Without doubt, the most important last words ever to fall from a man’s lips, were spoken by Jesus Christ. They are made even more poignant by the fact that they were spoken as He approached death on a Roman cross.

‘And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last” ’, Luke chapter 23 verse 46. (John expresses it like this: ‘And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit’, John chapter 19 verse 30).

The words recorded by John remind us of another statement by Jesus, ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man (a title Jesus used of Himself) has nowhere to lay His head’, Matthew chapter 8 verse 40.

The word ‘lay’ is the same word as ‘bowing’. The only place that Jesus could find to place His head in rest here on earth was on the cross, where he placed it upon His breast. It was a fitting action to show that He had completed the work that His Father had given Him to do. He had offered Himself up as the perfect sacrifice to God for sin, so that we could find the way back to God from the dark paths of sin! He was confident that He could now commit His spirit back into His Father’s hand.

The hymn writer wrote, ‘The Father must accept and bless His well-beloved Son’. His last words give us the confidence to face the future, even death, with complete confidence if we have accepted Jesus as our Saviour! Our LAST WORDS to God, our Father, could be: ‘For You are my rock and my fortress . . . Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth’, Psalm 31 verses 3, 5.