TOPIC:‌“The Cry of the Conquering Christ”

                 by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌St. Luke 23:44-46

 

“Jesus called out with a loud voice, `Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.' When He had said this, He breathed His last” (Luke 23:46, NIV).

 

‌We come now to the last of the seven sayings of Jesus from the cross. He has endured the pain of the penetrating sword, the shouts of the angry mobs, the agony of the cruel cross, the curses of the uncaring crowd, and the temporary estrangement and separation from God the Father. All that His Heavenly Father wanted Him to accomplish has been fulfilled.

 

‌Now Jesus is ready to depart for His heavenly Home. So with a strong and confident voice He cries out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” This climactic expression by our dying Lord are words quoted by David in Psalm chapter 31 verse 5 when under attack by his enemies and abandoned by his friends. The only difference being that Jesus prayed the Christian way by addressing God as “Father.”

 

‌But it is the little word “commit” from the lips of the dying Jesus that I want us to focus our attention upon at this moment. The word means “to be kept safe,” or “to entrust.” It carries with it the idea of entrusting something or someone to the care and protection of another. Here Jesus was placing His life in the hands of God the Father for protection, safe-keeping, thoroughly believing that His life was safe with the Father until the time for restoration, or as we would call it, resurrection.

 

‌Let us now look closely at the word “commit” which so characterized our precious Savior.

 

I.

 

‌Think, to begin with, that the commitment of our Lord had a MARVELOUS BEGINNING. Hear again the cry of Jesus: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (v. 46).

 

‌The question arises as to when such an amazing commitment by Christ to God the Father began? The answer to that question is it began way back before time, in eternity when the sending Father declared that His willing Son would leave Heaven above to come to earth to make atonement for man's sin. The Apostle Peter speaks of Jesus in these words: “This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge” (Acts 2:23). In Revelation chapter 13 verse 8 the Apostle John describes Jesus this way: “The Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”

 

‌What a beautiful picture! The Father God requesting and the loving Son responding to . . .