A LOOK AT THE SEVEN SAYINGS ON THE CROSS: THE FIRST SAYING—FORGIVE OTHERS

JESUS’ DEATH SHOWS US HOW TO LIVE:

A LOOK AT THE SEVEN SAYINGS ON THE CROSS

1 Peter 2:21

JOHN MacARTHUR

I want to call your attention to 1 Peter 2:21, which says, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.”

Many understand that the life of Christ is an example for Christians to follow. But I daresay most people would not assume that the death of Christ is an example, and yet that is exactly what Peter says it is—that Christ in suffering and dying has left us an example we are to follow. The Bible tells us He was the perfect man—born without sin, committing no sin, holy, innocent, undefiled, and separate from sinners. In life He is our perfect example. We are to be holy as He was holy, pure as He was pure, gentle as He was gentle, wise as He was wise, and humble as He was humble. Christ was obedient to God, and we are to imitate His example. Our service should be like His, and our attitude toward the world should reflect His attitude toward it. We understand that the life of Christ was an exemplary life. Few people would argue that. 

But the issue before us in 1 Peter 2:21 is that Christ is our example, not only in the way He lived, but also in His death. So often we learn more about the character of a person by how he dies than by how he lived.

The truest revelation of ourselves generally comes in the time of deepest trial. Trial reveals character; adversity reveals virtue—or the lack thereof. Generally the greater the trouble, the purer the revelation of what we truly are. I find I don’t feel I really know a person if I’ve known him or her only during the good times. It is the trying times that reveal character. It is also true that we find then the purest, truest revelation of the character of Jesus Christ in the time of His greatest trial. We find that Jesus—in His dying moments—was as perfect as He was during His life. His dying only confirms the perfect char- acter He manifested in His living.

In His death Jesus teaches us how to live. We often look at His dying moments and observe that His death illustrates the seriousness of sin and the need for a Savior to pay the price for our iniquity. We recognize that by His substitutionary death, He died in our place. But Peter said that there’s even more to the cross than that. Christ died not only for us, but also as an example to us. He died to show us how to live.

Now how are we going to know anything about Him in His death? How is His character revealed? It could not be revealed by what He did—He was nailed to a cross and unable to do anything. It cannot be revealed to us in something He thinks because we can’t read His thoughts. The character of Christ was revealed in His dying by what He said. From the earliest years the church has celebrated the death and resurrection of Christ by remembering His last seven sayings on the cross. What He said in dying becomes principles for living. 

THE FIRST SAYING—FORGIVE OTHERS 

In Luke 23:34 Jesus says, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Christ died forgiving those who sinned against Him. That is a principle to live by. In His dying Jesus revealed His forgiving heart, even after a lifetime of experiencing mankind’s worst treatment. Christ made the world and came into it, but the world would not acknowledge Him. Eyes blinded by sin did not want Him and saw no beauty in Him. His birth in a stable foreshadowed the treatment He would receive from mankind throughout His life. Shortly after His birth, King Herod tried to have Him killed, which was only the beginning of mankind’s lifelong hostility toward Him. Again and again His enemies sought His destruction. Their vile treachery reached its climax at the cross. The Son of God has yielded Himself into their hands and they are in the process of executing Him.

Christ’s forgiveness of His executioners came after a mock trial of trumped-up accusations. The judge admitted he found no fault in Him, but used Him to appease a clamoring crowd. Because no ordinary death would satisfy the implacable foes of Jesus, they made sure that He died the most painful, intense, and shameful death imaginable—that of hanging on a cross.

His forgiveness came as He hung on the cross, the victim (from a human perspective) of the hatred, animosity, bitterness, vengeance, and vile wickedness of men and demons. From a human standpoint, we would naturally expect Him to cry out to God for pity, or shake His fist in the face of God for His unfair execution. If we wrote the story, we might show Him crying maledictions and threats of vengeance upon His killers. But the Son of God did none of that. 

The first thing He says is a prayer—a prayer to God to forgive those who were taking His life. And underlying His prayer for forgiveness is an understanding of the wretchedness of the human heart: “For they do not know what they are doing” (v. 34). Jesus understood the sinfulness of men and the blindness of the human heart. He was painfully aware of the ignorance of depravity. He knew His executioners understood neither the identity of their victim nor the enormity of their crime. They didn’t know they were killing the Prince of Life, their Creator. They didn’t know they were slaughtering the Messiah.

Christ’s executioners needed forgiveness. The only way they could be ushered into the presence of a holy God and ever experience the joy that God gives one who is in fellowship with Him was if their sins were forgiven. Christ prayed for the most profound need of His killers. He was more concerned that His wicked murderers be forgiven than in seeking vengeance. That is the magnanimous heart of Christ. That is the truest revelation of a pure heart, for a pure heart seeks no vengeance. While “being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Pet. 2:23).

Forgiveness is man’s greatest need. It is the only way we can enter into fellowship with God and avoid hell, and that’s why Jesus prayed for it. We need to recognize that apart from Christ we are sinners, unfit for the presence of a holy God. Noble ideals, good resolutions, and excellent rules to live by are useless if sin isn’t dealt with. It is of no use to attempt to develop a beautiful character and aim to do that which will meet with God’s approval while there is sin between you and God. It would be the same as fitting shoes to paralyzed feet or buying glasses for blind eyes.

The question of the forgiveness of sin is the most fundamental question of all. It does not matter that I am highly respected in the circle of my friends if I am yet in my sins. It does not matter that I have attained a level of human goodness if I am still in my sins. Jesus understood the deep need of man. He understood that the only way man could ever escape hell and know blessing was if His sins were forgiven. It did not matter to Him that the sin He sought to be forgiven was the sin of killing Him.

Christians are to be more concerned with God forgiving those who sin against them than with vengeance. Stephen, while being stoned to death for preaching about Christ, prayed, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60). He followed the Lord’s own example. So should we.