The Last Words. Luke 23:44-49 The sun stopped shining before the last four “sayings of Christ on the cross” were spoken. The first three sayings were blessings from our Lord Jesus Christ directed toward those who crucified Him, those who loved Him, and a man who needed His salvation. When darkness suddenly covered the world from twelve to three o’clock, creation stopped functioning normally as the Sustainer and Upholder of all things fell silent in His suffering. All things created by the “word of His power” made no statements as God visibly showed His thoughts about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The world reverted to its state before the words of the Creator said, “Let there be light.” It would still remain in darkness if Christ had not come as “The Light of the world.” Hope was made possible for those who followed Him. They had received “the light of life.” Those who love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil will live and die in darkness and will be “in the blackness of darkness forever.”
At three o’clock, the Lord loudly called out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me!” That cry was clearly heard and was followed by the words, “I thirst!” These were not the weak words normally heard from someone dying, and they were followed by an even louder shout from the Savior, “It is finished!” That powerful, resonant voice actually uttered one tremendously important word, “FINISHED!” It was the loud cry of victory after a hard-fought battle. Creation awoke at the sound of that voice, accompanied by a great earthquake that even cracked the stones. The sound of the massive curtain separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place tearing from top to bottom would have startled anyone in the temple during the darkness.
God never stopped loving His Son during the cross or at any other time. John chapter ten, verse seventeen, tells us that the Father loved Him because He gave His life for us. The Father never abandoned the Son, but it was God in His justice and holiness who turned away from Jesus, our Lord and Savior, to suffer alone on our behalf. By His grace and love for us, the Lord Jesus Christ did not reject the suffering He endured as He paid the price for our sins with His own life.
There is no way to fully describe the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ except by recounting what happened to Him and the impact it had on those around Him at that time. His suffering was infinite. The price He paid with His life was infinite. The consequences of His actions are infinite. Only God Himself can comprehend and experience anything that is infinite. God had “prepared a body” for the Lord Jesus Christ to live in when He was on earth. It was in that prepared body that He bore our sins when He was on the cross.
When the Lord “commended His spirit” to the Father, He was separated from that prepared body left hanging on the cross. It was when He was in that body: “He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.” The hands and feet of that body were pierced with nails while He was still in that prepared body. When He left the body by commending His spirit to the Father, it was pierced with a spear, and blood and water drained from His body as unmistakable evidence that “Christ died for our sins,” that “Christ died for the ungodly.”
Our Lord Jesus Christ entered the world, taking on a prepared body so He could experience humanity and take our place as an innocent Man, serving as our substitute. As a sinless, perfect human, He could identify with us and willingly sacrifice Himself for our sins, bearing them in His own body on the tree. He accomplished that on the cross for us, something we could never do. He came into the world to seek and to save the lost. “He saved others; Himself He cannot not save.” When “all things were now accomplished,” He could then commit Himself to the Father, while others prepared His burial for three days. The resurrection of His body in power and glory from among the dead happened three days later, just as He had told His disciples.
He had done all that the Father’s will required when He prepared the body of Christ for the task ahead. God truly showed His love for us by having Christ die for us. Jesus was the only Perfect Man, even in His death. He could entrust His spirit to His Father, knowing that everything was accomplished for our salvation and that God's justice was satisfied. By remaining on the cross until He could say, “FINISHED!” He still offers forgiveness and salvation to sinners today. He completed an eternal redemption, paid in full with His own precious blood.
The officer in charge of Jesus' crucifixion realized, when he felt the earth shaking beneath his feet, saw the darkness lift before his eyes, and heard the loud cries of victory from the Lord Jesus Christ, that he had been involved in crucifying a “Righteous Man,” who was “The Son of God.” He couldn’t have prevented Jesus from dying, but he clarified what he believed about Jesus. Maybe through his words, other soldiers came to believe in Jesus and accepted Him as their Savior.
The disciples, a large number of women, and other supporters of the Lord Jesus Christ watched the entire event from a distance, except for the few who were with Mary, the mother of Jesus, at the foot of the cross. Soon after, they became effective witnesses of what they had seen and learned that day. Through them, the message of the Gospel and its impact on those who believe in Jesus began to spread throughout the world.
“Moreover brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” 1Corinthians 15:1-4