April 9, 2023 (Easter) column from the Amarillo Globe-News:

Easter points to important aspects of the Christian faith

By Mike Haynes

                The seven last words of Jesus Christ on the cross are well known. Jim McKee, a longtime Bible class teacher at Hillside Christian Church, presented an in-depth study of them in the weeks leading up to Easter 2023, pointing out that the seven are “sentences, actually.”

                Those statements that Jesus uttered while in great pain on the barbaric Roman cross are recorded variously in the New Testament books of Matthew, Luke and John. They are:

List compiled by Jim McKee

                1. “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” 2. “This day you will be with me in Paradise. 3. “Woman, behold your son.” 4. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” 5. “I thirst.” 6. “It is finished.” and 7. “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”

                Each of the seven “words” points to important aspects of the Christian faith, and McKee’s deep dig into their ramifications can be found at seedongoodsoil.com, where his audio lessons and accompanying slides for March 5 through April 2 are available along with other lessons back to 2005.

                The three words, “It is finished,” especially struck me. McKee pointed out that “finished” refers to more than one thing. Physically, Jesus’ suffering was over. His 33-year life as a man on Earth was ending. Earlier, Christ had said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17) The law, including ancient prophecies specific to his crucifixion, now was fulfilled.

                 And maybe most pertinent to people today, the redemption of man was complete.

                That redemption – and the offer of salvation – was “once for all,” and McKee reminded us that multiple Bible passages use that phrase. For example: “The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.” (Romans 8:10); “He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” (Hebrews 7:27); “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (I Peter 3:18)

                McKee stressed the completeness of redemption that Jesus accomplished by taking every sin onto himself and dying for us. He didn’t forgive our past sins and leave future offenses for us to take care of. “Nothing about our salvation has been left undone,” the teacher said. “Christ has completed our salvation. Nothing is left for us to ‘fill in.’” All we have to do is accept salvation by believing in Jesus.

                God does want us to confess any new sins, but it is to emphasize our reliance on him, not because any fresh wrongdoing will make our salvation incomplete, McKee said.

                Jesus also said, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” In light of the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit), the question arises, “Did God abandon God?” No, McKee said, citing a foreshadowing of Christ’s death in Psalm 22:24: “For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.”

                Each of us, at the suffering or death of a loved one or in a time of desperation, probably has wondered why God has not fixed the problem. We may have wondered why we don’t hear from him. McKee quoted C.S. Lewis’ book, “A Grief Observed,” relating how Lewis felt when his beloved wife died: “…go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound bolting and double bolting on the inside.  After that, silence.”

                Maybe, in order for the God/man Jesus to experience such despair as we do, the Father had to withdraw briefly. McKee also quoted Philip Yancey’s book, “Disappointment with God”: “At Gethsemane and Calvary in some inexpressible way, God himself was forced to confront the hiddenness of God.”

                When Jesus voluntarily said, “Into your hands I commit my spirit,” and died physically, the curtain in the Jerusalem temple that symbolically separated God from man suddenly split from the top down. Jesus had provided a way for us to be with God forever, restoring the union that had been broken since Adam and Eve had sinned.

                McKee quoted Hebrews 10:19-20: “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body…”

                And so, the perfect Christ had defeated sin. Three days later, on the day we call Easter, he proved that he also had defeated death – not just for himself, but for all who believe.

                He rose.