Most people when they die are very quiet, very subdued. I’ve been with people in homes and in hospitals when they have died and they don’t say very much if anything at all. When the Lord Jesus Christ died, He shouted with a loud voice! We read these words in Matthew 27:50, “Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the spirit.” This verse tells us how the Lord Jesus Christ died. To begin with, He died victoriously. “Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice.” Our Lord had refused to drink the narcotic they had offered to Him. During these six hours on the cross He had been in perfect control of all of His senses and now He knew that the hour for the sacrifice had come and He shouted with a loud voice, “It is finished!” He died victoriously.

What was finished? Well, the Old Testament prophesies were finished. All that they said about His life and His ministry and now His death had been completed. The work of redemption had been finished. He died victoriously. He didn’t die saying, “I am finished” as though He were a defeated martyr. No, He died shouting, “It is finished!” He was a conqueror. He died confidently. His last words were “Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit.” Confidently. He knew where He was going. He knew what He was doing.

Oh how wonderful it would be for us to come to that point in our lives should the Lord permit us to die when we can die confidently, knowing we have done the Father’s will. He died willingly. They didn’t murder the Lord Jesus. He Himself said, “No one takes My life from Me. I lay down My life and I have the authority to take it up again” (John 10:18) and He did. He died willingly. The Shepherd was dying for the sheep. The sacrifice was being made for the sins of the world.

This to me is rather amazing that the very God of heaven would so descend that He would come and die for me, the Creator for the creature; the Shepherd for the sheep. I’m glad He died victoriously and confidently and willingly because He died for you and me.