In our study last week we began to look at Christ's death on the cross. This was not the sad postscript to a wonderful life, but rather the very culmination of all He came to do. The crucifixion was the focal point of Christ's ministry. It was what He was deliberately and consciously working towards. When we talk about the "cross" in a theological sense, we are not talking about a piece of wood used to torture men. The cross is metonymy for the Doctrine of Atonement. A "metonymy" is a figure of speech in which something named is used to represent another thing, which it is part of or associated with. For example, we use the White house for the President. Or a biblical example would be the blood of Christ, which is used to refer to His death. Notice how "cross" is used in these verses:
For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:17-18 ESV
It is obvious here that when Paul talks about the "cross of Christ" he is not talking about the actual wooden cross that Yeshua died upon, but about the doctrine of the cross.
But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. Galatians 5:11 ESV
Again, we see here that Paul is not talking about the instrument used to execute criminals, but a doctrine. The doctrine of the cross proclaims an event of historical and theological significance. It points to Christ who died the death of a criminal, but whose death concerned the eternal destiny of man. This Doctrine of the Cross is the Doctrine of Atonement. The Doctrine of Atonement explains what exactly happened at Calvary and the meaning of the death of our Lord Yeshua upon the cross. Every believer should understand and be able to explain the Doctrine of the Atonement, because it is the heart of the Gospel. To understand the atonement, you must first understand that man is a sinner:
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— Romans 5:12 ESV
Adam was every man's representative when he sinned; so that every person born into this world is born a sinner; born spiritually dead, separated from God. Man, in this condition of spiritual death, can do nothing to appease God's wrath or earn God's favor, because he is spiritually dead.
Because of this condition, God introduced a program to redeem man; He literally bought us back for Himself. God invaded human history in the form of the man Christ Yeshua. Yeshua left heaven to be born as a baby and live a sinless life and then die a substitutionary death at Calvary. On that cross, Yeshua took upon Himself our sin and received the judgement of God that we deserved as sinners. Because He was an innocent, infinite sufferer, He satisfied fully and completely the righteous demands of a holy God, and God was propitiated. Propitiation is the turning of God's wrath away from the sinner by a sacrifice made to satisfy God. Sinners deserve God's wrath, because they have violated His holy standard. Believing sinners are declared righteous through redemption on the basis of propitiation. God's justice was satisfied by the death of Yeshua; sin had been paid for. Believing man can now once again have fellowship with God through faith in the sacrificial work of Christ.
All this is possible because of the cross. We began to look last week at the story of the crucifixion. We talked about what crucifixion was from the physical aspect. It was a horrible death, a slow agonizing, brutal death, which raised the question, "Why did Yeshua have to die this way? Why did His death have to be so brutal?" I think there are two reasons:
1. I think that God wants us to see how much He hates sin. He wants us to see the pain and destruction that sin brings. Believer, don't ever take sin lightly, look at the cross to see how much God hates sin. I think that we all understand that.
2. Now this second reason you may not have thought of, but had Yeshua died through hanging or stoning or being beheaded, we would not have seen how He responded to suffering of the cross:
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. Hebrews 12:3 ESV
I see the writer saying, "Consider Christ on the cross." "Consider" is from the Greek word analogizomai, which means: "to consider by way of comparison."
When we are in great physical or emotional pain, when we are stressed out to the max, it is very easy to simply react however we feel like it at the time and not be willing to discipline our reactions in a godly way. Yeshua's example on the cross provides great inspiration to encourage all of us to control and think through our reactions to great emotional and physical pain. This is what the writer of Hebrews was encouraging his readers to do.
We ended our study last week with verse 18:
There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Yeshua between them. John 19:18 ESV
The other Gospels report that when they arrived at Golgotha, just before they crucified Yeshua, they offered Him wine to drink mixed with myrrh (Mark 15:23; or gall, Matt. 27:34); but after tasting it, He refused to drink it. Most see this drink as a narcotic to ease the pain of the crucifixtion, but D. A. Carson argues that, "It was a form of torment that amused the soldiers, because the myrrh made the wine so bitter that it tasted like gall and was undrinkable. (Expositor's Bible Commentary [Zondervan], ed. by Frank Gaebelein, 8:575) Whatever it was our Lord didn't drink it.
Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, "Yeshua of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." John 19:19 ESV
It was customary for individuals who were crucified to have a form of accusation written. The word "inscription" is from the Greek word titlos. From which we get our word 'title' in many English versions. This would inform onlookers who the criminal was, and why he was suffering such a terrible fate, as they passed him. The accusation would be placed on the body of the individual or a solider in the head of the procession would carry it. The soldiers would then affix the sign to the criminal's cross, for the same purpose. It was common for the accusation to have a white background and either black or red letters would contain the accusation.
"Pilate also wrote"—I think it's best to see this as Pilate had the inscription written rather than that Pilate himself penned the words. Pilate wrote the inscription to mock the Jews. He was saying, Yeshua had claimed to be the king of the Jews and crucifixion awaited anyone foolish enough to repeat such a threat against Rome.
A very interesting suggestion for the Hebrew translation of this inscription has been offered by the Jewish scholar Shalom Ben-Chorin, based on the Greek translation in John 19:19. He says that the first letters in each word form the letters of God's holy covenant name YHVH (v and w being the same letter in Hebrew). This is the Tetragrammaton, the sacred 4 consonants that spelled the Covenant name of God. [For more information see the documentary "The Quest for the True Cross", by Carsten Thiede and Matthew d'Ancona and their book by the same name.]
That would mean that a Hebrew had actually written out this inscription and that he believed, as John teaches all through this Gospel, that Yeshua was Yahweh.
Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Yeshua was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. John 19:20 ESV
John tells us that many Jews read this Hebrew inscription, and they would understand it as saying that Yeshua is Yahweh.
John is the only one to tell us that this inscription is written in three languages, Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. These were the three most important languages in Palestine at that time. As I said last week, I think that it was the Hebrew language, not Aramaic. To the Hebrews Yahweh created the Hebrew alphabet, they viewed it as a divine language. "Hebrew" was the common language spoken by the Jews in Palestine. "Latin" was the official language across the Roman empire. Government documents, well educated people, and the Roman military and guard used Latin. "Greek" was the common language of commerce and writing used in the eastern part of the Roman Empire.
Why do you think John tells us this inscription was written in the three most important languages in Palestine at that time? Throughout his Gospel he has been emphasizing how Christ came to rescue and save the world, men and women, regardless of their national, or social background. John sees these words, written in languages that anyone in the known world could have understood, as symbolic of that open invitation of the Christ to the world. The Kingship of Yeshua, denied so vehemently by the Jewish authorities, was being proclaimed to the entire world.
So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but rather, 'This man said, I am King of the Jews.'" Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written." John 19:21-22 ESV
I think there are several ways of looking at Pilate's response here. Now that the threat of unrest has passed, Pilate is no longer ready to accommodate the local leaders' demands, so he insists on wording that would be sure to infuriate the chief priests and Pharisees. By identifying Yeshua as the Jews' king and then crucifying Him, Pilate was boasting Rome's superiority over the Jews and flaunting its authority. But I think Pilate was also protecting himself by this statement, he wanted to protect the legal claim that he might have offered for the crucifixion of this innocent man.
"What I have written I have written"—by the double use of the perfect tense here there is probably additional Johannine irony in the fact that Yeshua, rejected as King and Messiah by his own people, the Jews, has now been proclaimed to all the world as King by a Gentile.
When the soldiers had crucified Yeshua, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, John 19:23 ESV
Roman execution squads were typically made up of four men. As a job perk they had rights to whatever clothing or other effects remained on the prisoner.
Yeshua's "garments," would include His robe, sandals, belt, and head covering. So each of the four soldiers would receive one piece of clothing. The "tunic" (Greek chiton) that remained was a garment worn next to the skin. The other Gospels mention the soldiers rolling dice to divide Yeshua's garments, but only John makes a distinction between the outer clothes and the seamless tunic that was not to be divided.
Usually victims were crucified naked, but in the case of crucifixions in Judea the Romans may have made an exception considering the Jewish sensitivity to naked bodies (Exodus 20:26; 28:48). So we really don't know if Yeshua was stripped naked or if he had on some clothing. What is interesting is that in Scripture from the time of the Fall of Adam and Eve, "nakedness" was seen as a symbol of sin (Genesis 3:7; Nahum 3:5; Revelation 3:18). So here is Yeshua becoming sin for us. As one commentator has said, "God could put clothing upon the first Adam only because he would one day take it off of the last Adam.
so they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be." This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, "They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." So the soldiers did these things, John 19:24 ESV
The act of the Roman soldiers dividing Yeshua's garments was a fulfillment of prophecy. I would guess that they didn't know the Scripture, they didn't know what they were doing, but their gambling for that tunic fulfilled the promise of Psalm 22:
they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. Psalms 22:18 ESV
I think that John mentions this detail to underline the fact that what was happening was exactly what God had planned should happen. Yahweh is sovereignly orchestrating every event. Men continued to carry out God's foreordained plan of salvation though unknowingly.
Scholars are divided about the significance of the tunic. The word used in Psalm 22:18 that corresponded to the tunic was also used to describe the long blue robe of the high priest. Josephus indicates that the priest's robe was a single piece with a hole for the head and arms. Some scholars believe that John's details were designed to portray Yeshua as the true High Priest.
C. H. Dodd has shown that when New Testament writers quote a verse from the Tanakh they usually have the whole context of that verse in mind. We have talked about this before, it was a technique which is today called remez or hint, in which they used part of a Scripture passage in discussion, assuming their audience's knowledge of the Bible would allow them to deduce for themselves fuller meaning. So when John quoted Psalm 22:18 he had the whole Psalm in mind. If we understand this, some interesting perspectives come to light. We'll talk about this more in a minute. Psalm 22 is quoted in the New Testament 22 times.
It was about at this time that the Gospels of Matthew (27:44), Mark (15:32), and Luke (23:39-41) record that one of the robbers crucified with Yeshua began to revile Him while the other defended Him and asked to be remembered. We'll come back to this in a minute just wanted to establish the chronology.
but standing by the cross of Yeshua were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. John 19:25 ESV
The four Gospels all list the women who stood with Mary near the cross, but only John mentioned that Yeshua's "mother" was present at His crucifixion. Because of the lack of punctuation in the original Greek. there is some confusion as to who and how many were present, but by comparing this with other accounts we can safely say there were four women here.
I think that these four women here are in juxtaposition to the four soldiers present who performed the crucifixion. The Greek syntax suggests a contrast between the soldiers (v. 24) and the women here introduced.
We see here that Yeshua was not alone; not everybody had forsaken Him. There's four women and one man who stay by His side. Why weren't there more? It was very dangerous to be intimately identified with a crucified, executed criminal. He is some kind of an insurrectionist, you don't want anybody to think you're part of the rebellion or the revolt. Women were expected to mourn and were considered a low risk for acting violently so the soldiers had no problem with them being there.
When Yeshua saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. John 19:26-27 ESV
This is the first time in this Gospel that we see Yeshua speaking from the cross. But in the chronology of that day this is His third saying. There are actually seven sayings of Christ on the cross that are recorded for us in the Gospels. It's interesting to note that all seven of these have a different theme. They reveal Yeshua's innermost feelings as He poured out His life for us and provide a powerful example of how we, too, should react in times of great physical and emotional pain.
I would like to remind you here that Yeshua was a Jewish Rabbi. I think that is important to remember at this point. As we have seen in our study of John, the Rabbis devoted their lives to the text of Scripture. The memorization of written and oral Torah was such a large part of Jewish education that most contemporaries of Yeshua had large portions of this material firmly committed to memory.
Well, these Rabbis not only learned the text, they lived the text, they taught the text, they prayed the text, and it was the desire of every Rabbi to die reciting the text. The orthodox Israelite for the past twenty four hundred years has prayed that when he dies, he would die reciting Psalm 22 and die with Shema on his lips.
Psalm 22 is known among the Jews as the death Psalm, and I believe that everything that Yeshua said on the cross came as a result of Him reciting this Psalm. Psalm 22 is pivotal for a correct understanding of what Yeshua went through on the cross. So let's back up to the first of the seven sayings and go through them in order. Do you know what the first saying was?
And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Yeshua said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide his garments. Luke 23:33-34 ESV
Yeshua, shortly after He was nailed to the cross, while the Jewish leaders and the soldiers mocked and jeered at Him prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Instead of being consumed with His own pain and misery, Yeshua asked forgiveness for those responsible for the evil done to Him.
I can only image that as they nailed Christ to the cross that the faithful gods of the divine counsel are crying out to Yahweh to let them unleash their wrath on the Jews and Romans. But then, from the cross, Yeshua, the Prince of Peace, asks Him, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Of the seven last sayings of Christ from the cross, this is the first, forgiveness. Here Yeshua asks the Father to forgive. This is the Greek word aphiemi, which means: "cancel, remit, pardon," it is used of loans (Matthew 18:27) as well as referring to the remission of guilt. Forgiveness is choosing to no longer hold something against a person. In Yeshua's case, He was asking the Father not to hold His execution against His killers, "for they know not what they do."
Who is He asking the Father to forgive? Is it the soldiers? Yeshua is just another criminal to them, driving the spikes is all in a day's work. It is very possible that they did not know what they were doing.
What about Pilate? Pilate is arguably the most powerful man in Jerusalem. He perceives that Yeshua is innocent of the trumped up charges against Him. And yet Pilate appeases the Jewish leaders and grants their request, against all sense of pride in Roman justice. How could he not know what he was doing?
What about the Jewish leaders? The high priestly family, the Scribes, and the Pharisees were all out to destroy Yeshua. They manipulated His words, brought false witnesses, put political pressure on Pilate, and stirred up the crowd to demand crucifixion rather than release. How could they not know what they were doing?
But even though each responsible party acted wickedly and unrighteously, Yeshua gives them the benefit of the doubt and so do the leaders of the early church:
For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. Acts 13:27 ESV
Here we are told that the Jewish rulers didn't recognize Yeshua.
This prayer of Yeshua to forgive His enemies stands as a brilliant light that illuminates the darkness of that day. Yeshua practiced what He preached:
"But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. Luke 6:27-28 ESV
The application to all who call themselves, "Yeshua's disciples," is very clear: if Yeshua intercedes for the forgiveness of His enemies who are guilty of gross wickedness, how can you and I withhold forgiveness from those who have wronged us. Yeshua taught that we are to:
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, Matthew 5:44 ESV
If we are image bearers of the Living God they we must love our enemies. If we are followers of Yeshua, then we must follow Him here along the path of forgiving our enemies and persecutors and those who intend evil against us.
We find Yeshua's second saying from the cross in:
And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43 ESV
Who did Yeshua say this to? A man being crucified with Him. Both of the thieves, who were crucified with Christ, had early on joined bystanders in mocking Yeshua (Mark 15:32). But a miraculous change occurred in one of the criminals. He came to believe. He, too, had mocked Yeshua earlier, but now he rebuked the other criminal and confessed, "We are receiving what we deserve." He not only sees his sin, but he sees Yeshua as someone who can do something about it, and He trusts Him. To this Yeshua responds:
And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43 ESV
What is Yeshua telling this criminal? "Paradise" is derived from a Persian word meaning "garden" or "park." The Septuagint used "paradise" to translate the Hebrew words for the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2-3. Over the years, the terms became synonymous, and eventually paradise came to refer to heaven.
A question that we have to ask here is, Did they go into the presence of God that day? Yeshua said, "Today." This is difficult, because we know that this believing criminal did not go into God's presence that day. One way to deal with this is to understand that Greek has no punctuation, and Yeshua could have said, "I say to you today, You will be with me in paradise." To me this is the best solution.
The main point is that as Christ is dying a slow horrible death, He gives hope to another dying man. We find the third saying in our text in John:
When Yeshua saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. John 19:26-27 ESV
Now, Yeshua's mother, Mary, had four other sons, yet, for reasons we don't know, Yeshua commits the care of His mother to Lazarus. The disciple whom Yeshua loved is clearly Lazarus.
Men, how is your disposition when you are in pain or not feeling well? If you are anything like me, you are selfish and irritable. But look at Yeshua, instead of being consumed with His own pain and misery, Yeshua cared for those around Him.
We find the fourth saying in:
And at the ninth hour Yeshua cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Mark 15:34 ESV
During His entire existence from eternity past, Yeshua had an intimate and vibrant relationship with God as His Father. But now, because He had taken our place on the cross, and had borne in His body the sin of mankind, the Father, too holy to look upon sin, had turned the countenance of His glory away from His Son. Yeshua experienced spiritual death; He was separated from the Father. Yeshua died physically and spiritually for us.
And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death(s), although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Isaiah 53:9 ESV
Here Isaiah uses the intensive plural of "deaths." We have spiritual life because Yeshua endured a spiritual death, a separation from the Father as the sins of the human race were poured out upon Him.
We find our fifth saying in:
After this, Yeshua, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." John 19:28 ESV
In pain from spiritual death Yeshua cries out, "I thirst." Eternal life, which is fellowship with God, is illustrated in the Scriptures as living water:
but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14 ESV
In Revelation John tells us that the blessing of God's presence is:
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. Revelation 7:16 ESV
John tells us that the water is life:
The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. Revelation 22:17 ESV
Yeshua was obviously physically thirsty, but I think He is also saying, "I thirst for fellowship with my Father. I need living water."
Our next verse in John says:
A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. John 19:29 ESV
The two references together, "gall" from Matthew 27:34 and "sour wine" here fulfilled the Messianic Psalm:
They also gave me gall for my food And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Psalms 69:21 NASB
In John 19:29 why does John specifically tells us that the sponge of wine vinegar was put on "a hyssop branch"? Matthew and Mark simply tell us that it was a stick. Luke doesn't even mention it. But John, having stood by that cross as an eyewitness to these events, sees particular significance. The hyssop plant had a particular link to the Passover—it was the plant that was used to paint Jewish door frames with the blood of the Passover lamb.
In the chronology of the cross, Mark tells what happened next:
And Yeshua uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. Mark 15:37 ESV
Such a cry would have been extraordinary, as asphyxiation characterized victims of crucifixion. Being able to cry loudly was virtually impossible. Yet, Yeshua did just that. What was this loud cry? We find the answer in Yeshua's sixth saying:
When Yeshua had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30 ESV
The loud cry was, "It is finished"—this translates a single Greek word, tetelestai, which a perfect passive indicative and is the same word used in the first part of verse 28. We could easily translate, "The goal has been reached" or "It has been completed or accomplished." It's actually a banking term that means "paid in full." Numerous bills and receipts have been found from this period on which had been stamped the word tetelestai—"paid for." Interestingly, tax-collector, Matthew, uses the term in this way in Matthew 17:24 and Paul uses it in this sense in Romans 13:6. So Christ's cry from the cross could also legitimately be translated as "It is completely paid." The fact that Yeshua finished or accomplished our salvation on the cross means that we cannot add anything to what He did.
The work of redemption, the eternal plan of the Father, the purpose of the Incarnation, the salvation of God's elect "It is finished!" Nothing more can be added to complete the work "It is finished!" No works of righteousness, no rituals or ceremonies, and no rites of passage can add to what Yeshua has done "It is finished!" No effort of the flesh, no attention to endless duties, and no absolution by a priest can add to Christ's work "It is finished!"
There are those who teach that from the cross Yeshua went down into hell to suffer. But He didn't. The work was finished—there was nothing left to do.
Kenneth Copeland teaches, "When he said 'It is finished' on that cross, He was not speaking of the plan of redemption. The plan of redemption had just begun, there were still three days and three nights to be gone through.'He [Jesus] was down in that pit and there He suffered the punishment for three horrible days and nights for Adam's treason...'" He's wrong! Yeshua's suffering ended when He died physically.
There are also many religions today that are seeking to convince people there's some sort of religious ritual that you must do in order to complete your salvation. But that is absolutely contrary to what Yeshua clearly stated on the cross. He did not say, "We're almost done here." He stated in absolute terms, "It is finished. The work has been done." And Yeshua cries out triumphantly that God's purposes had been accomplished.
Our seventh and final saying of Christ is found in:
Then Yeshua, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last. Luke 23:46 ESV
"When He had said this, He breathed his last." He looked forward to finally being fully reunited with His Father. At that dramatic moment, Yeshua died for you and me and became the true Passover sacrifice for all who will trust Him.
When Yeshua had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30 ESV
"He bowed his head and gave up his spirit"—the word "gave up." means to hand over to another person, indicating He voluntarily gave up His life. Yeshua had said earlier:
"For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father." John 10:17-18 NASB
The orthodox Israelite for the past twenty four hundred years has prayed that when he dies, he would die reciting Psalm 22 and die with Shema on his lips. And Yeshua was a Jewish Rabbi. So I am quit confident that Yeshua died reciting Psalm 22. I believe that everything that Yeshua said on the cross came as a result of Him reciting this Psalm. I would like to close this morning by reading Psalm 22 and inserting the Seven sayings of Christ from the cross where I think they may have been said. I am not saying that this is exactly what happened, but it is a possibility. Be a Berean and decide for yourself.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? Psalms 22:1 ESV
This is the Fourth Saying "My God, my God why hast Thou forsaken me?" This is quite obvious. In the Second Saying Christ says, "You will be with me in paradise."
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. Psalms 22:2-5 ESV
The Third Saying is, "Woman behold your Son, Behold your mother."
But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; "He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!" Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother's breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother's womb you have been my God. Psalms 22:6-10 ESV
The Fifth Saying is, "I am thirsty!"
Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. Psalms 22:11-15 ESV
The Seventh saying is, "Father, Into Your hands I commit my spirit!"
For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. But you, O LORD, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! Psalms 22:16-21 ESV
The First saying is, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing!"
I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever! Psalms 22:22-26 ESV
The Sixth saying is, "It is Finished!"
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it. Psalms 22:27-31 ESV
The Psalmist closes with, "he has done it" which is one word in Hebrew, asah and can be translated either "he has done it" or simply "it is done." Yeshua is most likely alluding to this when He says, with one word in Greek, "it is finished."
Yeshua learned the text, He lived the text, He taught the text, He prayed the text, and He died the text. Do you want to live like Yeshua lived? If you do, it starts by spending time in the text. It's tough to be Christ-like when we are in great pain physically and emotionally. But as we "consider Christ" and His caring example from the text, and as we look to Him for strength, we can be like Him even when we are suffering.
Commenting on John's account of our Savior's suffering here, J. C. Ryle remarks:
"He that can read a passage like this without a deep sense of man's debt to Christ, must have a very cold, or a very thoughtless heart. Great must be the love of the Lord Jesus to sinners, when He could voluntarily endure such sufferings for their salvation. Great must be the sinfulness of sin, when such an amount of vicarious suffering was needed in order to provide redemption." (J. C. Ryle Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [Baker], pp. 290-291)