The story of Jesus Christ is one that almost anyone—Christian or non-Christian—would know. He was born to a virgin, lived a perfect life, died a horrific and excruciatingly painful death on the cross to save us from our sin, and rose again three days later.
Jesus Christ is our Lord and savior. For many who study the death of Christ—or find comfort in His devotion—reflecting on His Seven Words on the cross is one of the greatest ways to see Jesus’ undying love for us.
The Seven Last Words of Jesus
Luke 23:34 “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Jesus is the teacher of forgiveness. In our human-ness, we fail God daily. But by His grace and mercy, we are forgiven. In the same way, Jesus taught us to bless those who persecute us, and to forgive our debtors (the Lord’s prayer).
Right up until His final moments on earth, Jesus never ceased to preach and pray for forgiveness. On the cross, He prayed for those who were tormenting Him, while dying for them at the same time. Through forgiveness, God provides supernatural peace.
Luke 23:43 “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Jesus says this to the sinner on the cross beside Him—the robber, who is being justly crucified for his actions. He asks Jesus to remember him, and becomes the only person at the scene of the crucifixion to openly confess Jesus as “Lord.” Christ’s response was again one of forgiveness.
John 19:26-27 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
In His own unimaginable pain and suffering, Jesus cries out—not for relief from the pain He’s experiencing, but for the pain and suffering of His earthly mother, Mary. Jesus speaks words of blessing and care over her, and looks to His beloved disciple John to provide for her like a son.
Matthew 27:46 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
In the ninth hour of His crucifixion, Jesus feels separated from His father. Even the son of God—in His darkest hour—questioned his loneliness and why His father had He let Him suffer. The pain and darkness Jesus took upon himself is our pain and our darkness—he took them from us. For just that moment, the burden of our sins overwhelmed the humanity of our Savior.
John 19:28 “I thirst.”
Though the physical discomfort of thirst is inevitable, this short little statement holds so much more than Jesus’ need for quenching. It’s the source of “Living Water” crying out in thirst of life and love—the love of His father, and the salvation of His people.
In John 4:13-14, Jesus says to the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
The ‘thirst’ he experienced was so that we would be satisfied, and never thirst again.
John 19:30 “It is Finished.”
As Jesus takes nears the end, He proclaims victory over sin and death. We can never earn God’s favor for it was earned for us by the “finished” work of Jesus Christ. Jesus paid the price for our sins, and by faith we trust the finished work of salvation.
Luke 23:46 “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”
The war is over, the battle is won, and with his final breath, Jesus is surrounded once again by His father’s love and supernatural peace. Jesus was obedient to His father to the end, and his final word before death on the cross was a prayer to God in heaven.
