And Gave Up His Spirit
Last week I strove to bring attention to the first of several miraculous workings performed by Jehovah God on the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, namely the great darkness that enveloped the entire universe during the final three hours that the man given the title “King of the Jews” hanged upon the cross. Today, I want to examine more of the miracles we read of occurring specifically at the time of His death. Turn with me to the Gospel of John, chapter 19, starting with verse 28. I will interject Luke 23:46 at the place where I believe to be the proper time:
“After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, 'I am thirsty.' A jar full of vinegar was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. Therefore when Jesus had received the vinegar, He said, 'It is finished!' And Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.' and having said this, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” (Joh 19:28-30)
Now in the real world Jesus' command over the course of this ordeal was something that simply could not have been done. Crucifixion was the most agonizing form of execution ever devised by the mind of ancient man. Roman law even forbade its use upon a Roman citizen. Its cruelty lay in the fact that it took the victim’s most basic innate desire for self-preservation, and turned it against himself in a most hideous fashion. In addition to the excruciating pain, and the slow, inevitable physical breakdown of the body’s ability to sustain life, the victim’s mind also became a battleground between its instinctive will to live, and the growing, insatiable, frustrated longing for death, if for no other reason, then simply as a release from the indescribable anguish of the moment. Its effect upon the living was also undeniable, because at this time no one would willingly risk the wrath of Roman rule if doing so meant suffering such a fate. Historical accounts attest to the fact that death by crucifixion took up to three days to run its course. Yet here was a man who defied everything by actually hastening His own demise while nailed to a cross.
Throughout the time of His ministry Jesus was called by many 'the Son of David,' and was looked upon by them as being the promised king destined to lead His people Israel to a position of renewed glory among the nations. To the Jews David was their ideal. Through the inspiration of the Spirit we know of the range of emotions that ancient king experienced in his life; confidence and courage, happiness and hatred, guilt and regret, remorse and despair, obedience, gratitude, hope, trust, and joy. All these and more made up the fiber of the man that through it all could claim victory through his faithfulness. In like manner, in these last minutes, David became Jesus' most intimate companion, and the Jews primary indicter.
In last week's sermon, I pointed out that when, from the Cross, Jesus quoted the start of the 22nd Psalm, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,” the entire text of David's prophecy would have flashed upon the conscious minds of all those there witnessing the event. They simply could not stop themselves. In the exact same fashion John records in Verse 28:
“...Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture...”
What accomplishment? It was God's eternal purpose to pay the ultimate price to redeem mankind. Jesus was certainly cognizant of that fact, and said:
“...'the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.'” (Matt 20:28)
Now that time was truly at-hand. It is mind boggling to think that He was actually counting-down His final heartbeats. Only seconds remained.
What scripture?
...'I am thirsty.'
In both that simple request to receive that one small respite from the overwhelming physical agony wracking Jesus’ body, and in the response those tending to this grizzly scene provided, those present were brought to the indelible reference of David's 69th Psalm, verse 21. Let’s go to that particular entry, and read more fully the prophesy of David, beginning with verse 16. We first hear the call of the righteous for help from on High:
“Answer me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good According to the greatness of Your compassion, turn to me, And do not hide Your face from Your servant, For I am in distress; answer me quickly. Oh draw near to my soul and redeem it; Ransom me because of my enemies! You know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor; All my adversaries are before You. Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick. And I looked for sympathy, but there was none, And for comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for my food And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” (69 Psa:16-21)
We have been taught that when Jesus bore the sins of the world while on the Cross, that God could not bear to be in sin’s presence. Therefore, Jesus became quite alone, and cut off from the relationship He enjoyed with the Father from the beginning. This was one purpose for the darkness that we spoke of last week. However, by this point in time, after the darkness had been lifted, Jesus could justly call upon His God for the rescue of His eternal soul in the name of righteousness. Couple what we just read with what follows:
“May their table before them become a snare; And when they are in peace, may it become a trap. May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see, And make their loins shake continually. Pour out Your indignation on them, And may Your burning anger overtake them. May their camp be desolate; May none dwell in their tents. For they have persecuted him whom You Yourself have smitten, And they tell of the pain of those whom You have wounded. Add iniquity to their iniquity, And may they not come into Your righteousness. May they be blotted out of the book of life And may they not be recorded with the righteous.” (69 Psa:22-28)
Here we can see the two-edged sword of God’s coming judgment being called down upon the heads of the perpetrators of this outrage. There was no need for the Lord to engage in a long discourse with His audience to explain the meaning of David's words. That one little phrase said it all. As I pointed out last week, the people there who knew the words; the Pharisees, Saducees, priests, scribes, and teachers of the Law especially, would have made the same mental connections to this citation as naturally as taking their next breath.
Finally, it was time to draw everything to a close. First, the word used by Jesus to announce to the entire world the end of it all, rendered in the Koine Greek, ‘tetelestai,’ and as translated meaning “it is finished,” had several contextual usages common to that day, and each of these grammatical conventions have their unmistakable spiritual significance clearly defined on and in the Cross that day. A slave would report to his master ‘tetelestai,’ “it is finished,” when a certain task was accomplished. An artist would declare, ‘tetelestai,’ “it is done,” when his masterpiece was completed. In the Temple, the priest would pronounce ‘tetelestai,’ “it is perfect,” when his inspection determined that a lamb brought for sacrifice met the scriptural criteria making it acceptable to God. Merchants inscribed on a bill of sale ‘tetelestai,’ “it is paid in full,” when a debt was finally satisfied.
Second, one last appeal to that assembled multitude through the words of David:
“...'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.'” (Luke 23:46)
Once more, this is a direct quotation from the 31st Psalm, which in itself combines both the writer's praise and confidence in God:
“In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge; Let me never be ashamed; in Your righteousness deliver me. Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly; be to me a rock of strength, stronghold to save me. For You are my rock and my fortress; for Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me. You will pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, for You are my strength. Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have ransomed me, O Lord, God of truth.” (31 Psa:1-5)
with the assurance of personal vindication:
“I hate those who regard vain idols, but I trust in the Lord. I will rejoice and be glad in Your lovingkindness, because You have seen my affliction; You have known the troubles of my soul, and You have not given me over into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a large place.” (31 Psa:6-8)
It was only then that He gave up His spirit, and then, at that moment everything changed. Ever since the beginning, when God pronounced His first judgments upon the antagonists caught up in the first Fall:
“...The Lord God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat all the days of your life; and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.'” (Gen 3:14-15)
He had been at work carrying out the promise that in the fullness of time (Gal 4:4):
“…the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world…” (Rev 12:9)
would lie crushed beneath the weight of the Cross, bearing the body of the Son of God, the One born of woman only (Gal 4:4). That fullness had finally come due.
Everyone within earshot of the Lord's last words called themselves, “God's Chosen People,” yet here they were left without excuse. For all of God's forbearance with this stiff-necked people throughout their history, the time for repentance, mercy, and reconciliation had finally come to an irreconcilable end. All that remained was revenge, and judgment. If we can recall the utter devastation that came upon the Jews in the generation following this day, culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem and the demolition of Temple at the hands of the Romans in AD 70 (Matt 24:2), then through all these words of David, those responsible for this evil day could also see the promise of Jehovah’s coming wrath.
“Vengeance is Mine, and retribution…” (Deut 32:35)
It was the Hebrews writer who wrote on the behalf of we the Victors:
“…we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them 'brethren,'...since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham.” (Heb 2:9-11, 14-16)
John, being an eyewitness to the entire bloody spectacle, continued in his narrative:
“Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.” (John 19:31-34)
Because crucifixion was normally such a time-consuming process, the speedy death of Jesus was a surprise to all concerned, as Mark relates in his gospel:
“…Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He was already dead. And ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.” (Mark 15:43-45)
Have you ever wondered how all that happened so quickly? I have. Under ‘normal’ post mortem circumstances, blood will eventually separate plasma from blood cells, but this takes hours to happen. We should also point out that when death occurs while a person is in an upright position, blood will pool in the lower extremities of the body. It will not be found in the chest cavity. However, there is a medical condition, known as cardiac tamponade, that occurs when a person undergoes such a magnitude of physical or emotional stress that the heart literally bursts from the strain. It is similar to the effects Jesus suffered the night before, when during His prayer to the Father while in the Garden of Gethsemane:
“…His sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground.” (Luke 22:44)
When death is caused in this fashion, the blood from the heart mixes with the fluid found in the pericardium, the sac that surrounds the heart itself. That fluid looks a lot like water, so if the pericardium were pierced after a person has died of this condition, ‘blood and water’ would flow from the wound. The volume of flow would not be important. The sacrifice, proclaimed by John the Immerser as being:
“…the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
and further seen by John the Apostle:
“…between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain…” (Rev 5:6)
was accepted as sufficient to accomplish all righteousness.
Concurrent to this, other miracles were being performed as well. Matthew reported:
“And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.” (Matt 27:51)
The principal casualty was the veil, which divided the Holy Place from the rest of the Temple, and symbolically represented the segregation of a Holy God from a sin fallen world. From that time on there would be no need for God to separate Himself from His people. The day foreseen by the Isaiah the prophet had finally come to pass:
“He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day, 'Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.'” (Isa 25:8-9)
Even though from our perspective in time, we are afar off, we enjoy the blessings of a death suffered in our stead. Paul’s explanation and encouragement to our brethren at Rome still applies today:
“…Or do you not know that all of us who have been immersed into Christ Jesus have been immersed into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through immersion into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Rom 6:3-11)
The death we die with Christ is strictly transitory, and worth the effort, for when we come up out of the water of immersion in the newness of life, death has no hold over us. As the beatitude states:
“Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power…” (Rev 20:6)
