The Only Way to Live and Die

Luke 23:46; Matthew 27:50-53

Several years ago, I read a secular article about people’s sense of confidence beyond the grave. One man interviewed on the subject was a 67-year-old man who had faithfully donated more than 100 pints of blood to the Red Cross over the course of his adult years.

When asked why he did it—what was his ultimate motivation—he said that it all had to do with getting into heaven.

He admitted, “When that final whistle blows and Saint Peter asks me, “What did you do that gets you into heaven?” I’m gonna be able to say, ‘I gave over 100 pints of blood . . . that ought to get me in.’”

I couldn’t help but think that this man is as sincere and sacrificial to donate so much of his blood graciously – the problem is, he’s trusting in the wrong blood.”

The apostle Peter wrote, “We are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ … the spotless and unblemished Lamb” (1 Peter 1:18).

Jesus is paying the price for our salvation.

We’ve been standing near Calvary – Golgotha – the place of the skull – the wooden altar where the Lamb of God was sacrificed – once for all time.

We’ve been listening as the Lord delivered six statements. We’ve spent a sermon on each of the six, barely scratching the surface. There are volumes in each statement—I could easily preach on these same statements over and over again and uncover something new each time. I could preach longer than you could endure.

It reminds me of a story someone in our church emailed me this past week. A pastor got up and said to his congregation, "I’ve got three sermons here with me for this morning: a $100-dollar sermon that lasts 30 minutes, a $50-dollar sermon that lasts an hour, and a $5-dollar sermon that lasts 2 hours. Now we’ll have the ushers take up the offering to see which one you want."

Let’s walk back up Skull Hill, and listen in as the Lord’s makes his seventh and final declaration. (Source: ^{Adapted from Dale Ralph Davis, Luke: The Year of the Lord’s Favor (Christian Focus, 2021), p. 213)}

I invite you to turn to Luke chapter 23 – verse 46, which records this seventh statement:

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” Luke 23:46

Three hours of darkness have now lifted. Sin has been borne in the sacrificed body and blood of the Lamb as Jesus is separated from God the Father and God the Spirit, having become sin for us.

This is the moment of the Lord’s death.

No one could have lived very long after being beaten like Jesus – His body lacerated into ribbons of flesh, his face swollen, His head pierced with thorns, His hands and feet nailed with spikes to these wooden beams, in excruciating pain.

But don’t miss this deeper understanding – Jesus didn’t die because He was crucified. He died because the demands of justice were satisfied.

Jesus had said to His disciples earlier, “No one will take my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord.” (John 10:18).

The cross didn’t finish Jesus off – Jesus finished off the work of salvation while on the cross – according to His plan from eternity past.

That’s why moments earlier, Jesus could shout the word, “Tetelestai” – translated: “It is finished”.

• The payment for sin is complete –
• the masterpiece of salvation has been painted –
• the title-deed to eternity past and eternity future has been signed with His blood –
• it is now finished.

This was all part of the plan.

Jesus told His disciples that the Son of Man would be betrayed into men's hands (Matthew 17:23).

Jesus had predicted that He would be betrayed into the hands of sinners (Matthew 26:45).

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus woke up His disciples and said, “I am about to be delivered into the hands of sinful men” (Luke 24:7).

But now look!

Father – into YOUR hands, I commit my spirit.

Matthew’s gospel account says that Jesus shouted again – He had shouted tetelestai, and now He shouted this – (Source: ^{R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (Augsburg Publishing, 1964), p. 1152)}

This is the final declaration of victory. Jesus isn’t captive in the hands of sinners – He isn’t in the hands of demons –

He announces his absolute safety in the hands of His Father.

He demonstrates for us our own future transition from earth to heaven—Jesus illustrates incredible truths about life after death.

This is the believer’s confidence and future. In death, there is an immediate transition from earth to heaven.

• When you die, you won’t hang around the graveyard until somebody lights a candle.
• You’re not gonna hang around and scare the neighborhood kids on Halloween – even though you might want to;
• Nobody floats around until their murder is solved, and then they’re released into some spirit world.

No – the Bible says to the believer – that same thing Jesus illustrates here: “To be absent from the body – that is, when the body dies – means that you are present with the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 5:3).

This is the same thing the first martyr of the New Testament church prayed – as they are stoning Stephen to death, he prays, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59).

So, there’s no hanging around.

The unbeliever’s spirit is immediately transmitted to Hades upon death – the place of torment – until the final judgment (Luke 16 and Revelation 20).

There aren’t evil spirits of people out there in limbo, haunting houses or waiting to be called somewhere.

The believer’s spirit is transmitted immediately to the Father’s House.

• We’re not sure how that transition takes place from earth to heaven;
• How our spirit is chauffeured to glory
• What we see first as we make our way to the Father’s House
• Do we see family members and friends who arrived before we did
• Do we stagger at the sight of angels clothed in brilliance
• How long does it take to arrive at the Lord’s throne?

We don’t know. We know that death is nothing more than a doorway – and that door opens, and our spirit – that immaterial part of who you indeed are – goes to be with the Lord.

Remember, the dying thief hanging next to Jesus was promised to walk with Him in His royal gardens that same day they died.

In this seventh statement, Jesus says that He expects to be with the Father at the moment of His death.

So we also who believe in Him will leave earth for heaven immediately upon our death – absent from the body, present with the Lord.

Now, is there anything in this crucifixion scene that validates that Jesus succeeded in accomplishing His cross-work of salvation – that nothing stands in our way today to God the Father our Father too?

Did God the Father and God the Spirit collaborate to give a sign upon Jesus’s death that all the work of God the Son was indeed completed?

Yes!

Three different miracles take place at the same time now to effectively thunder God’s approval of the sufficient sacrifice of His Son.

Matthew’s gospel fills in the blanks for us – I’m now reading from Matthew 27, verse 50:

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, (Matthew says – look at this!), the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Matthew 27:50-51

This is such a compelling sign and statement from God.

Now to get the right picture you have to go back thousands of years to Genesis chapter 3 where Adam and Eve are exiled from Paradise on earth – the Garden of Eden – no longer able to walk with the King in the King’s Garden – they are expelled from Eden.

But God teaches them more than we have recorded in scripture – but it’s clear that animal sacrifice begins – and the principle of atonement is taught – as God clothes Adam and Eve with the skins of an innocent animal sacrificed on their behalf.

That first sacrifice pointed toward the final sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

When God exiled them from the Garden, we’re told in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 24 that God stationed cherubim with flaming swords to keep out Adam and Eve and their growing family.

We’re not told how long the cherubim guarded the gate of Eden – evangelical scholars indicate that they may have guarded it for 1,600 years until the global flood of Noah’s day wiped mankind from the face of the earth, in Genesis chapter 7.

Genesis describes how floodwaters reshaped the topography of the earth’s surface, carving canyons and creating oceans.

The flood effectively removed the last remnant of the Garden of Eden, and with that, the cherubim would no longer have been needed there.

But don’t miss the fact that humanity never got over the cherubim who represented the loss of close and intimate access to God. And God didn’t want mankind to forget, either.

Around 900 years after the flood, God gave Moses directions for building the Tabernacle, which included a large altar for animal sacrifices, a holy place inside the Tabernacle for instruments like a table of shewbread, and a place to burn incense.

But God detailed for Moses a large veil to be hung, blocking access from the Holy Place into the Holy of Holies, the place of God’s special presence.

And God instructed Moses to have this curtain woven—embroidered—with the figures of cherubim as if to say that they are still guarding the entrance into the presence of the King.

Centuries later, when Solomon built the temple, and then the temple reconstructed by Herod during Jesus’ day, this veil was described by Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, as woven with strands of blue and purple and scarlet and patterned into the fabric hundreds and hundreds of cherubim. (Source: ^{William Hendrickson, New Testament Commentary: Matthew (Baker Books, 1973), p. 974)}

Josephus described the fabric of that veil as 3 inches thick.

Only one man was allowed to pass that veil into the Holy of Holies—and only once a year. The High Priest would enter that sacred place, which represented the very presence of God, and offer the sacrificial blood of an animal on behalf of the nation.

And let me tell you, he went in there with fear.

This was not a bold entrance. He didn’t go in there whistling a happy tune with his hands in his pockets. He was terrified that God would not accept the offering.

We know from history that bells were sewn into the bottom fringe of his robe so that the priests in the Holy Place outside could hear him moving around. And if he dropped dead in there, they had already tied a rope around his ankle to drag him out.

But now, at the death of Christ, that massive veil rips from the top down to the bottom – there’s no scaffolding in sight – no priest is up there on a 30-foot ladder with scissors in his hand.

The sound of ripping would have echoed through the Holy Place and out into the courtyard.

Ralph Davis writes that this ripped veil signified termination. The temple is no longer the meeting place between God and man.

He writes this ripped veil also signified inauguration – something brand new was in its place. (Source: ^{Davis, p. 214)}

I would agree.

You can now enter boldly into the presence of God through the body – the physical sacrifice – the mediator – Jesus Christ.

The writer of Hebrews puts it with inspired perfection:

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh…” Hebrews 10:19-20 (KJV)

This is a new and living way!

• No more turtledoves to sacrifice –
• no more distance and fear –
• no more bells on fringes or ropes around ankles –
• no more cherubim with flaming swords, either.

The unspoken tragedy, by the way, is that the temple refused to acknowledge the sacrifice of Christ and continued their traditions inside that temple for forty more years.

Again, Matthew describes it in chapter 27 in verse 51:

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom … Matthew 27:51

Matthew writes that it was torn. That original word means to split, or to divide. This wasn’t a clean cut from a heavenly pair of scissors in a nice straight line.

It was ripped apart.

The religious leaders ignored this staggering miracle and somehow explained it away; they got a construction crew over there as quickly as they could to get somebody up there to put that curtain back together.

I can’t help but think it’s gonna take a lot of duct tape to make that work.

But while they’re trying to set up that scaffolding, God makes it difficult with a second miracle.

Matthew goes on now to write further in verse 51:

And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. Matthew 27:51

In other words, this earthquake was so intense – so terrifying – that the granite in the ground splintered open.

When God descended to deliver the law to Moses on Mt. Sinai, Exodus 19 tells us that the entire mountain shook and trembled greatly.

When God visited Elijah, I Kings 19 tells us that the mountains shook and rocks broke into pieces.

In Psalm 18, David writes of God’s anger with mankind that caused the earth to reel and rock, the mountains trembling and quaking because God was angry.

This is going to happen again during the Tribulation as God pours out His wrath upon the human race, as a great earthquake move shakes the earth (Revelation 6:12).

These are all pictures of the displeasure and wrath of God.

It reminds me of the warning to unbelievers in Hebrews 10:31: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

The unbelieving world doesn’t understand the trouble they’re in with God. It’s our mission to warn them of coming judgment – inviting them to Jesus for eternal safety.

David writes in Psalm 7 – that God is angry with the wicked daily.

Paul writes in Romans 2:5 that God is storing up His wrath against all who defy His Son, and He will eventually deliver righteous judgment.

Let me tell you, the world doesn’t stand a chance before a Holy God – it doesn’t have a prayer – except one: the prayer of faith in Christ alone.

• Can you imagine the chaos here – the Jewish leaders and the High Priest racing to the Temple in unbelief – “How could the veil have been ripped open – from top to bottom?
   
• Can you imagine the panic as the city of Jerusalem begins to shudder and shake –

God the Father is testifying of His displeasure with defiant mankind – this is a foretaste of His coming wrath.

And that isn’t all. Now, a positive miracle has taken place that literally stuns all of Jerusalem.

After Jesus makes this final cry of victory, Matthew writes next in verse 52:

The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had [died] were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city [Jerusalem] and appeared to many.” Matthew 27:52-53

I would have said, “Okay – I give in – I’m a believer!”

• Darkness has covered the earth.
• The veil has been ripped open.
• An earthquake has violently shuddered the earth.
• Dead people are now coming out of their graves.

I give in . . . sign me up with the disciples!

I would love to have a few verses that give us the immediate reaction of the citizens in Jerusalem as deceased people suddenly show up.

Can you imagine?

Somebody knocks on your door – it’s the guy you gave a eulogy for a year earlier.

What are you doing here?

The answer would have been something like: “I am here to testify that Jesus, who was crucified, truly is the Messiah. He has power over death and the grave. He is the resurrection and the life—and I am living proof!”

Is it any surprise that Jerusalem was prepared for Pentecost – a month later 3,000 people will believe in Jesus Christ.

Is it any surprise that in Acts chapter 6 you read the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests believed.

• They left their jobs –
• they abandoned the temple system.
• They knew.
• They knew about that ripped veil –
• They knew about the attempt to put it back together again and act like nothing happened
• They knew there wasn’t enough duct tape in Jerusalem
• They knew God had spoken

They knew that at this cry of victory from Jesus – all of creation testified that He was the Son of God.

When I think about this 7^th and final statement from the Lord I can’t help but think that Jesus modeled what it meant to live in relationship with God the Father.

Jesus lived this way.

In His final message to His disciples, in John chapters 14 through 16, He refers to God as His Father, 45 times. In His final High priestly prayer in chapter 17, a half-dozen more. (Source: ^{Arthur W. Pink, The Seven Sayings of the Savior on the Cross (Baker Book House, 1958), p. 145)}

This is the way to live.

What is Christianity? It begins with saying to God – “Father, into your hands I place my faith – here’s my sin, my heart, my trust, in your plan of redemption.” (Source: ^{Adapted from Clovis G. Chappell, The Seven Words (Baker Book House, 1952), p. 74)}

What’s the Christian life?

Well, here it is: in fact, the word here for commit, was a common word in the Lord’s day used for making a deposit of something treasured. It carried the idea of trust . . . (Source: ^{Charles R. Swindoll, The Darkness and the Dawn (Word Publishing, 2001), p. 207)}

It implies surrender: “Father into your hands I entrust – I deposit – everything about my life.”

The Christian life is getting out of bed in the morning and saying, “Father, into Your hands I commit my day –

• my chores
• my plans
• my spouse
• my children
• my needs
• my troubles
• all my anxieties,

Here Father, I’m placing them in Your hands because you told me you cared for me and I’m going to act like it’s true today.

This is the way to live.

Let me add to that: this is the way to die.

This is how you want to live. This is how you want to die.

Jesus is actually quoting here the first line from Psalm 31, verse 5. It had become a children’s prayer, long before the Lord was born – Jesus just added the word Father, to the prayer.

Jewish parents taught their children to pray this prayer before climbing into bed.

Interesting how Jesus reaches for the hymnal of the believer and pulls from it a prayer He learned as a little boy. (Source: ^{Chappell, p. 71)}

Only now the lyrics have more eternal meaning than we can imagine.

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

I wonder if in the Lord’s mind, He was humming the tune – in this song of eternal victory.

I have found believers to this day who can sing hymns of the faith in their last days – often without any other memory of their lives or loved ones.

These lyrics come back to their minds and hearts. I gotta tell you, this is a great way to die.

I remember being in the hospital room many years ago – standing at the bedside of an elderly man who had served on our church maintenance crew for several years. He’d been in the hospital for quite some time as his body began to shut down. No more food or water was needed.

The doctor had informed his wife that death was imminent – I had come to say farewell.

I talked to his soon-to-be widow about different elements of the funeral service that she’d like in his honor.

 I left them alone together, that final evening.

That night the nurses would tell us later, they heard singing. They came into his room and as he lay there, unconscious, he was singing the Hallelujah Chorus.

Not the easiest hymn to sing.

But there he lay singing . . . the nurses all crowded around. And then he revived – completely.

A week later he was without any of the previous symptoms, and he came back to work.

We nicknamed him Lazarus!

Several years later, illnesses returned . . .

I went to see him a few days before his passing and I said to him that instead of singing the Hallelujah Chorus, maybe this time he would soon hear the Hallelujah Chorus around the throne of the Lamb.

I told him, “Because of your faith in Christ, who died for you, He will soon welcome you home.”

And he whispered, “I know”. Those were the last words he spoke.

Words of confidence and trust – I know. 

This is how you wanna die.

But let me tell you – since we do not know the date – this is how you wanna live.

“Father, into your hands I deposit my life – and one day, Father – into Your hands I will deposit my spirit, and life forevermore.”