Reflections for Easter: The Seven Last Sayings of Christ, #4


Matthew 27:46 (HCSB) ~

About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

Jesus lets out a terrible cry of despair as his flesh, raw and ripped open from his flogging, rubbed against the rough wood of the cross. He body's weight rests on hands and feet that are driven through with nails. Large thorns embedded on a crown have been shoved into his head. His body is beginning to shut down. He would have been slowly suffocating due to being unable to draw enough oxygen into his lungs. The cells unable to receive enough oxygen begin to break down and carbon dioxide makes its way into the lungs. It is a terrible way to die.

The words He speaks are actually from the beginning of Psalm 22, which shows a prophetic testimony of Christ's suffering. I encourage you to read the entire Psalm for yourself. 

More importantly, these words of Jesus show what he bore for our sin. It reflects the price he paid so we could be reconciled with God. He experienced separation from his father and suffered in agony so that there would be a way to be made right in God's eyes. 

He had to experience that pain and suffering, and become the ultimate sacrifice so that we would have a way to His father. The end of that messianic Psalm tells us that one day all will bow before the Lord. 

What started as suffering ends in praise and glory. This week I reflect on these different last sayings of Christ, I am so thankful for that sacrifice made so that I can have life.

Psalm 22:27-31 (HCSB) ~

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord.
All the families of the nations
will bow down before You,
for kingship belongs to the Lord;
He rules over the nations.
All who prosper on earth will eat and bow down;
all those who go down to the dust
will kneel before Him—
even the one who cannot preserve his life.
Their descendants will serve Him;
the next generation will be told about the Lord.
They will come and tell a people yet to be born
about His righteousness—
what He has done.

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