Friday 30th August 2019 Prayer Devotion
Scripture Reading:- Exodus 12:1-13
Topic:- The Seven Statements Of Jesus On The Cross [4]
Text:- John 19:31
6. The Sixth Word: When Jesus had received the wine, He said, “It is finished;” and He bowed His head and handed over the spirit. See John 19:31.
Gospel of John recalls the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb in Exodus 12 in this passage. The soldiers offered wine on a sprig of hyssop to the Lord. Hyssop is a small plant that was used to sprinkle the blood of the Passover Lamb on the doorposts of the Hebrews, Exodus 12:22.
John’s Gospel related that it was the Day of Preparation, the day before the actual Sabbath Passover, that Jesus was sentenced to death and sacrificed on the Cross. See 19:14,31.
John continues in 19:33-34: “But when they came to Jesus and saw he was already dead, they did not break his legs,” recalling the instruction in Exodus 12:46 concerning the Passover Lamb. He died at the ninth hour (three o’clock in the afternoon), about the same time as the Passover lambs were slaughtered in the Temple. Christ became the Paschal or Passover Lamb, as noted by St. Paul: “For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. See 1 Corinthians 5:7.
John presents Jesus as directing the action the entire way. The phrase “It is finished” carries a sense of accomplishment.
And in John, the inscription at the head of the cross is pointedly written, “Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews.” The inscription INRI at the top of the cross is the Latin Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum. See John 19:19.
7. The Seventh Word: Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” See Luke 23:46.
The seventh word of Jesus is from the Gospel of Luke, and is directed to the Father in heaven, just before He dies. Jesus recalls Psalm 31:5 – “Into thy hands I commend my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.”
Luke repeatedly pleads Jesus’ innocence: with Pilate, through Dismas the criminal (by legend), and immediately after His death with the centurion – “Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.” Luke 23:14, 15, 41, 47.
Jesus was obedient to His Father to the end, and his final word before his death on the Cross was a prayer to His Father.
The relationship of Jesus to the Father is revealed in the Gospel of John, for He remarked, “The Father and I are one.” and again at the Last Supper. See John 10:30.
“Do you not believe I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.” See John 14:10.
And He can return: “I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” See John 16:28.
Jesus fulfills His own mission and that of His Father on the Cross: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, So that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life. See John 3:16.
Prayer Points:-
1. I command it is finished for the devil over me henceforth by fire, in the name of Jesus Christ.
2. Oh Lord God, never allowed me to take myself away from You but to always be with You henceforth, in the name of Jesus Christ.
3. Oh Lord God, let Your Word become bread and water unto me and thereby grow unto maturity henceforth, in the name of Jesus Christ.
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