Luke 23:44-49

Mt. 27:50: And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.  Mk. 15:37: And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last.  Jn. 19:30b: And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.  Lk. 23:46: And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.  Having said this, He breathed His last.

Seventh: Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.            

At the last, Jesus yielded to the separation.  Though forsaken on the cross, Jesus knew that His Father would not forsake His soul in hell (Ac. 2:27).  Thus He committed His soul to His Father, as to a faithful Creator (1 Pt. 4:19).

Death is all about separation.  The root meaning of the word death is separation, the separation of the life or soul, from the body.  Death is the ultimate separation from God.  Isaiah said your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you (Isa.59:2).  Death entered the world through Adam and the first evidence that Adam now lived under the reign of death was that he and Eve hid themselves from God (Gen. 3:8).  God also hid His face from them, separating them from the Garden, the source of His blessing.

Separation was fundamental to worship in Old Testament times.  The people were not allowed to just come before God any time or in any way.

   ·        Ex. 19:10-13: At Mt. Sinai the people were forbidden, on penalty of death, to come close to or touch the mountain.

   ·        Num. 2: The Israelites in the wilderness, by tribe, camped around the tabernacle, separated by the fence of the courtyard.

   ·        Lev. 16:1-3; Ex. 26:31-35: The tabernacle had two parts: the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.  They were separated by a veil made of layered material making it impossible to tear by human hands.  No one could enter the Holy of Holies except for the High Priest, once a year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, offering various sacrifices before He entered for the people.

Both temples had the same arrangement.  In Herod’s Temple the veil was 60’ high 30’ wide.  Josephus reported that the veil was 4 inches thick, was renewed every year, and that horses tied to each side could not pull it apart (RSB).  

Whereas separation is fundamental to OT worship, access is fundamental to NT worship (Eph. 2:18).  We are to come boldly to the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16). We have boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veal, that is, His flesh (Heb. 10:19-20).  What is the difference?  At the moment Jesus experienced the separation, His death on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  Thus our access to God is not without a High Priest but is by our High Priest, Jesus Christ, whose perfect sacrifice has removed the separation.  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith (Heb. 10:22).