While the people mock and ridicule him, Jesus is accomplishing the salvation of the world. These next brief words seem to raise a universe of questions. Yet they represent the heart of the Gospel, the centre of redemption, the very core of the plan of salvation.

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. – Mark 15:38

Mark is at pains to emphasise that when Jesus died, it was in the fullness of his strength. He died with a “loud cry.” He didn’t die of asphyxiation or infection or exhaustion. He died of a heart literally broken for the sin of the world. And then we have words, full of pathos, “Jesus breathed his last”… This is an echo of Genesis 1, of that Spirit that hovered over the face of the waters, and of the breath of life through which man became a living being.

John 1 tells us that that Jesus, the Word, was the Creator of all things, and Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:17 that the Lord Jesus is the Spirit. So, how could it be possible that the words “Jesus breathed his last” could ever have been penned?

The first breath of a new-born baby is a wonderfully precious moment. Have you reflected on the thought that Christ’s last breath was the first breath of a new humanity? It was your first breath of an eternal life which you receive when you accept that Christ’s last breath was for you. It’s as simple as that. Think about it.