Voice From The Cross - Introduction

by Merchant, Paul | Category: Voice From The Cross | Feb 1996

We are told more about what the Lord said than about what He suffered. The authors of the Gospels say, 'And they crucified Him'. The Gospels are reticent about this appalling method of capital punishment used by the Romans.

Instead, the four writers have chosen to dwell on the words that Christ spoke as He endured crucifixion. These words are precious to the Christian. They speak about forgiveness, relationships, the importance of prayer and the assurance of the Christian's eternal destiny. Jesus' words also teach about how 'God was making peace through His blood, shed on the Cross' (1). The four Gospels, taken together, spend a quarter of their biography of Christ on one week of His life: the week of His passion, death and resurrection. Their concentration on one brief spell in His life should concentrate our minds on its importance. At this period of history thousands of people were put to death by crucifixion, but only Jesus' death had unique purpose and power. The seven sayings can be put in various sequences of which this is one:

'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing'. Luke 23:34

'Dear woman, here is your son', and to the disciple, 'Here is your mother'. John 19:26,27

'I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me In paradise'. Luke 23:43

'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?' Mat. 27:46

'I am thirsty' John l9:28

'It is finished' John 19:30

'Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit'. Luke 23:46

His prayer, 'My God, My God ...' highlights Calvary as the place of atonement for sin. This saying is the only one to be recorded twice in the Gospels. The other words are recorded once. Luke, portraying the perfect humanity of Jesus the Saviour, records Jesus' words of forgiveness to the soldiers and His words of promise to the criminal. When He spoke from the Cross, He addressed relatives, soldiers, bystanders, a criminal, and His God and Father.

During the hours of His suffering Jesus spoke words that revealed His deity and His concern for others. There were signs of the power of God in Jerusalem that day. There was dark-ness over the land at midday, the huge hanging curtain of the Temple was torn from top to bottom, the earth shook and the rocks split. At the end of that day, the chief soldier at Calvary who heard Jesus' words from the Cross and saw all that happened, exclaimed, 'Surely He was the Son of God'. A soldier, a criminal and bystanders were all changed alter hearing Jesus' words. During the next few months, this series of articles will explore the meaning of Jesus' words from the Cross and their relevance to Christian living.

(1) Col. 1:20

All scriptures quoted from NIV

Merchant, Paul | Feb 1996
Voice From The Cross