Matthew 27:50

‘And Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.'

The loud cry was ‘it is finished', followed by the quieter, “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit.” (John 19:30; Luke 23:46). It is clear that the loud cry was remembered by all, contributing to the eeriness of the occasion. It is possible that ‘it is finished' represented the final words of Psalms 22 ‘He has done it'. Certainly it was a cry of triumph that God's purposes had been accomplished. Its importance here is that it indicates that Jesus did not die defeated.

‘Yielded up his spirit.' From beginning to end Jesus was in control, even to the timing of His death. A work had to be done, a sacrifice offered, a battle fought, a price paid, but once it was done He did not linger. He committed His ‘spirit' into the hands of His Father. Compare Ecclesiastes 12:7, ‘and the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit return to God Who gave it'. Jesus saw the spirit as the essential surviving part of man. We should note that there may be an indication in His quick death of just how much He had suffered beforehand.