A Voluntary and Victorious Death

When Jesus spoke these final words, this wasn’t the last gasp of a worn-out life but the cry of a victor! Though He was suffocating—literally drowning in His own fluids as crucifixion victims did—God gave Him the energy and strength to shout with a loud voice: “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!”
It’s obvious from Jesus’ words and His life that everything happened according to God’s divine purpose and plan. Jesus was dying a real death, but He was fulfilling His call, completing His mission. Jesus came to die. He was fulfilling His destiny, and He was clearly in control. As He said earlier in John 10:18, “No one takes My life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.”
The death of Jesus on the cross was voluntary and victorious. One Gospel writer gives us this word: “Into Your hands I dismiss My spirit.” No one has ever died like Jesus died, because He voluntarily gave His life. Death didn’t take Jesus; Jesus took death! He died peacefully and majestically, because He is the King. Though He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, one day King Jesus will return on a white horse, leading the parade of glory. What seemed like a senseless tragedy is in fact a supreme triumph.