Self-Giving Death (Matt. 27:50)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/29/2024 8:11 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  “Self-Giving Death”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matthew 27:50

 

            Message of the verse:  “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.”

 

            I wonder what the Lord was feeling at this moment.  I have to believe that success in doing what He was called to do may have been on His mind.  Perhaps relief since His pain was over.  Jesus died the death which I believe is different than when a believer dies in that He paved the way for us not to have to go through what He went through, and so the death that believer’s die is called “sleep.”

 

            What we are looking at as we think about this verse is a third miracle of the cross which was Christ’s self-giving death, and the Son’s willing sacrifice of Himself for the sins of the world which was in obedience to His Father’s will.

 

            We can see the fact that Jesus cried out again with a loud voice from our verse similar as He did in verse 46 “46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice,

saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?’”  Let us look also at Mark 15:37 “And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last.”  Next Luke 23:46 “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT." Having said this, He breathed His last.”  Back to our verse and these words demonstrated considerable physical strength even after the beatings, scourging, crown of thorns, nail wounds, and hinging in agony for several hours.  We can see from the different texts on this part of Jesus’ life that He did not just gradually fade away, His life ebbing little by little until gone.  Even now Jesus made it evident that He was not at the point of utter exhaustion and that He had resources to stay alive if He so desired, for we know that when we look at the words “It is finished,” that Jesus had complete control of his time of death, and once all was accomplished He could say those words “It is finished,” which means paid in full.  Think about that for a moment knowing once He said that if you are a true born-again believer that you know that Jesus paid it all for you and that you owe your life to be serving the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

            MacArthur writes “The last words the Lord cried out from the cross were first, ‘It is finished (John 19:30) indicating that the work His Father had sent Him to accomplish was complete.  Then, once again addressing God as His Father, He said, ‘Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit’ (Luke 23:46).

 

            “Aphiemi (yielded up) has the basic meaning of letting go or sending away, indicating an act of volition.  Jesus’ life was not taken from Him by men, but rather He surrendered His spirit by the conscious act of His own sovereign will.  As He had explained to the Twelve, no one could or would take His life from Him.  ‘I lay it down on My own initiative,’ He said.  ‘I have the authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again’ (John 10:18).”

            We have just noted that Jesus’ ability to speak from the cross in a loud voice indicated a reserve of energy unheard of for a person in His physical condition.  However, even in light of His severe bodily condition, Jesus died much sooner than normal.  Now from Scripture we learned that when Joseph of Arimathea had informed Pilate of Jesus’ death, and asked for His body, the governor was surprised and asked a centurion to give verification (Mark 15:43-45).  Now remember that the time of Jesus’ death had to be the same time that the Passover Lamb died, which I believe was 3 PM.  Another thing that I was thinking about which we probably will look at later and that was that the very large and very strong curtain between the Holy place and the Holy of Holies was split from top to bottom when Christ died showing that all could come into the Holy of Holies since sin had been paid for.  I was wondering what those people who were in the Holy place thought when they saw the curtain torn in to from top to bottom.

 

            MacArthur concludes “On the cross the Father judged the sin of the world that the Son took upon Himself, and the Son, who divinely controls living and dying, willingly surrendered His life as penalty for that sin.”

 

            Lord willing, tomorrow we will look at Matthew 27:51a “Sanctuary Devastation,” which will speak of what I just wrote about happened with the curtain.

 

8/29/2024 8:47 AM