation which hung over us.

His fifth saying was that of suffering. We hear the agony in the voice of Christ at the very moment that He took the sins of the world upon Himself and was separated from His Father. He said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He endured that separation from His Father so we wouldn’t have to.