Four of them had been assigned to this crucifixion of Jesus and these two partners of Barabbas. Centurions along to make sure it goes according to plan. This is standard practice for them, but this day is going to be different. Are you going to experience an earthquake?
Supernaturally imposed darkness? The conversion of one of the thieves? But before any of that happened, these hardened Roman soldiers have already discovered something different about Jesus.
They've never had a crucified man pray for them. What would your last words be if you knew you were facing death? For many people, last words reflect regret, anger, or even humor. But Jesus' last words were different. They revealed his deepest love and unmatched grace. As he hung on the cross, suffering for sins he didn't commit, he spoke words that stunned those around him. Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey.
Stephen is the president of Wisdom International. Today he'll show you what Jesus said, why it matters, and what it means for you. Stay tuned as Stephen helps you uncover the power behind Jesus' final words. Chapter 23, now verse 32.
Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called the Skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. So the first thing Jesus does is pray. He began his ministry with prayer. We're not told what the words were in that prayer in Luke chapter 3.
But when he went to be baptized by John the baptizer, we're told by Luke that he was praying quietly. So his ministry begins with prayer, it's ending with prayer. This is simply his pattern, his relational routine with his Father in heaven.
And this is a routine that challenges ours to this day, doesn't it? Keep in mind that on the cross this prayer is not for himself. He's praying for his cruelest enemies. Back in the 1800s, Pastor Charles Spurgeon called this prayer, the crowning jewel in the Lord's diadem of love. The crown jewel isn't so much the fact that he prayed, but what he prayed. That's our second point to make here.
We have his routine. Now secondly, we have his request. Look again at verse 34 in Jesus, said, Father, forgive them. One of the things that makes this prayer request so moving, by the way, is the tense of the verb indicates this continual repeated action. In other words, as Jesus is being nailed to the cross beam, he's praying, Father, forgive them. As they lift him up and drop that beam down and that mortise and tendon joint on the vertical stipe, which was permanent, Jesus is praying, Father, forgive them. As the religious leaders and spectators surround him and mock him and curse him, he's praying, Father, forgive them.
They don't know what they're doing. Now the typical victim of crucifixion would alternate between raging and cursing at the soldiers and pleading and begging for their lives and then cursing all over again, but Jesus is not just any victim, is he? Instead of praying here, Father, judge them. Father, punish them.
Father, pay them back. He's praying, Father, forgive them over and over again. The placard above his head, as we've noticed, declares the reality of his royal position. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, but his opening words on the cross reveal that he is the great high priest. He is praying. He is interceding for others.
Now this prayer request is reflecting two qualities that I want to observe here. First, his prayer request is fulfilling prophecy. Now actually there are a number of prophecies fulfilled here at Mount Calvary. This is sort of a sidebar, but Luke writes in the last part of verse 34, and they cast lots to divide his garments. This fulfills the prophecy of Psalm 22 18, they divided my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. They never did that to David. They did that to the son of David. Then another prophecy is fulfilled from Psalm 22 16, a company of evildoers encircles me.
They have pierced my hands and feet. They didn't do that to David. They did that to the son of David. Because 700 years before Jesus hangs on this cross and prays this prayer request, the prophet Isaiah writes of the suffering servant, the Messiah, he was numbered with the transgressors and makes intercession for the transgressors. So Jesus wasn't just praying. He's applying Scripture to his own life in obedience as he intercedes for sinners. He is fulfilling prophecy.
Secondly, Jesus is practicing what he preached. Verse 34 again, Jesus says, Father, forgive them. Who's them? They don't know what they do. Who's they? Now in the immediate context it would be these Roman soldiers. They're the antecedent of them.
They don't know what they're doing and they really didn't. It's possible in a tighter context here that Jesus is moving these soldiers from the guilt of capital murder to involuntary manslaughter. The law of Moses would allow them to flee to the city of refuge. Hebrews 6 tells us that Jesus is the city of refuge.
Could be. In a broader sense, this includes everyone from Pilate to Herod to Judas to the crowd. Father, forgive all of them. Now Jesus had preached in the open air out on the Mount of Olives his famous sermon. We call it the Sermon on the Mount. There's that sunbathed scene, flowers growing nearby. He uses illustrations, words flying overhead.
He's going to use his illustrations. And Jesus preached, you've heard it said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. That's one thing to preach that in a sunny afternoon with flowers and birds around.
It's another thing to practice it on the cruelty of Mount Calvary. Now this prayer is going to convict the crowd. They're going to return eventually beating their breasts. They know they've done wrong. The Roman soldiers will be convicted. They never expected this. They're calloused to this scene. History records they've already crucified a thousand men this year on Roman crosses.
This is just one more day on the job. They're deaf to it. They're blind to it. Four of them had been assigned to this crucifixion of Jesus and these two partners of Barabbas. Senturians along to make sure it goes according to plan. This is standard practice for them, but this day is going to be different, eternally different.
Are you going to experience an earthquake? Supernaturally imposed darkness? The conversion of one of the thieves? But before any of that happened, these hardened Roman soldiers have already discovered something different about Jesus. They've never had a crucified man pray for them. In fact, Matthew inserts this interesting comment that after nailing them to the cross, after joining in for a while with the mockery, after gambling for his clothing, Matthew's gospel account writes that the soldiers begin to keep watch over him. Matthew 27, 36, why? They don't need to guard him. He can't escape.
No, they're watching him. Chuck Swindoll writes on this text in his commentary that I would suggest that the praying of Jesus had caught their attention. Their ears were accustomed to the bitter curses of the victims. Their hearts were hardened against the cries of dying men, but they'd never heard a victim praying.
And I would agree. These soldiers, they had no idea that the mediator between God and man is hanging above them. They had no idea that as they're gambling there on the ground for the tunic, it belongs to none other than the eternally divine high priest. Jesus prayed for them. Keep in mind this prayer for them would extend throughout time. This is extending back into the past, atoning for all the sins that were only covered as it were, present sin, all the future sin that would incorporate us, the sins of the whole world, 1 John 2.2. One author wrote that this prayer was like a rock thrown into a lake, forming at first this little circle of ripples and then widening out into a larger ring, soon even a larger sphere until the whole lake felt the effects of this stone. So included in this prayer of intersection would have been the Jewish leaders, the corrupt Supreme Court justices of the Sanhedrin, the deserting disciples, the malicious mob, the 3,000 who are going to believe on the day of Pentecost, the entire fallen race of Adam, you and me.
We're in the them, praise God. Now look at your Bibles here, verse 34, and I suggest you write your own name there in the margin. Father, forgive, write your name. Sam, John, Cindy, Susan, I've written in my Bible, Father, forgive Stephen. We're just as responsible for his death because he paid for our sin. And by the way, when you believe that and you accept that gospel truth as our sisters who were baptized, testified, then Jesus' prayer applies to you.
It's personal. Now let me go on to say here that this moment isn't just a monument of his forgiveness, it's a model for us to follow. Spurgeon again wrote on this text, let us go to Calvary to learn how we may be forgiven and then let us linger there to learn how we may forgive others. The apostles pick up on this application. Listen to the apostle Peter as he writes in 1 Peter 2, for to this you have been called. Oh wait, we've been called to this. Here's a special calling. Because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, there it is, so that you might follow in his steps.
How? When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Well that's a reference to God the Father. So this is a reference to Christ on the cross. It's a clear statement that his ministry is to become our model. Paul writes to the Ephesians, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.
Now let's just be honest. At the slightest offense, we're ready to retaliate. We're going to stand up for ourselves.
We live in a generation that is always talking about standing up for our rights. If we're unjustly condemned, can you imagine being stripped, naked, beaten within an inch of your life, given a corrupt sentence by corrupt justices, impaled on a cross, would we even conceive of the idea of forgiving anybody? Who does that? The first martyr of the church. Stephen who, when he's being stoned to death, prayed, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. Who does that? Robert Smith, one of our beloved guest speakers, whose son was murdered, and Robert put himself on the visitation list so he could tell that young murderer who killed his son that he could be forgiven.
Who does that? Steve Saint who's spoken here in the past, whose missionary father was speared to death by the Alka Indians he was trying to reach. His mother went and returned back with him when he was a little boy to minister to these Indians along with another widow by the name of Elizabeth Elliott. Steve would later write that these warriors, some of them became believers, one of them had been involved in the killing of his father would become an elder in the church they founded and would baptize Steve. Steve would write, these men who killed my father became grandfathers to my children.
Who does that? Those who see the Lord on this cross, not just as a monument for their own forgiveness, but a model for forgiving others. We're better for it as we do this. It's interesting that even our world is caught up to the relationship of physical effects and the relationship to biblical truths like these bitterness and revenge and unforgiveness and envy that Bible says just eats away at our bones. I read recently that the Mayo Clinic has done studies and connected forgiving others with better health.
Imagine that. One author put it profoundly when he wrote, unforgiveness is like pouring a cup of poison for your enemy and then drinking it yourself. What's Jesus doing here? Well, first He's fulfilling prophecy as He intercedes, and then secondly He's practicing what He preached. Now for the sake of our ally, we've noted the routine of Jesus in matter of prayer. We've noted the request of Jesus. And now Jesus gives His reasoning. Again verse 34, Father forgive them for, here's the reason, they know not what they do. Jesus prays as if He's a lawyer arguing before the court, let me lay the foundation for their forgiveness.
They don't know what they're doing. Today we'd say they don't have a clue and in a sense that was true. Peter will soon preach in Acts chapter 3 and verse 17, I know that you acted in ignorance as did your rulers. Paul will later say in Acts 13 that they crucified Jesus because, quote, they did not recognize Him nor understand the utterances of the prophets. Now don't misunderstand, ignorance doesn't remove the consequences of sin, okay, violating the law. Jesus didn't pray, Father forgive them because they are innocent. Ignorance is not the same thing as innocence.
There's still consequences. Have you ever been traveling and you reached a little town where the speed limit suddenly, wickedly dropped from 55 to 35 and you didn't see the sign. It did not matter to that policeman who was not Jesus. I remember at Christmas break my freshman year of college, I bummed a ride with three other students. One of them owned a car. They lived in the same hometown as I did and so we decided we'd take turns driving that car for several hours to get home. That car was really cool. It was a Camaro, mag wheels.
You know what that means? It begged for the open road. Now I was the last person in line to drive and it was finally my turn.
Now the only problem was the speedometer was broken. You don't believe me, but it really was. It really was. It was dark by the time it was my turn.
The other students were sleeping and man I just, I hammered it down. I knew I was going fast. Soon there were blue lights flashing in my rear view mirror.
The policeman was an older gentleman. He wasn't happy. He asked me if I knew how fast I was going and I said, no sir, the speedometer is broken. He said, yeah, you probably broke it. He said, you passed me three miles back on the interstate. I didn't see him. He said, I clocked you going 100 miles an hour.
My life flashed before my eyes. So I just started talking. Man, I got to talk this guy down somehow and I told him we were college students. You know, we're on Christmas break. We've been away from home. We're going home to our dear mothers and grandmothers.
We're going to eat Christmas pudding, you know. He gave me a ticket, but he reduced the penalty. He believed me. Jesus says here, and I think this applies more narrowly to them. They were ignorant of the reality of His deity. They couldn't comprehend He was the Son of God. We've never seen the Son of God, but it's certainly not this man hanging on a cross. They were ignorant of this moment in human history.
We know it's the hinge of redemptive history. They didn't. They were ignorant of the sweeping impact of the cross. Chrysostom, the fourth century church father, preached on this text and he said they were not only ignorant about who he was, but also about the mystery of salvation that was being accomplished through this event.
Yes, don't misunderstand. They were accountable for their rejection of the Messiah. They had to believe in Him to be saved. But this prayer effectively declared that even those involved in the crucifixion, even them were not beyond forgiveness.
He opens the door. They don't know what they do. It's an amazing statement of grace. And it's still true, by the way, to you and me today. Our sin is greater than we know. Our depravity is deeper than we know than we could ever consciously understand. Our need for Christ is more desperate than we realize. Apart from Christ, we are in greater trouble with God than we would ever be able to understand. Greater danger of the coming judgment of God's wrath.
Apart from Christ, beloved, and if you're not a believer, you're in greater trouble today than you can imagine. We're not saved because we were able to grasp the depth of our depravity. We never will. We just admit we're depraved. We're not saved because we understand the height and depth, the reach of God's love, of His grace.
We'll never fathom that. We just accept it. Jesus offers forgiveness, declaring the reality of our ignorance, but His offer must still find our personal acceptance. And by the way, some of these people will. 3,000 people on the day of Pentecost were told that many priests will believe. Members of the Sanhedrin are going to come forward in a few hours testifying of their belief. Some Pharisees are going to believe like Saul of Tarsus soon.
Even one of these Roman soldiers is going to believe. The pardon is offered, but it must be accepted. Let me illustrate it this way. In 1833, the U.S. Supreme Court made an interesting decision. It had to do with two men, George Wilson and James Porter.
They had robbed a U.S. mail train. They were caught, brought to trial, found guilty, sentenced to be hung. James Porter went to the gallows, was hung by the neck until dead. George Wilson's friends interceded on his behalf, and President Andrew Jackson issued a formal pardon. The charges resulting in the death sentence were completely dropped, commuted to 20 years in prison, but George Wilson refused to accept the pardon. So the sheriff didn't know what to do. You can't hang a pardoned man.
This had never happened before. So the case finally made its way all the way to the Supreme Court, and the case was decided. Justice John Marshall wrote this opinion, and I quote, a pardon is a deed to the validity of which delivery is essential and delivery is not completed without acceptance.
And George Wilson died. Here's the offer. Father, forgive them. They're ignorant. They don't realize. Their sins are more vast in number than they can possibly know, but they can go free if they will accept the offer.
And you know what? At the end of your life and mine, your last words, my last words that they're recording, let me tell you, our last hope, our only hope is going to be in what Jesus did for you and me. Let me tell you what the last words were of this pastor I've quoted twice by the name of Charles Spurgeon, who died at the age of 57. Just before he died on January 31st, 1892, his last words were these, Jesus died for me. Jesus died?
It's not enough. Pilate knew that. Herod knew that. Satan knew that. Jesus died.
The Jewish leaders knew that. No, Jesus died for me. Have you said that to them at some point in your life? Lord Jesus, I'm the sinner. You died for me. I accept the pardon.
If you haven't, why not say that today? That was Stephen Davey, and this is Wisdom for the Heart. Stephen is the president and Bible teacher of Wisdom International. You can join us here each weekday as Stephen teaches you God's word. This is lesson one in a series Stephen called The Lamb's Last Words. This series is available as a set of CDs, and we're offering it at a special price during this series. You can get this set at a 50% discount. Learn more at wisdomonline.org or call us at 866-48-bible. That's 866-482-4253. Do that today, then join us next time for more Wisdom for the Heart.
