When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:33-34.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
With this Life Lesson we begin to consider the conversations of Jesus on the Cross. These are His departing words as He suffered in agony the chastisement that gives you SHALOM. Isaiah 53:5.
It was difficult for Him to speak, so you know these words are important. He could not say much because of His position, pain, and difficulty to draw in and sustain breath, but each word He said takes you to a treasure vein that if you follow it, it will bring you to unlimited treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
We are not considering the Words in the exact order in which they were said, instead I am categorizing them as conversations addressed to Me, addressed to Mary (the mother of Jesus according to the flesh) and the beloved disciple, with the repentant criminal, and from the Pharisees, crowd, and centurion.
You will note that only the repentant criminal hanging on the cross next to Him began a conversation to which Jesus responded. Jesus did not respond to the Pharisees or crowd when they addressed Him. You hear what Jesus said to Me and to Mary and John, but you hear no replies because I had answered already in the Scriptures He quoted to Me, and Mary and John answered with their hearts.
There are three reasons that Jesus had to die to save you in the way He did, and although each is of primary importance, there is an order in which they had to take place to reach the goal. And you will find this same order set out by My prophet Isaiah in his prophetic book but particularly with great clarity in chapters 53, 54, and 55 of his inspired writings.
- Jesus bore and carried away all your illness, diseases, grief, sorrow, and pains;
Surely our sicknesses and griefs He Himself bore, and our pains and our sorrows He carried. Isaiah 53:4.
“He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.” Matthew 8:17.
And by His scourging we are healed. Isaiah 53:5.
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. 1 Peter 2:24.
- Jesus took away from you all your sins, trespasses, iniquities, guilt and shame as if they were His own;
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our SHALOM fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. Isaiah 53:5-6.
The Father made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21.
And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. Colossians 1:21-22.
- Jesus reconciled you to Me and gave you back My plan for your life now and forever: SHALOM.
He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our SHALOM fell upon Him. Isaiah 53:5.
But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace (SHALOM). Ephesians 2:13-14.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace (SHALOM) with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. Romans 5:1-2.
By these three things He entered a covenant with you and incorporated you through Him and in Him into the Eternal and Everlasting Covenant of SHALOM with Me.
“For this is like the days of Noah to Me, when I swore that the waters of Noah would not flood the earth again; so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you nor will I rebuke you. For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,” says the LORD who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:9-10.
And what is the evidence of the sealing of the Covenant? My Holy Spirit in you and on you.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of possession, to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:13-14.
In a Covenant, the greater one raises up the lesser one to the level of the greater one in blessing and provision and promises protection, deliverance, and rescue. How do I do that for you? My prophet Isaiah answered that many years ago.
“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit which is upon you, and My Words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.” Isaiah 59:21.
My thoughts are higher than your thoughts and My ways are higher than your ways, but I send My Words, which are My thoughts and ways, to you by My Spirit as written in the Bible by My holy people and prophets and as spoken in your spirit by My Spirit within you. This is My gift to you to raise you up and give you the results in My promises. If you release My Words in the earth and return them to Me with faith by speaking no other results in a trial or attack than words that agree with My promises, then you shall have My result. My Word never returns to Me void but achieves the purpose for which I sent it. I watch over My Word to perform it, even in your mouth. Jesus is the High Priest of your confession (homologia, i.e., speaking the same words in agreement of heart and mind).
It is My Words (which are My thoughts and ways expressed) that created and change everything and make all things work together for the good of those who love Me and are called according to My purpose, which is SHALOM.
We will now look at the first conversation with Me of Jesus when He was crucified for your sins. The wrath of divine justice was now directed off you to Him as He hung upon the cross having taken into His flesh all your sins from the beginning to the end of time as you know it in the world. Jesus died in time in the flesh but His suffering and death is eternal and applies to all whenever born in the spirit.
Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 1:1-4.
Jesus had been condemned by Pilate under Roman law as a criminal guilty of insurrection and treason in making Himself King when Caesar was the ruler by the occupation of Rome. The Sanhedrin condemned Him for blasphemy by claiming to be the Messiah, the Son of God, and One with Me. Their verdict was that He, who was only a man, was making Himself out to be God. Jesus was God and man united in One seamless life joining Me and you together. But the members of the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees had gone into a heresy that had to be dealt with later in the church and still is a problem, that Jesus was only man. There also was another heresy that arose that He was only God. Both of these are incorrect. But, in any event, the verdict of the Sanhedrin was fabricated on false evidence that they obtained knowing it was false.
The unjust condemnation of Jesus to death by both the Romans and the Jews was intentional and for each of them personally it was sin. If you recall under the Law I gave to Moses, the sacrificial offerings that covered the people’s sins did not apply for premeditated intentional sin, only for unintentional sins. Leviticus 4:2, 22, 27; Leviticus 5:15, 18, Numbers 24, 27, 28. And that was what was behind Jesus first conversation with Me when He was crucified.
After the painful journey to Golgotha (the place of the Skull), as Jesus dragged His cross to the hill where they were to crucify Him and the two criminals that had been condemned at that time as well, they stripped Jesus of His garments and there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. And the Jewish people stood by, looking on. And the rulers were sneering at Him. The Roman soldiers present also mocked Him. Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Luke 23:33-38.
Jesus then spoke His first Words to Me: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34.
First words are important. They set the tone and seal the result. When Abraham went up the mountain with Isaac to sacrifice his beloved son, he told the servants watching the donkey that he and Isaac would worship and return. He knew what I had told him to do and he intended to do it, but he knew Me as well and I had promised him that his line of descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand of the sea were coming through Isaac and not one had been born yet. He believed, and was fully persuaded, I would carry that out by raising Isaac from the dead. And what had I declared by the prophet Isaiah about Jesus?
But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render His soul as a guilt offering, He will see seed (zera (זֶרַע)), He will prolong days, and the Will (the good pleasure) of the LORD will prosper in His hand. Isaiah 53:10.
He will see “seed.” What is that about? You.
Do you remember what Jesus said to Andrew when the Greeks who had come to the Passover wanted to see Him? “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24. He became the first born of many brethren.
“It will come about in that day that I will respond,” declares the LORD, “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth, and the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and to the oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. Hosea 2:21-22
I will respond to you in our restored relationship of shalom in Jesus and espouse you to Me forever. Hosea 19-20. And the earth will respond to the grain (the bread of life which fulfills the grain offering of the Law), the new wine (the drink offering that was fulfilled in the blood of Jesus poured out for you) and the oil (the anointing of Jesus as Messiah and Lord with the oil of joy and that same anointing is now on you), He has made you My children and a kingdom, priests unto Me.
The name “Jezreel” means “God sows seed.” It is from the Hebrew words zara (זָרַע) and El (אֵל). Zara is the verb form of the noun “zera (זֶרַע),” which means seed, and also is translated as “descendants” or “posterity.” El means God, I am El Shaddai.
Jesus was the seed I sowed into the earth to bring back a harvest of many brethren who in turn would plant the seed, the Word about Jesus, in many hearts and produce a vast harvest of saved souls for eternal life.
As He was raised up upon the cross, there before Him were the Jews, the Romans (who represented the unbelievers of the world, that is, the Gentiles), and those who believed in Jesus (the Church, the one new man from both Jew and Gentile that has become a new creation in Christ). And He asked Me to forgive all those before Him because they did not know what they were doing. He thus qualified all the world for the offering of the burnt offering, grain offering, peace offering, sin offering and guilt offering to not only cover but in His eternal blood to remove all sin completely. In Jesus everyone one of those sacrifices that covered sin as a credit towards righteousness until it was paid in full by His eternal blood was fulfilled in Him with one wonderful addition, they now became available as the sacrificial offering that would remove and obtain forgiveness not only for those whose sin was not intentional but for all the intentional ones as well.
Yes, I so loved the world that I gave My only begotten Son so that all who believe in Him will never perish but have eternal life. He is not judging you, He is saving you. He is interceding for your forgiveness.
By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out His soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:11-13.
And He will never stop interceding for you.
Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:25.
And while Jesus was obtaining their forgiveness, the Roman soldiers were completely oblivious to it. Instead, they were casting lots, dividing up His garments among themselves just as My prophet David had foretold. Psalm 22:18.
But there are many layers to this as well. Jesus said whatever you ask in His Name, I will do because He is doing the asking with you and for you.
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:12-14.
You know His Will, forgive. Go and do the same.
So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” John 20:21-23.
Do not retain the sins of others in your heart. Forgive as Jesus did. I forgave everyone there that day and made you all qualify for the gift of forgiveness of sins in Jesus but whether you receive that gift and it is completed in your life is up to you. But it is there for every person who will receive it so that for others as well, forgive them and let Me go to work with that gift by the final decision is up to them, but you have released them and saved yourself from judgment.
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. John 1:8-1 John 2:2.
You have My love poured in your heart by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and Christ is in you, your hope of glory, so you can forgive, just as He did. If you do not forgive others you cannot be forgiven because the standard you use, I must use back on you, and you are saying the Blood of Jesus is not enough to take away the sins against you, but it is. Just as Jesus paid Me for your sins by His Blood, so also, has He paid you for the sins of those against you by His Blood. Whether those who have sinned receive that is up to them, but their judgment will not be retained on you.
And that is enough for you to ponder for today’s Life Lesson.
I love you. Jesus took care of all sin and gave you the gift of forgiveness. What you have freely received, freely give, and I will bless you beyond all you can ask or imagine. I love a cheerful giver. Look at Jesus and you will see what is yours if you forgive as He did, I have made you a joint heir with Christ. I know you cannot do this on your own. But no worries, you can forgive by My strength in you, for I have anointed you in Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power.
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong. Isaiah 53:11.