Jesus dies on the cross “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit….” (Luke 23: 46)
Have you ever died?
Or thought what it would be
like to die?
They say that no one ever came
back to life after he or she died but a believer knows this to be untrue. Especially if your name was Lazarus. Or you were Tabitha.
So have you ever thought what
it would be like for Jesus to have felt as he faced death on the cross? He, The Almighty, with open arms outstretched
to embrace all from this wooden cross. Yet the human body He was occupying now
was making Him feel rather inadequate.
What was this that was causing
Him suffering? As God, He didn’t know what it really was; but as man He had
discovered for Himself this weakness. His arms ached. His knees were sore and blooded. His hands
were in great pain. And numbing. This tree he had carried on His back had
probably also dislodged a disk or two in His spine.
As He felt this human life
ebbing in Him He suddenly realised He was beginning to feel cut off from His
Father as a result and realised too the full extent of His situation –“this is
what is required of me, to suffer death on this tree. I must accept His will. As Job had said, (13:4) I have
become a laughing stock, though when he called upon God he answered that if he
was a mere laughing stock, then at least he was a righteous and blameless one.
“Unto You I therefore
surrender myself. And my Spirit returns to You, Beloved Father.”
Isaiah 43: 10-13
"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "and my
servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand
that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I,
even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no saviour. I have revealed and saved and
proclaimed-- I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,"
declares the Lord, "that I am God. Yes, and
from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who
can reverse it?"
