Preached September 6, 2009
from
Matthew 27:50-54
Theme: The events that followed Jesus’ death on the cross point it out as the most significant ‘death’ in all of history.
We come, this morning, to a truly remarkable passage in our study of the remarkable Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 27:50-54 tells the story of our Savior’s death on the cross. And it begins with these words:
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit (Matthew 27:50).
I suppose those words alone are so wondrous that we could stop right there, sing a hymn, bring our worship service to a close, and leave in quiet reverence. The fact which those words declare certainly is sobering enough, isn’t it? As believers, we know that it was for us that Jesus died. And just the thought that the sinless Son of God in human flesh would give Himself over to the experience of death, breath His last, and yield His spirit as the atoning sacrifice for our sins—what a marvel of God’s grace that is all by itself!
But if all that people knew about Jesus’ death was what was contained in those words, they might never know its true significance—as we do today. And so, the Holy Spirit didn’t leave the matter there. He moved Matthew to record the remarkable events that followed immediately after Jesus’ death for us—some “attention-getters”, if you will—that help the lost and needy people of this world come to the right conclusion about who this man is that has died on the cross.
The whole passage goes like this:
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:50-54).
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I was sharing my faith with an unsaved workmate many years ago. She was courteous to me; but she was also pretty antagonistic toward the Christian faith. And it was very apparent that she had been witnessed to before by some Christian family members and friends; because as we were talking, she said, “And by the way, Greg; don’t tell me that Jesus died the most painful death anyone ever died! Many other people died on crosses. And some people died in even more horrible ways that that! Jesus’ death on the cross was painful; but it certainly wasn’t the most painful death that anyone ever experienced.” It seems that she had the idea—perhaps from someone who had tried to convince her before—that our faith is, somehow, dependent on the amount of pain and anguish Jesus suffered on the cross.
Now; I believe that Jesus suffered greatly on the cross, don’t you? And though I don’t really know if anyone ever suffered more physical pain than He did; I believe that He did ‘suffer’ on the cross in ways that are greater anyone else could have ever suffered. When we consider that it was the holy Son of God who suffered on that cross, and that He was bearing the dreadful guilt of the sin of all humanity on Himself as He died; and when we consider that, for the first time in all of eternity, the relationship between the Father and the Son was broken, and that a holy God had to turn away from His precious Son as that Son bore the curse of sin in our place—then how could anyone have suffered more than He?
And so, I explained to my friend that I really didn’t know whether anyone ever suffered more physical pain than Jesus did. It may indeed be that someone actually did. But I also explained that our salvation isn’t based on how much physical pain Jesus suffered. Rather, I explained that the basis of our salvation is in the identity of that One who was suffering on the cross—and the atonement He accomplished for us there by suffering in our place.
I told her, “It may not be that Jesus’ death was the most painful death ever died; but you have to admit—given what the Bible affirms about Him—His death is the most significant death that anyone ever died!” And though my friend didn’t become a believer that day, she did at least agree with that.
No death is, or ever will be, more significant than the death of Jesus Christ. All of human history—and the eternal destiny of each member of the human family—hinges on that one, single death. In this morning’s passage, we’re given the clear indications of just how significant His death was. Those indicators point out to us who it is that died that most significant of all deaths for us—and what was accomplished by it!
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So, let’s look a little closer at this passage. First we note . . .
1. THE DEATH OUR LORD DIED (v. 50).
Verse 50 tells us, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.” And don’t let yourself pass by those words too quickly. The things that are represented in them are so remarkable that they left the hardened Roman soldiers who witnessed them in a state of utter astonishment!
Consider the manner in which Jesus died. He “cried out again with a loud voice”. The first time He cried out with a loud voice is found in verse 46. We’re told there, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And now—just before our Savior finally died—we’re told that He once again cried out “with a loud voice”.
That must have struck the Roman soldiers as something truly remarkable! They had seen many men die on crosses. They were used to death as a matter of routine. But they’d never seen a man die on the cross like this! Ordinarily, a man dies in the cross in a long, drawn-out manner. His life slowly ebbs out of him. When a man on a cross speaks before he dies on a cross—if he speaks at all—he whimpers or mutters incoherently in faint gasps and whispers. He certainly doesn’t cry out boldly “with a loud voice”, in words that all can hear and understand—and then suddenly die! You might even remember that, when someone came to ask Pilate for the body of Jesus, “Pilate marveled that He was already dead”; and he even had to check with the centurion who stood guard over the crucifixion “if He had been dead for some time” (Mark 15:44).
And then, consider the full authority Jesus Himself exercised over His death. We’re told about His death in a way that isn’t how we ordinarily speak of a man dying. We’re told that after making this loud cry, He “yielded up His spirit”—as if it had been of His own volition. Matthew doesn’t tell us the words that He uttered in this loud cry; but the other Gospel writers do. John 19:30 tells us that after tasting the sour wine that had been lifted up to Him, He said, “It is finished!”; and Luke 23:46 tells us that He then “cried out with a loud voice” and said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” And then, having cried out those words, “He breathed His last.” It was as if His authority extended even to His own death; and that He did not die on the cross until He Himself announced that He willingly yielded His spirit!
This struck those who saw it as one of the most remarkable things they’d ever seen! Mark, in his Gospel, tells us that one reason the centurion declared that Jesus was the Son of God was because he saw how Jesus “cried out like this and breathed His last” (Mark 15:39). It was a stunning a death—as if He were in complete control of it!
But it shouldn’t take us by surprise. Long before He was nailed to the cross, Jesus said, “My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment I have received from My Father” (John 10:17-18).
When our Lord died on the cross, He was still strong enough to cry out with a loud voice. He remained strong until He had fulfilled all that was necessary to make full atonement for our sins. And then, when ‘it was finished’—and not one moment before or after—He then yielded His spirit to the Father and died in our place.
No one ever lived a life like our Lord Jesus’ life. But no one has ever died a death like His death either! His is the most significant death in all of human history; because no one else had such power and authority over their own death as He did!
This Man who died on the cross was no mere man. Truly He was the Son of God!
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And then, as if to underscore the significance of Jesus’ death, God allowed it to be followed by some “attention-grabbers”. Next we note . . .
2. THE EVENTS THAT IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED HIS DEATH (vv. 51-53).
I’ve tried to imagine what this first event would have been like. The people who were at the scene of the cross probably wouldn’t have known about it at first. Their attention would have been fixed on the way Jesus had just died. But my suspicion is that this next event came to their attention through the growing sound of a great commotion that would have been going on not far away—somewhere around the temple area. They might even have heard the sound of some of the priests in the temple shouting and crying out in horror. As Matthew tells us, “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (v. 51).
Way back in the time of Moses, God had commanded that this veil be set up in the tabernacle as a sort of “sacred divider”. It served to keep people separated from the most holy place in all the tabernacle. In the Book of Exodus, we’re told that God told Moses;
“You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim. You shall hang it upon the four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold. Their hooks shall be gold, upon four sockets of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy” (Exodus 26:31-33).
Behind that veil was the ark of the Testimony—along with its ‘mercy seat’; which was the place where God would identify His presence to the Jewish people. And that veil served to block-off sinful man from access to the holy presence of God. It served as a constant, visual reminder that those who sought His favor were not permitted to approach Him without the blood of atonement. Hebrews 9:7 tells us that, into that most holy portion of the temple, “the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance.”
But when Jesus died, a most remarkable thing happened! The veil—that curtain that separated sinful man from holy God—was torn in two! It wasn’t torn from bottom to top—as if it were something man could have done; but was torn from top to bottom—to show that it was something God alone did! And it wasn’t merely ripped a little bit; but was torn completely in half. Full access to the Holy of holies became open to mankind! It was as if the moment Jesus died, God said to mankind, “Full atonement has now been made! I am satisfied that My Son’s death has fully atoned for your sin! You may now come near and have fellowship with Me!” As the writer of Hebrews says it;
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19-22).
I’m sure this must have come as a dreadful shock to the priests who might have been ministering in the temple at the time! But I also notice that, in Acts 6:7, we’re told that after Jesus rose from the dead and the apostles preached the gospel, “Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Could it be that many from the priesthood were drawn to trust in Christ because they understood the significance of the fact that, immediately after His death on the cross, God tore the veil in two?
Another thing that happened immediately after Jesus died was that “the earth quaked” (v. 51). I don’t know if you’ve ever been in an earthquake before; but I’ve been in three of them so far. That’s plenty! They can make you feel pretty helpless! I heard about a preacher who was preaching one Sunday morning to a sleepy congregation; and a minor quake occurred during his sermon. As everyone suddenly woke up from their drowsiness and looked around them, the pastor had the presence of mind to say, “And so dear brothers and sisters, now that I have your attention . . .!” An earthquake is an attention-getter all its own—it doesn’t even have to be ‘because of’ something!
But think of this particular earthquake! It was preceded by three hours of darkness over the land! And it occurred immediately after Jesus shouted from the cross and gave up His spirit! The connection of events would have been unmistakable! It would have clearly marked the death of the Man who had just died as something terribly significant! It would have been as if the Son of God had just won a victory at the cross that had sent the forces of darkness into an uproar! It would have been as if the Man on the cross had just purchased liberation for fallen mankind—and the whole of creation trembled at the expectation of what had just been secured (see Romans 8:18-22)!
Along with this, we’re told that “the rocks were split” (v. 51). This was, no doubt, because of the earthquake. But it’s almost an illustration of how God would let nothing—not even the hardness of the rocks of the earth—stand in the way of the message of His grace to fallen man through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I believe that if Jesus’ death can split the rocks of the earth, it can even break the heart of any man or woman hardened by sin! “‘Is not My word like a fire?’ says the LORD, ‘and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?'” (Jeremiah 23:29).
And as the rocks split, we’re told that “the graves were opened” (v. 52). The graves of those days were not like the graves we have in cemeteries today. These tombs were carved into the rocks of the cliffs, and into the walls of the caves. And as soon as Jesus died, the tombs were opened! It reminds me of the story of Paul when he was in the Philippian jail. We’re told, “Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed” (Acts 16:26). Jesus’, by His death, has released “those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:15).
And then, we’re told of one of the most remarkable things of all. We’re told that “many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many” (vv. 52-53).
Now; these weren’t mere “ghosts” that appeared to people. They were the “bodies” of the saints that were raised. And it wasn’t that they were literally “asleep”; because that’s the Bible’s way of speaking of the saints that have died and who await a ‘resurrection’ (see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15). Rather, they were saints who had truly died. They weren’t “saints” in the New Covenant sense. Rather, they were saints in the Old Covenant sense—people who believed on the promise of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice before He died on the cross. And it wasn’t that their graves opened when Jesus died, and that they rose out of their graves before He rose from the dead. Rather, we’re told that they came out of the graves after His resurrection to appear in Jerusalem; and they were most likely raised when He was raised. And it wasn’t that all the bodies of all these saints were raised. Rather it was “many”. And it wasn’t that everyone saw them. Rather, they only appeared to “many”.
These are some things we can know for sure about this remarkable event. But still, we’re left with a lot of questions: Who where these saints that were raised? Why them and not others? What happened to them after their appearance in town? Did they live on earth for a while and then die again—like Lazarus? Or did they ascend with the Lord when He ascended to the Father—never to die again? These are things that the Bible simply doesn’t tell us; so it doesn’t do any good to speculate about them.
But the important thing to note is that it shows us—once again—the tremendous significance of Jesus’ death. His death means that He tasted of the same sort of death that mankind experiences because of Adam’s sin. But it also means that “now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20)—”the firsborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18). And because He lives, we will live also!
The tearing of the veil in two, the earthquake, the splitting of the rocks, and even the opening of the graves, would not have shown us the full significance of Jesus’ death by themselves. It took the fact that many of the bodies of the saints were raised from the dead with Him, and that they then appeared in the town, to show us just how significant His death was!
Truly, this was the Son of God who died on that cross!
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Now; the last verse in our passage shows that I’m not drawing an inappropriate or irrational conclusion about Jesus from these things. Having looked at Jesus’ death, and the things that immediately occurred when He died, we finally note . . .
3. THE CONFESSION THAT WAS MADE AFTERWARDS (v. 54).
It’s an amazing confession when you consider who made it. It wasn’t a priest, or a scribe, or a prophet. It wasn’t a member of the household of Israel. It was a Gentile! Moreover, it was a Roman Gentile! What’s more, it was a Roman Gentile soldier who made this amazing confession!
Second, it’s an amazing confession when you consider the attitude he was in when he made it. Remember that this was a centurion! He was the commander of a troop of a hundred Roman soldiers. This man was hardened by experience; and had seen more deaths than you or I would care to imagine. He had probably stood guard over many crucifixions. And yet, we’re told that when he—and those who were guarding Jesus with him—saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, he and the others “feared greatly”. It had sunk into their hearts just how greatly significant the thing was that they just witnessed!
And third, it’s an amazing confession simply because of the testimony of Jesus that it bore to the world! “Truly,” the Roman centurion said, “this was the Son of God!” Some have suggested that he didn’t really understand the meaning of his own words—that being a Gentile, he wouldn’t even know who God is, let alone what it meant to say that Jesus was God’s Son. But I don’t believe that. The Jewish leaders and scribes had just being mocking Jesus, saying, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (v. 40), and, “He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God'” (v. 43). This Roman soldier was there to hear and consider all these mockings. He knew exactly what it meant to say, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
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No one died as Jesus died. No other death was made so remarkable by the things that happened immediately afterward. And no more appropriate words could have been uttered than that “truly this was the Son of God” who died on the cross for you and me.
Without questions, Jesus’ death on the cross is the most significant death that anyone has ever died. Let’s be sure that we have placed our faith in what He did for us there!