Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew

 

SEVEN SAYINGS OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS (Part 1 of 2)

INTRODUCTION – Good Friday is round the corner. Soon the greatest event of the greatest death will be upon us. There are many "great" deaths on the earth through the history of mankind. These "great" men who died for family, friends, for a great cause or for country, are great indeed, especially in the eyes of the ones who benefitted from their deaths. Monuments of great proportion have been built in their memories. However, there is no death on this earth that can be compared to the death of Jesus Christ. All men are sinners from birth. There is only one exception. It is the birth of Jesus Christ, for He was born of the virgin Mary. He was born without sin, for He was God incarnate. Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit so that He could be fully God and fully man in order to die for all mankind. His death was to save man from his sins so that sinful man does not need to die and find himself in hell even though he deserves to be there.

 

Therefore, the final words of Jesus Christ on the cross, as His life was slowly leaving His body, reveal the heart of Christ as the great work of salvation from the great and gracious God to sinful man came to a climactic conclusion. The final words of Christ are -

1. Forgiveness -- Luke 23:34 (KJV), "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots." –

 

The Context

a. The context is the crucifixion of Christ;

b. Two malefactors were crucified with Him – one on each side of Christ;

The Theology

a. The ISSUE IS FORGIVENESS;

b. Repentance always precedes Forgiveness; No repentance, no forgiveness. Otherwise, all will be sent to Heaven and no one will be sent to Hell. Universalism will become the doctrine of all.

c. Could this prayer of Christ not be answered by God the Father since this was a one sided prayer where the sinners definitely did not repent at all? Jesus said that they did not know what they did. Christ’s prayers were ALWAYS answered as He always prayed in the Father’s will. See John 14 and 16.

 

The Explanation

a. This prayer of Christ was definitely answered by God.

b. The identity of "them" -- The soldiers and the ones who participated in Christ’s crucifixion from the time of betrayal to the time of His death on the cross would be included in Christ’s prayer.

c. The reason is that pertaining to Christ’s crucifixion, it was our sins that brought about the betrayal and all the events leading up to the cross. The soldiers who hammered in the nails, scourged Christ’s back with the whip, mocked Him and buffeted Him, wove the crown of thorns, etc. represented us. Actually it was Christ’s love for us and our sins that brought Christ to, and kept Christ on, the cross.

d. One generation had to be the generation who would crucify Christ at His first Coming, who would do all that is recorded in the Gospels for our sakes. There will be one generation in the future who will be present at His second Coming.

e. The scope of sins forgiven in Christ's prayer must be understood in relation to only all the sins that resulted in Christ’s crucifixion. The sinners who participated in the death and crucifixion of Christ needed to bow their knees and ask Christ to forgive them of their personal sins, imputed and wilful. The sins committed against Christ leading to His crucifixion were NOT personal but GLOBAL. It was our sins that resulted in Christ's crucifixion, for Christ could have stopped it at any time as He was innocent and had the power as God to do so. However, He allowed Himself to be persecuted and crucified because of our sins.

f. Therefore, the sins that Christ prayed for the Father to forgive pertain ONLY to the sins from betrayal to the cross; it was the sins of the world that brought about the betrayal and the persecution and the crucifixion and the death of Christ. God answered this prayer of Christ and forgave all those who participated in Christ's persecution and crucifixion. They did it "on our behalf", for it was our sins that caused Christ to suffer and die.

 

The Application -- Whenever we remember the crucifixion of Christ, we must also remember that it was our sins that brought the Son of God Jesus Christ to the cross. Salvation is never to be regarded as cheap even though it is freely given to us. We have been redeemed by Christ’s precious and priceless blood. We cannot live any way we like. Self-will must be replaced by God’s will.

 

2. Paradise -- Luke 23:43 (KJV), "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."

The Context

a. The people stood there gazing intensively;

b. The rulers were also there but they derided Christ saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God."

c. The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, and saying, "If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself."

d. A superscription was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

e. One of the malefactors railed on him, saying, "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us."

f. But the other malefactor rebuked him, saying, "Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."

 

The Theology

a. The people stared intently but did nothing. The rulers mocked Christ’s power and ability to deliver Himself from the cross. They did not know that it was their sins that brought Christ to the cross. The soldiers also mocked and taunted Him to show them His power. The written inscription declared rightly that Christ was indeed the King of the Jews but we know that it is not limited only to the Jews.

 

b. One of the malefactors mocked Christ (Christ means Messiah or the anointed One). Christ’s ministry as our anointed Saviour was mocked by the malefactor.

 

c. The other malefactor who acknowledged his own sins and just punishment on the cross cried to Christ for mercy. He was able to see Christ as One who committed no sin and did not deserve to die on the cross. Therefore, he was able to say those marvellous words of faith that the people, the rulers, the soldiers and the other malefactor could not. He saw in Christ to be not just a Saviour but his personal Saviour. To cry to Christ to remember him was a cry to save him. "Remember" is a covenantal word whereby the subject is God. To cry and declare the certainty of Christ’s kingdom (by use of "when") requires genuine faith. He was able to see the divinity of Christ as Christ hung on the cross covered in His own blood.

 

d. Christ’s words on the cross meant acceptance and a guaranteed place in heaven. The malefactor did not go to hell. He went straight to Heaven. Christ also went straight to heaven. The use of the words "verily" (lit. amen) and "today" (lit. this very day) signify that.

 

e. Christ did not go to hell. The moment He died his body hung on the cross till late afternoon before sunset and was later brought to the tomb for burial after it was embalmed. Three days later He was resurrected from the dead.

 

f. The malefactor who believed also went to heaven. He was not baptised and from this incident we see that water baptism is not necessary for salvation. He is with Christ in Heaven. Paradise was an interchangeable term used to denote heaven.

 

The Application -- It is never too late to believe in Christ. As long as there is breath in our bodies, we can be saved like the malefactor who cried to Christ to save him as his life slowly ebbed away. The physical death of Christ on the cross delivers the sinner from spiritual, physical and the second death. When a sinner accepts Christ as Lord and Saviour, he experiences instantaneous deliverance from spiritual death. Physical death becomes sleep, a temporal experience, which otherwise would have been a permanent one. The generation of believers still alive at the First Resurrection of Christ will experience the Rapture where even physical death will pass them by. The second death is the eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire that only those who die in their sins without the Saviour will experience and they will remain there for all eternity. Christ’s physical death was sufficient to pay for our spiritual, physical and eternal death.

 

3. Family -- John 19:26-27 (KJV), "When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! 27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."

1. The Context – Christ turned His attention to His earthly family, namely His mother. By this time it is assumed that Joseph had died. Mary, His mother, was all alone. Christ was leaving behind His mother in order to do the heavenly Father’s will and be the Saviour of the world. But He could not leave this part of His earthly life unfinished. He had to ensure that His mother was well cared for. This is the right thing to do according to the 5th Commandment -- to honour father and mother in the LORD.

He entrusted her to His beloved disciple, John. John was the last disciple to die in exile after writing the Book of Revelation.

 

2. The Theology – The words of Christ are very crisp and direct. He saw from the cross His mother, and standing next to her was John, the disciple whom He loved (John wrote in the third person as was his distinguished style of writing to play down self and magnify Christ).

Firstly, He called her "woman", and with the imperative, focusing on the action "to behold" (i.e. look,) Christ declared, "Your son!" Literally, it means "the son of yours".

 

Q. - Why did Christ address her as "woman", which could refer to any woman of any age (regardless of whether she was married or not or even widowed)?

Then He turned His attention to John. He declared with the same emphasis, using the same verb "behold," "Your mother!"

 

Why Christ, at this moment of His impending death, asked Mary to accept John as His "replacement" and asked John to take Mary as his mother is obviously very clear. Christ must fulfil all righteousness from the beginning to the end of His ministry. He must obey all and every point of God’s Law on our behalf so that the righteousness that is imputed to us is called the "righteousness of the law" (Romans 8:4).

 

What is not clear is why Christ did not call Mary "mother" when He addressed her the first time. He did, however, ask John to call Mary his mother. This means that His choice of words was very deliberate even while He was dying on the cross. We should also bear in mind that in John 2:4, when the wine ran out at the wedding in Cana, Christ also addressed Mary as "woman". That Christ was not being disrespectful is certain.

 

The possible theological reason for Christ addressing her as "woman" instead of "mother" is that Christ wanted to make a clear distinction. Mary was the woman above all women on earth, in that she was chosen out of the billions of women on earth, since the time of Eve, to be the one to bring forth the Messiah. But it has to be emphasized that she was not the mother of God at all, not even in the most infinitesimal sense of the word! She was only the chosen vessel through whom the Son of God became the Son of Man in order to be the Saviour of men. She must not be elevated to any position of deity or sainthood or mediatrix simply because she gave birth to Christ! She was a sinner in need of the Saviour, Jesus Christ, like everyone else!

 

This clear distinction must never be diminished or forgotten for the sake of Mary’s own soul. She was a sinner like all of us. She was capable of feeling pride and arrogance like all of us. If she had been filled with pride and thought that she did not need the Saviour to save her since she gave birth to Him, then she would have been doomed to hell! She was a sinner in a most unique position which no one will ever be in. She carried the baby Jesus and brought Him up from infancy. The experiences she encountered till the time she stood in front of the cross cannot be known or imagined by any of us. She was indeed very privileged to have been chosen, but at the same time, the one most in jeopardy, from a human stand point, to not become a believer! Thank God she was a believer.

 

NOTE -- Mark 3:31-35 (KJV),"There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him. 32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. 33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? 34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother."

 

Therefore, from the very beginning of their earthly relationship and to the very end as she stood beneath the cross looking up at His bloodied and battered body and nailed pierced hands and feet, Christ had to make it very clear that He was her Saviour and Lord as well! That is perhaps the theological reason for Christ to address Mary as "woman".

 

3. The Application – Christ fulfilled all righteousness in that He obeyed God’s Commandment to look after His mother. So every Christian must honour his father and mother in the Lord. There is no end to this command - as long as the parents are alive, the believer must honour them. It is always the believer’s privilege and duty before God to honour his parents. They are chosen by God to bring him into this world. They are chosen by God to mould and shape him to be what he is today, including the good, the bad and the ugly. Much of our behavioural life, no matter how long we live, is shaped by them. To disdain or reject them or to curse them is a grievous sin against God. When we do not honour our parents, it is as if we think that God made a mistake in giving us parents!

 

Christ’s deity and humanity are to be clearly understood by all, and especially by Mary. He is the very Son of God and Son of Man. Mary is not to be worshipped. She would not wish to be worshipped. She was a sinner like the rest of the world. She was given a certain calling like all of us. Her calling was unique and so is every believer’s calling. But the uniqueness of her calling has been disastrously misunderstood as we see the many images devoted to Mariolatry. Mary was dear to Christ’s heart in a way that we cannot understand. She was His mother, who brought Him up from infancy to adulthood, and at the same time a sinner like everyone else in need of Christ to be saved. She fed baby Jesus and watched over Him when he was growing up. The things she did for Him as an earthly mother Christians today cannot know. And she stood there seeing her Son die for her on the cross which she could understand but did not fully comprehend.

 

SUMMARY -- Christ had to leave her to do the heavenly Father’s will. But not without first ensuring that she was cared for by John whom she was to adopt as her son and that John received Mary as his mother. Christ settled His earthly life before completing the Father’s will. So must all of us. To fulfill all righteousness is the emphasis of these words of Christ to Mary and John. The "all righteousness" here includes the family responsibility and the clear distinction between Mary, the sinner in need of salvation by Christ, and Christ, the Son of God who is the only Saviour of the world.