Matthew 27:45-56
45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). 47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” 48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” 50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people. 54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” 55 Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. 56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. (Matthew 27:45-56)
Verse 45 tells us that “from noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.” This was from twelve o’clock at midday until three in the afternoon — the last three hours of our Lord’s agony. The last three hours that He endured on the cross in our place. The last three hours in which He bore our sins. Jesus was crucified around nine in the morning and hung on the cross for about six hours — from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon. Then, after six hours of suffering and bearing the wrath of God on our behalf, He “became obedient to death” and breathed His last.
Everything that describes the last three hours of Christ’s sufferings is simply astonishing. The scene of His death lays before us six remarkable things:
- A remarkable darkness;
- A remarkable separation;
- A remarkable death;
- A remarkable sign;
- A remarkable confession;
- A remarkable devotion.
Every one of these six remarkable things is deeply significant for our faith, our comfort, and our growth in the Lord. Let us look at them one by one.
A REMARKABLE DARKNESS (v.45)
45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. (Matthew 27:45)
This darkness was not an ordinary one caused by the natural movement of the heavenly bodies, for at that time there was a full moon. Moreover, it lasted about three hours, and it was not partial but covered the whole land. Perhaps the prophet Amos foretold it (Amos 8:9):
9 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. (Amos 8:9)
For about three hours in the early afternoon of that day the sun refused to give its light. Even pagan astronomers bore witness to this darkness — men who, though they later became Christians, at the time of Christ’s crucifixion were not yet among the believers. Such a man was Dionysius the Areopagite. He wrote a letter to Polycarp of Smyrna in which he answered the reproaches of his former colleague Apollophanes, who had criticized Dionysius before Polycarp for becoming a Christian. Dionysius wrote: “Apollophanes himself is bound to remember what happened when we were together with him in Egypt. The two of us, being near Heliopolis, suddenly saw the moon move to a conjunction with the sun, even though it was not the time for a conjunction, and from this there came an eclipse of the sun. Then around the ninth hour of the day (three in the afternoon) we saw again that it left the place it had taken under the sun and moved to the diametrically opposite side. Please, remind him of this. Will Apollophanes dare to convict me of lying — me, who was present and watched this spectacle together with him? Finally, during the eclipse itself he exclaimed: ‘Dionysius, these changes are from the hand of God!’”
This is what Dionysius wrote about Apollophanes, but it is also known that he himself marveled at this extraordinary phenomenon as an astronomer and as an Athenian who at that time embraced the philosophy of Plato. Later he testified that during that wondrous eclipse he himself cried out: “Either the Creator of nature is suffering, or the machine of the world is breaking apart!”
This remarkable darkness seems to express creation’s disapproval of the unjust crucifixion. Even though everything that was happening was according to God’s will, the Lord’s decrees in no way excuse the sin of those who crucified the Savior. Therefore, let no one use God’s providence as an excuse for his own crimes!
Besides this, this darkness is a symbol of the sin and darkness in human hearts. It is sin that separates us from God and robs us of the light of life. It is sin that gives place to the devil and to “the dominion of darkness” in this world.
And finally, this darkness seems to reflect the darkness in the soul of Christ. Can you imagine how Jesus felt in those last hours of His earthly life? Hours in which the sins, the sorrows, and the sicknesses of the whole world came crashing down upon Him. Hours of agony and anguish that He endured for us. It is as though, when the Light of the world “was made sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21), physical darkness flooded into this world in the same way that spiritual darkness flooded into the soul of Christ.
What was astonishing about this darkness was that it was supernatural.
A REMARKABLE SEPARATION (v.46)
46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). (Matthew 27:46)
The time at which Jesus was dying was the time of the evening sacrifice. This reminds us of the fact that all the sacrifices of the Old Testament were a foreshadowing of precisely the sacrifice of Christ. In His dying cry Jesus was quoting Psalm 22:1 — “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He was forsaken because He had borne our sins and had stood in our place. When God the Father saw our sin upon His beloved Son, He was so angered at the sin that He had taken on that in His wrath He forsook Him.
The cry of Jesus in fact means several things. First, the Lord is infinitely holy and righteous. As it says in Habakkuk 1:13, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil.”
Second, every sin must be punished.
Third, God loves us with an infinite, indescribable love. He loved us so much that He sacrificed His only begotten Son for us. This act of His is proof that He will never forsake us — neither in this world nor in the one to come!
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” — this separation was extraordinary because it was a separation between the First and the Second Person of the most holy Trinity, between God the Father and God the Son. Moreover, this separation was remarkable because it brought union — union between us and God.
A REMARKABLE DEATH (v.50)
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. (Matthew 27:50)
Jesus “cried out in a loud voice.” This suggests to us that even in this last moment of His life, the strength of our Lord was not exhausted. Had He wished, He need not have died. In John 10:14-15,17-18 He Himself says:
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” (John 10:14-15,17-18)
Jesus did not lose His spirit. He simply released it to leave His body — He entrusted it to His Father. But before He breathed His last, Jesus cried out. His final words before His death were a triumphant cry of a conquering King. Before that He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), and after that: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). Jesus had fulfilled His mission. He had won!
What was astonishing about this death was that it was controlled and voluntary. Beyond that, it was a death that brought salvation and eternal life for all who would receive Jesus as their Substitute and Savior.
A REMARKABLE SIGN (v.51-53)
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people. (Matthew 27:51-53)
The torn curtain, the earthquake, the split rocks, the opened tombs — all of this bore witness that the One who was dying was no ordinary man. It was as though even the lifeless creation felt itself bound up in the fate of its Creator.
The tearing of the curtain was of special significance. It spoke of the new, free, and unrestricted access that Christ secured for us through His death. In Hebrews 10:19-22 this event is reflected like this:
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19-22)
Through His death and resurrection Jesus relocated two things — the Most Holy Place, the sacred dwelling of God; and paradise, the dwelling of the righteous dead after their death. First, at His death the Most Holy Place was moved — first from the sacred place of the temple to heaven, and at Pentecost from heaven into the church and into the hearts of believers.
Second, at His resurrection paradise was moved from Sheol into the third heaven — into the presence of the Father. In Ephesians 4:8-10 the apostle Paul explains Psalm 68:18 in the following way:
8 This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” 9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) (Ephesians 4:8-10)
According to many biblical scholars, the “captives” that Christ took captive in the “lower, earthly regions” and carried with Himself “higher than all the heavens” are the righteous, who before His coming went at their death into “Abraham’s bosom” — a place in Sheol, or Hades, that was set apart only for the righteous. That is, before Christ, paradise was a separate compartment of Hades. But after Christ, the apostle Paul speaks of paradise and of the third heaven as one and the same place (2 Corinthians 12:2-4):
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. (2 Corinthians 12:2-4)
What was remarkable about the sign of the torn curtain was that it testified to a truly radical change — the moving of the Most Holy Place from the temple to heaven, and from there into the church.
A REMARKABLE CONFESSION (v.54)
54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54)
Notice that this was a confession made by one of the executioners of Jesus. We do not know whether he truly believed in Jesus as the Son of God, but his words certainly show a sense of awe and an awareness that the natural cataclysms he was witnessing were connected in some way with the death of Jesus in particular, and not with the death of one of the robbers crucified with Him.
Either way, the confession of the centurion is in fact a saving confession! In Romans 10:9-11 it says:
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” (This is what the centurion did. He truly was not far from the kingdom of God!) and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” (Romans 10:9-11)
What was astonishing about this confession was that, even though it was made by one of Jesus’ executioners, it was still a saving one. Make it yourself! Believe in your heart in Jesus as the Son of God, receive His substitutionary sacrifice personally for yourself, and God will save you from your sin!
A REMARKABLE DEVOTION (v.55-56)
55 Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. 56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. (Matthew 27:55-56)
The apostles, who had sworn their loyalty to Jesus, were not at the cross — with the exception of John, who was His cousin according to the flesh. They had become afraid for their lives and had hidden themselves away in “mouse holes.” And yet, Jesus was not completely forsaken. The women were there — His faithful followers and servants. Their devotion led them to place their love for Christ above their own well-being. Perhaps that is why He rewarded them by appearing, after His resurrection, first to them and not to the apostles.
What was astonishing about this devotion was that it was the devotion of the unknown and the humanly weak. I pray that it will stir us as well, so that we would not bend under trials, but be truly devoted to Jesus.
THE PICTURE OF CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION
- A remarkable darkness — a three-hour solar eclipse at the very time of the last and most agonizing hours of Jesus’ life;
- A remarkable separation — the separation between God the Father and God the Son, which led to our union with God;
- A remarkable death — a triumphant cry of victory, proclaiming God’s triumph over Satan and sin;
- A remarkable sign — the torn curtain, which testified to the moving of the Most Holy Place and to the free access given to us who are human into God’s presence;
- A remarkable confession — “Surely he was the Son of God” — a confession that, if made with a sincere heart, can save us;
- A remarkable devotion — the devotion of those who were not so visible or humanly important.
This is the picture of Christ’s crucifixion. In it we see the Lamb of God crucified for the sins of the world. He bore our sin. He paid the full price for it. He died on the cross of Golgotha for us. A truly remarkable death, through which our beloved Lord and Savior Jesus Christ secured for us free access to God’s presence and gave us the gift of eternal life. He is truly worthy for us to love Him, to follow Him, and to serve Him to the end!