The Last Words from the Cross. William Powell Tuck
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The Last Words
from the Cross
Praise for
The Last Words from the Cross
William Powell Tuck’s, The Last Words from the Cross, gives this generation a fresh and tender insight into the last words of Christ from the cross. Tuck’s ability to strip away many common and often wrongly held beliefs and traditions about Jesus’ final words from Calvary is deeply thought-provoking. Tuck provides powerful and poignantly descriptive details into the humanity of Jesus as he processed the raw, gut-wrenching emotions of forgiveness and compassion and ultimate separation from his father.
Tuck’s well researched work brings the reader to the foot of the cross as if transported in time to Christ’s crucifixion. As you read, be prepared for a gamut of emotions to sweep through your heart and mind. From moments of ecstasy and joy, to those mixed with tension and profound grief, Tuck helps the reader to grasp the tremendous price that was paid on a Roman cross for humanity. Truly, Tuck has captured in a most remarkable way the essence of God’s love shown through his son’s last words from the cross.
D. Kevin Brown, Pastor
Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Author of Rite of Passage for the Home and Church
Over the years Dr. William Powell Tuck has written a number of books that have encouraged and challenged readers from a variety of backgrounds. His latest work, The Last Words from the Cross, though short in length, may be his finest effort. Dr. Tuck explores Jesus’ final words from the cross in a devotional manner, creatively incorporating decades of pastoral experience and the best of contemporary scholarship. The result is an engaging reflection which invites the reader to ponder not simply Jesus’ death but the whole of his life as well as the implications for all who seek to follow him.
Christopher Chapman, Pastor
First Baptist Church, Raleigh, North Carolina
Bill Tuck has provided us with a masterful interpretation of the 7 last words of Christ with his scholarly biblical analysis, solid theological research, and vivid illustrations. His eminently readable presentation makes the crucial issues of faith understandable and accessible for laity and clergy alike.
Tom Graves, President Emeritus
Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond
Fast re-wind, and William Tuck takes you back 2,000 years to Golgotha to the agony and disorientation of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Fast forward, and he connects the meaning of the cross to our own times of confusion and angst and you experience hope and joy rising within you through his riveting stories and keen insights.
Kent Ira Groff, founding mentor of Oasis Ministries
retreat leader and author of Clergy Table Talk
and Honest to God Prayer.
Other Books By
William Powell Tuck
The Way For All Seasons
Facing Grief and Death
The Struggle For Meaning (editor)
Knowing God: Religious Knowledge
in the Theology of John Baillie
Our Baptist Tradition
Ministry: An Ecumenical Challenge (editor)
Getting Past the Pain: Making Sense of Life’s Darkness
A Glorious Vision
The Bible As Our Guide For Spiritual Growth (editor)
Authentic Evangelism: Sharing the Good News with Sense and Sensitivity
The Lord’s Prayer Today
Christmas Is for the Young… Whatever Their Age
Through the Eyes of a Child
Love as a Way of Living
The Compelling Faces of Jesus
The Left Behind Fantasy:
The Theology Behind the Left Behind Tales
The Ten Commandments: Their Meaning Today
Facing Life’s Ups and Downs
The Church in Today’s World
The Church Under the Cross
Modern Shapers of Baptist Thought in America
The Journey to the Undiscovered Country: What’s Beyond Death?
A Pastor Preaching: Toward a Theology of the Proclaimed Word
The Pulpit Ministry of the Pastors of River Road Church, Baptist (editor)
The Last Words
from the Cross
William Powell Tuck
Energion Publications
P.O. Box 841
Gonzalez, FL 32560
www.energionpubs.com
2013
Copyright © 2013, William Powell Tuck
Some Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible (RSV), copyright 1946, 1952 © 1971, 1973, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA.
Some Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (NRSV), copyright © 1989 by the Division of the Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA.
Some Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV), in the public domain.
Some Scripture quotations are from The New English Bible (NEB). Copyright © the Delegates of the Oxford University Press and the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, 1961, 1970.
Some Scriptures are the author’s translations.
Cover Design: Jody Neufeld
EPub Edition
Print ISBNs:
ISBN 10: 1-938434-57-9
ISBN 13: 978-1-938434-57-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013932755
Energion Publications
P. O. Box 841
Gonzalez, FL 32560
energionpubs.com
For the churches I have served as pastor –
Good Hope Baptist Church, Aroda, Virginia
Calvary Baptist Church, Slidell, Louisiana,
Harrisonburg Baptist Church, Harrisonburg, Virginia,
First Baptist Church, Bristol, Virginia.
St. Matthews Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky,
First Baptist Church, Lumberton. North Carolina
Preface
John Stott reminds us that although the cross is without question the central symbol of the Christian faith today, that was not always the case. At first the early church avoided it because of its shameful association with the execution of common criminals. The symbols of the fish, peacock, a dove, or the athlete’s victory palm were some of the earliest Christian motifs as seen painted on the walls and ceilings of the catacombs.[1] Today many of the so called “growing” churches or the “prosperity gospel” churches or the churches that only want positive thoughts and