(Read Matthew 27:24-61, 2824When 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)
28And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. (Matthew 27:28))
NEARLY two thousand years have rolled away since these scenes took place, which God has recorded here in His Word for us, ― scenes more wonderful than any that have occurred in days preceding, or that can follow for nothing can be so wonderful as the death and resurrection of the Son of God, and especially when that death is for the blessing of guilty man, ―for your blessing, and for mine. But though nearly two thousand years have rolled away, these scenes are as fresh as though they happened yesterday, to the eye and heart of God, and to the heart of the believer; and whether you, my reader, shall be in the depths of hell, or in the heights of everlasting joy, depends on how you understand these scenes, and on what is your relation to the blessed Saviour whose death is here recorded.
Has your heart ever yet been moved by these scenes? If not, listen again to this wonderful story, and may it be this day moved by it. May the Holy Ghost use this oft-told tale of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ for your blessing. Everything hangs on your relation to Him who died and rose again.
There never was anything so wonderful as this, and never anything so sorrowful, took place on this earth. Creation is marvelous, and the incarnation of Jesus is wonderful indeed; His life most wonderful; but oh, how much more so that He, the Son of God, died, and died for us! Can you, my reader, say, He died for me? Blessed word! If not, may you be able, in faith, to say it henceforth.
What a scene this is, and the more wondrous when we think it is our blessed adorable Lord who thus suffered and died! He, who went about doing good, meeting every need, manifesting by the power of His actions, that He Himself was God! You would have thought that every heart would have been attracted to Him. But no, He was sold for thirty pieces of silver, the price of the meanest slave. One of the little company that surrounded Him, sold Him, and betrayed Him; and another, though He loved him, denied Him; and all forsook Him and fled! Men taunted and derided Him, bound Him with thongs, blindfolded Him, treated Him with every indignity; took Him from one high priest to another, and then to Herod, who mocked Him and set Him at naught, and then sent Him back to Pilate! And we read, “the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together,”―shook hands on the rejection and sufferings of the Son of God! Oh, what a basis for friendship to be founded on, the refusal and casting out of the Son of God But let me tell you, my reader, that is the world’s basis of friendship even in the present day.
They brought Jesus out, bearing the crown of thorns, and Pilate said “Behold the man!” And I say to you, “Behold the Man,” whom men mocked with a crown of thorns, with a reed in His hand, and a royal robe, in derision; and whom some wretch, harder and more degraded than the rest, smote on the head, driving those thorns more deeply into His blessed brow, giving Him more of pain and agony!
Pilate had to say, “I find no fault in him.” No, what fault could he find in Him? What had He ever done, but gone about doing good; and now He was going to die, to finish His work of love and grace! And, as though to mock Him, the very place where He was crucified was a graveyard! They took Him to Golgotha, Calvary, 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 words in all Scripture! “There,” in a graveyard, “they,”―the polished Greek, the warlike Roman, and the religious Jew,—all combined to put Him out of this world; and they crucified Him between two thieves, men whose crimes had made them pests of society! But what did Jesus say, as it were, “I will have a trophy even here;” and one of those very thieves He took that day with Him to the Paradise of God!
The thief looked at Him, and learned at length that Christ was more than a man; for he turned to His neighbor, and said, “This man hath done nothing amiss.”
Could you say you have done nothing amiss? No, you could not. Nor could I, but “This man hath done nothing amiss.” Then why did He die? He died for the one who had done something amiss, the just for the unjust, that He might “bring us to God.”
This poor thief looked at Jesus, and trusted Him; and Jesus said to him, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” But the rulers and the people derided Him. “He saved others; himself he cannot save,” they said. We read also, “And sitting down they watched him there.” Terrible words!
As it were, they sit and gloat over His sorrow and His suffering. Do you say? What hearts theirs must have been! My reader, your heart and mine are exactly the same!
The soldiers gamble for His very garments beneath His dying eyes! “And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying,...If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
When you and I are twitted and taunted, what do we do? We like to show the people who twit and taunt us, that we can do what they say we cannot do. But He bore it all.
They said, “Himself he cannot save.” That is not true. Himself He would not save. He could have saved Himself, He could have come down from the cross; but had He answered to the taunt, and done what they said He could not do, He never could have saved you and me, never could have saved the countless myriads He has saved since that day.
Has He saved you, my reader? Are you among the “others” that He has saved. He would not save Himself, that He might save you. To extricate you from your condition as a guilty sinner, awaiting the judgment of God, He would not extricate Himself. Will you not then, my reader, turn to Him today, if you have never turned to Him before.
Again the taunting cry is raised, “If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.” Do you think they would have believed Him, had He come down from the cross? They would not; for He has come down from the cross, and come out of the grave, and gone up into Heaven, and yet men do not believe Him.
“He trusted in God,” they say. Do you, my reader, trust in Him now? You will be damned, if you do not. 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 judgment. When man had shown himself in his blackest light, the work of atonement was done, whereby the very vilest sinner may be saved.
We read, “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.” The sixth hour was mid-day. At mid-day darkness veils the land. Creation was staggered at the sight. The Creator on the cross, and the creature mocking Him! Creation veiled its face from a scene so awful, so terrible!
Darkness covers the land, and what took place in that darkness? Man was shut out; and there were three hours in which God was dealing with Jesus about man’s sin, man’s guilt, man’s iniquity.
I have no doubt those guilty souls quaked as the darkness settled in, and thought, “God is going to judge us.” But no, no dealing of God with guilty man takes place. Silence reigns, and darkness prevails for three long hours, and then a voice is heard, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
In the hour when everyone was against Him, when everyone had gone, God forsook this blessed One too!
Ah, my reader, in your hour of sorrow, is not the sympathy of those who love you sweet? It may be very inadequate to meet your sorrow, and yet it is sweet to know that some sympathize, some hearts feel, some eyes weep with you; but Jesus no eye pitied. “Lover and friend hast thou put far from me,” He said; and at that very moment even God forsook Him too. He was left alone.
Reader, if you die in your sins, and awake in hell, left alone by God, you will never say, “My God,” for He is not your God, the world has been your God. Faith only can say, “My God.” What is the answer God gives as this sorrowful query rolls out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? “The open graves, the rent veil, the riven rocks, are the answer from God. There is nothing more sorrowful on earth than to feel forsaken, but what must it be if you are cut off in your sins? You may have a grand funeral, and then time goes on, and men on earth have forgotten you, and God has forsaken you, and forsaken you for evermore. Oh, my reader, your future is awful, if you are not the Lord’s! Will you not turn, and say to Him, “From today I trust Thee; my heart shall be Thine, for what hast Thou not done for me?
“But the darkness passed, and then there came a cry that reached up to the heights of heaven, and, I believe, down to the depths of hell likewise, — a cry that rent the rocks, and shook the earth, “IT IS FINISHED!” Wondrous cry! And then another, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”
Some said, He “calleth for Elias;” others said, “Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.” But no Elias comes to take Him down, and He bows his head, and gives up His spirit; and on that cross there is a dead Saviour, and that Saviour is the Son of God! 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? “Cursed at his coming.”
The veil was rent. God rent it from the top to the bottom. Who opened the graves? God’s own hand. The moment the Saviour died, the work of redemption was accomplished, and the graves were opened. True, the bodies of the saints did not arise till after His resurrection, because He must be “the first-fruits of them that slept.” But the graves were opened, proof that the power of death was annulled.
He went into the grave, into Joseph’s new tomb, and the first day of the week he arose again.
An angel came down and rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulcher. I believe that angel will ever delight in the blessed bit of work he got to do that morning. What did he roll away the stone for? Not to let the Lord out, most surely.
Ah no; Christ had already risen. But the stone was rolled away, that you and I might look in. “Come, see the place where the Lord lay,” says the angelic messenger “I know you seek Jesus.” Is that true of you, my reader? Are you seeking Jesus? Come, see the place where He lay. He is not there, He is risen. There is no dead Christ now on the cross, or in the tomb; He is in the glory!
The angel adds, “Go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him.”
But now He is not in Galilee, He is at God’s right hand. Do you not see Him? Look up in faith today, and see Him crowned with glory and honor.
There is often a great mingling of fear and joy when a soul first gets hold of the gospel; and so we read here that the women to whom the angel spake “departed from the sepulcher, with fear and great joy.” But as they went, Jesus met them. Ah, that is a very different thing. They fell at his feet then, and held Him, and worshipped Him. Yes, that is all you have to do. Have you been seeking Jesus? May you meet Him today, and cling to and worship Him.
“When the Saviour said, “Tis finished!’
Everything was fully done;
Done, as God Himself would have it, ―
Christ the victory fully won.
All the doing is completed;
Now, ‘tis look, believe, and live!
None can purchase his salvation,
Life’s a gift that God must give.”
W. T. P. W.