Matthew 26, 27, 28.
IN surveying carefully the closing scenes of the Lord’s sojourn here we see that all with whom our souls have to do are summoned to take their place in that great transaction, and, as it were, to receive their answer for eternity. Not only is Christ Himself there, the great center of all, but God, angels, disciples, men, and Satan are there; sin, death, and hell are there also, as well as the demands and enaction of righteousness, and all find their interest and their place in that great hour, and leave that hour with something for eternity. Satan is there in the person of Judas. Satan had entered into Judas there, as at the beginning he had entered into the serpent, and in him Satan plays the part, as at the beginning, of the liar and the murderer; for Judas says to the officers, “Whom I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.” But Satan gets his answer as for eternity. He falls into the net he had laid for others; he is overthrown. The woman’s seed whose heel he bruised, bruises his head, and with him sin, death, and hell are overthrown. The vail of the temple is rent, showing that sin was put away; and the graves were opened, making a show of the spoiling of the strength of death and hell. By death was destroyed him that had the power of death.
Man is in the scene in all his diversity-Gentile and Jewish man, refined and rude, the great ones and the multitude, man in his religion and man in his world, Herod, Pilate, the Pharisees, the Roman soldiers and the Jewish people, and man incurably tainted is convicted there, neither uneasiness of conscience nor providential checks affect him to any good purpose; for Pilate breaks through the restraint of his own uneasiness and of his wife’s dreams, and though the vail of the temple is rent, the priests go on with their amity against Christ in spite of it, and though the angel had alarmed them as with the fears of death, the soldiers, for the sake of a little money, tell lies to the governor about the resurrection. Thus man is set aside forever as incorrigibly evil.
Disciples are there also, and there betraying their feebleness, their fears, and their ignorance. But still, they were disciples, a people that sought Jesus, that gathered around Him, though in trial they so betrayed themselves, and they are strengthened and comforted. The bright strangers from heaven tell them not to fear, and the risen Lord Himself returns to them with words and looks fall of restoration, and peace, and love, and they have good reason to know from all this, His grace and presence secured to them for eternity.
Angels are there. They see Jesus in the garden, and again they see the empty tomb. “Seen of angels.” And they get fresh occasions of light and joy; they learn secrets that give them new raptures―raptures even beyond what they had known at the foundation of the creation, when they shouted together; they learn something of “the manifold wisdom of God;” they were at the sepulcher for their own sake as well as for the sake of the woman, as they also spoke comfortably to Mary; and what they learned then they will remember for eternity.
God is there, and with Him the awful, solemn claims of His righteousness. The three hours of darkness tell us this. That darkness bespoke God’s entrance into the scene in the only character in which He could be there, demanding the wages of sin from the Surety, exacting the full purchase-money for the sinner’s ransom, and the moment the blood was shed or the life was yielded up, the moment “the offering of Himself” was accomplished, God in all His righteousness was satisfied, and entrance into His presence for sinners was published in heaven, earth, and hell, by the rending of the wail, the rending of the rocks, and the rending of the graves. Righteousness and peace kissed each other as for eternity. What a moment it was, and what a place the place that is called Calvary, as we have here seen. All were there, and all getting their answer as for eternity.