Into Thy Hands

We come to the final words of Jesus on the cross. I have labored to show you that every word He spoke from the cross has deep meaning. Christ spoke with intent. Despite the torture and despicable state of His body He remained sound in mind. He wasn’t, as we often are when we suffer, babbling words that He didn’t mean or understand. Christ spoke with intent.

He prayed

He made promises

He gave instructions

He revealed great doctrinal truths while on the cross.

The final words of Jesus on the cross are recorded by Luke. Let’s look at the text. Luke 23:46 says:

“And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father into Thy hands I commend My spirit: and having said thus He gave up the ghost.”

I want to share with you three truths that we see in the last words of Jesus.

I. Christ proclaimed victory.

A. A proclamation in hell.

1. Most of the religious leaders thought Jesus was going to hell.

The Pharisees believed Jesus power came from Satan (Matt. 12:24)

The religious leaders called Him a Samaritan and demon possessed (John 8:48)

As they saw Him on the cross they would have proven their point by quoting the OT “Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.” Deut. 21:23, Gal. 3:13

Jesus made it perfectly clear that He was on His way to heaven. “Into Thy Hands”

2. There are some myths about Jesus death. Some actually teach that after Jesus died He went to hell to suffer for our sins. Many, especially the Word Faith teachers teach that Jesus went to hell and was tormented by demons after He died. That’s ridiculous and completely unbiblical.

Christ endured hell on the cross “My God, My God,..”

Christ said “It is Finished”

3. There are some difficult verses that have caused confusion. The primary verses would be 1 Peter 3:18-20:

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

This clearly says that after Jesus died He went and preached to some spirits in prison. We have to ask two questions:

# 1 Who were the spirits in prison? These were demons specifically involved in the horrible sins of Noah’s day. God sent many of those demons to hell. The Bible clearly teaches that some demons are in hell right now (Jude 6). Demons are afraid that Jesus will send more of them there before the great judgment (Matt. 8:29).

# 2 What did Jesus preach? Not the gospel. He proclaimed His victory. Think about it. Those demons were in war against God Almighty. Perhaps in their delusion they believed that one day Satan would defeat Christ. They held on to hope. Christ erases all of that hope when He shows up to their jail cell and says “It’s over. I won. The sins of the world are paid for and I’m on my way back to heaven!”

After His death Jesus proclaimed His victory to demons who were already in hell.

B. A proclamation in heaven.

1. Jesus went to heaven the day He died. He told the thief He would meet him there. If Jesus tells you He is going to be somewhere, He’ll be there. I can almost see Him enter the gates shouting “I’m home, I’m home, It’s so good to be home!”

2. Christ was welcomed by the Father. There is a deep love between the Father and the Son.

The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in His hands. John 3:35

For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all he does. John 5:20

Christ is the beloved Son, well pleasing to the Father. The Son is returning from war: wounded, abandoned, killed by the enemy but yet He is returning. There was no doubt a joyful welcoming by the Father!

3. Christ was celebrated by the angelic host. I’m sure Christ made an entrance. This was far greater than Palm Sunday. My mind goes to Psalm 24:7-10:

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.

If angels do sing they sang that day!

If angels do dance they danced that day!

If angels do shout they shouted that day!

C. A proclamation on earth.

The resurrection was His proclamation on earth. But the devils and the angels knew it before we did. Thank God Jesus came to earth to show everyone that He had been in the Father’s hands. Christ went to heaven when He died and the resurrection proved that. Because He went to heaven we can go there!

“Into Thy hands” means Christ is proclaiming victory as He dies.

II. Christ is resting eternally.

A. Jesus was tired.

1. He had been about the Fathers business. The first recorded words of Jesus on earth are “How is it that ye sought me? Know ye not that I must be about My Father’s business? (Luke 2:49). He had been about that business for thirty-three years. The will of the father was His “meat”( John 4:34).

2. He had taken no shortcuts.

He was born into a poor family. Delivered in a barn, His family couldn’t even afford the regular offerings at the temple. They had to give the offerings of the poor (dove). They couldn’t even afford a lamb, the customary offering when a baby boy was born (Luke 2:24). He could have made life easier for Himself by being born into a rich family!

He could have dealt differently with His enemies. He could have killed Herod rather than spend years in Egypt hiding from him.

He could have created food when He was hungry, water when He was thirsty, clouds when he was hot, money when He was broke, shelter when He was homeless. Jesus took no shortcuts

3. He was physically & spiritually exhausted. It’s amazing He didn’t die from exhaustion, the exhaustion of the torture of man and the wrath of God.

B. Jesus entered into heavenly rest.

1. It’s no coincidence this is the seventh saying. The number seven represents rest. On the seventh day God rested and after the seventh saying Jesus enters into His rest. I would call this last saying His Sabbath saying. “ Into Thy hands I commend My spirit!”

2. All of Jesus labor is done. Jesus is about to take a load off. He is about to sit down. I remember almost getting fired when I was a kid. I worked at a restaurant. It was a busy night. I sat down on the edge of the table. As soon as I did, the boss came in. He looked at me and said “If I catch you sitting down again you’re fired!” When there’s work to do you don’t sit down. But when the work is finished, you sit down. That’s why recliners were invented.

Hebrews 10:12 says of Jesus:

But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;

Christ sits down because He is finished. He has entered into heavenly rest.

C. Jesus still has work to do but He won’t get tired doing it. Jesus will never sweat again. His muscles will never be sore again. His hands will never produce blisters again.

1. He’s working on a heavenly neighborhood. He’s not sweating it! John 14:1-3

2. He will give a holy judgment. He’ll come back on a horse with his army but it will take no effort to judge the earth. He’ll simply speak the Word! Rev. 19:11

3. He will call up His people. 1 Thess. 4:17. Some of us are pretty heavy but He won’t strain a bit calling us all up!

4. He will build a new heaven and a new earth! Greater than anything you have seen!

The only thing that caused Jesus to sweat, get tired, weep, expend energy is our salvation. The work of our salvation is complete and now He is entered into rest eternally.

III. Christ died properly. Christ commends His Spirit to the Father. “commend “= deposit, set before. In Christ’s death:

A. Christ had clarity in His death.

1. Christ died voluntarily. Death is natural to us, unnatural to Him. He gave His life. He laid it down. Jesus said of His life in John 10:17-18

Therefore doth my Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again.

No man taketh it 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 commandment have I received of My Father.

There’s no greater clarity than that. Christ chose to die at a particular moment.

2. Christ understood what death was. Death is the separation of the spirit from the body. He released his spirit from His body and He died.

3. Christ understood that the spirit continues to live after the body dies. Jesus was separated from His body but He wasn’t dead. In Jesus death we see great clarity. There is truth here for us.

* We don’t get to choose when we die. We should therefore be ready at all times.

* Death is separation of the spirit from the body but the spirit lives on. Please know that it is clear from scripture that you and I will die but we will continue to live forever somewhere. We’ll go to heaven or hell. Think about that while you have the chance.

B. Christ had a craving in His death.

1. Jesus longed to be with the Father. He didn’t want to just be dead & out of His misery. He longed to be with the Father. Despite the fact that He had been judged by humanity and by the Father, He still longed to be with the Father. That’s a deep love.

2. The proper way to die is with a longing for the Father. We ought not to just be tired of suffering. We ought to be tired of separation. We ought to be thinking about heaven before we get there. Longing for heaven takes the edge off of thoughts of death.

3. Christ mentioned a Person not a place. He mentioned a Father. The deepest desire of every person should be God.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Matthew 5

One of my favorite heaven verses is Psalm 27:4

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.

Heaven is:

The city of God

The courts of the Lord

My Father’s House

The subject of heaven is not streets of gold and gates of pearl. The subject of heaven is God and we ought to crave Him in life. If we do, we will crave Him, as Christ did, in death.

C. Christ had confidence in His death.

1. Christ knew where He was going. He was going into the Fathers hands.

2. Make sure you have confidence in death. If you haven’t committed your body to God I doubt you have committed your soul to Him. The hands of the Father are tender in heaven but they are tough in hell.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:31

3. Confidence in death is priceless. Truth is the greatest morphine for the dying. To know Christ, to know where you are going when you die brings more relief than any pill or any needle.

We can have the same confidence that Christ has in our text. We enter heaven the same way He did. We enter heaven through the finished work of Christ on the cross. His righteousness, His payment takes us to heaven.

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These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. 1 J 5:13

Confidence in death comes through Christ.