Luke 23:46 Father, Into Thy Hands 2/22/2009 ßà
· Three Hours of Darkness (Luke 23:44-46, 34, John 19:26-27, Luke 23:43, Matt 27:46, Mark 15:34, John 19:28, 30, Luke 23:46, Mal 4:2, Matt 27:51, Heb 10:20)
#1. Father, Into Thy Hands I Commend My Spirit (Luke 23:46, John 10:17-18, 17:23, 1John 3:1)
· Buried with Christ (Eph 1:3-5, John 6:37,39,40,44,65, Luke 10:20, Rom 6:3-5)
·
His Deity Was Buried with Christ (Mic 5:2, John
3:13, Matt 1:21)
#2. The Vengeance of God (Acts 2:23, Psalm 31:5, 2Thess 1:8-9, 1:6, Matt 18:7)
·
He Gave Up His Spirit (Rom 8:16, Rev
6:9, Heb 12:22-23, John 4:24)
·
He Gave Up the Ghost (Luke 23:46, 2Tim 1:12, Phil
4:13, John 10:17-18,
Psalm 69:21)
#3. Eternal Security (John 6:37, 10:29, 1Pet 1:5)
Please open your Bibles to the Gospel According to Luke, Luke 23:44 (2X). We are continuing to look into all the events that have to do with the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. There were seven recorded utterances of the Lord Jesus just before He died. As you know, the number seven is the number that indicates "perfection". But the number seven is also the number of "Rest" in a finished work. God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and He rested the seventh day. Today we will look at the seventh saying of the Lord Jesus indicating that He rested in His finished work on the cross. The task the Father had given Him was now complete, and now He rested and put His Spirit in the Father's hands.Let me review those last seven sayings of Jesus. This is the sequence in which He said to them: #1. Luke 23:34, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. #2. John 19:26-27, Woman, behold thy son; Behold, thy mother. #3. Luke 23:43, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. #4. Matt 27:46, Mark 15:34, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? #5. John 19:28, I thirst. #6. John 19:30, It is finished! #7. Luke 23:46, Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit. Today we want to look into the last of the seven sayings of the Lord Jesus. Therefore the title of the Sermon today is, “Father, Into Thy Hands” (2X). Let us first read about the events accompanying this saying of the Lord Jesus. We read here in Luke 23:44-45 that there were,
· Three Hours of Darkness (Luke 23:44-46, 34, John 19:26-27, Luke 23:43, Matt 27:46, Mark 15:34, John 19:28, 30, Luke 23:46, Mal 4:2, Matt 27:51, Heb 10:20)
Lu 23:44-45 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
What was the sixth hour?
In the terminology of the Jews of those days the sixth hour was at noon. It was
about 12 O'clock. And there was darkness
over all the earth until 3 O'clock in the afternoon. This was not a
sun-eclipse. The time of Passover always coincided with full moon. Therefore
the moon did not position itself between the earth and the sun; the moon was on
the other side of the earth, and the moon would become visible after sundown.
This darkness over all the earth was a true miracle from God to indicate that
God's face was hidden from the sin bearer, the Lord Jesus Christ, because
darkness was symbolic of Hell. In His parables the Lord Jesus compared Hell to
a place of "outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth". And perhaps you have noticed that the name of Hell is “outer
darkness”, not utter darkness, indicating that it is the darkness out there
that is outside the kingdom of God. It does not belong in the kingdom of God.
And now Christ Himself was surrounded by that outer darkness, indicating that
both in His body and in His soul He was suffering the wrath of God in that
outer darkness, indicating that He was suffering the equivalent of the torments
of Hell for all those sins He was bearing. And during these three hours there
was no communication with the Father in heaven. This darkness did not originate
from Satan. God repeated this in verse 45, where He said, "And the sun was
darkened", referring to the "SUN of righteousness", out of Mal
4:2. This was a miraculous darkness, and God did it. God also said, "the veil of the
temple was rent in the midst", or if we use the wording from Matt 27:51,
"And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the
bottom", as if the finger of God tore that veil from the top to the
bottom. The result was that the Holy of Holies in the temple was exposed. The
most holy place, which was the place where in the OT God resided above the Ark
of the Covenant, and where God spoke with Moses from between the cherubim, that
most holy place was closed off with a very heavy curtain from the rest of the
temple. Only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, was a high priest allowed
behind that veil with the blood of a bull for his own sins and with the blood
of a goat for the people's sins. This was to indicate that the people had only
access to God through a mediator, which was in the OT time the high priest. But
now the veil was rent, and the Holy of Holies was exposed, whereby God
indicated that anyone could now have access to God directly, except he has to
go through the torn veil, which represented the torn flesh of the Lord Jesus
Christ, according to Heb 10:20. This is what God had in view when He
recorded that incident of the torn veil. And then the Lord Jesus said in the
next verse, Luke 23:46,
#1. Father, Into Thy Hands I Commend My Spirit (Luke 23:46, John 10:17-18, 17:23, 1John 3:1)
Lu 23:46 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.
The darkness had passed. It was
beginning to get light again. Later Jesus indicated the end of His sufferings
for our sins when He said with a loud voice, "It Is Finished". But
now Jesus said also with a loud voice, "Father". It means that the
line of communication with the Father had been restored. Why did He say these
things with a loud voice? For two reasons: First of all, Jesus spoke
with a loud voice to let His enemies know that He obtained the victory. His
prize was to have purchased grace and mercy for all His people, which are those
whom the Father has elected from before the foundation of the world. All the
efforts of His enemies to destroy Him were turned upon their own heads. How so?
At the cross all the elect of God had all the guilt of all their sins erased.
But in their lifetime, at the time of them being “Born Again”, their sins would
also be erased. This was the only day in the history of mankind that the guilt
of sins was blotted out, since the Lord Jesus Christ was the substitute for His
elect people before the judgment throne of the Heavenly Father. This was the
only day in history that a perfectly righteous man, a sinless man, suffered
vicariously for the sins of other human beings. No sinless man existed before
or after Him. Everyone else in the world was assigned to pay for their own sins
in Hell. They desired to be the enemies of God, and God grants them their wish.
Secondly, Christ spoke with a loud voice to let His disciples know, and
to let us know, that the Lord Jesus laid down His life voluntarily for His
sheep, and only for His sheep; it was not taken from Him, but He laid it down
of His own accord. He was not an exhausted victim on the cross. He was not
dying because He was exhausted from so much suffering at the hands of men. No!
He laid down His life because in His Spirit He had completed the torments of
Hell for all the sins of His sheep. He had completed the payment for our sins.
The Lord Jesus spoke of this emphatically when He said in John 10:17-18,
Joh 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.
It means that the Lord Jesus
suffered in His humanity, and that He received the authority to lay down His
life when He has finished paying for our sins, and He also received the
authority to make Himself alive in His humanity when He was lying in His grave.
No other human being can say that of himself. No other human being can make his
own body alive again. And now He said with a loud voice, "Father, into thy hands I
commend my spirit". The sword of Divine justice had smitten the Suffering
Servant of Jehovah, but now justice has been served. The cup of the wrath of
God was drained. The storm of wrath was spent. The darkness was passed. The
communion was restored. And now, by an act of faith, He confidently laid His
Spirit in the hands of His Heavenly Father. What does it mean, “Heavenly
Father”?
Think of this now: If we belong to His people, then His Father is also our Father. The Lord Jesus said in John 17:23, "That the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me". This is an incredible statement. Does the Father love us as much as He loves the Lord Jesus? This is what Jesus is saying here. But think of it now in human terms: If a Father chose a Bride for His Son, would He not love His Son's Bride as much as He loves His Son? In human terms, that is a distinct possibility. The Lord Jesus said that this applies to the relation between the Heavenly Father and the Bride of Christ. He is our Father, because God the Father is Christ's Father. What a love, and what a comfort, and what an assurance. It means that He will supply all my needs. It means that I do not need to be afraid of my enemies. The Father cares for me, and He will protect me that no harm will be done to me, so that all things shall work together for my good. God says in 1John 3:1, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God". Then Jesus said: "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit.” What Spirit was He speaking about? He was speaking of His human spirit. We know this from studying various passages about the incarnation and harmonize these passages with His atonement, especially His burial and resurrection. First we will consider “To be:
· Buried with Christ” (Eph 1:3-5, John 6:37,39,40,44,65, Luke 10:20, Rom 6:3-5)
Let us first look at the atonement of Christ. Please turn in your Bibles to the Epistle to the Ephesians, Eph 1:3 (2X). When we look at the atonement of Christ, we should always remember that “WE were in Christ” at that time. And when the Bible says that “WE were in Christ”, the Bible does not refer to every human being in the world, but only to those whom the Father chose to become saved, and then the Father shall draw those to the lord Jesus, according to John 6:37,39,40,44,65. This is very clearly stated throughout the Bible, and cannot be denied. And when the Bible says that WE were in Christ, we should no try to rationalize it, for we personally did not exist yet, and our souls did not exist yet. But the Bible tells us in more than 200 verses of our being in Christ, and that already before the foundation of the world when no one else than the triune God existed. It is a fact that cannot be denied. The best picture of this fact is that our names were inscribed into the mind of God the Son from before the foundation of the world. For example, we read in Luke 10:20, “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” We read in Eph 1:3-5,
Eph 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
And so, since we were in Christ from the beginning of time, we were still in Christ when He went to the cross. Please turn in your Bibles to the Epistle to the Romans, Rom 6:3 (2X). In addition, the Bible says in many places that WE have been crucified with Christ and in Christ, WE have died with Christ and in Christ, WE have been buried with Christ and in Christ, WE have been raised with Christ and in Christ, WE have ascended with Christ and in Christ into heaven, WE are seated with Christ and in Christ in the heavenlies, and WE are presently reigning with Christ and in Christ. Presently I cannot dish out all the references to the things I am speaking about, but we will look into one of them here in Rom 6:3-5,
Ro 6:3-5 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
What baptism is God speaking about here in Rom 6? Is this passage speaking of water baptism? No! We do not see any water here. The entire passage deals with the death and resurrection of Christ. What does it mean to be baptized into His death? The Lord Jesus spoke of this when He addressed the disciples James and John in Matt 20:22-23, who wanted to have a place of honor in heaven. When we look at the context in Matt 20, we see that Matt 20:17-23 deals with the cross of Christ. It has nothing to do with water baptism. And so, the Lord Jesus answered James and John in Matt 20:22-23,
Mt 20:22-23 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
And so, the baptism that the Lord Jesus spoke of was His crucifixion, which He calls a baptism, which means a washing, since He was going to be washed from the sins that were imputed on Him. And so, Rom 6:3 speaks of the fact that we have been crucified with Christ, and Rom 6:4 speaks of the facts that we were buried with Christ and that we were raised with Christ. But if we were buried with Christ, then what was that spirit that went into heaven when the Lord Jesus said, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit”? We must have a clear understanding of what went into the grave. It means that:
·
His
Deity Was Buried with Christ (Mic 5:2, John 3:13, Matt 1:21)
When the Bible speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ as being one in essence with the Father, coeternal, the exact image of the person of the Father, and the reflection of His glory, being in all things like Him, then we know that He is the Son of God, not only from the time that He assumed our nature, but from all eternity. When the Bible also says that God created all things by Jesus Christ, then it must follow that He who is called God, or the Word, or the Son, or Jesus Christ, already existed when al things were created by Him. And therefore the prophet Micah says in Mic 5:2 that “His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting”. So then, Christ is the true eternal God, the Almighty. Therefore, when God fulfilled the promise which He made to the fathers by the mouth of His holy prophets, in the fulness of time He sent into the world His only begotten and eternal Son, God the Son, who took upon Him the form of a servant and became like unto man, really assuming the true human nature with all its infirmities, except for sin. The human nature that God the Son chose to unite with was the man Christ Jesus, who was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, without the means of man. God the Son did not only assume human nature as to the body, but also a true human soul, that He might be a real man. Therefore, by this conception the person of God the Son is inseparably united and connected with the human nature, so that there are not two Sons of God, but two natures united in one single person; yet each nature retains its own distinct properties. That is why he Lord Jesus could say in John 3:13, “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” In other words, Christ was standing before Nicodemus and speaking to him, but at the same time He was in heaven. And so, His divine nature has always remained uncreated, without beginning of days or end of life, filling heaven and earth; likewise in His human nature He has not lost its properties, but remained a creature, having beginning of days, and retaining al the properties of a real human body. That is why the Lord Jesus in His humanity could be hungry or thirsty, or be so tired that He slept, but in His Divinity He could wake up and calm the storm and the waves. But since man sinned only a man could atone for the sins of man. And therefore the Lord Jesus had to suffer the atonement in His humanity, the human nature of His person, which was so strengthened by His Divine nature that He could endure the sufferings of Hell without being consumed in the process. These two natures are so closely united in one person that they were not separated even by His death. Therefore, that which He commended into the hands of His heavenly Father, was a real human spirit, departing from His body. That is why the Bible can say that we were buried with Christ; for the same person that we were in before the foundation of the world, God the Son, must still be united with the dead body of the lord Jesus when He was laid in the tomb. And thus the Bible declares hereby that the Divine nature always remained united with the human, even when He lay in the grave; and the Godhead did not cease to be in Him, even when He was an infant. Therefore we declare that He is very God and very man; very God by His power to conquer death, and very man that He might suffer the atonement for us in His human nature, both in body and in soul. Therefore He restored that which He took not away, and He suffered, the righteous for the unrighteous, in His body as well as in His soul, feeling the terrible punishment which our sins have merited. Therefore by His only sacrifice, once offered, He ha forever perfected them that are sanctified, meaning set apart. This is also the reason why He was called Jesus by the Angel of the Lord, in Matt 1:21, for Jesus means Savior, because He would save His people from their sins.
Now we understand what spirit the Lord Jesus was speaking about when He said, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit”. And then He died.
#2. The Vengeance of God (Acts 2:23, Psalm 31:5, 2Thess 1:8-9, 1:6, Matt 18:7)
All along the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, "The
Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall kill
Him". Now, the appointed hour had struck. He was delivered into the hands
of sinners. The Lamb of God was led to the slaughter. How shamefully had they
treated Him. It was their opportunity to vent their hatred of Jesus. And why
did they hate Him so? It was all out of envy. That is exactly right. This is
what envy can do to you. And with wicked hands they caused Him to be crucified
not knowing that it was all in "the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God", according to Acts 2:23. God wanted Jesus crucified so that
salvation can come to His elect, and God used the sin of the Scribes and
Pharisees to accomplish His goals. Voluntarily He delivered Himself into the
hands of sinners. And now, voluntarily He delivered Himself into the hands of
His Father. "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit". Here again,
the Lord Jesus said this so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. He quoted
these words from Psalm 31:5, "Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou
hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth". Never
again will He be in the hands of man. Never again will He be at the mercy of
the wicked. Never again will He suffer the shame of the cross. He put His
Spirit in the hands of the Father. That is the safest place to be. His Spirit
went into heaven; His dead body went into the grave. Two days later the Father
raised up His body from the grave, and 40 days later the Father exalted Him
high above all principalities and powers, and above every name that is named in
heaven and on earth, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavens. From
there He shall come on the Last Day to judge the living and the dead, and He
shall come with power and great glory. Then the tables shall be turned. Him,
whom the world has cast out, shall rule and reign over them with a rod of iron.
When He was here on earth He was judged, but then He shall judge them. Once He
was in their hands, or so they thought, but then shall they be in His hands.
Once they cried, "Away with Him", but then shall He say, "Depart
from Me, all ye that work iniquity". Now He is in the Father's hands
waiting for the right time to avenge Himself on all His enemies. Please turn
in your Bibles to the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, 2Thess 1:8
(2X). Does Christ have many enemies? Most certainly He does. All the people in
the world that know not the God of the Bible are His enemies. God says in 2Thess
1:8-9, "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God,
and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory
of his power". All the people that know not God shall God consider
to be His enemies. Is that not harsh? No! Not at all! Because in the same
chapter, 2Thess 1, we read that they are the ones who trouble us here on
earth. Some of them are envious of our material things, some are envious of the
spiritual rest we have in Christ, some are envious of our knowledge of the
Bible, and so on. Their envy turns them into action, and this is why they
trouble us. God says in 2Thess 1:6, "Seeing it is a righteous thing with
God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you". God is the
avenger of those who will hurt the Bride He has chosen. God says in Matt
18:7, "Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be
that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" God
knows every sin that is going to be committed, for He is omniscient, and He
knows the desires and the intents of every heart. And although God has made His
plans on account of every sin, God is not the author of any sin. Man sins
voluntarily. It is for this reason that God can justifiably send people to
Hell; they sinned voluntarily.
The Lord Jesus said, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit".
·
He
Gave Up His Spirit (Rom 8:16, Rev 6:9, Heb 12:22-23, John
4:24)
Please turn in your Bibles to the
Epistle to the Hebrews, Heb 12:22 (2X). Some people think that man
consists of three components: a body, a soul and a spirit. But that is
needlessly complex. Man consists of two components: a body and a soul, or a
body and a spirit. The words "soul" and "spirit" are
interchangeably used as synonyms. The non-material ego in man is called a
"spirit" in contexts where the direct relationship to God is the
point of emphasis, but where its bodily, emotional, or intellectual aspects are
not prominent. For example, we read in Rom 8:16, "The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God".
"Our spirit" refers to our souls. For example, they are called
souls in Rev 6:9, "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw
under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for
the testimony which they held". Here they are called souls, since
there is special reference to the brutal form of their physical death. But
these same souls in heaven are called spirits in the exalted description of the
heavenly goal which lies before the church. We see it here in Heb
Heb 12:22-23 But
ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are
written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect,
Here the blessed dead are
referred to as "the spirits of just men made perfect", which are the
same entities as "the souls under the altar" in Rev 6:9.
Therefore, whether we call them spirits or souls depends on the context. The
context must show whether the emphasis is on a direct relationship to God or on
a relationship to the body, or whether the meaning is personal or impersonal.
Another example: The Lord Jesus said to the Samaritan woman in John 4:24,
"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth". Here we must
consider the triune God as one Spirit, for the nature of God from eternity past
is that He is a Spirit. We cannot speak here of a soul, because God does not
have another spirit dwelling within Him. When the Lord
Jesus Christ died His human spirit, or soul, went to heaven, and His body was
laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea.
Please turn in your Bibles to the
Gospel according to John, John 10:17 (2X). We read in Luke 23:46,
"Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the
ghost". Can you see that the Lord Jesus left us here an example? Do
we realize that He committed His Spirit to the Father, because it was in the
Father's hands all His life? Can we claim that also of ourselves? If so, then
it is in safekeeping. Can we with the Apostle Paul say, "I know whom I
have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto him against that day"? (2Tim 1:12). Are we living
for His glory? We know that the Lord Jesus said, "for without me ye can do
nothing", and so, the question is are we then walking daily as depending
on Him? On the other hand, are we learning that we can do all things through Christ?
The Apostle Paul wrote in Phil 4:13, "I can do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth me". You see, how we die depends on how we
live. Are we living and dying in absolute dependency upon God? Will it be easy
for us to say, "Father, into Thy hands I commend
My Spirit"? If so, then it is well with our souls.
But now look at the unique way the Lord Jesus gave up the
Ghost. His life was not taken from Him, but He laid it down of His own accord.
The Lord Jesus was very explicit about this. He said in:
Joh 10:17
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I
might take it again.
Joh 10:18
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.
With the sinner it is
death first, and after that the judgment. With Christ the order is reversed. In
laying down His life, His death was different from all others. He died by an
act of His own volition. In mere man this would be called suicide, but in Him
He died like He was the Prince of Life.
How can we know that He indeed laid down His life, and that
He was not a victim? Well, look at the following 6 examples: #1. During
His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked, "Whom seek ye"?
They answered, "Jesus of Nazareth". Jesus said, "I AM", and
they fell to the ground. Jesus could have walked away from them, because they
were powerless on the ground. But He did not do that. He delivered Himself up
into their hands. #2. Christ spoke with a loud voice. He still had most
of His strength. Most of His blood was still in His body. Only after a soldier
pierced His side gushed there out blood and water. #3. When Jesus said,
"I Thirst", He spoke these words that the Scripture (singular) [not
the Scriptures] might be fulfilled. The Lord was referring to one specific
Scripture, Psalm 69:21. In other words, His mind was unclouded. #4.
When Jesus said, "It is finished" He bowed His head. This means that
His head was erect all the time for 6 hours on the cross. He consciously,
calmly, reverently bowed His head. #5. When Jesus said, "Father,
into Thy hands I commend My Spirit", he calmly gave up His Spirit;
no one took it from Him. For example, when Stephen died he said, "Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit". Jesus gave up His Spirit. Stephen asked
Jesus to receive his spirit. #6. It was not natural for Jesus to be dead
in 6 hours. The 2 thieves next to Him were still very much alive. People have
survived crucifixion for 10 days. Therefore, when Jesus gave up the ghost, He
laid down His life; it was not taken from Him.
But now, look at the blessed place of eternal security that
followed after Jesus died.
#3. Eternal Security (John 6:37, 10:29, 1Pet 1:5)
His Spirit went into heaven. He knew which people had been
given to Him. The Lord Jesus said in
John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall
come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (And this He repeated many
more times.)
He knew that He would come
back after His resurrection from the grave to take home His elect. If He would
not have been raised from the dead, our faith would be vain, and we would still
be in our sins; for if Christ was not raised from the dead He would still be
paying for our sins. But Christ was raised from the dead. This is the basis of
our assurance, since God said through 1Pet 1:5 that we are "kept by
the power of God through faith unto salvation". Therefore, every
soul that has been "Born Again" is eternally secure in the Father's
hand, because Jesus promised it when He said in John 10:29 (2X),
Joh 10:29
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man
is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Just like Christ on the
cross we can experience the blessedness of communion with God. We have the
privilege to communicate with God at any time, any place, or under any
circumstances, even near death. We can talk to God about our fear of death, and
why it is that our faith is failing at that moment? Christ has extracted the
sting out of death. We should no longer be afraid of death. Death is the door
which admits us into the presence of Christ. We too can say, "Father, into
Thy hands I commend my spirit", because it is our earnest desire to be
with Him. Nothing but God can satisfy our desires and our heartfelt needs in
this world. The prayers of dying saints show what great value they place on
their soul. At the time of our death we express our faith and trust in the
Father's care for our soul. And when we say, "Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit" we plead with God to keep us safe until the moment our life flees
from us. That is our eternal security, for God has promised that He will keep
us safe until we die.
We live in a world full of trouble. We are unable to take
care of ourselves in this life, much less are we able to do so at the time of
death. The world, the flesh and the Devil are combined against us. They are too
much for our strength. We need help from God, because in ourselves we are weak.
Only by grace can we be strong. Only by grace can we have the faith that God
provides to all who love Him, to all who are the called according to His
purpose. Here is the harbor of shelter from all storms. Here is the blessed
shield of faith, which protects us from all the fiery darts of the evil one.
Thank God there is a refuge from the storms of life and from the terrors of
death: It is in the Father's hand. It is our faith that we are in the Father's
hand. That is truly a refuge.
AMEN. Let us turn to the
Lord in prayer.