Jesus Did What Adam (and You and I) Could Not Do
12/9 Reading Portions: 2 Chronicles 9; Jude; Zephaniah 1; Luke 23
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12/9 Reading Portions: 2 Chronicles 9; Jude; Zephaniah 1; Luke 23
Luke 23:46
Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!” And having said this He breathed His last.
COMMITMENT
Often, when the “Seven Last Words” are preached in sermons, this one is at the end. Personally, I believe that “It is finished” (John 19:30), should be the last word of Christ Jesus upon the cross. His utterance in John’s gospel was spoken as eternal God, saying that the debt was paid in full, and that nothing more should be, could be, or can be added (see the devotional on John 19:30). When Jesus committed His spirit to the hands of the Father, He spoke these words as the perfect, sinless Man. Jesus did what Adam did not do. When Adam was tempted to eat of the tree he was forbidden not to (Gen 3:6), he did not commit his spirit to the Father’s hands. Adam rushed headlong into death by his disobedience. Jesus, on the other hand, made this statement, not because, at last, He committed His spirit unto the Father’s care. God forbid! Our Lord Jesus uttered this saying as the final seal of His complete surrender to the Father from beginning to end. Jesus never faltered because His spirit was committed to the Father’s care. Every temptation was withstood all the way to the cross because He was ever and always committed to the Father’s care. Every promise of Scripture was embraced by Christ because He was committed to the Father’s care. Every commandment was obeyed, both actively and passively, because Jesus committed His spirit to the Father’s care. Jesus fulfilled ALL righteousness, including His sacrificial death upon the cross because of His faithful commitment to the Father hands. And that should be sobering for all those who would attempt to justify themselves by their own good works. Even if it were possible for a mere descendant of Adam to keep the 613 mitzvot (commandments) of the Law of Moses (which he can’t), they would still fail in ALL righteousness because they could not pay the sin debt for the curses that lay upon the heads of the children of wrath since their blood is tainted (Deut 11:26-28; Gal 3:10; Heb 9:22). But Jesus, the God-Man could… and did! Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Jesus was God’s “Plan A.”
There was never a “Plan B.”
Christ’s commitment, it was all the way;
For He alone could set men free.