Nearly two thousand years ago the most marvelous event of all time took place. So wonderful was this sequence of scenes that God has recorded them in His Word―the death and resurrection of the Son of God as written in Matthew 27:24-6124When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. 25Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. 26Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. 27Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. 28And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. 29And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! 30And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. 31And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. 32And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. 33And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, 34They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. 35And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. 36And sitting down they watched him there; 37And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 38Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. 39And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, 40And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. 41Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, 42He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. 43He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. 44The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. 45Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 46And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 47Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. 48And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. 49The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. 50Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. 54Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. 55And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him: 56Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children. 57When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: 58He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. 59And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. 61And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre. (Matthew 27:24‑61), and the grand culmination of that earthly journey that we find in chapter 28. Read this account, friend, and marvel at the mighty love of God, especially in the fact that He gave His Son to die for the blessing of guilty man for your blessing and for mine!
Though nearly two millenniums have passed since these scenes were enacted, to the eye and heart of God and to the adoring heart of the believer they are as fresh as though they happened yesterday. And listen, my reader: whether your eternal destiny shall be in the depths of hell or in the heights of everlasting joy, depends on how you receive these scenes and appropriate to yourself the blessed Savior whose death is here recorded. Most solemn question: what is your relation to Him who died and rose again?
God in creation is marvelous and His Son Jesus as seen by faith in His incarnation is wonderful indeed. His perfect, sinless life fills the soul with reverent awe; but more, far more is the wonder that He, the Son of God, died―He died for us! Reader, can you say, He died for me?
Behold the Man who is our blessed, adorable Lord―He, who went about doing good, meeting every need, manifesting by the power of His actions that He Himself was God! Was not every heart attracted to Him? No! One of the little company that surrounded Him sold Him for thirty pieces of silver, the price of the meanest slave. He sold Him and betrayed Him to His enemies. Another, though he loved Him, denied Him, and ALL forsook Him and fled.
The Man, Christ Jesus: behold Him bound, blindfolded, treated with every indignity by His creature, man. Led from one high priest to another, and then to Herod who sent Him back to Pilate. And we read: "the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together." They shook hands, as it were, on a pact to further the suffering and rejection of the Son of God! What a basis for friendship was the refusal and casting out of God's beloved One! And that, my friend, is still the world's basis of friendship.
"Behold the Man," said Pilate―the Man mocked with a crown of thorns, with a reed in His hand, and wearing a royal robe in derision. Further indignity, some wretch harder and more degraded than His fellows, smote Him on the head, driving those thorns deeper into His blessed brow, increasing His pain and agony. Pilate could find no fault in Him; yet he gave Him up to His tormentors, to His executioners, to be crucified. He who had ever "gone about doing good" was now going to die, to finish His work of love and grace.
As though to mock Him more, the very place where He was crucified was a graveyard! They "led Him away to crucify Him"; they took Him to Golgotha, to Calvary, to the "place of a skull"―as though they would say: "We have heard of His being the Prince of Life. We will put Him to death in a graveyard!"
And there they crucified Him. No more solemn word in all Scripture! There―in a graveyard―they ―the polished Greek, the warlike Roman, the religious Jew―all combined to put Him to death. They crucified Him between two thieves, outcasts of society. But one, a trophy of His grace even in that shameful hour, confessed, "This Man hath done nothing amiss." Sweet confession, balm to His loving heart! What recompense was bestowed immediately upon that dying thief! "This day shalt thou be with Me in paradise."
Friend, can you say you have done nothing amiss? No, you cannot and neither can I; but "this Man hath done nothing amiss." Then why did He die for the one who had done something amiss―for you and for me―the Just for the unjust, that He might "bring us to God"?
The poor thief looked at Jesus and trusted Him, but the rulers and the people derided Him. "Sitting down they watched Him there." Terrible words! As it were, they sat and gloated over His sorrow and suffering. What hearts theirs must have been! Friend, your heart and mine are exactly the same! We are identified with those soldiers who gambled for His garments beneath His dying eyes, and with the passing throng who reviled, derided, and taunted Him in His agony.
And what did they say? "Himself He cannot save." That is not true. Himself He would not save, for, had He come down from the cross, He never could have saved you and me, never could have saved the countless myriads He has saved since that day. Christ would not save Himself, that He might save you. Will you not then, my reader, turn to Him today, if you have never turned to Him before? Will you trust Him who "trusted in God"? He trusted; but did God deliver Him? No, there was a compact between God and His Son that the work should be accomplished by which the guilty sinner might be rescued righteously from eternal judgment. When man proved his total depravity in the blackness of his heart at the crucifixion scene, then was the work of atonement done whereby the vilest may be saved.
Then from the sixth hour (mid-day) there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour." Darkness covered the land; with Christ the Creator suspended between heaven and earth upon the cross of shame, creation veiled its face from a scene so awful, so terrible! Darkness covered the land; and in that darkness man was shut out and God with Jesus was shut in. There for three hours God dealt with Jesus about man's sin, man's guilt, man's iniquity. For three long hours silence reigned and darkness prevailed until from that darkness came a desolate voice: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
In the hours when all were against Him, when everyone had gone, God forsook this blessed One, too. He was left alone in the darkness, in His deep sorrow and agony. There was none to take pity, none to share His grief. Denied the sweet sympathy of loved ones, with no hearts to grieve nor eyes to weep with Him, He was left alone.
But the darkness passed. Then there came a mighty cry resounding to the heights of heaven, and, I believe, down to the depths of hell―a cry that rent the rocks and shook the earth: "IT IS FINISHED!" And then another: "Father, into Thine hands I commend My spirit."
There upon that cross of shame the lowly Jesus bowed His sacred head and dismissed His spirit. On that cursed tree there was a dead Savior, and that Savior is the Son of God. Oh, soul, do you love Him?
"If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema, Maranatha." 1 Cor. 16:2222If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. (1 Corinthians 16:22). What does that mean? "Accursed at His coming."
The veil in the temple was rent. God's own hand rent it from the top to the bottom. The moment the Savior died, the work of redemption was accomplished and the power of death was annulled. Though Jesus died, He must be "the first-fruits of them that slept." His lifeless body was laid in the grave, in Joseph's new tomb, and the entrance sealed with a stone.
Could death hold Him? On the third day morning, being the first day of the week, Christ arose! An angel came and rolled the stone from the door of the sepulcher―not to let the Lord out, most surely, but the stone was rolled away so that you and I might look in. "Come, see the place where the Lord lay," said the angel messenger; "I know you seek Jesus. He is not here. He is risen as He said."
Dear soul, are you seeking Jesus? No dead Christ is now on the cross nor in the tomb. "He is risen as He said." On that third day morning, Christ AROSE, the mighty conqueror over sin, death, and the grave. He arose, the first fruits from the dead, and has ascended to God's right hand. Look up in faith today and see Him there crowned with glory and honor. Let your eyes feast upon Him, your heart cling to Him, and your soul worship Him, for He is worthy.
Up from the grave, He arose
With a mighty triumph o'er His foes;
He arose, a Victor o'er the dark domain,
And He lives forever with His saints to reign:
He arose, He arose! Hallelujah, Christ arose!"
"For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died
for the ungodly."
JUNE