Today’s Reading: John 20:1-16 Today’s Reference: John 1:9-10 “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.”
Mary Magdalene stayed at the foot of the cross until the bitter end. She saw where Jesus was laid. After the Sabbath, she was the first one to the tomb, and when she saw it empty, she was so grief-stricken even angels couldn’t rouse her hope in the resurrection.
Nor did she recognize Jesus when she saw Him—looking for a dead body, …
Today’s Reading: John 14:1-7 Today’s Reference: Revelation 1:17b-18 “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”
Those who haven’t accepted Christ’s redeeming work have every reason to fear death. Every last affront to God’s holiness will be paid for with their personal suffering—for eternity.
But if we have accepted Christ, we have nothing to fear. Jesus has gone ahead of us to prepare the way, and when we die …
Today’s Reading: Luke 23:46 Today’s Reference: John 10:28-29 “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my had. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, an no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”
Jesus’ life wasn’t taken from Him. He delivered it up at precisely the moment He chose; it was the moment He had suffered the full measure of wrath for our sins and His work was done. Now He says …
Today’s Reading: Hebrews 9 Today’s Reference: Hebrews 10:12,14 “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God…For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
“It is finished.”
Jesus came to Earth with a task: to suffer, preach, heal, and die. In the midst of the crucifixion ordeal, He cried out in triumph that He had fulfilled His mission to the last requirement. There was nothing He left undone, nothing to regret.
Today’s Reading: Mark 15:37-38; John 19:30 Today’s Reference: Colossians 2:13-14 “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
“It is finished.”
In Greek, this cry of Jesus is one word, tetelestai, and in legal terms it could also mean “paid in full.” Jesus wants us to know that our sins are paid in full. There is not one little …
Today’s Reading: John 4:4-26 Today’s Reference: Revelation 22:17 “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”
“I thirst.”
The One who called Himself the Living Water is thirsty—what irony! Jesus has given up the privileges of deity to drink the “cup of wrath” prepared for Him at full strength. He would do no miracle here to spare Himself one tiny bit of punishment for our sins.
Today’s Reading: John 19:28-29 Today’s Reference: Matthew 25:35, 40b “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me…Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
“I thirst.”
After all His suffering, of course He was thirsty! A part of the anguish of crucifixion is the dehydration of the body. But why force His tortured body to say the words aloud? John makes it clear His primary purpose was to …
Today’s Reading: Psalm 22:1-11 Today’s Reference: 2 Corinthians 5:18-19a “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.”
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Did the Father really forsake the Son on the cross, or did Jesus only feel forsaken? Did He suffer only as a man, as some people suggest, or did He suffer as God?
It is necessary for a holy God to turn His face away from sin. He turned His face away …
Today’s Reading: Mark 15:33-34 Today’s Reference: John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
If Mary’s heart was wrung at the foot of the cross, how much more anguish was in the heart of the Father! This was the Son in whom He was “well pleased,” the Son with whom He had communed from before the beginning of time. Now the Father had to watch that Son die in agony. But …
Today’s Reading: Matthew 27:45-46 Today’s Reference: Nahum 1:6 “Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.”
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
No longer does Jesus say, “Father.” Into the thick, unnatural darkness that covered the land during the last three hours of His dying, He cries out to express His pain at separation from God. But still He says, “My God,” trusting even through despair.
