John 19:30

He said, It is finished.

This is. cry of triumph. He had won the victory and had reached the end of his cruel pathway. It betokens. deep sensation of relief, relief from. crushing burden, rest after agonizing toil. The work of redemption was wrought. He had said, "I have. baptism to be baptized with, and how am. straitened till it be accomplished!" His baptism of suffering was now over. It is interesting to study all the words uttered by Jesus on the cross. By. comparison of all the Evangelists this will be found to be his sixth utterance. The three Evangelists all dwell upon the loudness of the cry, as if it had been the triumphant note of. conqueror. The last words from the cross were those recorded in Luke 23:46, "Father, into thy hands," etc. This cry of Jesus teaches us that his death does not proceed from the decay of his strength, but from the excess of his love; that his life is not taken from him by violence, but that he gives it up by his power. It is, on the part of the Jews,. Deicide and. sacrilege; but on his own it is. holy and voluntary sacrifice.

He bowed his head and gave up the ghost.

"Gave up his spirit" (Revision). The record does not say that he died. He, voluntarily, of his own act, surrendered up his spirit. He had declared, "I lay down my life to take it up again." He died by his own act; he was raised by his own power. If he died by his own surrender of his spirit, his death was not due to the effect of the cross. The two malefactors outlived him, and were put to death by other means in the evening in order that they might not be upon the cross upon the Passover sabbath (see verses 31-33), but Jesus was already dead. The physical cause of Christ's death has been thought by many to have been rupture of the heart.

1. Crucifixion was generally. very lingering death; the victim lived seldom less than twenty-four hours, often three or four days.

2. Usually the victim died of sheer exhaustion; but Christ was not exhausted, as he cried with. loud voice.

3. John records that blood and water flowed from Christ's side when pierced by the spear. This could only occur if the heart had been ruptured, and the blood, before death, had flowed out into the cavity which surrounds the heart. Christ then literally died of. broken heart.

This theory draws our hearts away from the mere bodily tortures which Christ endured, to the mysterious woe that pressed upon him on account of imputed sin. For. full discussion of this question, see Hanna's Life of Christ, vol. 3, in which the views of the most eminent British physicians are given. Dr. Simpson, whose reputation is world wide, declares that the cross could not have caused the death so soon, and the thrust of the spear was. rude post mortem examination, revealing the blood and water, which could only result from. rupture of the heart. For further information on this subject we refer the reader to Dr. Stroud's Physical Cause of the Death of Christ, chap. iv., and also to McClintock. Strong's Cyclopedia, art. on Crucifixion.

Gave up the ghost.

More correctly, gave up the spirit. The word rendered ghost (pneuma) occurs in the New Testament 393 times, is applied to the spirit of God 288 times, to evil spirits some 30 times, and to the human spirit 40 times, while it is applied to the disposition 17 times. "God is. spirit," and he created man in his own image, that is, gave him. spirit also. When death occurs the spirit, or deathless portion of our being "returns to God who gave it." Stephen said: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit;" the Lord said: "Father, into thy hands. commit my spirit;" John says of the Lord's death, "He gave up the spirit." We have. body, soul and spirit, and Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, prays God to preserve "their whole spirit, soul and body, blameless unto the coming of the Lord." The body perishes, the soul dies, but the spirit departs. The soul (psuchee) is never commended by the dying saint to God, but the never-dying spirit (pneuma). Nowhere in the divine volume is the spirit said to be destroyed, to die or cease to exist. Mortality belongs to the mortal portion of our being, but is never predicated of. spirit. The words applied here to the Savior's death are those that apply to his death as. member of our race.