What Are The Seven Last Words Of Jesus Christ?

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As we celebrate Good Friday and the Resurrection weekend, what better time is there to explain the last words spoken by Jesus? Until we understand Good Friday, we can’t understand Resurrection Sunday.

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For those who may be unfamiliar, traditionally, these seven words are known as words of forgiveness, salvation, relationship, abandonment, distress, triumph, and reunion.

The seven last words of Jesus reveal what was most important to our loving Savior, and several of them helped fulfill the messianic prophecies about that momentous day.

Below are his last words explained.

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1. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," – Luke 23:34

The soldiers took their hammers and the long metal spikes, and they nailed the Son of God to a beam of wood. They lifted Him up on a wooden pole, and dropped the pole into a hole in the ground. Then Jesus spoke for the first time from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

2. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise," – Luke 23:4

Two criminals who were crucified with Jesus were  His right and one on His left. “One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us’” (Luke 23:39).

As a man in the last hours of his life, he is completely lost, he is completely helpless, and he is still angry with God. The other criminal had also given himself to a life of crime. He was just a few hours away from eternity. Soon he would face the judgment of God. But then something changed. A silence came over this man’s soul, and perhaps for the first time in his life, he thought about his position. Earth was receding, and eternity was looming large on the horizon.

Now he sees with awesome clarity that before the day is done, he will stand before God and give an account for his life. As these thoughts run through his mind, he hears the voice of the other thief cursing Jesus, and he says, “Do you not fear God?” (Luke 23:40).

Then he turned to Jesus and said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (23:43). 

3. "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," – John 19:26-27

For 33 years, Jesus has been the son of Mary according to the flesh. But He was also the Son of God. He assumed human flesh, which He took from His mother so that He could become our redeemer. That is why He came into the world and why he is on the cross.

As Mary stands at the foot of the cross, in her grief and in her sorrow, she must have been crying out, “My son, my son, my son…” And Jesus is saying, “You must no longer think of me as your son. Woman, behold, your son. From now on John is to take that place in your life.”

4. "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" – Matthew 27:46

For three hours Jesus had suffered pain and ridicule at the hands of men, but now He was plunged into something far worse. Jesus entered into all the dimensions of hell on the cross. Hell is conscious suffering, in blackest darkness, surrounded by demonic powers, under the judgment of God, beyond the reach of the love of God. Jesus endured all that hell is on the cross. And He did this so that you would never know what it is like. 

5. “I thirst," – John 19:28

The same Jesus who said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37) is now saying, “I thirst.” This is the only time that Jesus refers to His own suffering on the cross. His other words were spoken to forgive others, to open paradise, to provide for His mother, to reveal the anguish of hell, to announce the atonement, and to trust His spirit to the Father in death. But in these words, He speaks out of His physical suffering. 

6. "When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit," – John 19:30

This was the end of Jesus’ suffering. Jesus knows suffering more than anyone has ever known it, but He is not suffering now. He is done with that. He is finished. He is not in the grave either. He is at the right hand of the Father in heaven, where He intercedes for us.

7. "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," – Luke 23:46

Jesus was not overwhelmed by death. It did not overcome Him. He said, “No one takes [my life] from me… I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. The life of Jesus was not taken. It was given. He gave Himself into death: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”