It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 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 23:44-46
Do you see the significance of these words? The hell was over. The price was paid. The infinite agonies endured by the Son of God had passed, and the light of the Father’s love now shone on Him again.
Did you notice how Jesus died? If you have ever been with a family member when he or she died, you know that nobody dies with a loud voice. If you’ve got a loud voice, it’s because you still have more time. Nobody speaks in a loud voice at the moment of death, but Jesus did, and the reason for this is that He wasn’t overwhelmed by death. He didn’t run out of strength. Death didn’t overcome Him.
Here is Jesus’ own explanation: “No one takes it [my life] from me… I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (John 10:18). Christ’s life was not taken by death; it was given. He gave Himself in death: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46).
Jesus entered death, not with a whisper of defeat, but with a shout of triumph—“It is finished!” The apostle Mark comments, “When the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’” (Mark 15:39). Do you see the glory of Jesus’ death? No one ever died like that.
What does it mean to you to know that Jesus triumphed over death?
