Those followers of Jesus who watched the events described in Matthew 27 must have felt like they were in a nightmare. Even though Jesus had told them about His coming death, this was not how they expected the story to unfold. Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion were horrific enough. But from noon until three in the afternoon, “darkness came over all the land” (v. 45). Modern readers are intrigued by the phenomenon. What caused this darkness? Was it an eclipse? A storm? Did some kind of supernatural fog envelop the area where the crucifixion took place?

Matthew does not give us details about the cause, perhaps because the language he uses provides enough of a clue to identify its ultimate source. The story of Israel’s Exodus tells how the Lord caused “darkness” to descend over the land of Egypt, which lasted for three days (Ex. 10:21–22). Similarly, the prophet Amos spoke of a day when the Lord would “make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight” (Amos 8:9). Matthew frames it as a theological rather than a meteorological event. The darkness is evidence that a great judgment has taken place.

Verse 46 notes that after three hours, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” With this quotation of Psalm 22:1, Jesus not only identifies Himself with the suffering it describes (see v. 18), but also with the hope of resurrection promised in Psalm 22:22–31. At the moment of Jesus’ death, the curtain of the Temple was torn from top to bottom and a great earthquake split open the tombs “of many holy people” who “were raised to life” (v. 52). The earthquake occurred as Jesus spoke His final words, but the resurrection of these saints probably took place after that of Jesus (v. 53).

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