Jesus’ 7 Last Words Spoken From the Cross, and How They Change Everything!
The finished work of the cross provides perfect redemption through the seven-fold shedding of the blood of Jesus.
The High Priest would make atonement once a year by seven-fold sprinkling of blood in the Holy of Holies. Jesus sprinkled His blood in agony in the Garden; from His face when they plucked out His beard; from His back when they beat Him with rods; from His brow when they pressed a crown of thorns into it; from His back when they lashed Him with a whip; from His hands and His feet when they nailed Him to the tree; and from His side when a soldier pierced Him with a spear. The blood effectively ministers its effectiveness to those who believe. It “speaks” hour by hour (see Heb. 12:24).
With His last breath and last drop of blood, Jesus made seven exclamations from the cross. The first is the word of forgiveness for His enemies: “Then Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:24). As He made intercession for them, they hurled abuses and fought over who got His clothing.
The second word is the promise of eternal life, His life in exchange for yours and mine. “And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you today you shall be with Me in paradise’” (Luke 23:43).
The third word is to His family:
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” (John 19:25-27)
In the hour of His greatest torture, He thought first of the people who loved Him, His mother and John.
The fourth word is addressed to God by the Man when He is rejected as sin: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34). We remember these words whenever it seems He is far from our situation.
The fifth word is: “I thirst.” It is spoken, “…that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 18:28). He turned water to wine and had command of Heaven’s host, but He filled the cup of salvation with His own blood and said, “Let all who are thirsty come and drink” (see John 7:37).
His sixth word is, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). This was not the cry of a vanquished victim. It was the Victor’s declaration that the work He came to do was accomplished. He had completed His mission.
The seventh word from the cross is a prayer: “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit” (Luke 23:46). This prayer is the last utterance made by a devout Jew before He lays down to sleep at night. It shows us Jesus’ perfect trust in His Father to raise Him up “in the morning” and deliver Him from the grave.
In these seven words from the cross, Jesus addresses every human dilemma. He speaks to every person and draws them into love’s embrace.
But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Galatians 6:14).
Cosmic Spectacle
In the cosmic spectacle that shocked the natural world and turned the spirit world on its ear, Jesus won the greatest battle in history—the battle to redeem men’s souls from darkness. In the shadow of the cross we see full light. In the cross we see God in all of His glory. But how can that be? Death on a cross was the cruelest form of execution. Death on a cross was reserved for the lowest criminal element, traitors, murderers, and such. Yet, it was the death of a Servant who took on Himself the offenses of the whole world from before, during, and even after His sufferings, that bespeaks the ultimate glory. Jesus said:
The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor (John 12:23-27).
Humanly speaking, the thought of suffering and death is repulsive. Jesus agonized in Gethsemane and submitted Himself to death on the cross. Life for the world was born through His suffering. The suffering of Christ began in the womb of the virgin. He took off His garment of glory and clothed Himself in the weakness as an ordinary human. He was disbelieved, accused, abused, and rejected by His own community. He constantly experienced men’s distance from God and it grieved Him day after day. He went hungry and thirsty, was weary and without a home of His own to settle down in. His suffering made way for His glory. The cross gives us a glimpse into glory that is otherwise utterly hidden from our natural understanding.
Time for Glory
Before you ever prayed your first prayer, uttered your first cry at injustice, felt your first longing for God, felt your first sigh of despair, He already answered. God heard you at Calvary and He answered you completely there. All your losses were compensated there. Consolation for every injury of body and mind is in Him there. Provision for every loss and healing for all disease is unleashed in His body on the Tree. There is justice, there is liberation; relief from torment is there. There is wonder-working power in His blood. That power is the glory of the Father as He abides in us to minister by His Holy Spirit. The Comforter has come. He descends upon the Lamb and fills the empty place. “Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear” (Isa. 65:24).
Human injustice and suffering, oppression, and disease are all evidence that we live in an imperfect world.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8:20-21).
But now the blood answers and God creates all things new. Our perfect Father has made the way for the return of His glory. His Spirit comes to renew the face of the earth. The blood of Christ is fresh and living. It builds the bridge between the imperfections of this realm and the Perfection of Heaven. The blood speaks. It answers the heart cry of your soul and brings you to His glorious liberty. The power of resurrection is unleashed and we are out of our graves. The blood goes before us and we come along the ruddy road following in the footsteps of the Crucified who loves us and gave Himself so that we might find our way to where He is. The blood comes along, cleaning up behind us and leaving no trace of anything but glory. The mystery of miracles is the dual enfolding by the blood and of the Spirit. This is the gift of the children of God. With Him nothing is too difficult. No future is too bleak, no failure too far, no vengeance too strong, no suffering too great, no violence too brutal, that He cannot prevail for you. And He does. This is the time for glory.
A mother brought her daughter to us. The daughter had been physically and sexually brutalized, and almost murdered. The violent abuse that young woman had experienced could have shattered her irrevocably in mind and body. When she came for prayer during a conference gathering, we felt great compassion. We were humbled to see her courage. I did not minister to her right away. I was waiting until I sensed the glory of the Healer. Jesus is the Re-creator. When He does His work, He can finish it in an instant.
As I sensed Him present to heal, I called the young woman to me. As we prayed, I was aware that the Mender of Hearts arose. Jesus the Mediator stood between us. He stood between her and everything else. Between her and everyone else, including the man who had done these terrible things to her. Christ was between her and her pain, between her and the violence, between her and the memory of her trauma, between her and all that had happened, between her and the past and its shattered future. Christ stood in those broken-down places and began building up the gap in her wall. Her countenance changed. The shadow moved from over her heart. As His light began to shine from inside out, it was but a few moments before joy filled her heart!
Within a week she contacted us again. We gloried as we heard her rejoice, “This week has been the best week of my entire life!” Before the young woman called, Christ had answered from Calvary. “It is finished!” He had told her. This is the testimony of power in the cross that releases the Spirit to heal what is broken and resurrect the dead. It’s only a glimpse of the majesty on display for His Bride. Before we call, God answers in His Son. Step into Him more fully today. His provision is as glorious as it is precious. And it is as precious as it is made fresh by His blood. He makes us the partakers. He makes us whole. He makes us His healers.
Natural Aversion
Each of us possesses a natural aversion to what the scenes of Calvary would parade before us. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we are full of questions and slow to believe that such seeming defeat could result in victory. And yet, when He opens our eyes, we recognize Him and suddenly we “get it.”
“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:25-27).
We read in Ephesians chapter 2 that the cross has brought us to the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. It was not the Son only at the cross. The Father was there, fully engaged and giving all of Himself in love. The Son offered Himself up fully and willingly. And He did so through the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 9:14 says that Jesus, “…through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God.” We tend to imagine an Individual Person, Jesus, suffering for the sin of the world when we think of Calvary. But Father and Spirit were there too, completely involved, totally giving and forgiving us all.
The Holy Spirit manifests the intense emotions, of the Godhead. Far from being an impersonal elemental force, He is power and Person. He embodies love as described in First Corinthians chapter 13. He is love that bears, hopes, and believes all things, endures all things. He never fails.
As we experience the fresh advent of revival, we are rediscovering the passion, costliness, and depth of God’s love. His love dominates every aspect of His eternal nature. Love is the only source of true freedom. True love sets people free. Free from sin. Free from guilt. Free from fear. Love said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10 ESV).
In 1410, Andrei Rublev painted a masterful icon picturing the Trinity. In it Father, Son, and Spirit sit around a table on which stands a cup filled with blood. Each One is fully engaged and deferring to the Other. They are constructing the masterful plan to recover the human race. Seated between Father and Spirit, the Son rests two fingers on the table near the cup. As His eyes look lovingly to the Father, one might almost hear Him say, “I’ll go down and do it.” The Spirit looks toward the Son as if to say, “I’ll go with You.” The Passion of Christ was pre-planned. The Father was fully giving the Son; the Son was fully offering Himself, and the Holy Spirit was fully indwelling and enabling the will of the Father through the Son. Heaven was opened to the citizens of earth.
We have access to the Father through the Son by the Spirit. It’s active fellowship. Our access means we have been brought face to face, invited into the glorious realm of the Godhead to sit at the table with Him in conversation, in communion, in the very fellowship and counsel of God Almighty. The cross opens the door. The Spirit forges the bond. The blood and the glorious Presence are one.
The death of Jesus was not the interruption of His life, but rather its ultimate purpose. The early Church writers move from His birth to His death in a single breath, having realized that the entire purpose of His life in the flesh was for death. That is exactly what the Savior said time and again to His followers, although they found it hard to hear. Dullness toward the cross pervades the human mind-set.
Yet as we embrace His cross, we experience His glorious victory:
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now (Romans 8:18-22).
All creation is waiting for something. It’s waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. We pray,
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:10-11).
The Eternal Confession
We were ministering in California when Mahesh had a word of knowledge about a child that was suffering from an eye disorder called nystagmus. Two of our children were born with this congenital birth defect of involuntary movement of the eyes, so when Mahesh gave this word, my human empathy and compassion reached out to this family. I found myself standing up and looking over the crowd to see who responded. A mother with her young daughter in her arms immediately stood up. Mahesh released a word of healing, and then continued to minister. We found out later that the little girl’s vision problem was so serious that she could barely see. But after Mahesh prayed, the mother reported that her little girl pointed to me and asked her mother, “Mommy, who is that woman standing there that is covered in blood?” I had just been ministering on the power of the Blood of Jesus. She was not frightened. She got a revelation. She was seeing spiritual realities as her natural eyes were touched. She was seeing the reality of the living Christ available to us through the shed blood of Calvary.
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities…and by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:4-5).
The Lamb was slain once, but that single event is our eternal confession. It propels us from grace to grace, from glory to glory. Our confession and surrender bring us an anointing. Glory comes into our lives. This mystery is affecting you, capturing you, and making you someone who is going to live forever in the company of Jesus Christ. The Lord is awakening us. We are coming to the epicenter of glory. At Calvary we are transfused, His blood for our life. From Calvary to Pentecost, which is the Father’s promise of the Spirit. He has come. He is in you. The shout of Calvary resounds on the wings of the Spirit. A voice cries out “Glory!” “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered” (Ps. 68:1).
