Table of Content:

Introduction
First Word           Saint Luke 23:34
Second Word      Saint Luke 23:43
Third Word          Saint John 19:26-27
Fourth Word       Saint Matthew 27:46 
Fifth Word           Saint John 19:28
Six Word              Saint John 19:30
Seven Word        Saint Luke 23:46
Conclusion

The last seven phrases that our Lord Jesus spoke while on the Cross of Calvary

By Mario V. Paz

Crucifixion seen from the Cross by James Tissot 1890

Introduction

Since the very moment when the Holy Spirit brought me to the knowledge of the gospel in Guatemala, back there in March 1973, I’ve been fascinated with the events that took place on Spring, in the last week that finished with the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus in Jerusalem around the year 28 AD under Poncio Pilatus who was the fifth governor of the Roman providence of Judaea. He was the official who conducted the trial of Jesus and he was the one who ordered His crucifixion.

Every year, as the Holy Week approaches, I start keeping track of the chronological facts as narrated in the gospels; one after another, until they reach the summit with our Lord suffering and surrendering His spirit in the Cross of Calvary, His burial, His resurrection and His glorious Ascension to the right hand of God the Father.

For me, this time is extremely important and exceedingly sacred.

During the Holy Week I feel like approaching to the Temple in Jerusalem, going slowly to the Holy Place and finishing into the Most Holy of Holies, where God’s presence dwells in the most purified essence.

I have had so many odds to publish this book. Limitation of time, antagonism in circumstances and above all, lack of holiness in my life.

It’s not possible to come to this paramount time and place to write or talk about all those sacred of sacred days without been purified first by the fire of the Holy Spirit, in order to be able.

My intention of writing has been aborted many times and when I thought to forget the project and drop the towel forgetting all about, God my Lord has other plans: Little by little, He was preparing the way for me to be available to complete this current mission.

It’s hard to explain, but when the right moment at the right time came together, there was a sweet voice whispering in my ears “…now is when…”

In our first tour to Israel, my dear wife Ileen was recovering from a recent surgery in her left knee. Her physical ability was very week. We’re always the last two sheep of the group in everything. Because of this situation, we couldn’t visit Mount Calvary which is an uphill with a rough stone road. This is something I really have pending; God willing in our next trip to the Holy Land, we’ll accomplish this dream.

Please, come with me to the feet of Jesus… The most sacred place and time on earth.

First Word

Luke 23:34: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

Forgiveness (A praying for the murderers)

It is a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they deserve your forgiveness. Forgiveness does not mean forgetting, nor does it mean condoning or excusing offenses.

Forgiveness is the action or process of forgiving or being forgiven; it also means:

• Pardon: It is the action of forgiving or being forgiven for an error or offense.
• Absolution: The formal remission of sin paid by shed of blood. Jesus took our place to pay the sacrifice for our sin. He was the offering and He was the priest who celebrated the ceremony.
• Exoneration: To be free of blame, responsibility or obligation. We’re free form eternal condemnation. Free indeed to live a life full of freedom.
• Remission: Release, as from a debt, penalty, or obligation.
• Forgiveness: To give up resentment against or stop wanting to punish (someone) for an offense or fault. To relent in being angry or in wishing to exact punishment for (an offense or fault).
• Dispensation: An exemption or release from an obligation or rule, granted by or as if by an authority.
• Indulgence: A remission of punishment still due.
• Mercy: Compassionate treatment, especially of those under one's power; clemency. A disposition to be kind and forgiving: a heart full of mercy.
• Reprieve: To prevent or suspend the punishment of (someone, especially a convicted criminal). To prevent or suspend (a punishment).
• Amnesty: A general pardon granted by a government.

1. Jesus prayed to His Father…

Who else could help Him? All angels in heaven were watching with no permission to intervene. His disciples flew away, excepting for the youngest one, John. His stepfather Joseph probably was already dead. Many of His relatives did not believed in Him yet. All elements of the universe were mute at this very moment at the beginning of His crucifixion. Since His childhood until His last breath, Jesus kept a constant communication with His Father. Saint Luke 2:49.

Now Jesus was on the Cross on the ground in Mount Calvary. Spring wind was candid, soft. From His horizontal position at 09:00 hours on Friday, He was able to contemplate the blue sky above Jerusalem; no one single cloud. Visibility was limitless. Perhaps birds stopped singing. Nature was voiceless. The multitude surrounded the scenario, some of them crying, others making mockery and making fun; Roman soldiers feelingless were fulfilling their job as executers; temple soldiers escorting the religious authorities; enemies, including the Pharisees; relatives, like Mary, His mother. No disciples, excepting John, Mary Magdalene, other females named Mary as well. It was the panorama now; when the three nails, one by one, fixed His body to the Cross. What a moment…! Just think about the deep physical pain Jesus was subject to. And it was just the beginning of the next six terrible hours on the Cross until His last breath.

When dead by crucifixion was the most common way of execution, the nails needed to hang a man would need to be long, perhaps four to six inches. We may call them nails, but they would be more like spikes. Moreover, it would take a good-sized hammer to drive the spike-like nails through a man’s hands and feet into the wood.

When Jesus felt those long iron nails trespassing His extremities, our beloved Savior started praying in favor for the Roman soldiers. Jesus did no cried out because of the natural pain inflicted; instead He prayed in favor of those who were crucifying Him.

1. Jesus prayed for forgiveness…

Not for Pontius Pilot the Roman Governor, because he knew, he was forced to choose to free Barabbas and give the dead penalty to Jesus. Not for the Pharisees, they also knew the law, the prophesies, but they were spiritual blinded. Not for those who choose Barabbas, because they knew that the Messiah that they were expecting should bring up a revolutionary guerrilla confrontation with the Roman army and this Jesus spoke only about peace.

The very first phrase pronounced at the Cross was specifically directed to God the Father in favor for the Roman soldiers. Not to anyone else.

The soldiers knew what they were doing; it was part of their job. To carry out military orders without remorse or feelings involved. To bring punishment to those who represented a risk to the security of the Emperor.

What those soldiers didn’t know was the fact of Who was that man they were nailing to the Cross. True, He was one condemned to dead same as the two sentenced that day.

If they should know they were placing to dead to the real Messiah, the one and only beloved Son of God; the creator of the universe, the second person of the Holy Trinity; the light, the way, the door, the good shepherd; the one that made miracles; He, God incarnated. Of course, those soldiers never ever should have crucified Him. That is exactly what they didn’t know. This is exactly why Jesus said about them “…they don’t know what they’re doing.”

1. Jesus prayed for those soldiers who crucified him in the Cross…

They did it for ignorance, in the way that, for them, Jesus was just another person to be killed. They followed military orders and they did it with evil heart. The crown of thorns, the scarlet robe, mocking, whipping, flagellation, casting luck upon Jesus garment, just a few examples.

A real soldier respects the enemy and feels sorry when he must neutralize the enemy because he’s taking away the life of another human being.

1. Jesus prayed for those who are against God in ignorance.

The first phrase that came out of Jesus on the Cross is directed also to those who are considered enemies of the gospel.

They also are fighting against God and His people influenced by evil and religious spirits. Remember Saul in his way to Damascus? Acts 9:1-9.

You see, Christian persecution started as soon as the beginning of the Church.

Stephan the Deacon was the first to suffer martyrdom for his faith in Jesus… until today. Countries that are persecuting Christians today, just to mention a few of them: North Korea, Somalia, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Etc. Contemporary persecution is caused by Islamic extremism. The Center for the Study of Global Christianity estimates that between 2005 and 2015 around 900,000 Christians were killed because of their faith in Jesus. This is an average of 90,000 martyred per year.

“They do not know what they do.”

The soldiers used ropes to lift the Cross of Jesus. They fixed the base of the Cross in a hole on the ground. Same they did to the two thieves. From there, in vertical position, the longest six hours in the life of our Lord Jesus began.

Second Word Luke 23:43: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Salvation (The promise to the penitent)

Jesus is not complaining about pain or sufferings.

He is vertical now. Shame with no clothing. Wind of spring. Mocking from below. The narrative gospels don’t give any exclamations, just information, plain and simple. Hollywood at most 5%. Extreme pain just has a glance to the thief.

• Talking to a thief: Bad person, evil heart, not complete evil. He could have killed his own brother. He could help not to robber Joseph, Mary and Jesus when they were flying to Egypt. Nicodimos and Joseph of Arimathia in their apocryphal gospels call him “Dimas”. The other bad guy is called “Gestas”.
• The thief in his deepest humiliation and seconds away from death “remember me”.

“Truly” is assurance; it is a solemn word; not maybe, not perhaps, Salvation is for sure. No doubt. Jesus holds the keys of paradise and of hell. It was His trademark “truly”. Unique authority. Knowledge of past, present and future. John, His mother, and the other two Mary should remember His teachings.

“I say to you” It is personal. Book of Life your name. If you were the only person on earth, Jesus should even come and die for you. The Lord is my shepherd Psalms 23.

“Today you shall be” Salvation is for today. “This very day” for the thief. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He is the great “I am”. People procrastinate. Heaven is real. Hell is real too. Know two people who died and came back. A reward for the long sufferings of a crucified before dead. Salvation was provided without another requisite, just believe in Jesus.

“with me” Jesus included Himself escorting the thief to heaven. It was a soft remedy to the suffering pain of His mother, Mary Magdalene, Mary Cleppas wife, John the disciple who were right there at the feet of the Cross.

“in paradise” It refers to the garden of a King’s palace. Adam and Eve in paradise. Paul visited the 3^rd heaven paradise. John speaks about the New Jerusalem. The tree of life in paradise versus the tree crosses in Calvary. Jesus offered the most wonderful place when he was in the deepest well of suffering. Jesus words worked as physical anesthetic as in all martyrs when the tortures mean nothing anymore.

Third Word John 19:26–27: “Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother.”

Relationship (The provision for the mother)

• People nearby: John the beloved disciple; Mary, His mother and her sister; Maria Magdalene and Mary wife of Cleophas. Four roman soldiers, the religious leaders and the multitude far away. Where were everybody else?
• John… He was disciple of John the Baptist; with his brother Jacob was one of the very first disciples of Jesus; He was middleclass working in his family business as fisherman. He was the first to call someone else to come to Jesus (Andrew); with Jacob (Jesus half-brother) and Peter he was part of the inner circle of the disciples; Those three were present on special times: 1) the resurrection on the daughter of Jairo, 2) in the transfiguration, in the Garden of Getzemani. Peter in John oversaw and decided for the Last Supper; He was reclined to Jesus chest.
• Mary, His mother… Not saying much. She was the biological mother of Jesus; Joseph perhaps was already dead; She was poor, perhaps has no home.
• Mary Magdalene… 7 demons out; she was so grateful; very close to the Lord.
• Mary wife of Cleophas…
• Application… God provides for our needs, Jesus respect and honor for our parents.
• Three first phases related with humans. 1) Soldiers, 2) Thieves, 3) Mother and John. Last four are related with Jesus and God:
• Two practical lessons:
• 1) provision;
• 2) respect.

Fourth Word Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34 “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? (Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?”

Abandonment

• 1) Forgiveness; 2) Promise of eternal live; 3) Relationship, provision and honoring.
• Next 3 about Him: 1) His loneliness; 2) His sense of thirst; and 3) His finished mission
• Last one: Commending His soul to His Father.
• It was closed to the 1500 hours; three hours of darkness from noon time; It represented the loaded soul of Jesus; it was not an eclipse, the longer eclipse last 30-90 minutes; it was full moon impossible for an eclipse; three hours of silence, just suffering.
• The religious were trying to extinguish the Light of the world; Jesus was offering the payment for our sin; the ransom for our liberty; they asked for a sign from heaven, now they had it… pure darkness.
• Loud voice; with almost no strength; everyone heard His voice.
• Darkness could have reached as far as Cairo, Egypt 466 miles = 750 kilometers.
• “…in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, there was a great and remarkable eclipse of the sun, above any that had happened before. At the sixth hour the day was turned into the darkness of night, so that stars were seen in the heaven; and there was a great earthquake in Bithynia, which overthrew many houses in the city of Nicaea.”
• “at Heliopolis, in Egypt, and he is reported to have exclaimed, "Either the God of nature, the Creator, is suffering, or the universe dissolving."
• King David, 1000 years BC; Psalms 22: 1-21 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? NIV s
• Jesus did not complaint about his disciples flew; He cried about His Father abandoned Him.
• He fought five adversaries: 1) Satan; 2) Sin; 3) Dead; 4) Physical and mental agony; and 5) The curse of God.
• Aramaic language “Eli, Eli; lama sabachthani” 3000 years old; used for religious purposes; Divine worship, liturgical language

Fifth Word John 19:28: “I thirst.” (The sole expression of human agony)

Distress

(From the Greek "Tetelestai" which is also translated "It is accomplished", or "It is complete".) -It is Finished.

• “Accomplished” “Fulfilled” Same Greek root.
• Two interpretations:

First, the prophesy “my thirst” in Psalms 69:21, fulfilled literally.

Second, His entire life.: When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Just before our Lord Jesus said, “It is finished”, the soldiers gave Him vinegar mingled with myrrh, sour wine, “sour grapes” in older manuscripts. It was used to minimize pain and stupefying the suffering. Our Lord Jesus rejected the beverage.

1) Forgiveness, to the roman soldiers, 09:00 hours; 2) Promise of eternal live, to the thief, 10:00 hours; 3) Relationship, provision and honoring, to His mother and disciple, 1200 hours;

Next 3 about him: 4) His loneliness, to His Father, 14:57hours; 5) His sense of thirst, to the soldiers, 14:58 hours; 6) His finished mission, to no one and to all, 14:59 hours; Last one: 7) Commending His soul to His Father, 15:00 hours.

His voice went to the three heavens.

1)

First heaven: Earth

…

Nature, creatures, animals, fishes, birds, men, women, since Adam & Eve. Our planet, unique in the cosmos; with an estimate population (2020) of 8 billion people.

First heaven is the atmosphere; the air that surrounds the planet which is contained by earth’s gravity. It protects us from foreign objects entering from space, filters ultraviolet solar radiation rays. All earth felt the vibrations of the crying voice of our sweet Jesus.

2)

Second heaven

: The atmosphere…

The collection of all things that exist in space. It’s the stratosphere, the observable universe. It is 13.82 billion years old and it will take 93 billion light years to go across of it. 300 miles x sec. Our current universe is made by millions of millions of stars, planets and galaxies. Just to give you an example, the Andromeda Galaxy is located at 2.5 million light-years from earth and it’s the nearest major galaxy to the Milky way, with a radius of about 110,000 light years. 1 trillion stars. The whole entire universe and beyond also heard the anguished sound of accomplishment.

3)

Third heaven

: God’s home…

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare place for you. And if I go and prepare place for you, I will come back to take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14: 1.

Just imagine when His voice reached God’s dwelling. His mission on earth was completed. His purpose accomplished. Anything else was needed. God’s justice was served. The broken bridge between God and men was fixed. The Lamb of God was sacrificed to pay for the redemption of those who were already predestinated for salvation.

Angels, archangels, spiritual beings, humble and obedient servants, supernatural in power, in different hierarchies… all the inhabitants of heaven were shake, mute, admired in reverent silence. Think a little bit of the angles we’re familiarized with: The angel who expelled Adam and Eve from paradise; Gabriel, the Archangel, in the annunciation to Mary to foretell the birth of Jesus; Michael, Archangel, mentioned three times in the book of Daniel; angels to proclaimed the birth of Jesus to the shepherds; an angel speaking to Zachariah about the birth of John the Baptist; the angels comforting Jesus during His forty days and nights fasting in the wilderness; the angel comforting Jesus in Getzemani; the rolling of the stone at the empty tomb; all the angels who took place assisting the first generation church during the time of the Apostles; last but not least, all bunch of angels mentioned in Revelation, starting with the one who appear to the Apostle San John in Patmos at the end of the apostolic ministry. Those mentioned are just a few of them. All of them were witnessing the last words of our Lord Jesus in the Cross of Calvary.

• (“It is finished” is a song during the recorded darkness that surrounded 460 miles’ radio from Mount Calvary.)
• Those last words marked the end of His ministry as Jesus, the Son of man… the beginning of His ministry as Christ, the Son of God.

The most difficult task during Jesus earthly ministry was to let understand to everyone around Him that He was not just another human being. Even when dozens of prophesies were literality fulfilled, extraordinary miracles were performed, teaching were thought and example set up, people just did not believe Him. But here, at the end of His agonies at the Cross, His human nature was about to give pass to His perfect spiritual status He had before His incarnation.

Everything was done to the perfection:

Prophesies fulfilled. Salvation is served. The Lamb of God shade His blood. God’s justice was served. No more sacrifices are needed any more. Random price was paid… Redeemed, at last.

“It is finished”

1. ---Dead was defeated: 1 Corinthians 15: 53-57: “For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: Death has been swallowed up in victory.

Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dead, per definition is the permanent cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Dead causes sad feelings due to the affection and relationship with the deceased person and the unavoidable separation.

Dead came into us through the sin committed by Adam and Eve. According to God’s justice, the payment to redeem sin, is dead. When our Lord Jesus gave up His spirit, He was not defeated, on the contrary, He conquered dead. And so, the payment of sin was charged upon Jesus body, soul and spirit.

Dead still claiming lives every second worldwide. One day the spirit of dead will be captured and sent to the lake of fire.

Worldwide, around 150 thousand people die every day. Those who leave this earth without knowledge of Salvation in Jesus, perish eternally too. But those who died in Christ, have the privilege to have eternal life.

2. ---Devil is defeated: Revelation 20: 7-10:

“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

Today we see how the forces of darkness and demons have had routed in the deepest part of our society. Hate is so common; disrespect to others, no honor in most of the relationship. Prisons and jails are always full above capacity; entire denominations are sold to satanic doctrines. Church buildings are sold and transformed into night clubs. Evil have possessed many people and make them do things of unimaginable harm to others. Terrorism, drugs, alcohol, tabaco, wrecked sex… those are the various gods praised today.

Evil is advancing increasingly and unstoppable. But worry not: The super powerful angel that once leaded a rebellion against God in heaven, has his days counted. He was spelled from God’s presence; he was defeated at the Cross and he is condemned to suffer in hell eternally.

3.---Sickness are defeated: physical, mental, spiritual. Isaiah 53: 4-5 “Surely He took our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”

Please note the two words underlined in present tense: “we are”.

It’s said that the book of Isiah is called “the fifth gospel”. It is considered the first book of the major prophets in the Old Testament. Isaiah has the nick name “the prince of the prophets” He wrote it in the 8^th century BCE. The prophet, in a poetic and admirable writing, describe the events at the Cross in Calvary; eight hundred years before it happened. He was referring to the scene on that Holy Friday, looking to the future but prescribing it in present tense… “we are healed.”

Many dogmatic Christians don’t believe in miracles; they refuse to accept the power of praying in favor of sickened people. I think it is matter of faith and believe rather than understanding. When our reason gets out, faith can intervene and the impossible can become possible.

Sickness covers the following fields…

• 1. Physical: Related to our body formed and functioning through the eleven important systems. When any of those systems is not performing accordingly, we got sick.
  2. Mental: Related to our mind. It is the set of cognitive faculties including consciousness, imagination, perception, thinking, judgment, language and memory. Mental disorder is the condition of sickness in the mind impairing the behavior of the patient. And
  3. Spiritual: Related directly with sin. We all are born dead spiritually. Now we come to our Lord Jesus and surrender our will to Him, we are born again; this is called “salvation”.

Excepting Saint John, the other three synoptic gospels tell us that the phrase “it is finished” was pronounced with a “loud voice”, according to Saint Matthew and Saint Luke. Saint Mark wrote “loud cry”. This specifies that the mental faculties of our agonizing Jesus were still in good shape. Even with all the physical torments He went through, Jesus had enough strength to say it with a strong resonance voice. When a person is dyeing, his voice, as well as all other physiological functions are gradually decreasing until the last breath. But in Jesus, it was the opposite; it must necessarily and evidently should be classified as a supernatural miracle. The “tetelestai” “It is finished” was a triumphal cry rather that a defeat.

After everything was finished, now we come to explore the most sublime and tender words of our suffering Jesus, His last phrase…

Seventh Word

Luke 23:46: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. “

Reunion

1) Forgiveness, to the roman soldiers, 09:00 hours; 2) Promise of eternal live, to the thief, 10:00 hours; 3) Relationship, provision and honoring, to His mother and disciple, 12:00 hours; Next 3 about him: 4) His loneliness, to His Father, 14:57 hours; 5) His sense of thirst, to the soldiers, 14:58 hours; 6) His finished mission, to no one and to all,14:59 hours and the last one: 7) Commending His soul to His Father, 15:00 hours.

The sun was darkened

The veil of the temple was torn down the middle.

Then Jesus called out in a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.” And when He had said this, He breathed His last. When the centurion saw what had happened, he gave glory to God, saying, “Surely this was a righteous man.” Luke 23: 46-47.

His last cry in a laud voice was the solemn surrender of His spirit to God the Father. It was the most profound and most blessed repose He was about to receive. Physically, Jesus was at the end of His human strength; perhaps the vinegar He took gave him adequate energy just to recite the last two sentences: “It is finished” and “Into your hands I commend my spirit.”

Three times He cried out…

1. In the fourth phrase: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani
2. In the sixth phrase: “It is finished” and
3. In the seventh phrase: “Into your hands I commend my spirit.”

His physical strength was not finished even at the last minutes of the six prolonged hours of unimaginably suffering at the Cross. Even when He have had no food or water since the celebration of the Passover meal around 21 hours before. Even after all those physical, moral, mental and spiritual tortures He was subject to. Isaiah said: “He is despised and rejected of men…He was oppressed, and He was afflicted… He was wounded for our transgressions…He was bruised for our iniquities… for His strips we were healed.”

“Father” two times…

1. In the first phrase “Father, forgive them; for they don’t know what they’re doing.”
2. In the seventh phrase “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

“Into your hands I commend my spirit’”:

Before dying, the following people emulated he same last phrase that Jesus said in the Cross: Stephen the Deacon; St Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna; St Augustine, theologian and father of the Latin Catholic Church; St Bernard, Bishop of Parma; John Huss, theologian and philosopher who became a church reformer; Jerome of Prague, theologian, reformer, and professor; Martin Luther, a German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk, and an inspiring figure in the Protestant Reformation; Philip Melancthon, a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation; Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer and colonizer, and many uncountable others. What about you at your moment of dead? Will you be able to mimic those powerful words “into your hands I commend my spirit”? I certainly hope to have the undeserved privilege to say so at my last breath.

“into your hands”

God is so majestic, out of our comprehension. It is like if you want to communicate with a bunch of ants. To make it possible, you must become an ant. Speak like an ant and ultimately, be an ant. Let’s say you like to help ants in your back yard, but you dislike becoming an ant. In this case, you drop a bread to them; more likely you’re going to harm them instead of helping them. Same metaphor, God had to reveal to us in human terms. Thus, we understand Him from our perspective. This language we find in the Holy Scriptures countless is called “homomorphic” which is “human form” It is not that a human being like God, which is impossible; but God being like humans, which was possible. Therefore, we can recognize God’s “hands”, His “arm”, His “shadow” Etc.

“God’s hands” are a reference to His protection, His care, His discipline, His tender love. It’s the same to what an earthly father can do with his hands for his child.

God the Father received the Spirit of Jesus. Nevertheless, Jesus did not give up the Holy Spirit nor His divine nature. He gave up his human soul and His physical body. His body went to the grave temporarily, but His Spirit went directly to heaven at the very right hand of God the Father. He was joyfully welcomed back, as a Conquer in victory to the original place where He was before coming to this earth.

Jesus receives the spirit of the saints (Stephan) Acts 7: 59: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” Then he fell on his knees and cried out: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.” Jesus commended His Spirit to God the Father; Stephan, the first martyr of the Church, commended his spirit to Jesus. Since then, the persecution of Christians because of their faith, still as active as in the first century and many are dying every single day. Their number is unmeasurable but for every one of them is a personal record in heaven and for sure, their reward is just a matter of time.

Psalms 23: 4

Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

The valley of the shadow of dead… Terrible, unavoidable, dark, mysterious, unknown, painful, merciless, cruel, ruthless, brutal. We all fear dead because by own experience nobody gets there before. There’s no school where we can learn to die. According to the World Health Organization, 56 million people die each year, which is an average of about 153,424 people each day. We know when and where we were born; certainly, no one knows when, where and how will die. The good news is that when we’ll be passing through the valley of the shadow of dead, our Lord Jesus, as our personal Pastor will be there. Waiting for us; He will guide us every single second of our last journey until we get to the other shore. Jesus is there and He will escort us. Therefore, there’s no need of panic, desperation, anguish: there’s no room for hopelessness, not one single bit. You can stop been a slave of necrophobia because Jesus is Lord over dead. Everything will come accordingly in its own time.

“I commit (commend) my spirit”:

John 10: 17-18

“The reason my Father loves me is that I laid down my life only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I laid it down of my own accord. I have authority to laid it down and authority to take it back again.”

God the Father received the Spirit of Jesus.

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. Then the saying that is written will come to pass: Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

Where, O Death, is your victory?

Where, O Death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

As God’s children, the greatest hope we have in life, is that now, in the hour dead, our body will go to the grave, yes, but at the same time, we will open our eyes in heaven.

Psalms 23: 4

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

The valley of the shadow of dead… Terrible, unavoidable, dark, mysterious, unknown, painful, merciless, cruel, ruthless, brutal. We all fear dead because by own experience nobody gets there before. There’s no school where we can learn to die. According to the World Health Organization, 56 million people die each year, which is an average of about 153,424 people each day. We know when and where we were born; certainly, no one knows when, where and how will die. The good news is that when we’ll be passing through the valley of the shadow of dead, our Lord Jesus, as our personal Pastor will be there. Waiting for us; He will guide us every single second of our last journey until we get to the other shore. Jesus was there and He will escort us. Therefore, there’s no need of panic, desperation, anguish: there’s no room for hopelessness, not one single bit. You can stop been a slave of necrophobia because Jesus is Lord over dead. Everything will come accordingly in its own time.

At that precise second in history… Punishment for sin was made. None of the evangelists used the words “he died.” He gave His spirit willingly at the time, place and circumstances He choose. All was done without improvisation. It was the perfect and exact appointed moment God indicated since the past eternity. It was His coming back to the right hand of God the Father in heaven.

Our blessed Lord had to come back to earth to finishing business before His resurrection and ascension, but now, His last breath gave Him the rest He most needed.

The Roman Centurion:

The group of Roman soldiers in charge of the execution of our Lord Jesus and the two thieves were under the command of Centurion named Longinus.

A Centurion was an officer of the Roman Army in charge of one hundred men which eighty of them were infantryman Legionaries.

As a custom, to accelerate the process of dead by crucifixion, those soldiers used to break the legs of the crucified hammering their knees. Thus, removing the weight support from the legs, the body dropped down by gravity hanging up only from the arms, making impossible breathing and the victim should die for asphyxiation.

When Centurion Longinus went to our Lord Jesus, he finds out Jesus was already without life. Consequently, it was no need to break His knees. This was literally a prophesy fulfilled (Saint John 19:36). Longinus was the one responsible to strike piercing His chest with a spear to make sure He was deceased.

Here is an article from the official web site of the Orthodox Church in America:

“Longinus and his soldiers were eyewitnesses of the final moments of the earthly life of the Lord, and of the great and awesome portents that appeared at His death. These events shook the centurion’s soul. Longinus believed in Christ and confessed before everyone, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Mt. 27:54).

According to Church Tradition, Longinus was the soldier who stabbed th e side of the Crucified Savior with a lance and received healing from an eye affliction when blood and water poured forth from the wound.

After the Crucifixion and Burial of the Savior, Longinus stood watch with his company at the Sepulcher of the Lord. These soldiers were present at the All-Radiant Resurrection of Christ. The Jews bribed them to lie and say that His disciples had stolen away the Body of Christ, but Longinus and two of his comrades refused to be seduced by the Jewish gold. They also refused to remain silent about the miracle of the Resurrection.

Having come to believe in the Savior, the soldiers received Baptism from the apostles and decided to leave military service. Saint Longinus left Judea to preach about Jesus Christ the Son of God in his native land (Cappadocia), and his two comrades followed him.

The fiery words of those who had participated in the great events in Judea swayed the hearts and minds of the Cappadocians; Christianity began quickly to spread throughout the city and the surrounding villages. When they learned of this, the Jewish elders persuaded Pilate to send a company of soldiers to Cappadocia to kill Longinus and his comrades. When the soldiers arrived at Longinus’s village, the former centurion himself came out to meet the soldiers and took them to his home. After a meal, the soldiers revealed the purpose of their visit, not knowing that the master of the house was the very man whom they were seeking. Then Longinus and his friends identified themselves and told the startled soldiers to carry out their duty.

The soldiers wanted to let the saints go and advised them to flee, but they refused to do this, showing their firm intention to suffer for Christ. The holy martyrs were beheaded, and their bodies were buried at the place where the saints were martyred. The head of Saint Longinus, however, was sent to Pilate.

1. An earthquake:

“The earth quaked, and the rocks were split” (Matt. 27:51).

Darkness is the absence of light. It was pure blackness at noon time symbolizing that God the Father was unable to see God the Son Jesus. Why? Because Jesus was bearing our sin. In a sense, the spiritual and the physical darkness was represented at one time and place in history. It never happened before; it never will happen again. There are reports of darkness witnessed at the same time when our Lord Jesus gave His spirit on Calvary that day. Darkness covered earth as far as Egypt which is around 482 miles from Jerusalem, 3.5 hours by plane; or 9 hours driving.

1. Darkness around:

“from noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over the whole land” (Matt. 27:45).

1. The vail in the temple:

The curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matt. 27:51).

1. Resurrection of some dead people:

“The tombs were also opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised” (Matt. 27:52).

Conclusion:
When we analyze and contemplate the events occurred in Mount Calvary while our Lord Jesus was on the Cross, in His agony, and His pain, His abandonment from God the Father, the rejection from His own people, the weight of our sin, the unsupportable thirst, the terrible suffering all over His body, His mind, His Spirit, His soul... Looking at all this, we have to come to our knees and humble, bow our head, breath deep; and surrender all our life to Him. Our beloved Lord Jesus deserves all the honor, and glory, and power and praising for ever and ever... Amen.

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The Doctor Mario V. Paz Foundation Int'l
The MVP Evangelical University

El Paso, Texas USA
The Year of the Lord 2021

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