"Father into Thy Hands"
Luke 23:46
The cross of Jesus Christ is the center of everything.
Early in the Gospels we hear Christ declaring that He set His face steadfastly toward Jerusalem and the cross. His entire life was spent in the shadow of the cross. Isaiah 50:4–11 speaks of the suffering of the Messiah. In verse 7, the Servant expresses His complete confidence in God, declaring that He will not shrink back from His mission, despite severe suffering, opposition, and humiliation: “Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame” (Isaiah 50:7).
Flint, a very hard, dark rock, is used figuratively in the Bible to express hardness, as in the firmness of horses’ hoofs (Isaiah 5:28), the toughness of an impossible task (Deuteronomy 8:15; Psalm 114:80), and the inflexibility of unwavering determination (Ezekiel 3:8–9).
Set your face like flint is the figure of speech the prophet uses to describe the Messiah’s unwavering determination to persevere in the excruciating task set before Him. Christ would endure humiliation on His journey to the cross to die for our sins. Nearly 800 years before it happened, Isaiah foretold the suffering of the Lord’s Servant: “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6; cf. Matthew 26:67; 27:26; Mark 15:19; Luke 22:63).
Luke echoes this resolute image of Christ set on saving His people: “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51, ESV). In Jerusalem Jesus would face arrest, torture, and agonizing death. With trust in God the Father to help and defend Him before His enemies, Jesus set off firmly and unflinchingly committed to finish His mission. There would be no backing out, and no enemy or accuser could deter Him from accomplishing His purpose. He had set His face like flint.
He was ever eager to go to the cross because apart from that He could not fulfill His divine mission.
The cross was perpetually present to the mind of Christ. It was always in His heart and on His lips after Peter’s great confession of Him as the Messiah, the Son of the living God. He was always moving toward that cross as a Victor, not a victim. He was always moving toward the ultimate final victory over sin and death
It was on His mind as He spoke to Nicodemus, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life" (John 3:14). The cross was the only way Jesus could fulfill His mission. His death was a vicarious, substitutionary sinner’s death even though He never experienced sin. He was the sinners’ representative dying in his place.
Let’s examine for a few moments the circumstances around the death of Christ.
Luke's arrangement of the events at Calvary the day Christ died is topical, not chronological. We get the whole picture when we examine the death of Christ in all four of the Gospels. Each writer has selected events that helped him to explain the message of salvation.
There were many miracles at Calvary. (1) A miraculous darkness enveloped the scene for three hours,(2) and the thick curtain in the Temple was torn from top to bottom like gigantic hands took hold of it at the top and ripped it apart.(3) An earthquake rocked Jerusalem and split open rocks. (4) People came out of their graves after Jesus' resurrection and entered the city of Jerusalem.
"It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour" (Luke 23:44; cf. Matt. 27:45; Mk. 15:33).
The very fact that this darkness is mentioned shows it must have stood out in memory as having been of great intensity and an unforgettable experience. It occurred when least expected, at high noon, and lasted three hours, not a few minutes like an eclipse.
Besides it was the time of the full moon at Passover when the darkness covered the whole land. No one can say the darkness did not extend over the whole of the daylight half of the globe. This darkness was in the presence of the full sun and covered the sun at noonday. All at once the darkness covered the land and it seems to have departed just as suddenly. It was not late afternoon as the sun normally goes down quietly, but it was a frightful darkness that suddenly dropped like a thick curtain. It was very extensive and concentrated like the three days darkness in Egypt during the plagues preceding the first Passover. Like that event there is only one explanation––God. It was a special act of God. It was as if God put His hand over the sun and blocked its light for three hours.
On the cross the agony of judgment that Jesus was suffering was so intense He finally uttered the words, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Jesus was giving His life as a "ransom" for our sins (Mark 10:45; Matt. 20:28; 26:28). And God drew the curtains over Calvary so sinful man could not see the intensity of God forsaking God.
Moreover, in the moment Jesus died the one-inch thick woven loose–hanging curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Hollies into two rooms was sliced into from top to bottom. It did not shake to pieces, but was like a giant hand took hold of it at the top of the veil and ripped it apart from top to bottom.
The moment Christ died "the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many" (Matthew 27:51-53).
Luke simply says, "the veil of the temple was torn in two" (Luke 23:45). Referring to the same event Mark writes, "And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom" (Mark 15:37-38). The rending of the veil occurred at the moment of His death.
Jesus was an obedient Son throughout His life and ministry. Everything that He said or did can be understood only in the light of the cross. Calvary is the key to truth. Jesus repeatedly tells us He did nothing except in the Father’s will. "I can do nothing," Jesus said, "on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me" (John 5:30). "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working. . . Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing, whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner" (vv. 19-20). Jesus came to do the Father’s will and on the cross He is accomplishing the ultimate purpose of His coming to this earth.
Jesus breathed His last breath. He died. The expression "He breathed His last," or "He gave up His spirit" means "to breath out, to expire, to die."
The meaning of His death
What was the purpose of His death? The apostle Peter writes, "you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18, 19).
The wonderful truth is that it is the blood of Jesus that cleanses from all sin and its effects on the believing sinner. Instead of lambs it is the blood of Jesus that is offered on the altar for our redemption.
The blood was thus the life given up to death for the satisfaction of the law of God, and in obedience to His command. Sin was so entirely covered and atoned for, it was no longer reckoned as that of the transgressor. He was forgiven. Based upon the sacrifice of Jesus the LORD God could declare the believing sinner acquitted.
It is not just that Jesus died, but that He died as our personal Savior. His death was not the death of just anyone. He was God’s lamb dying for a specific purpose. Therefore, His blood is the only cleansing for sin.
But all these sacrifices and offerings were only types, and shadows, till the Lord Jesus came. His blood was the reality to which these types pointed.
His blood was of infinite worth, because it carried His soul or life. It was none other than the Son of God who died. In holy obedience to the Father’s will the Son of God
subjected Himself to the penalty of the broken law, by pouring out His soul unto death. By that death, not only was the penalty paid in full, but the law was satisfied completely, and the Father glorified. Therefore God could be "just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26b). His blood atoned for sin, and thus made it powerless. It does this by cleansing us of all sin and guilt (1 John 1: 7-10). It has a marvelous power for removing sin, cleansing and sanctifying.
One of the amazing things about His death was the timing. The death of Jesus was unusually quick. Most of the victims of crucifixion were left on the cross for a week to die a slow horrible death of hunger, thirst, dehydration, insanity and infection in the blazing Palestinian sun. When Jesus knew the payment was paid in full (John 19: 28-30) He chose to give up His spirit. He was sovereign in His own death. He died like no other man. Jesus chose the timing of His own death to the minute.
Jesus, as the High Priest on that last Passover Day, was offering Himself to God as the bleeding sacrifice to atone for man’s sin. His cross is the altar of the sacrifice. His body is the bloody Sacrifice.. By His voluntary death, this Priest carried His sacrifice into the Holy of Hollies of God’s presence; and with these words offered it to God. The deed is done, finished, complete!
Year after year, for centuries, the Jewish priests had been doing it. Thousands upon thousands of lambs had been slain. Little did they realize that very day just outside the walls of the city, a different kind of Priest had appeared, with a Lamb that brought bloody sacrifice forever to an end. Jesus, the Son of God, offers His broken body, without spot or blemish, to God. He pours out precious and efficacious blood at the foot of the cross. The veil of the temple is rent in two from top to the bottom. God Almighty is satisfied! His wrath is propitiated through the blood of Jesus. He comes from the secret place, saying, "It is enough! No more priests, but Jesus! No more blood, but His blood! The work is done!"
The New Testament has much to say about the sacrifice of Christ. Hebrews 7:22-27; 9:24-28; Romans 5:6, 8; 6:10; 8:34; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
At Calvary's altar, the crucified Priest offered Himself, the Lamb of God, to take away the sin of the world.
.Of note is the fact that, when Jesus said, “Into your hands I commit my spirit,” He was quoting Scripture, Psalm 31:5, to be exact. Earlier, Jesus had also quoted from Psalm 22:1 from the cross (Matthew 27:46). In everything Jesus did and said, He fulfilled the will of God and the word of God. Even in the throes of death, our Lord was sensible of His mission and pointed those around Him to the fulfillment of prophecy. Psalm 31 is a prayer of David in distress, full of trust in God, and in Luke 23 the Son of David echoes the same prayer:
“In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
deliver me in your righteousness.
Turn your ear to me,
come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge,
a strong fortress to save me.
Since you are my rock and my fortress,
for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
Keep me free from the trap that is set for me,
for you are my refuge.
Into your hands I commit my spirit;
deliver me, Lord, my faithful God”
(Psalm 31:1–5).
Jesus prays, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit,” because it is only in the Father’s hands that our spirits are safe. In speaking of the security of believers, Jesus had taught, “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:29). We are in the habit of securing our most valuable earthly treasures in a safe or a bank vault, where we know no harm will come to them. From the cross, Jesus shows us that our most valuable of treasures—our spirits—should be committed for safekeeping into the Father’s hands.
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two." (Luke 23:44-45)
The curtain mentioned is the inner curtain that separates the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place Edersheim tells us that it consisted of two curtains that were 60 feet long and 30 feet wide, as thick as the palm of a man's hand, woven in 72 separate squares, and joined together. Think of the force that would have been required to tear this massive curtain!
But what does the rent curtain mean? The Gospel writers don't tell us. But it probably signifies: (1) an opening of the way between people and the very presence of God, brought about by Christ's redemption on the cross, or (2) a forewarning of the obsolescence and final destruction of the temple. Perhaps it means both of these.
The curtain of the temple divided of the holy of holies from the holy place where only the high priest was permitted to enter once a year. The veil is rent, the curtain is torn, and now the high priest isn’t the only one who has access to God. Because of Jesus, anyone and everyone can now experience intimacy with the Father.
Jesus spoke of this to the woman at the well. “The hour is coming,” Jesus said, “when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. . . . the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”
Through the death of Christ the way into the heavenly sanctuary was opened for all mankind. All may now freely enter in by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 6:19; 9:3). "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water" (10:19–22). Now we can experience an intimate, love relationship with Christ because His sacrificial death opened a way for every believer to enter into the holiest "through the veil" of His flesh. "Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16; Cf. Eph. 2:18-19; 3:11-12)
.At that moment the throne of grace was opened up for all who will believe. The way into God's presence is now open for all to come in. Jesus is the only sacrifice needed for us to have a right relationship with God. However, there is only one way to enter and that is through the blood of Jesus (Acts 4:12). The Temple in Jerusalem was no longer God's dwelling–place. The Temple was profaned, and consequently abolished by God Himself when in A. D. 70 the Roman army burned it.
From the day of Pentecost every believer’s body became the dwelling place of God (1 Cor. 3:16).
