Probably most Christians know that when the Lord was on the cross He spoke seven words. These seven words from the cross are quite famous. The first word the Lord spoke was, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34); the second was, “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43); and the third was “Woman, behold your son....Behold, your mother” (John 19:26-27). These three words were spoken during the first three hours of the Lord’s crucifixion. The Lord was on the cross for six hours—from 9AM to 3PM. This is recorded very clearly in the four Gospels. During the first three hours, everything that was done to Him was done by man. The people persecuted, mocked, and crucified Him. But during the final three hours, everything that happened to Him was done by God. God looked upon Him as the sinner and as the substitute for sin, and judged Him. During the second period of three hours, He spoke four other words. In Matthew 27:46 the Lord Jesus said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” This was the fourth word spoken from the cross. The fifth word was, “I thirst” (19:28); the sixth was, “It is finished” (19:30); and the seventh was, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46).
While Jesus was being crucified, He saw His mother and “the disciple whom He loved” standing by, and 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 into his own home” (19:26-27). As we have seen, the first word spoken by the Lord on the cross was, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Then in Luke 23:43 the Lord said to one of the two thieves crucified with Him, “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” This word was regarding salvation, because Luke’s account proves that the Lord is the sinner’s Savior. The word, “Father, forgive them,” is a prayer for sinners. Likewise, the word, “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise,” is a gospel promise to saved sinners. But here, in 19:26-27, the Lord said to His mother, “Behold, your son,” and to His disciple, “Behold, your mother.” These words indicate the union of life, because John’s Gospel testifies that the Lord is life imparted into His believers. It is by this life that His loved disciple could be one with Him and become the son of His mother, and she could become the mother of His loved disciple. According to John’s record, Jesus was crucified for the transfer of life, for the imparting of His life into His disciples. Through this transfer of life, one of His disciples could be His mother’s son, and His mother could be this disciple’s mother. This does not indicate salvation but the transfer of life. Hence, the Gospel of John is not a gospel of salvation but a gospel of life that is transferred into all the believers.
It must be noted that in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, while the Lord was on the cross, He spoke to a sinner, especially to the thief who was redeemed from the curse to be with Him in Paradise. This is definitely related to redemption. In the Gospel of John, the Lord spoke to His mother and His disciple. How could the Lord’s mother become the mother of His disciple, and how could His disciple become the son of His mother? By redemption? Certainly not. It could only be by life, by a life union, by the identification of life, by life which regenerates. By His death, the Lord imparted Himself to John the disciple, who was united to and identified with the Lord by the divine life. Therefore, the Lord’s mother became John’s mother. Why was it that in Luke the Lord spoke to the thief and in John the Lord spoke to His mother and disciple? Because in Luke the Lord died to redeem sinners from the curse of sin. Although we may be as sinful as the thief, we too can be redeemed from the curse and go immediately to be with the Lord in Paradise. Thus, in Luke we have a gospel concerning the Lord’s redeeming death to preach to sinners. But in John the Lord Jesus died to release and impart Himself as life into the disciples, thus making all the disciples identified with Him. Consequently, all the disciples are sons to His mother. Because of His life and His death, the Lord imparted Himself to us, making us one with Him. In this way, we become sons to His mother. This proves that, according to the Gospel of John, His death on the cross is a death for the imparting of Himself into us as life.
Verses 28 and 29 continue, “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had now been accomplished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. A vessel full of vinegar was lying there; so they put a sponge full of vinegar on hyssop and brought it to His mouth.” Thirst is a taste of death (Luke 16:24; Rev. 21:8). The Lord Jesus suffered it for us on the cross (Heb. 2:9). The hyssop here should be the “reed” in Matthew 27:29 and Mark 15:19, which was a hyssop reed. At the beginning of His crucifixion, the wine mingled with gall and myrrh (Matt. 27:34; Mark 15:23) was offered to the Lord as a stupefying draught, which He would not drink. But at the end of His crucifixion, when He was thirsty, vinegar was offered to Him in a mocking way (Luke 23:36). In His crucifixion, the Lord’s rights of clothing and drink were robbed along with His life.
Verse 30 says, “When Jesus then had taken the vinegar, He said, It is finished! And He bowed His head and gave up the spirit.” The Lord worked continually until He was put on the cross (5:17). But even in His crucifixion the Lord was still working. How do we know that He was still working on the cross? Because before He died He said, “It is finished!” While He was being crucified, He was still working for the redemption of sinners, for the destruction of the serpent, for the release of the divine life, and for the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose. At the last minute, after everything had been accomplished, He declared to the whole universe, “It is finished!” Then He died and entered into rest. Praise the Lord Jesus! Only He could do this. Through His crucifixion, He finished the work of His all-inclusive death by which He accomplished redemption, terminated the old creation, and released His resurrection life to bring forth the new creation to fulfill God’s purpose. In the process of death, He proved to His opposers and His believers by the way He behaved that He was life. The dreadful environment of death did not frighten Him in the least. Rather, it provided a contrast which proved strongly that He was life versus death, a life which could not be affected by death in any way.