Question: Luke 23:45. Why in this Gospel is the rending of the veil noted as preceding the giving up of the ghost by the Lord Jesus, whilst in Matthew and Mark it is given as following Christ’s death?
W. G. T. B.
Answer: Luke not seldom departs from the strict sequence of time, and delights in giving us the moral accompaniments or results of the ways, words or work of the Lord Jesus. Mark more particularly, and, in part, Matthew also, furnish us with the chronological order. But in this instance neither of the three appears to afford definite marks warranting us to say absolutely whether the rending was before or after our Lord’s death. The darkness past, and God’s holy judgment borne, He could now say, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,” and then expire. The truth would not be without Luke’s account, which is as necessary for us as the record of the other Evangelists. In the four Gospels we have God’s full and complete account of Christ’s atoning work.