Gideon, Lesson 1

January 12, 2020

If you keep up with the news, it’s difficult not to get depressed. Every day brings stories of human suffering through war, terrorism, natural disasters, coronavirus or crime. In addition, I get daily emails that tell how the world is attacking our Christian faith from every angle imaginable. Even the news about Christianity reports many stories of Christian leaders and churches falling into sin or defecting from the faith. We live in spiritually dark times that can lead us to despair.

The book of Judges sketches one of the darkest spiritual times in Israel’s history. Joshua had led Israel out of the wilderness and into the promised land. Under his leadership, Israel had conquered much of the land which God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. But after Joshua’s death, we read (Jud. 2:10-13):

All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel. Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals, and they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the Lord to anger. So they forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

Those verses describe the bleak condition of Israel 11 or 12 centuries before Christ. But they also can apply directly to us today. If you grew up in a Christian home as I did, it is a great blessing, but there is also an inherent danger: Your parents knew the Lord and experienced the power of the gospel in their lives. But the question is, do you know the Lord? Have you experienced the power of the gospel in your life? If you’re only a cultural Christian without a personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are susceptible to following the idols of our godless culture even as Israel was doing in Gideon’s day.

But the encouraging message of the book of Judges is that God is at work even in the darkest of times and even with the weakest, most mixed up people, to accomplish His sovereign purpose for His glory. Gideon never would have done what he did if God had not taken the initiative. And so, Gideon is not really the hero of this story. God is the hero! But God chooses to work through some weak people whom He teaches to trust in Him. As Paul put it (2 Cor. 4:7), “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.”

In this message, we will look at Gideon’s calling (Judges 6:1-24). In the next two messages, we will see Gideon’s conditioning (Jud. 6:25-7:15a); and, Gideon’s conquering, followed (sadly) by his compromising (Jud. 7:15b-7:25; 8:22-35). Applied to us, the lesson from Gideon’s calling is:

Because God is at work even in the spiritually darkest times, we can trust Him to use us even in our weakness to accomplish His sovereign purpose.

1. God is at work even in the spiritually darkest times.

When you look around at the depressing news, it may seem that God has gone on vacation. But He never does. As Paul states (Eph. 1:11), we have been “predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.” That was true in Gideon’s day as well. The book of Judges contains at least six similar cycles: Israel falls into sin; because of their sin, God brings an enemy that forces them into servitude; eventually, when the suffering seems overwhelming, Israel cries out to God in supplication; in response, God sends a “judge” who leads them to salvation. The judges were not like modern courtroom judges, but rather were leaders who provided military deliverance from Israel’s enemies and political oversight in limited geographical regions of Israel.

The fact that God was willing to repeat the deliverance of His idolatrous people over and over shows His great patience and grace. But the harsh servitude that He brought on His sinning people teaches us that sin never delivers on its promises. It promises happiness and prosperity, but in the end, it brings enslavement and suffering to nations, families, and individuals.

The theme of Judges is (21:25): “In those days, there was no king in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes” (see, also, Jud. 17:6; 18:1; 19:1). Many of the judges were flawed men who showed that Israel needed a godly leader who could unify the nation in the worship of Yahweh. In the story line of the Bible, Judges follows the conquest of the land under Joshua and precedes the short story of Ruth, which shows how a Moabite widow trusted the God of Israel and was adopted into His covenant people. The punch line at the end of Ruth (4:17-22) tells us that she became the great-grandmother of King David. Then 1 Samuel tells how Israel finally got a king: first, the unfaithful King Saul and then David, the faithful king after God’s heart, whose descendant would be Jesus the Messiah.

In Gideon’s day, Israel was being overrun by the Midianites, a nomadic people who lived southeast of Israel. They were descendants of Abraham and his concubine Keturah (Gen. 25:1-2). During Israel’s time in the wilderness, the Midianites had joined with the Moabites under the counsel of Balaam to seduce Israel into immorality and idolatry (Num. 25:1-9). As a result, God told Moses to strike the Midianites in war (Num. 25:16-18).

In Gideon’s day, Midian would stay east of the Jordan River until harvest time. Then, with the Amalekites (another enemy of Israel) they would swarm into Israel like locusts, devour their crops, and steal their farm animals (Jud. 6:4-5). The Israelites did not have the military strength to fight off these hordes, so they had to hide out in dens and caves in the mountains and watch helplessly as the crops they had worked to harvest were consumed by these foreign raiders. This had gone on for seven years. The people were brought very low and finally cried out to the Lord (Jud. 6:1, 6-7).

Before God raised up Gideon as a military deliverer, He sent an unnamed prophet to confront Israel with their apostasy. After rehearsing God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt, the prophet reminded them of the Lord’s command not to fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land they lived. Then the Lord added pointedly (Jud. 6:10b), “But you have not obeyed Me.”

Next, we see the Lord at work when He showed up in Gideon’s village of Ophrah as “the angel of the Lord” (not “an angel,” but “the angel”). While some scholars dispute that the angel of the Lord was God Himself, I think that Scripture shows that He was the Lord Jesus Christ in preincarnate form (F. Duane Lindsey, The Bible Knowledge Commentary [Victor Books], ed. by John F. Walvoord & Roy B. Zuck, 1:381). He had the appearance of a man, but after He touched Gideon’s meal offering with his staff, causing it to be consumed with fire from the rock, He then disappeared. At that point, Gideon thought he would die because he had seen the angel of the Lord face to face (Jud. 6:22). Later, Samson’s father Manoah feared the same fate after he and his wife saw the same angel. Manoah calls the angel of the Lord, “God” (Jud. 13:21-22).

So even though Gideon lived in dark times politically and spiritually, God was at work. He was at work in disciplining His wayward people. He was at work to raise up a prophet to confront the people with their sin. He was at work to show up bodily in Gideon’s town and then to call Gideon to deliver His people. No matter how dark the times and even if you can’t see how the Lord is working, you can be sure that He is working to accomplish His sovereign purpose for His glory. How does He do it?

2. God uses weak people to accomplish His sovereign purpose.

God didn’t look for a man with renowned military skills, who was already a recognized leader in his community and nation. Rather, He picked a weak man who remained somewhat weak through the whole story and who (at the end of the story) finally failed. We see Gideon’s weakness in our text in at least five ways:

First, Gideon was defeated and cowardly. He was threshing wheat in a winepress. Normally, farmers would thresh wheat (to separate the wheat from the chaff) by using oxen pulling a heavy threshing sledge over it in an exposed area where the wind would blow the chaff away. But Gideon was down in a winepress beating the wheat with a stick “in order to save it from the Midianites” (Jud. 6:11).

Second, Gideon was dense spiritually. He either had not heard or not understood the message of the prophet, who attributed Israel’s abysmal situation to their sin. Gideon rehearsed for the angel how the Lord had delivered Israel from Egypt through mighty miracles. But he mistakenly concluded (Jud. 6:13), “But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” He was right about the Lord giving Israel into the hand of Midian, but he was wrong in saying that the Lord had abandoned them. As we’ve seen the Lord was working even in this spiritually dark time.

Third, Gideon was depressed. We see this in his complaint that God had abandoned Israel. Gideon had lost hope for any deliverance from this oppressive enemy that was literally eating Israel’s lunch!

Fourth, Gideon was down on himself rather than being focused on the Lord. When the angel tells Gideon (Jud. 6:14), “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian,” He was not implying that Gideon had the strength in himself to deliver Israel from the Midianites. Rather, Gideon’s strength was to be found in the angel’s rhetorical question, “Have I not sent you?” and in the angel’s promise (Jud. 6:16), “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.” But Gideon was focused on his own incompetence rather than on the Lord’s power and presence. In verse 15, Gideon tells the angel (note the repeated “I” and “my”), “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

Fifth, Gideon was doubtful of God’s promises. The angel promised to be with Gideon and that Gideon would defeat the enemy. But Gideon needed a sign to confirm the angel’s word. God graciously complied with His weak servant’s request, first by incinerating Gideon’s offering; and then by making Gideon’s fleece first wet and then dry. Finally, knowing Gideon’s remaining doubts about attacking the Midianites, God graciously provided a final sign by allowing Gideon to overhear an enemy soldier telling about a dream in which Gideon was victorious over the Midianite army (Jud. 7:9-14). But up to that point, Gideon was marked by doubts.

Perhaps you can relate to one or more of these forms of weakness. Maybe you are defeated by some sin that robs you of the fullness of God’s blessing in your life. Or, you’re spiritually dense. You don’t see how God can possibly be at work in your dark situation. Maybe you’re depressed because of your circumstances. You’ve lost hope for any kind of deliverance. Or, perhaps you’re focused on yourself rather than the Lord. You feel as if you’re too weak and insignificant for God to use you. And maybe you’re doubtful of God’s promises to be with you and to give you victory over the enemy. In other words, you’re a lot like Gideon!

What’s the solution? It’s not, as the world tells us, to believe in yourself. It’s not to build your self-esteem or to follow some best-selling author’s steps to success. Rather, as C. H. Mackintosh wrote (Miscellaneous Writings [Loizeaux Brothers], 2:21), “If we can do nothing, self-confidence is the height of presumption. If God can do everything, despondency is the height of folly.” Or as the apostle Paul wrote (2 Cor. 1:8-9), “For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.” Trusting in God is the solution for weak people who want to see Him work in their dark situation.

3. The weak people God uses must learn to trust His mighty strength.

Paul wrote (1 Cor. 1:26-29):

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.

Paul also told the Corinthians (2 Cor. 12:9-10),

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Besides Paul, throughout Scripture we see God using weak people who trust in Him. Abraham and Sarah were barren and beyond their ability to bear children when God promised Abraham that he would be the father of nations. Jacob had to trust God to protect him from his stronger brother, Esau. Moses had to spend 40 years in the wilderness tending sheep to break him of his self-confidence. When the Lord then called him to deliver Israel, Moses complained that he was unable to speak well. He asked God to find someone else. Peter failed terribly by denying the Lord before the Lord used him to bring 3,000 to faith on the Day of Pentecost.

But trusting God can be sort of nebulous. Our text reveals five requirements of trusting God that helps bring it more into focus:

First, trusting God requires repenting of compromise with the world. The prophet whom God sent confronted Israel’s idolatry (Jud. 6:10). But their crying out to God for help was not the same as repentance. As we’ll see (Jud. 6:25-32), Gideon had to begin at home by tearing down his father’s idols before God could use him to rout the Midianites. At the heart of idolatry is using spiritual powers for your own advantage. In this sense, many professing Christians try to use God for personal success or to gain whatever blessing they’re looking for. If He comes through, they thank Him and put Him back on the shelf until the next time they need Him. If He doesn’t come through, they look for another god who can deliver the goods. But trusting God means repenting of trying to use Him for our own agenda and submitting to Jesus as Lord, even if it means suffering and martyrdom.

Second, trusting God requires knowing His power on behalf of His people in the past and His promise of power for what He calls us to do. The prophet rehearsed the familiar story of how God had delivered Israel from Egypt. Gideon knew that story, but he didn’t yet see how God would work in the current gloomy situation. The angel promised that he would “defeat Midian as one man” (Jud. 6:16), which either meant “all at once” or “as easily as one man could be defeated.” Repeatedly in Scripture God reminds His servants that nothing is too difficult for Him to do (Gen. 18:14; Jer. 32:27; Matt. 19:26; Luke 1:37).

Third, trusting God requires knowing God’s purpose for your future. I’m not talking about knowing all the details of how He will direct your future! Rather, I’m talking about knowing in some way how God wants to use you in His kingdom purposes. The angel first told Gideon (Jud. 6:12), “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” Gideon probably looked around to see if He was talking to someone else! At that point, Gideon wasn’t a valiant warrior. He was a defeated coward, threshing out wheat in a winepress. But God calls His servants by what He will make them, not by what they are when He first calls them. Jesus called fickle Peter “a rock” and promised to build His church on Peter’s confession (Matt. 16:16-18). Paul called the carnal Corinthians “saints,” or “holy ones,” even though at that point they were far from holy (1 Cor. 1:2). In Ephesians 1-3 he sets forth our glorious position in Christ before he exhorts us (Eph. 4-6) how to walk in light of that position. He tells us, “Here is who you are in Christ; now, live that way.”

The angel specifically told Gideon that He was sending him to defeat the Midianites (Jud. 6:14). You might wish that God spoke directly to you like that to clarify what He wants you to do. But in general terms, He says to us (1 Pet. 4:10), “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” If you don’t know what your gift is, start serving somewhere and the Lord will direct and refine you in the process. Your gift will be something you enjoy doing (not that it’s always easy!) and it ministers to others.

Fourth, trusting God requires knowing His presence in your daily life. Twice (Jud. 6:12, 16) the angel of the Lord promised Gideon that He would be with him. If God is with us and He is for us, then who can stand against us (Rom. 8:31)? Both David Livingstone, the intrepid missionary to the interior of Africa, and John Paton, who lived among the cannibals of the New Hebrides Islands, relied heavily on Jesus’ promise in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:20), “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Livingstone said, “On these words I staked everything, and they never failed!” Paton buried his wife and a short time later, their infant son, not long after they arrived in the South Seas. He said that in danger and in grief, he was sustained by Jesus’ promise, “Lo, I am with you always.” (Both stories are in A Frank Boreham Treasure [Moody Press], compiled by Peter Gunther, pp. 107, 127-129.) Today the New Hebrides, now known as Vanuatu, is one-third Presbyterian, making it the most Presbyterian country in the world!

Fifth, trusting God requires knowing that we are at peace with Him through the sacrifice of His Son for us. It is not clear what Gideon intended by bringing the food offering to the angel. Perhaps at first he viewed it as a hospitality gesture. But when the angel touched the food and it was burned up and then the angel disappeared, Gideon was afraid that he would die, because he had seen the Lord. But the Lord told him (Judges 6:23), “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.” Then we read (Jud. 6:24): “Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace.”

You cannot trust God to use you in serving Him until you know that you are at peace with Him through trusting in the sacrifice of His Son. Paul wrote (Rom. 5:1), “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” If your faith is in Christ and His sacrifice for your sins, then you are at peace with God. Even in the darkest of times, He wants to use you in your weakness as you trust Him, to help accomplish His sovereign purpose for His glory.

Conclusion

Our world, our nation, and our community are spiritually dark. Perhaps you’re going through a spiritually dark time personally. You can know that God is at work even if you don’t see immediate evidence of it. He wants you to trust Him to use the gifts He has entrusted to you as a part of His plan to be glorified through His church. Hudson Taylor, the pioneer missionary to China, said (goodreads.com/author/quotes/4693730.James_ Hudson_Taylor), “God uses men [he meant women, too] who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him.” That’s how God works in spiritually dark times!

Application Points

1. Think of a dark time in your life when you later realized that God was at work. What did you learn through this time?
2. How can you discover your spiritual gifts so that you know how God wants to use you?
3. Read a good biography of a missionary (David Livingstone, John Paton, Hudson Taylor; for others, see my bibliography on the church website). How did he or she trust God in dark times?
4. Some Christian psychologists say that telling someone to trust God is “worthless medicine.” Agree/disagree? Why?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2020, All Rights Reserved.

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The doctrine of God’s absolute sovereignty versus man’s so-called “free will,” especially as it relates to our salvation, has sparked controversy in the church for centuries. John Calvin’s name is most often attached to this controversy, and some mistakenly think that he was the first to teach God’s sovereignty and the doctrine of predestination. But over 1,000 years before Calvin, Augustine contended against Pelagius, who insisted that men have full freedom of the will in spiritual and moral matters.

In 1525, while Calvin was still a teenager, Martin Luther strongly insisted on God’s sovereignty in all things, including man’s salvation. In his classic work, The Bondage of the Will [Revell, translated by J. I. Packer and O. R. Johnston), Luther attacked the views of the Roman Catholic scholar, Erasmus, who argued for a semi-Pelagian view. Erasmus said that men have free will, which he defined as “a power of the human will by which man may apply himself to those things that lead to eternal salvation, or turn away from the same” (ibid., p. 137). Luther vigorously denied this and argued that Erasmus’ views utterly destroyed the Christian faith and undermined the promises of God and the whole gospel (ibid., p. 84).

Although you may not know it, many of you are semi-Pelagian by default, since it is the prevailing view in American evangelical circles. Semi-Pelagianism is also called Arminianism, after Jacobus Arminius, who lived a generation after Calvin and opposed his views on predestination and free will. The Arminian view is that men can, of their own free will, choose to believe in Jesus Christ. The fact that God elects some to salvation is explained as being due to His knowing in advance who would choose Him. Arminians reject the doctrine that God chose in advance those whom He would save.

You may wonder, “Why bring up an issue that is so divisive? Shouldn’t we just focus on matters where we all can agree? Besides, isn’t the issue irrelevant to how we live? Why not focus on something more practical?” The answer is, because the Bible deals with these matters, so should we. Augustine, Luther, and Calvin all maintained that the issue is crucial to the entire Christian life. Luther writes,

It is, then, fundamentally necessary and wholesome for Christians to know that God foreknows nothing contingently, but that He foresees, purposes, and does all things according to His own immutable, eternal and infallible will. This bombshell knocks “free-will” flat, and utterly shatters it… (p. 80).

A proper understanding of the Bible’s teaching on God’s sovereignty affects our whole understanding of God, of man, and of salvation. Since God saw fit to say a great deal about these matters in His Word, we would be greatly impoverished if we set them aside, as if they were just academic matters for debate. We must wrestle to understand what God has wisely revealed for our growth in grace.

The verses we have read in Acts 2 invite us to ponder this deep subject. They present to us God’s absolute sovereignty over all things, even over all evil deeds. They also show us the open invitation that the sovereign God issues to all sinners to call upon Him for salvation. And they reveal to us to fact that all who call upon the Lord were previously called by God, so that none can boast in his salvation. Note these three important truths:

1. God is sovereign over all things, even over all evil deeds, and yet He is untainted by evil.

Jesus was “delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God” (2:23). In Acts 4:27, 28, the early church declares in prayer that all of the wicked men who opposed Jesus merely did “whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.” Nothing—not even the death of the Son of God—happens outside of God’s predetermined plan. Paul states with regard to our salvation, that we have “been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11). Let’s explore three aspects of this important truth:

A. God’s eternal decree encompassed sin and yet He is not the author of sin or responsible for it.

To say that God is totally sovereign, even over sin, immediately raises the charge, “If God decreed sin, then He is the author of sin.” That fits human logic, but we must accept the testimony of Scripture, realizing that our finite, time-bound minds may not be able to reconcile matters of eternity. The fact is, if God did not decree sin, then there is a major flaw in His universe that He could not prevent, and thus He is not omnipotent. There would be an evil power equal to or greater than God. This erroneous view is called dualism.

If He could have prevented it and did not, then clearly He decreed it. Some try to get God off the hook by saying that He did not decree it, He only permitted it by giving men a free will. But, as Calvin argues, God “does not unwillingly permit it, but willingly” (The Institutes, ed. by John McNeill, translated by Ford Lewis Battles [Westminster], 1:18:3). Besides, as Calvin points out with numerous biblical examples, God openly declares that He is the doer of certain evil deeds, thus repudiating the evasion that He only permitted them (1:18:1)!

For example, God wills that the wicked King Ahab be deceived. An evil spirit offers his services to this end. God sends him with a command to be a lying spirit in the mouths of Ahab’s prophets (1 Kings 22:20, 22). Thus the wicked prophets were lying in disobedience to God, and yet they were fulfilling what God had determined to take place! Calvin gives many more examples, stating that for the sake of brevity he could have given even more. But he gave these, he says, to show “that they babble and talk absurdly who, in place of God’s providence, substitute bare permission—as if God sat in a watchtower awaiting chance events, and his judgments thus depended upon human will” (ibid.).

Jonathan Edwards argues that since God decreed the sin of crucifying Christ and it is the worst of all possible sins, it follows that “all the sins of men are foreordained and ordered by a wise Providence” (The Works of Jonathan Edwards [Banner of Truth], 2:528). If you cannot grasp how God can will something that He forbids to be done, and yet remain untouched by evil, Calvin says, “let us recall our mental incapacity, and at the same time consider that the light in which God dwells is not without reason called unapproachable [1 Tim. 6:16]” (loc. cit.).

Many try to evade God’s absolute sovereignty by saying that God decrees all that will happen only because He foreknows it. But,

B. God’s sovereignty is not contingent on His foreknowledge.

Obviously, God knows everything in advance. But He didn’t make up His eternal decree in response to seeing that men would someday sin and even crucify the Savior. Can you imagine God, sitting passively in heaven, wringing His hands because He saw in advance that men would sin against Him and crucify the Lord Jesus, but He couldn’t do anything about it, because, after all, He had given man free will and He dare not violate it! The cross was not God’s plan B! Nor did God see in advance that you and I would believe in Him and then say, “I’ll elect them to salvation, since I see that they will choose Me”! That would make the will of men sovereign over the eternal will of God! It also contradicts what Scripture plainly asserts, that our fallen will is unable to choose God apart from His first imparting a new nature to us (Rom. 3:10-18; 8:7-8; 1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 4:4). It would make salvation depend on something in us (our faith), rather than the unconditional grace of God.

Besides, God’s foreknowledge does not just refer to His knowing all things in advance. In that sense, He foreknows all men. But when Scripture says, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29), it refers to God’s sovereign choice to enter into a personal relationship with an individual. When Peter says that Christ was delivered up according to God’s foreknowledge, he means that God the Father, based on His personal knowledge of the Son, decided before time began that He would die for our sins. Surely Peter did not mean that God knew by looking down through history that evil men would kill His Son, and so He devised His plan to fit their evil deeds! Such a thing is unthinkable!

C. God’s sovereignty over salvation is our only hope for it.

If salvation depends on fallen man’s will to believe, we’re in big trouble! According to Scripture, my will (before I am saved) is enslaved to sin (John 8:34; Eph. 2:1-3) and unable to do anything to please God (Rom. 8:8). Since believing in Jesus Christ is pleasing to God, the natural man cannot do that, apart from God imparting saving faith to him. If any part of the process depends on us, rather than on God’s sovereign will, the chain has a weak link that could snap at any time. The only way that we can hope to be saved is if God sovereignly undertakes all that concerns our salvation.

A. W. Pink makes this point when he laments,

The average evangelical pulpit conveys the impression that it lies wholly in the power of the sinner whether or not he shall be saved. It is said that “God has done His part, now man must do his.” Alas, what can a lifeless man do, and man by nature is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1)! (The Sovereignty of God [Banner of Truth], p. 105).

Thus all hope for our salvation lies with the sovereign God, who ordained even the death of His Son for our sins. What process does this sovereign God use to impart that salvation to us?

2. The sovereign God gives an open invitation to everyone to call upon Him for salvation.

Peter cites Joel 2:32, “And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21). Also, he says that this promise of salvation “is for you and your children and for all who are far off” (2:39). This means that …

A. The scope of the invitation is unlimited.

“Everyone” is about as broad as you can make it! He doesn’t say, “Everyone except those who are really bad sinners.” In fact, in the context, God has just warned of impending cataclysmic judgments—blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood (2:19-20). God wouldn’t impose such terrible judgments unless people were more than deserving of them. And yet to such sinful people, the Lord promises, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”! There is hope for the worst of sinners right up to the brink of judgment!

Furthermore, the invitation is open to people from every race and walk of life. Peter tells these Jews, whom he had just indicted for crucifying their Messiah, that the promise was for them (2:36, 39)! Also, the promise was for their children. Even if your parents were horrible sinners, if you will call on the Lord, He will save you. More than that, the promise was “for all who are far off” (2:39). This is a reference to the Gentiles, even though Peter wouldn’t come to understand this until Acts 10. This means that even if you have had no religious background, if you will call upon the name of the Lord, He will save you. The scope of this invitation is unlimited! The gospel is offered to all who will call on the Lord. But, what does this invitation mean?

B. The meaning of the invitation is to cry out to the Lord in faith for salvation from His judgment.

To do this, you must realize that you are lost and under God’s just condemnation. “Salvation” refers to being delivered from God’s judgment. Thus you must be convicted of your sinfulness before the holy God or you will not call on the Lord to save you.

To call on the name of the Lord implies that the person knows something about who God really is. His name refers to His character or His attributes. He is revealed in Scripture as the triune Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is revealed in flesh to us in the person of Jesus Christ (and in this sermon Peter is arguing that Jesus is the Lord [2:36]). Obviously, a person does not need to have a full theological understanding of the nature of God to call upon Him. But, he at least needs some basic understanding of who God is and how He revealed Himself in His Son, Jesus Christ who offered Himself on the cross in the place of sinners. This knowledge is revealed in God’s Word, the Bible.

To call out to any “god,” however you understand him to be, will not save you. A sincere Muslim may call out to Allah to save him, but he will not be saved because he has not called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. A Hindu may call upon a number of deities to save him, but he will not be saved, because he is calling out to demons, not to the Lord Jesus Christ. A Buddhist may call out to Buddha for salvation, but his prayer will not be heard, because Buddha is not the Lord. A sincere Roman Catholic may pray to the pope or to Mary or one of the saints to save him, but he will not be saved, because he is not calling on the name of the Lord.

To call upon the name of the Lord implies faith in Him, that Jesus has the ability to save you. No mere man and not even an angel can save you from God’s wrath. Only God can do that. To come to God, we must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Heb. 11:6). If the sovereign God states that everyone who calls upon His name will be saved, it seems reasonable to take Him at His word! Indeed, not to do so would be to call Him a liar! That “everyone” includes everyone here. “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off.” No matter who you are or what you have done or how far off from God you may be, if you will call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, He promises to save you from His judgment.

But, we need to come back full circle to His sovereignty:

3. Everyone who calls upon the Lord for salvation does so because the sovereign God first called them to Himself.

After saying, “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off,” Peter adds, “as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself” (2:39). He is going back to Joel 2:32. After stating that “whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered,” Joel adds, “For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.” The King James Version reads, “even among the remnant whom the Lord shall call.” Obviously, not all will be saved, but only the remnant, which the Lord calls to Himself. God must first call us and send His Spirit to convict us of sin, righteousness, and judgment, before we will call upon Him.

Paul links these things in Romans 8:30-33: “And these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?”

If you have called upon the Lord for salvation, you know that it was because He first called you. Thus He gets all the praise and glory. As Paul puts it in Ephesians 1:5-6, “In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace.” We can take no credit for calling upon the name of the Lord for salvation. John Calvin put it, “… God’s lovingkindness is set forth to all who seek it, without exception. But since it is those on whom heavenly grace has breathed who at length begin to seek after it, they should not claim for themselves the slightest part of his praise” (Institutes, 2:3:10). Thus the bottom line is,

The sovereign God invites everyone to call upon Him for salvation, calling to Himself those whom He will, that no one should boast.

Conclusion

There are dozens of practical applications of the doctrine of God’s sovereignty in our salvation, but I will limit myself to five:

1. This doctrine alone gives all the glory to God for our salvation.

If we think that we came to God because of our own free will, we will boast in our brilliant decision. We made a smarter decision than those who reject Christ. If we think that we came to God because of our great faith, we will boast in our faith. If we think that we did anything at all for our salvation, our proud hearts will be lifted up and rob God of His glory. All that we did was to cry out, “Lord, I deserve Your wrath because I am a sinner. Save me by Your grace.” We realize that we would not even have cried that, except that God in His mercy first called us. He gets all the glory.

2. This doctrine alone humbles us from all our pride.

Calvin repeatedly argues that the reason the Bible teaches God’s sovereign election is that it is the only doctrine of salvation that produces humility. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).

3. This doctrine alone gives us assurance in our salvation.

If your salvation depends upon anything in yourself (including your “free will”), it is a most shaky salvation! What if your will decides to reject Christ? One weak link anywhere in the process, and you are lost! But if it depends on God’s sovereign purpose, His effectual calling, and His safe keeping, you can be sure, as Paul puts it, “that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:6).

4. This doctrine alone gives us comfort in our trials.

Whatever trials come your way, whether mild or severe, even unto death, come from the hand of the sovereign and loving God who is working to conform you to the image of His Son. Thus “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

5. This doctrine alone encourages us to evangelism, since we know that God will save His elect as we proclaim the gospel.

If salvation depends on man’s will, we have no guarantee that anyone will be saved. But if it depends on God’s will and God’s working, we know that He will use the gospel to save many. The Lord encouraged Paul to go on speaking in Corinth because, He said, “I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:10). When Paul preached in Pisidian Antioch, many opposed his message. But others “began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). Paul summed up his ministry by saying, “I endure all things for the sake of the elect [lit.], so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory” (2 Tim. 2:10).

If you have never called upon the name of the Lord to save you from your sins, I invite you to take God at His Word today. His promise is for you: If you will call upon the name of the Lord, you will be saved.

Discussion Questions

1. Why is it important to assert God’s sovereignty, even over evil?
2. Why does asserting that man has “free will” not resolve the charge that God is responsible for evil? How does the Bible resolve this problem?
3. Arminians assert that to invite sinners to trust in Christ is a farce if they do not have “free will.” Why is this charge invalid?
4. Arminians assert that if Calvinism is true, then God is not infinitely loving toward all people. What does the Bible teach?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2000, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Introduction

In our passage, Jesus has just endured a horrible night. He has been unemotionally betrayed by one disciple and forsaken by all the rest. He has been unjustly arrested and charged. He has been inhumanely tortured and unceasingly mocked. He has been inequitably traded like so much merchandise for a common murderer. Finally, he has been unconscionably condemned to crucifixion. We pick up the story as he is being led out to the place of crucifixion.

Our subject in this sermon is the mercy and forgiveness of God. This account in Luke’s gospel teaches us that Jesus extends mercy to those who are unmerciful. First, we see that…

1. Jesus speaks words of mercy in forewarning (Lk. 23:26-31)

Exhausted from the night of horrors, Jesus didn’t have sufficient strength to carry his cross. So, “they seized one, Simon of Cyrene who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross to carry behind Jesus” (23:26). Luke’s account of the crucifixion revolves around a variety of people - their involvement and response to the crucifixion of Jesus. I suppose that Luke wants us to know that the crucifixion of Jesus was not a private affair: it was not done in a corner. He wants us to know that Jesus’ crucifixion impacted a complete spectrum of humanity – some were there purposefully, some out of curiosity, others by chance.

One who seems to have been there by chance was a man from Cyrene, perhaps coming to Jerusalem for the Passover, who unwittingly crossed paths with Jesus at this crucial moment in Jesus’ life. There was also “a great multitude of people” (23:27) following Jesus. Evidently many of those who had been at the trial now joined the procession to see this to its bitter end. Among them were Galilean women, who wailed and lamented as middle eastern women are wont to do at such events (23:27). And Jesus says to them: “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me but weep for yourselves & your children” (23:28a).

A few years ago, my wife and I were on one of our many visits to the U.K. to see my parents. The area of Britain that I come from is without doubt the most beautiful – and I’m not biased! Near to the place where I was born there is an amphitheater carved into the rocks on a cliff overlooking the ocean. While we were there, we went to see the musical “Evita”. The musical is about the life of first lady of Argentina, Eva Perón. The story follows Evita's early life, rise to power, charity work, and eventual death. The song from the musical that rocketed to the top of the charts was titled, “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.” This song was Eva’s exhortation to the Argentinian people to not mourn her passing. The chorus of the song echoes this sad refrain: “Don't cry for me Argentina; the truth is I never left you. All through my wild days, my mad existence, I kept my promise; don't keep your distance.”

In response to their mourning for him, Jesus seems to be saying to these women, “Don’t cry for me, Galileans, the truth is I’m going to leave you. All through my ministry days, my earthly existence, I made some prophecies, which aren’t too distant.” Jesus is warning them of a horrendous coming judgement when they will cry for the mountains to cover them; a judgement that came in A.D. 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed under the brutal attack of the Roman army. Though Jesus’ future will bring the utmost pain and suffering, nonetheless his future goes beyond that to his resurrection. Whereas, their future will be devastating, especially if they do not respond appropriately to him. “Don’t cry tears for me, ladies of Galilee, but cry for yourselves and your children. For so devastating will be your future that those women who are barren will be glad they never bore children. Don’t cry for me, ladies of Galilee, you need all the time you can to prepare for what’s coming by repenting now. For if wicked men cut down a ‘green tree’ (the One who is life itself and who came to give life), what will God do to them? He will burn them up like so much dry wood” (23:28-31).

What words of merciful forewarning are these that Jesus would think of these people in the midst of all he was passing through. It was pure grace and mercy that Jesus would be concerned about the future of a group of anonymous, unidentified women, even when He was staggering to his own death! It was pure grace and mercy to warn others of their impending danger rather than be consumed with His own demise! They were caught up in the sorrow of his moment, but Jesus was caught up in the reality of their future.

This, brothers and sisters, is the epitome of God’s grace! Jesus’ suffering takes a back seat in his concern for ours. Jesus’ future is for him of secondary importance to ours. Jesus’ life was entirely taken up with manifesting and bestowing the grace of God on sinners like them and like us. How many of us would be able to even think about someone else’s future when we ourselves were being led away to be killed! How many of us would be able to even think about someone else’s future if we had just spent the entire previous night being falsely accused, spat upon, scourged with whips, mocked, ridiculed, and condemned like a common criminal?

These are words of merciful forewarning, words that we are empowered to proclaim today. Oh, we’re not in Jesus’ crucifixion crowd. We’re not watching an innocent man being led to his execution. No! We live in a sterile world where everything is covered with a veneer of respectability. We pride ourselves on having a just society where people’s rights are protected. where innocent people are defended, where our security is guarded by the rule of law, police forces, armies, and early warning systems.

But who is warning people of their spiritual danger? That’s our job – to utter words of mercy in the gospel, warning people of impending judgement and offering people full and free salvation through faith in Jesus Christ – his atoning death and life-giving resurrection. So, in the light of the impending doom of this world, we can and we must utter words of mercy in warning others of their impending danger, a danger that most don’t even know exists - just like these Galilean women. For the sceptics say that everything is going on as it did from the beginning of creation. But they willfully forget that God has judged the world before with a flood and the world that then existed perished. They willfully forget that this world is now reserved for judgement by fire at that great and terrible day of the Lord. With such a future just around the corner, what the world needs more than anything else is words of merciful warning.

In our passage, Jesus speaks words of mercy in forewarning. And…

2. Jesus speaks words of mercy for forgiveness (23:32-38)

Along with Jesus there were two other men, “criminals, who were led away to be put to death with him” (23:32). In fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy (53:12), Jesus is numbered here among the transgressors. Unlike the unknown Cyrenian, these men were well known for their criminal activity. They were receiving the due reward of their deeds, but Jesus had done nothing amiss. One of them will later repent while the other will adamantly remain unrepentant.

These two men are a microcosm of the entire world, some of whom repent while others remain in their sins. Some people receive the love of God in Christ. They see their need of forgiveness and mercy. They understand that God’s mercy can only be accessed through the death of Christ. They repent of their sins, they receive salvation, welcoming it and rejoicing in it. Their lives are immediately and eternally changed. They turn from darkness to light, from Satan to God. But others refuse the love of God in Christ. They can’t see their sinfulness and rebellion against God. They are ignorant that they have fallen short of the glory of God. They love the world and all that is in the world and, no matter what, they won’t give it up! That’s the picture of humanity here in these two men.

Finally, they arrive at the place of crucifixion. “And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left” (23:33). In Aramaic this place is called “Golgotha”; in Latin “Calvaria.” It’s called the place of a skull because of its shape, protruding out of the landscape like a skull. It seems that the rulers wanted crucifixion to be blatantly public so that everyone could see and be warned by the punishment meted out to those who opposed them.

Luke simply and without embellishment records the entire crucifixion in four words: “There they crucified him”(23:33). No cheap Hollywood melodramatic sights and sounds - just, “There they crucified him.” And no deep theological extrapolation here either. Luke relies on the bare essentials, the historical facts, for the reader to draw your own conclusions.

It’s poignant that Jesus is crucified between two criminals. Could this be symbolic that Jesus is the bridge from death on one side to life on the other, from unrighteousness on one side to righteousness on the other, from condemnation on one side to forgiveness on the other, from being lost on one side to being saved on the other, from hell on one side to heaven on the other?

Then Jesus speaks again - this time not words of mercy in warning… but words of mercy for forgiveness: “Father, forgive them…” (23:34a). Here Jesus practices exactly what he had preached: to “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you and pray for those who spitefully use you” (Lk. 6:27-28). No wonder Peter could say of Jesus, that “when he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges justly” (1 Pet. 2:24).

Previously in vv. 28-31, Jesus acts in his office of Prophet. Later in v. 43, he will act in his office as King. Here he acts in his office as Priest, interceding for the people. As J.C. Ryle so eloquently puts it: “As soon as the blood of the Great Sacrifice began to flow, the Great High Priest began to intercede” (J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel, Vol. II: Luke, 467).

Now, Jesus prays, “Father.” In addressing God as Father, Jesus appeals to Him as the Forgiver not as the Judge, the One with whom he has the closest relationship, the One whose heart beats with the Father’s heart. This expresses intimacy, unity of purpose, thought and action. The goal of God the Father and God the Son was that “none should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). Jesus prays for forgiveness for “them.” Who does this refer to? Who is meant by “them” the religious rulers who falsely accused him perhaps; the Roman authorities who falsely condemned him perhaps; the soldiers who were executing him; the people who were standing by watching; those who hurled insults and mockery at him? Can we not say that he prayed for them all? Were they not all guilty of his crucifixion? Did they not all need forgiveness? Were they not all ignorant of whom they were crucifying?

Yes, Jesus says, “they do not know what they are doing” (23:34). They were ignorant of the fact that they were crucifying their Messiah, the Lord’s Anointed, that they were crucifying the Redeemer, that they were crucifying the One of whom their own prophets had foretold would come to deliver their nation. In fact, the apostle Paul confirms this notion of ignorance, that “none of the rulers of this world understood, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8).

This is a prayer for the forgiveness for those who were guilty but who were ignorant of the extent of what they were doing, for they didn’t know who Jesus was. Luke is the only evangel to record this prayer for forgiveness. This accords perfectly with the whole tenor of Luke’s gospel to emphasize the forgiveness of God and to magnify the love of the Saviour for sinners, even his enemies. And doesn’t this prayer capture that focus exactly? Jesus is not occupied with himself – although we could certainly understand it if he had been. Jesus completely renounces his rights and claims and instead directs his whole attention to his crucifiers. To think that the innocent One they were crucifying is concerned about his enemies would be extraordinary. But to think that the innocent One they were crucifying is actually interceding with his Father for their forgiveness is unimaginable. He wants them to be given another chance to repent and by his death to be saved from certain judgement. He is dying for their sins! And interceding for their forgiveness! It’s as though Jesus is saying to his Father, “Give them another chance, Father! They are ignorant of the consequences of their actions! They don’t know who they are crucifying.” What words of grace and mercy! These were life-giving words from a loving Saviour.

Now, we should note that this was a prayer for forgiveness, not an actual forgiveness itself. This was a prayer that they would be given another chance to repent and, thus, to receive forgiveness, for that is the only way to be forgiven. The question is, did God grant Jesus’ prayer, for only God can forgive sins, as the Pharisees well knew (Lk. 5:21). And the answer is “Yes!” God gave them another chance. How do we know that? Because we know that God continued to grant them opportunity to repent in the book of Acts. In Acts 2, at Pentecost, Peter said, “Him you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death… Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (2:23, 36). To which they cried out, “What shall we do?” (2:37). To which Peter answers, “Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins” (2:38). God answered Jesus’ prayer!

In Acts 3, Peter continues to appeal to them, saying, “I know that you acted in ignorance as did also your rulers. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and be converted so that your sins may be blotted out” (3:17-19). God answered Jesus’ prayer! In fact, God continued to give them another chance to repent for all the years of the apostles’ ministry, confirming what they said with signs and wonders. And as we know, thousands responded and were forgiven; but of course many rejected the opportunity. In addition, we know that God answered Jesus’ prayer because this prayer initiated the day of God’s grace which the world has enjoyed for the last 2000 years. This is the period of time during which God is waiting in sovereign grace for people everywhere to repent and be saved. As a result of this prayer, God is giving all people everywhere another chance to repent! God could have justly and immediately condemned the entire human race, but in response to Jesus’ prayer for forgiveness, he delayed it. He extended the time for people to repent and receive forgiveness of sins. Now, for 2000 years the gospel of God’s grace has been made known far and wide. Because of Jesus’ prayer countless innocent aborted babies are in heaven. Because of Jesus’ prayer countless people have responded in faith to the gospel. They have appealed to God’s mercy and grace in Christ and received forgiveness of sins.

The story is told of one of England’s more famous monarchs, Queen Elizabeth I. One of her favorites at the royal court was the Earl of Essex. One day she gave him a special ring, as a token of her affection, and told him that if he were ever accused of a crime, no matter what, he had only to send her that ring and she would grant him the opportunity to appear before her in person and plead his case. The day came when the earl was accused of high treason. He was found guilty and eventually executed. The queen had waited for him to send her that ring but she had waited in vain. Because the ring never came, she allowed the sentence of death to stand, though it pained her heart. Years later, the Countess of Nottingham lay dying. She was a relative, but no friend, of the long-since-dead Earl of Essex. The countess sent a messenger to the queen: “Would her majesty come? She had a confession to make. She could not die in peace until it was made.” The queen came and stood by the deathbed of the anxious countess. The countess the produced the fateful ring.  It appeared that the Earl of Essex had given it to her with the urgent request that she take it straight to the queen but she had failed to do so. Now she begged the queen’s forgiveness. But she had appealed to wrong woman. Queen Elizabeth was livid with rage. She seized the dying countess and shook her until her teeth rattled. “God may forgive you, Madam,” she screamed, “but I never shall.” And with that she stormed out of the room. The countess of Nottingham remained unforgiven  (Cited in John Phillips, “Jesus Our Lord,” 187). Thank God that the Lord Jesus Christ is not like that. In grace, he readily forgives those who have sinned against him and spitefully used him if they repent.

Incredibly, despite the enormity of mercy that Jesus has expressed, the people acted as though nothing had happened. There were the soldiers who “divided his garments and cast lots” for them (23:34b). For the soldiers, this was just another day’s work. Getting some of his garments was one of the perks of the job. They divided them up by lottery so that there was no partiality. After all, they didn’t want to get what wasn’t “rightfully” theirs, did they? These were “fair” men, weren’t they, who treated others with respect? Seriously? Can you see the irony of it all? They had just crucified an innocent man! Where was the justice in that? They had just gained from someone else’s loss. Where was the fairness in that? Yet, for these callous men, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

So, there were the soldiers. And there were the spectators: “The people who stood looking on” (23:35a) - by-standers, a crowd with no personal involvement except perhaps just curiosity or maybe entertainment. These people are like some people who come to church. Some come out of curiosity or perhaps because someone they know persuaded them to come. They are “watchers” but not participants. They may be curious but not interested.

Then, there were the rulers and soldiers. Those who should have known better; those who could have influenced the outcome of this despicable process; those who should have stood up and done what was right. “The rulers sneered at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One.” And the soldiers also mocked him, coming up & offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” (23:35b-37). What they had done to Jesus was bad enough, but they added insult to injury by jeering at him, scoffing at him.

You see, it all has to do with who Jesus is. “If you are the Messiah, God’s chosen one… if you are the King of the Jews.” This isn’t an “if” of reason but an “if” of doubt. This is an “if” of sarcasm, mockery, contempt, disdain. You can hear the laughter as they jeer at him. No one believes for a moment that they are actually mocking the Son of God. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, they have discredited him long ago as an impostor, a deceiver, a false messiah. They had completely missed the point of his signs and wonders. Where were the people now who had been healed by Jesus? Where were the lepers, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed? Where were the hungry people Jesus had fed? They had completely missed the point of his teachings: “He who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgement but has passed from death into life”(Jn. 5:24). “For God so loved the world that he gave his one & only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life”(Jn. 3:16).

The truth of Jesus’ life and teachings were lost on them. Such is the ignorance and deceit of the sinful heart of man. So they mock him, sneer at him, scoff at him, jeer at him. “Let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!... If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself” (23:35-37). Do you hear the irony in their taunts. Someone has said, “The ultimate irony is that God will actually perform their request in Jesus’ resurrection” (Darrel Bock, The NIV Application Commentary, 595). He does save himself in his resurrection because he is the Messiah, the chosen One, the Redeemer! He does save himself in his resurrection because he is the Messiah, the King,  to which the inscription over him ironically but rightly attested, “This is the King of the Jews” (23:38).

Again, let not the irony of this be lost on us. This inscription that had been ordered by Pilate screams out the truth: He is the King! He does reign supreme! He is the Christ of God! They meant it in mockery but God meant it in truth.

Concluding Remarks

These then are “final words of Jesus: words of mercy.” Remember our thesis: Jesus extends mercy to those who are unmerciful. He speaks words of mercy in forewarning of judgement to come; and he speaks words of mercy for the forgiveness of those who were unmerciful toward him. We have seen how those to whom he was so gracious and so merciful responded to him. The question is: “What’s your response to Jesus?”

From Luke’s account of the crucifixion, we learn the importance of our response to Jesus. Luke’s account records the various responses of a variety of people who represent the entirety of humanity. There were those who simply accompanied him; others just watched out of curiosity; some actually crucified him; while others mocked him. But all of them were guilty of rejecting him. Only the centurion eventually came to the right conclusion that Jesus was a righteous man. They had had ample evidence and ample time to receive him. And so have we had ample evidence and time. Yet still so many reject him. We stand in need of God’s mercy and grace in Christ. We stand in need of repenting for our sins and trusting Jesus as Lord and Saviour for the forgiveness of our sins.

Luke’s account also portrays for us the heart of Jesus. In Jesus, God displays his love for a lost human race. And Jesus demonstrates God’s heart as he prays for the forgiveness of those who killed him. Luke’s account records the utter hardness of the human heart in the actions of the rulers and soldiers. They were so blind that they executed the only perfect and sinless man who ever lived. They were so hard that they crucified one who prayed for their forgiveness. They were so depraved that they mocked at an innocent man’s death and suffering. And yet, in response, we hear life-giving words from a loving Savior - words of mercy that are extended even today to those who are unmerciful.

Praise God for reminding us this Easter season of the matchless grace and mercy and forgiveness of God, which alone can be found in Jesus Christ.