Christ’s obedience
“Father forgive, them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34, NIV).
“Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46).
Luke records the Lord’s first words from the cross, “Father forgive, them, for they do not know what they are doing.” He also records the last words, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” It has always impressed me that the Lord’s seven statements on the cross are embraced by the name of the Father. Everything the Lord did was in obedience to His Father. He said, “No one takes it (my life) from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from my Father” (John 10:18). It was a commandment requiring obedience. In His final statement from the cross the Lord Jesus fulfils the first part of the commandment. He lays down His life. It was man’s intention to destroy the Son of God, but Scripture tells us He gave His life. He laid it down willingly, in obedience to His Father and in love for us. All man’s hatred against God was seen in the crucifixion of the Son of God. But at the cross, Christ’s love shone in all its glory. The Lord Jesus, in complete obedience to His Father, lays down His life. The cross is the most powerful demonstration of God’s love. And Christ’s obedience to death was the basis of God’s power to save. This leads us to worship the One who loved us so much. It also teaches us the importance of obedience to the Lord in our own lives. It is how He can work powerfully through us. We cannot have powerful lives unless we have obedient lives. At the cross, we learn the greatness of God’s love for us. It draws a response of love to the One who gave Himself for us:
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life my all (Isaac Watts, 1674-1748).
The veil of the temple was torn from the top to the bottom. The veil was at the entrance of the Holiest of All. This was the place where God had dwelt amongst His people. The High Priest went into this place on the Day of Atonement. He sprinkled blood on the mercy seat to answer for the sins of the people. When Christ, the true sacrifice, died at Calvary, all God’s righteous judgement against sin was met. The torn veil is a picture of how God removed the distance which existed between Himself and people because of sin. God appeals to everyone, based on His love – a love that has not changed.
There was a Christian who had a great interest in steam trains. He was invited to a factory where locomotives were made. The chief engineer gave him a guided tour, and took him to the department where the locomotives were designed. He explained the various stages of developing, constructing and testing the great machines. It was a fascinating day. At the end of the trip, the Christian thanked the chief engineer and shook him warmly by the hand. To his surprise, the man’s hand was cold and limp. The chief engineer, seeing the surprise on the other’s face, explained that when he was an apprentice, he had accidentally driven a nail through his hand. Ever since then, he had not been able to close it. The Christian looked into the man’s face and said, “I have a Saviour who had nails driven through His hands 2,000 years ago, and ever since then He has never closed them to those who come to Him.”
