Everything good in a believer’s life comes from the love of the Redeemer toward us. He demonstrated that love by his death on the cross and the resurrection.  The hope that is renewed in our hearts through the Easter message (or the message of the cross) is summarized in the seven sayings of the Savior while on the cross. During those six hours of suffering, the Lord Jesus continued to speak words of faith into the hearts of men. Let’s look at the message for our lives from each blessed utterance.

1. The word of forgiveness. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  Every believer can say, “I ruined my life but Jesus pitied me in my blindness and forgave me.”  The Savior expressed his longsuffering with the very ones who were putting him to death!  God says that when were we yet enemies, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:10).
2. The word relating to the family of God. Jesus said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son.” To the apostle John he said, “Behold your mother.”  Not only was Jesus showing concern for his mother, but he was also teaching us that he came to make believers into the family of God. We have spiritual mothers and brothers and sisters because we are joined together with all who are in Christ.
3. The word of fellowship.  Jesus said to the thief on the cross: “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  The thief had nothing to commend himself to the Savior, but when he said, “Lord remember me,” Jesus welcomed him to paradise. The same is true for us when we come to him in repentance and faith. He will not cast us out but will welcome us into saving fellowship with himself and into heaven at last.
4. The word of forsakenness. When the sky grew black at noon, Jesus said, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”  We can never fully understand it, but Jesus bore the judgment and abandonment of God for sinners. He stood in their place. He was forsaken under God’s wrath so that all who come to him will never be forsaken. God says to his children, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” This is one of the greatest promises in all of Scripture, and it was purchased for us at the cross.
5. The word of longing. Jesus in the intensity of his suffering in his humanity cried out, “I thirst!”  Ultimately as our substitute he experienced thirst in order that we would know the satisfaction of the fullness of joy that is given to us in God’s grace. Our deepest longings are fulfilled as we seek them in God’s love and grace. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
6. The word of triumph.  Jesus cried out, “It is finished.”  This meant that he had fulfilled all the prophecies and had paid for all our sins. Now we rest on his finished work. This is why we are not saved by works; we can only be saved by faith, by resting in his finished work. He bore God’s judgment on our sins and God will accept his death and free us if we rest in Jesus’ saving work on the cross. It has been said that we do not work for God’s love, but we work from it. That is, that we receive his love from the cross and live our lives as a thank you to God.
7. The word of contentment. The last saying on the cross was when he said, “Father into your hands I commit my spirit.” Having finished all that the Father had appointed for him, Jesus rested himself in the Father’s hands. He purchased this for us as well. As believers we can rest our spirits in the hands of the heavenly Father because Jesus has made us a son or daughter of God. As has been said, “The heart is restless until it rests in God.”  Here is where we find true rest and contentment for our souls. Knowing our sins are forgiven, knowing there is no condemnation to those who entrust their souls to Christ, we find everlasting satisfaction in the relationship based on God’s love to us.