“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,” Luke 23:34.

This is generally seen as the first of the SEVEN SAYINGS OF THE SAVIOUR ON THE CROSS. You will notice that the previous verse states: “And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.”

So His prayer that the perpetrators of this awful crime might be forgiven came immediately afterwards.

1. I want to introduce our study by reminding us all of the identity of the One nailed to the cross. He was ‘Immanuel’ - ‘God with us’. The Lord Jesus was and is God manifested in the flesh. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth,”John 1:14. The reason for His dying on the cross is made plain in the Bible. “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed,” 1 Peter 2:24. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,” 1 Peter 3:18.

2. The last words of men are usually treasured. How much more the last words of the Saviour before He died.

3. From His birth, the Saviour had suffered rejection by men. Here is the final manifestation of that rejection: His cruel and unjust crucifixion at Calvary.

4. Never was there such a miscarriage of justice as that which saw the Saviour condemned to death. Liars had to be paid to offer false evidence against Him. Their wickedness was seen in that they contradicted each other. “But neither so did their witness agree together,” Mark 14:59.

His chief crime as far as men were concerned was declaring simply Who He was. Matthew 26:63-66.

5. Mistreatment at the hands of His accusers and the Roman soldiers was most cruel. Matthew 26:67-68. The Jews chose a murderer, Mark 15:11. The soldiers were most cruel, 15-20.

Then came the cruelty of the cross. ‘Excruciating’ comes from ‘crucifixion’.