Prayer
Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your sense of anticipation that God is about to speak to you through His Word. Then, before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer based on Psalm 31:1, 3, and 5:
In you, Lord, I take refuge;
Let me never be put to shame;
Deliver me from all dangers.
You are my rock and my fortress:
Lead and guide me for Your Name’s sake.
Into your hands I commit my spirit;
Lord, my faithful God.
Amen.
Reading
By suffering and dying on the Cross, Jesus opened the way home to the Father for all who would believe. That’s why the curtain in the Temple tore in two from top to bottom just as His self-sacrifice reached completion. This great curtain separated the Holy of Holies from every other part of the Temple. It was a symbol of the separation between God and humanity, which was brought about by our sin. So, as Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins was completed, the Heavenly Father tore the curtain as a prophetic sign that Jesus’ death was opening a Way home to the Father, once-and-for-all.
At this moment, John 19:30 records that Jesus said, ‘It is finished,’ and with that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. His work was done; the sacrifice was complete; so Jesus “bowed His head”. After a day of utter brutality and violence, this is such a gentle description of Jesus’ death. The same phrase is used elsewhere in the Gospels (e.g. Matthew 8:20) to describe the act of laying one’s head down on a pillow to sleep. And this interpretation is confirmed by Jesus’ prayer in v.46,
‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’
You might have grown up praying a specific bedtime prayer that you repeated every night. For the Jews, that prayer was based on Psalm 31:5. Every night they prayed, “Into Your hands I commit my spirit.”
When we fall asleep, we have no control at all of what happens to us. We are utterly vulnerable and at the mercy of anyone who may enter the room. So it is completely appropriate that we commit ourselves into the care of the God “who never slumbers nor sleeps” (Psalm 121:4).
Likewise, in death we are utterly vulnerable and have absolutely no control over what happens to us. The rest of eternity is up to God Himself. So it is of eternal importance that we know whose hands will hold us in eternity. Jesus left no doubt about Who He was entrusting Himself to: the Loving Heavenly Father, the Eternal One, the Alpha and Omega Who reigns forever! And we should have no doubt either.
Jesus’ prayer on the Cross, “Into Your hands I commit my spirit,” is an invitation and a call to us to be 100% sure that our lives are surrendered into the Heavenly Father’s loving care – in this life, and in death, and in life beyond death.
Contemplation
Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn this declaration over and over in your mind. Keep it in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ:
- I will commit myself into the Heavenly Father’s loving care – in this life, and in death, and in life beyond death.
Loving Heavenly Father: Into Your hands I commit my spirit, now and forever. Amen
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