Your 7 Final Words - 7. Into Thy Hands...

And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said,
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit:
and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
– Luke 23:46

This was Jesus’ 7th and final statement before He bowed His head and died. As we discussed in the last segment, numbers are very significant. The number 7 signifies completion. It comes from a root word that means to be full, satisfied or to have enough. In other words, nothing could be added or taken away to make it any better. The word “Sabbath” also comes from the same root word. On the 7th day of creation, Scripture tells us, God rested. He also gave us a mandate that we should work for 6 days and rest on the 7th.

The number 7 also signifies an oath. For example, when God swears by Himself it’s a completed word so He “sevens” Himself. You can see this in Isaiah 45:22, 23 (Amplified Bible) –

“Look to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear [allegiance].”

Do you see the implications of that when you think about all of God’s promises?

In this final statement Jesus was patterning for us the end of the process of dying to the self-life. Keep in mind that He was 100% man as well as 100% God. His soul had to be kept in subjection just as yours does, and you can see this in His struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane. Scripture also tells us that He had to learn obedience through the things that He suffered.

Even the place where Jesus was crucified was significant – a hill called Golgotha which literally means “the skull”. What an appropriate place to crucify the soulish mind, will, emotions and intellect!!!

Soon after He gave His spirit to the Father His body was laid to rest in a tomb where the Holy Spirit began the mysterious work of His resurrection!

Jesus, the Head, was crucified, buried and resurrected. As the Head goes, so goes the rest of the Body. It stands to reason that you and I, being part of the Body of Christ, must have the same experience. Jesus was resurrected on the 3rd day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Scripture tells us that a day is as 1000 years and 1000 years is as a day. We are in the 3rd millennium, or the 3rd day!

In your own “Golgotha” experience you have crucified anything that is not in alignment with the Spirit of God. It is at this point that you also can rest from the labor and self-effort of the psuche-dominated life. And as you, like Jesus, give your unencumbered spirit into the hands of the Father, expect the Holy Spirit to begin His miraculous and mysterious work in you – resurrection into the limitless zoe life!! The stone has been rolled away! It’s time to come out of your ‘tomb’!

Stedfast [is] the word:
For if we died together -- we also shall live together;
if we do endure together -- we shall also reign together
2 Timothy 2: 11-12 (Young’s Literal Translation)