Christ's Words From The Cross - Father Forgive Them!

He prayed for His enemies then, He is praying for His enemies now; the past on the cross was an earnest of the present on the throne. He is in a higher place, and in a nobler condition, but His occupation is the same. He continues still before the eternal throne to present pleas on the behalf of guilty men, crying, "Father, forgive them." All His intercession is in a measure like the intercession on Calvary, and Calvary's cries may help us to guess the character of the whole of His intercession above.

The first point in which we may see the character of His intercession is this—it is most gracious. Those for whom our Lord prayed, according to the text, did not deserve His prayer. They had done nothing which could call forth from Him a blessing as a reward for their endeavors in His service. On the contrary, they were most undeserving persons who had conspired to put Him to death.