God bless you and greetings in the name of Jesus Christ who trusted his Father’s word (John 5:32).
The moment had come. Jesus had only seconds to live. All that he came to do had been accomplished. It is time for the Passover Lambs to be sacrificed; Jesus knew it was his time to die. Jesus knew that once he gave up the ghost, he wouldn’t be able to do anything. When you are dead there is nothing more you can do. Jesus had to rely on God. . . he had to trust God to do as He had promised and raise him from the dead. If God didn’t intercede and raise him from the dead, he would remain dead forever.
These last words were well chosen and appropriate. Let’s look at every word for each of them tells us something important. “Father” —This shows the intimacy of the relationship he enjoyed with his Father.
“Into your hands” — For about 40 hours Jesus has been in the hands of wicked men. With their hands, they beat him. With their hands, they slapped him. With their hands, they smote him. With their hands, they drove a crown of thorns into his head. With their hands, they smashed and pounded him black and blue. With their hands, they whipped his back until it was shredded and bloody. Acts 2:23 summaries these events saying, “wicked hands have crucified and slain.” Yes, wicked hands had done all this, but all that is behind him now. Wicked hands had done all they could do, but they couldn’t stop him from fulfilling his Father’s will. Jesus now puts himself in his Father’s hands, and in His hands is rest and protection. “I commend” or “I commit” as other translations render it. — The word means to deposit something valuable in a safe place. It’s what you do when you take your will and your most valuable possessions and put them in a safe-deposit box at the bank. “My spirit” — By this phrase, Jesus meant his very life, his personal existence. Now that his physical life was about to end, Jesus commits himself into his Father’s hands. Jesus knew he would no longer be able to care for himself; so, he placed himself in his Father’s hands for safe-keeping.
You may not know that these words are a quotation from Scripture. With his final words, Jesus recited Psalm 31:5, simply adding the word “Father” to the front of it.
Psalms 31:5:
Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.
Jesus was quoting this Psalm and drawing strength from its truth. Romans 15:4 speaks of the patience and comfort of the scriptures. Some versions read the endurance and encouragement of the scriptures. In this final act Jesus was drawing strength and comfort from God’s Word. Just before this last act of commitment and obedience that showed his utmost trust in his Father, Jesus again running God’s Word through his mind, says, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” In Psalm 31:5 the word “commit” is the Hebrew verb pāqad in the Hiphil stem. It means “commit, entrust, deposit.” The corresponding Greek verb in Luke 23:46 is paratithēmi, meaning, “to entrust to someone for safekeeping, give over, entrust, commend, commit to one’s charge,” particularly, “to entrust someone to the care and protection of someone.”
As he lets his life go, Jesus trusts it to the Father’s keeping. Jesus knew he would be dead for three days and three nights. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish Jesus would be in the heart of the earth, gravedom, for three days and nights. He must have found comfort in that he had already raised Lazarus from the grave after he had been dead for four days. He knew God could do it. In laying down his life, he, too, had to believe that God would raise him from the dead. That is also a requirement for us in Romans 10:9 and 10 if we want to receive the benefit of his sacrifice.
What composure and calmness under the most trying situation. He maintained his mental and emotional stability and prays his final prayer with equanimity and peace because he knows his Father, and knows what his Father had promised him. I. H. Marshall, in his Commentary on Luke from the New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978 p. 876.) says that Jewish mothers would teach their children to recite that verse every night before they went to bed. As a devout Jew, Jesus may have prayed these words as part of an evening prayer all his life. Now at the end of his life he prays them one last time – and thereby let’s go of his life.
Jesus knew he would be required to give his life. However, God also had promised that if he would do so he could have it back again.
Matthew 20:28: [Jesus speaking said…]
Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
John 10:11, 15b, 17-18:
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. . . 15 …I lay down my life for the sheep. . . 17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Philippians 2:8:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
His was the ultimate act of obedience. Jesus was aware of what would be required of him, and he had instructed his disciples about it, too.
Matthew 16:21:
From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Matthew 17:22-23:
And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: 23 And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.
At the time of Jesus’ death, even the physical environment reverberated with the effects of his death. The veil in the Temple, a very heavy linen curtain embroidered with spun gold, was torn from top to bottom. God signifying that every believer now has access to the presence of God.
In addition, there was also a great earthquake. Rocks were torn loose and there was a great shaking of the earth. Alarm struck the hearts of those nearby. The earthquake was so astounding that the Roman centurion in charge of the soldiers guarding the crosses at Calvary was convinced by this that Jesus was in truth the Son of God. Others nearby began beating their breasts, expressing great awe and concern at Jesus’ death and the subsequent events. The synchronization of the earthquake with the Son of God’s death was a powerful sign to Israel and to everyone else present. This death was especially meaningful and significant.