It is finished! John 19:30 (NIV)

“It is finished!” John 19:30. These were the last words uttered by Jesus on the cross of Calvary before He died.

What will your last words be before you die?

At the end of the film Braveheart, William Wallace’s last word was “Freedom!” Woodrow Wilson, the US President who died in 1924 said, “I am ready.” Thomas Hobbes, the writer who died in 1679 said, “I’m about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark.” Joan Crawford, the actress who died in 1977 said to her housekeeper who had begun to pray aloud, “Damn it . . . Don’t you dare ask God to help me!” And James Rodges, a murderer about to face the firing squad; when asked if he had a last request, said, “Why yes – a bulletproof vest.”

What will your last words be before you die?

I’ve stood by the bed of a dying man as he cried out in anguish, “No, no, no!” I’ve watched a friend say excitedly, as he peered into a realm I couldn’t see, “Look, the angels are coming for me!” And I’ve held the hand of an old man as he simply said, “Goodbye Lawson.”

What will your last words be before you die? Will they be bitter or beautiful, haunted or hopeful, negative or positive, counting for nothing or counting for something? William Shatner at a TV Critics Association Meeting in Los Angeles said, “I’m not ready to die. It petrifies me. I go alone. I go to a place I don’t know . . .” In contrast, the Apostle Paul said, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” Philippians 1:21.

What will your last words be before you die? Will there be regrets? Will you be afraid?

Jesus said, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it” (NIV). Lose your life for Christ, i.e. give it unreservedly to Christ, and you’ll have no fear of death. Jim Elliot, a missionary who was slaughtered in 1956 by the Auca Indians of Ecuador would agree. Shortly before he died he said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”