what did jesus say before he died on the cross

While upon the cross, the Lord Jesus spoke seven times, the last words being, "It is finished." He had committed the care of His mother to John; He had asked His Father to forgive those who crucified Him; He had assured the repentant thief of being with Him that day in Paradise; he had cried in the deep, deep anguish of His soul, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"; He had cried "I thirst" that the Scripture might be fulfilled; He had committed His Spirit into His Father's hands; and, according to Matthew and Mark, had cried with a loud voice the words quoted by John, "It is finished" (John 19:30).

John tells us that it was when Jesus knew that all things were accomplished that He cried "I thirst." It was necessary that every Scripture concerning His death should be fulfilled. But the last words, "It is finished," are filled with the most blessed meaning for those who believe on the Son of God. A glorious work was finished; all that the Father had given the Son to do on the cross was completed; so that He could now leave the world and go to the Father.

Likely it was Romans who thought He called for Elias (Elijah), for Jews would know their own language better then that. Neither Luke nor John mention His cry of abandonment, but John records His saying, "I thirst" (Jn.19:20), at which time the vinegar was given to Him, so that He must have said this immediately after His loud cry. After all His suffering they will still not give Him water, but the bitter vinegar. What they had witnessed already ought to have been enough to subdue men's hearts in wonder at the way in which He had borne their cruelty, and at His truth and grace so shining out at such a time.

Contrary to what might be expected from an exhausted victim of crucifixion, the Lord again cried out with a loud voice. John tells us His words at this time, "It is finished," which is said to be only one triumphant word in the Greek language His two loud cries were intended for all the universe to hear, the last declaring the perfect completion of His work of redeeming grace. He did not die of exhaustion therefore: He laid down His life. Luke tells us that He said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit," with which words He yielded up His spirit (Lk.23:46).

John has nothing to say of the darkness which enshrouded the Cross. Nor do we find here the cry of the forsaken One: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" The Father did not forsake the Son; this was His statement in Chapter 16:32. "After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst." It is not so much the awful thirst connected with crucifixion which is viewed here, as it is His perfect obedience to do the Father's will and that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. "He bowed His head and gave up the spirit." In Luke's Gospel we read that He said: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" (23:46); John says nothing of Him commending His spirit, for as the Son of God He did not need to commend Himself to the Father. The final word preceding the giving up of His spirit is the majestic "It is finished." In the Greek it is but one word, "tetelestai." Never before and never after was ever spoken one word which contains and means so much. It is the shout of the mighty Victor. And who can measure the depths of this one word!

After the three hours of darkness, knowing that all was perfectly accomplished, the Lord Jesus said, in fulfillment of scripture, “I thirst.” He who gives the water of eternal life has Himself, in accomplishing the will of God, deeply thirsted. But men gave Him not water, rather vinegar, with the intention of adding bitterness to His sufferings. Previously they had mingled gall with vinegar, but He would not drink, for this was stupefying (Matt. 27:34).

Now He receives the vinegar, and says, “It is finished.” Luke tell us that it was with a loud voice He cried out (Luke 23:46), and followed this with the words, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” John simply says, “and having bowed His head, He delivered up His spirit.” This was His own personal act: He laid down His life. Though as to intent and purpose His enemies were guilty of His murder, yet they could not take His life from Him (John 10:18).

His last words upon the cross were addressed to the Father. While the Son was in the world, the Father who had sent Him had been with Him. He had not left the Son alone, because the Son had done always those things which pleased the Father (John 8: 29). Now that the work was done, and in the unclouded enjoyment of that same eternal relationship, it is to the Father that He sends away His spirit. "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" (Luke 23: 46). The Lord had been hanging on the cross for six hours, yet shortly before those words were spoken He had been able to declare, "It is finished," with a loud voice (Mark 15: 25, 34; John 19: 30). How was this possible? Mark tells us that: "When the centurion, which stood over against Him, saw that He so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God" (Mark 15: 39). In John's account of the crucifixion we are told that "He delivered up His spirit" (John 19: 30). He had power to lay down His life and power to take it again. Even in the circumstances of His death His glory is manifested, and it is the glory of the Son.

For there were seven sayings of the Lord on the cross. Three of them are recorded only by John (John 19:26, 28, 30); one, that awful cry, is preserved by Matthew in common with Mark (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34); and three are found only in Luke, one of them being the first, and another the last of the Lord's words when crucified. And both the first and the last (Luke 23:34, 46) are addressed to His Father, the former just when He had been crucified, the other after those terrible three hours of supernatural darkness had passed, and when about to breathe out His life. The term "Father" in both speaks to us. In the first He was interceding for His murderers. But it was the Son who interceded: "Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do." And may we not say that He had the joy of announcing the answer to His prayer, when He told the disciples on the day of His resurrection, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, and let us mark the especial grace "beginning at Jerusalem"? In the last utterance, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit," the term "Father" assures us that in full cloudless communion with His Father, and not as one still forsaken by His God, He was giving up the ghost. Should we not have lost, if these sayings of Christ had by error or carelessness dropped out of the early copies of Luke's Gospel?*

I am not now speaking of His atoning work, but of His death. "Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice" - without feebleness - "yielded up the Ghost." (Matt 27:50 ) In Luke I find these words, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." There you have the perfect, blessed, unclouded consciousness of the Man, giving up His spirit in full confidence to His Father. This characterises all that Christ was on the cross. He is above all the circumstances - so completely above them, that His occupation is with others; His first word on the cross is, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The wretched malice and hatred of men had led to His crucifixion; but the poor Jews knew not what they were doing. They outrage and insult Him; "they parted his raiment and cast lots;" they "derided him saying, He saved others, let him save himself;" "the soldiers also mocked him" - the very malefactors "railed on him." And what do I find? - that He was above it all! He can turn to the poor thief hanging beside Him with these words, "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." There was a blessed work going on in that poor malefactor's heart; in all the agonies of the cross, though believing Him to be the Lord, he seeks no present relief at His hands, but says, "Lord, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom." And the Lord answers him, "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." He shall be with Him when He comes in the kingdom, and surely He will so come; but He is now shewing the place He is taking as having put away sin, and says, No, you shall not wait for the kingdom, you shall be with me to-day in paradise.

"Behold thy mother - Behold thy son": showing marvellous compassion with His mother, and care in making arrangements for her while He Himself was on the cross "I thirst" - He had refused the vinegar before (refusing alleviation of pain through an intoxicating drink) but now requests it because one last prophecy had to be fulfilled before He was to go into death. "It is finished" - the victorious exclamation stating that all was fulfilled: all that was prophesied, all that was necessary for the salvation of man, but first and foremost all that was necessary to glorify the Father, to glorify God and to glorify the Son of Man (cf. Jn 12:27; 13:31; 17:4).

The End. — The Lord had interceded for His murderers (Luke 23:34). He had assured the penitent thief of being with Him that day in Paradise, granting more than the man had asked (43). He had commended His mother to the care of John the son of Zebedee (John 19:26-27). The awful cry, recorded by Matthew (27:46) and by Mark (15:34), had been heard proceeding from His lips. The three hours of darkness were, we presume, now passed. All, too, that He had to suffer at the hands of His creatures, short of actual death, He had patiently endured. So writes John: "Jesus, knowing that all things are now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, says, I thirst" (19:28). It is questioned, whether the clause "that the Scripture might be fulfilled" is to be connected with "all things are now finished," or with "I thirst." Many names may be cited for the one and for the other. We would rather connect it with "I thirst." All that the Lord had to suffer of indignity from man and the forsaking of God was over. But a scripture had spoken of giving Him to drink vinegar, or sour wine (Ps. 69:21). Was that to be left unfulfilled? No. So thirsty, the common effect of crucifixion, the Lord said, "I thirst." Really a man, the natural feelings of a man He experienced. And provision had been made to meet such a want. A vessel with the sour wine, the drink of common soldiers, was there. A sponge was at hand, and a stalk of hyssop was in readiness. To His utterance attention was given, and one of the soldiers proceeded to administer to the want. Just when crucified He had been offered wine mingled with myrrh to deaden the pain. He refused that. Then Luke informs us (23:36), that the soldiers in mockery offered Him of their sour wine to drink. But now it was not in mockery, but to relieve His thirst, that one ran, we elsewhere read, dipped the sponge in the wine, and gave Him to drink. He received it, and said, "It is finished." No Scripture now remained unfulfilled of all that had been written of Him ere He should die; hence His word, but one word in the Greek, "It is finished." And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit.

Both Matthew and Mark tell us that after crying with a loud voice Jesus expired. It would appear that Luke and John each give us a part of that last utterance. If so, it must have been, "It is finished, Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." The first part helps to emphasize His Deity, so John records it: the second emphasizes His perfect Humanity, in its dependence upon God, so Luke records it. True also to the character of his Gospel, John chronicles the very act of His death in a special way — "He delivered up His spirit" (New Trans.). The wise man of the Old Testament has told us, "There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither has he power in the day of death" (Eccles. 8:8), but here is One who had that power. He is able at one moment to lift up His voice with unimpaired strength, and the next moment to deliver up His spirit, and thus fulfil His own words recorded in John 10. True, there He spoke of the laying down of His "life" or "soul," saying, "No man takes 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." But the two statements are entirely in agreement for we all know that when the human spirit quits the body a man's life on earth ceases. When God calls his spirit, go he must. Here is One who has full command over His spirit; He delivered it up to His Father, and thus He laid down His life.