Ask Mr Bible

What was truly unique concerning Jesus Christ’s death on the cross?

 In the Old Testament two specific factors were involved in the offering up of an
 acceptable sacrifice.  The first was the service of a qualified priest (from the
 Tribe of Levi, Num. 3:5-8) and the second involved an acceptable victim (from
 the list of clean animals, Lev. 20:25).  

 On the cross Jesus functioned as both priest (even though He came from the
 Tribe of Judah, Heb. 7:14), and acceptable victim!

Author Ray Stedman writes:

 As a priest, Jesus Christ could find no unblemished sacrifice that He could offer except Himself, so He offered Himself as a sacrifice; there was found no other priest worthy of offering such a sacrifice, so Christ became both Priest and Victim.
 (What More Can God Say?, Regal Press, p. 115)

This dual arrangement can be seen by listening to His seven final sentences
while on the cross.  The first three demonstrate His priestly ministry while the
final four speak of His sacrificial role.

A. His priestly ministry.
 1. “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
 2. “Verily, I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
3. “Woman, behold thy son! … Behold thy mother!” (John 19:26, 27).

 B. His sacrificial ministry:
  1. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46).
  2. “I thirst” (John 19:28).
  3. “It is finished” (John 19:30).
  4. “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

“Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice yielded up the ghost” (Matt. 27:50).

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:30).

These two English expressions, “yielded up” and “gave up” are from the same Greek phrase which could also be translated “to dismiss,” “to command to leave,” “to order a departure.”

What then, was the miracle of His death?  Simply this: By an act of sheer will, Jesus ordered His heart to stop beating, His blood to cease circulating, and His lungs to abstain from breathing.  We cannot accomplish this apart from the help of a gun, knife, poison, etc.  But the Savior commanded His physical life to end as easily as we might order our body to rise from a chair!

Thus, we see the supernatural involved concerning the three most important events in Jesus’ earthly life:

● He was born without the aid of a human father (Luke 1:30-35).
● He died by an act of the will.
● He was raised from the dead with a glorified body (Luke 24:33-40).