The religious leaders in Jerusalem were worried. You see they remembered that Jesus had promised to rise from the dead and so they went to Pilate and they said to him, ‘”We remember that that deceiver said while he was yet alive after three days I will rise again.’ And then they told Pilate, ‘Let’s make that sepulcher as sure as we can. Let’s guard it and seal it because we don’t want his disciples to come and steal his body and then they’ll start telling everybody, “See he arose from the dead”‘” (Matthew 27:62-64, paraphrase). Here’s an interesting scene. You find it described in Matthew 27:62-66.

You see these men remembered what the disciples had forgotten. The disciples forgot that Jesus said He would be raised from the dead and between Good Friday and Easter Sunday they were walking in the valley of the shadow of death. They were wondering, what is going on? They were not holding on to the promise of His Word. Why would the disciples forget what He said? Well, they had their own ideas about what Jesus should do. They thought He should establish a kingdom. They thought He should perhaps conquer the Romans. They remembered? No. They forgot, and they’re the ones who should’ve remembered! Secondly, these religious leaders in Jerusalem anticipated what the disciples never even imagined. The disciples never thought of stealing the body and then trying to make as though Jesus had come back from the dead. They never thought of such a thing.

Ah, but the enemy thought of it. They knew that a resurrection or even the story of a resurrection would have tremendous impact. But you know they attempted what could never really succeed. They tried to keep Jesus from being raised from the dead. They sealed the tomb. They put a guard there. It didn’t make a bit of difference. God opened the tomb and we could come in and see that Jesus was gone. They finally did concoct a story that the body of Jesus had been stolen. It’s a foolish story because the disciples never believed in the resurrection before it took place. They never anticipated doing such a thing. They were too afraid to do it and they could not have done it. No, Jesus came out of the tomb alive and the angel opened the tomb to let us see that He is alive and we serve a risen Savior and He’s in the world today and we want to serve Him with our whole hearts.

Roman soldiers were known for their common sense, their courage and their self-control, but when that Roman centurion saw Jesus Christ die on the cross, when he saw the miracle that took place of the darkness and the earthquake, what did he say? “Truly this was the Son of God.” It’s rather interesting to see how different groups of people responded to Calvary. The religious leaders mocked the Lord Jesus when He was on the cross. You’d think they would’ve been studying the Old Testament Scriptures and saying, “Is there something in this book about what’s going on here?” Oh had they only read Genesis 22, Abraham and Isaac going up on the mountain. Had they read Psalm 22, had they just read Isaiah 53. Alas, the religious leaders were blind to Him and they mocked Him.

The common people watched Him. As they went by, they said, “Isn’t this interesting.” Here’s Jesus of Nazareth, and He claimed to be the Son of God. Look at that inscription over the cross. “This is Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews.” Why would a king die? Why would He be wearing a crown of thorns? The common people watched Him. The soldiers had gambled before Him. That was a part of their pay. They took the few clothes that Jesus had and they gambled for them. But the centurion acknowledged Him. I don’t know what God was doing in the heart of that centurion during those six hours Jesus was on the cross. Certainly he heard the Lord Jesus say, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” Certainly he heard His cry, “Why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Surely he heard the Lord Jesus say, “It is finished. Father into Thy hands I commit My spirit.” I think the combination of all of these experiences got to this man’s heart and he said, “This is the Son of God.”

That’s where you start. You start by acknowledging Jesus is the Son of God, and then you believe in Him. John wrote and said, “These things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you might have life through His name” (John 20:31). Here was Jesus laying down His life and here was the centurion taking up His life. Don’t be a spectator. Don’t be a mocker. Rather confess Jesus Christ. Take your stand with Him. Receive eternal life.

One man dies and three miracles take place. Of course that man is Jesus Christ the Son of God, and the miracles are recorded for us in Matthew 27:51-53. Listen to this amazing event. “And, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept were raised, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”

Let’s look at these three miracles and see what spiritual lessons are in them for our lives today. Let’s look first of all at that torn veil. The veil in the temple separated the holy of holies from the holy place. No one ever went behind that veil except the high priest once a year on the Day of Atonement. But the Lord Jesus Christ when He died on the cross opened the way to God and now we don’t need temple or sacrifice, altar or priest. We don’t need anyone except the Lord Jesus to bring us to God. He is the one God and the one mediator between God and man. The torn veil. Jesus Christ has won the victory over sin and the way is open. The earthquake. When I read about that earthquake, I think of the earthquake at Mount Sinai when God delivered His law and now we have an earthquake where God is saying, “This is My grace.” Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

God in His wonderful will by His marvelous grace has opened up the way and He has given to us the truth of His grace and now we are saved by grace not by keeping law. The resurrection. Our Lord not only opens the way and gives us the truth but He imparts the life. He is the way, the truth and the life. Not only has He conquered sin and the law He has conquered death! Death no longer has any power over us. “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). We have that wonderful hope of resurrection. We need not fear sin or the law or death because Jesus Christ on the cross has opened the way and given to us the truth and imparted His life.

Most people when they die are very quiet, very subdued. I’ve been with people in homes and in hospitals when they have died and they don’t say very much if anything at all. When the Lord Jesus Christ died, He shouted with a loud voice! We read these words in Matthew 27:50, “Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the spirit.” This verse tells us how the Lord Jesus Christ died. To begin with, He died victoriously. “Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice.” Our Lord had refused to drink the narcotic they had offered to Him. During these six hours on the cross He had been in perfect control of all of His senses and now He knew that the hour for the sacrifice had come and He shouted with a loud voice, “It is finished!” He died victoriously.

What was finished? Well, the Old Testament prophesies were finished. All that they said about His life and His ministry and now His death had been completed. The work of redemption had been finished. He died victoriously. He didn’t die saying, “I am finished” as though He were a defeated martyr. No, He died shouting, “It is finished!” He was a conqueror. He died confidently. His last words were “Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit.” Confidently. He knew where He was going. He knew what He was doing.

Oh how wonderful it would be for us to come to that point in our lives should the Lord permit us to die when we can die confidently, knowing we have done the Father’s will. He died willingly. They didn’t murder the Lord Jesus. He Himself said, “No one takes My life from Me. I lay down My life and I have the authority to take it up again” (John 10:18) and He did. He died willingly. The Shepherd was dying for the sheep. The sacrifice was being made for the sins of the world.

This to me is rather amazing that the very God of heaven would so descend that He would come and die for me, the Creator for the creature; the Shepherd for the sheep. I’m glad He died victoriously and confidently and willingly because He died for you and me.

Our Lord Jesus Christ went through life misunderstood. You know it’s a difficult thing to be misunderstood. You’re trying to share something with someone, you’re trying to communicate and somehow there are barriers between you. Our Lord was misunderstood in His actions. His words were misunderstood and even twisted. And His miracles were misunderstood. They said that He performed miracles in the power of the devil. Well, He went through life misunderstood and when He died, He was misunderstood.

Listen to the record in Matthew chapter 27:47 “Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, ‘This man calleth for Elijah.’ And 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. The rest said, ‘Let be, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.'” Our Lord had cried out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” In the Aramaic, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” And they thought He was calling for Elijah. They were blind to their own Scriptures. Had they just remembered Psalm 22:1 they would’ve said “This man is quoting the Old Testament Scriptures!” Psalm 22 begins, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” They were blind to their own Scriptures. Had they read Psalm 22 they would’ve read an Old Testament prophesy of what they were watching as they stood there at Calvary. They were blind to their Savior. They did not realize that this One hanging there on the tree was the Savior of the nation and the Savior of the world.

But the greatest tragedy of all was this: they were blind to their own sin. Oh it was kind for someone to take a sponge and put some liquid on it and help to relieve our Lord’s pain. This was a kind thing to do, but much rather would He have given to them the water of life to satisfy the thirst in their souls. They were blind to their own sin. Don’t misunderstand the Master. The Lord Jesus Christ is the One person you do want to understand. He’s the One you do want to listen to. He’s the One you want to trust. Believe Him. Receive Him and you can depend upon His Word because in His Word is everlasting life.

No it was not a natural phenomenon. It was supernatural. It was not an eclipse. It was not a sand storm. It was a miracle! This is what the Scripture says in Matthew 27:45-46, “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And 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?'”

You see darkness came over all the land. What kind of a darkness was it? I like to think it was a darkness of sympathy. All of nature was sympathizing with the Creator. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of all things. All things were made by Him. “Without Him was not anything made that was made” and now He’s dying on the cross. And it’s as though all of nature brings a curtain down, a curtain of sympathy, the darkness of sympathy.

You see when man sinned, all of nature was plunged into sin and death and now the great Creator is dying and all of nature is sympathizing with Him. I think too it’s the darkness of solemnity; a very solemn act is being performed on the cross. You’ll recall that the last of the great miracles in Egypt before that great judgment of the firstborn, the darkness came down upon the land and it was a darkness so thick that you could feel it. It’s as though God is saying “My firstborn, My one and only is now going to be offered for the sins of the world.” The darkness of solemnity.

I think it was the darkness of secrecy. The high priest had gone behind the veil to offer Himself in sacrifice. “My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken Me?” This is one of the greatest questions ever asked and the answer of course, is because He was made sin for us. Jesus went through the darkness of Calvary that you and I might never have to walk in the darkness or live in the darkness. Hell is eternal darkness. Heaven is eternal light in glory. Have you trusted this Savior as your Savior? Don’t spend eternity living in the darkness.

When the Lord Jesus Christ was being crucified at Golgotha, it looked as though everything had failed. In fact, it looked as though God had failed. No wonder the crowd shouted as recorded in Matthew 27:43, “He trusted in God; let Him deliver him now, if He will have him: for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.'” He trusted in God. It looked as though His faith was not worth anything. By the way, you can pick that situation up and drop it right where you are today. I suppose someone may be saying about us, “oh yeah, you’re a child of God. You’re trusting God. What are you doing on a cross? Why has everything fallen to pieces?” You see this situation teaches us some very important lessons.

First of all, we must distinguish between faith and feeling. Was the Lord Jesus trusting in the Father? He certainly was. In obedience to His Father’s will He was dying on the cross. He was trusting His Father. How did He feel? He felt terrible. Crucifixion is a tragic and terrible way to die. You know you and I can be doing a great work for God. We can be walking by faith and not feel good. Learn to distinguish between faith and feeling.

Secondly, learn to distinguish between faith and sight. If you look at the scene at Calvary, it looks like failure. The disciples are scattered, a band is watching Him there, He is hanging on the cross, they have gambled for the few clothes that He owned. It looks like failure, but it wasn’t. There’s a difference between circumstances and the will of God; faith and sight. Learn to distinguish and learn to distinguish between faith and public opinion.

As the crowd went by, and some very important people were in that crowd, they were saying, “He trusted God! Well, let God deliver Him if He’ll have Him.” He said, ‘I’m the Son of God.'” Don’t worry about what people say. They were wrong. Jesus Christ died by faith just as He had lived by faith. Don’t live by your feelings. Don’t go by sight. Don’t listen to the opinions of others. Just do what God’s called you to do, even if it means being nailed to a cross because there’s always the resurrection that follows and the resurrection brings glory.

“He saved others; himself he cannot save.” You find those words in Matthew 27:42. And they were spoken by the chief priests and the scribes and the elders as they were mocking the crucified Christ. Have you ever stopped to think about the people that Jesus could not save?

First of all, He cannot save those who have never heard the Good News of the Gospel. “How should they believe on him who’ve they not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?” (Romans 10:14-15). You see God has ordained that people are saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and they hear about this through the witness of God’s people. There are multitudes of people; billions of people who have never had the opportunity to hear the Word of God and to hear the Good News of salvation. He cannot save those who have never heard the Gospel.

By the way, today, what are you going to do about spreading the Good News of salvation? Is God going to be able to use your witness and your walk and your wallet and your prayers to get the Gospel out to the ends of the earth? Secondly, our Lord cannot save those who reject the Gospel. There are those who have heard the Word of God. They know the truth of salvation. They know that it’s appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment and the only way to be saved is through faith in Jesus Christ but they won’t receive Him. They reject Him. He cannot save them! And the Word of God tells us He could not save Himself. Oh, from a human point of view He certainly could have. He could’ve called angels from heaven to deliver Him, but that was not why He came. He said, “I’ve come to give my life a ransom for many.”

He could not come down from that cross because His love kept Him there. “He loved me,” said Paul, “And He gave Himself for me.” His obedience kept Him there, and He was looking ahead. The joy that was set before Him; the joy of one day claiming His Bride before the Father in heaven, those who have trusted Him. I’m glad that Jesus did not come down from that cross. I’m glad that He did not save Himself and I rejoice that He saved me because I trusted in Him. Has He saved you? Have you trusted in Him?

Have you ever been present when someone has been dying? In my pastoral ministry on occasion I have been in that home or that hospital room where someone has been moving into eternity. Well, the Lord Jesus is dying on the cross. Why didn’t they just leave Him alone? When I’ve been vising dying patients in the hospital, it’s quiet in the room, people are tip-toeing around, that white curtain is drawn around the bed; everyone is acting very calmly and quietly. But not so at Calvary! They had done their worst and now Jesus is hanging on a cross, but they could not stop. They had to revile Him and this is what Matthew tells us in Matthew 27:39-40, “And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and 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.'”

You see they remembered His words spoken a long time ago. Three years before in John 2:19 our Lord had said, “Destroy this temple, in three days I’ll raise it up.” He wasn’t talking about the temple of Herod. He was talking about the temple of His body and He did that! They did destroy His body. That is they nailed Him to a cross and they put Him in a tomb. Joseph did that and Nicodemus, and He came forth from the tomb, raised from the death. They remembered His words. How interesting.

The disciples did not remember those words but His enemies did. They rejected His witness. “If you are the Son of God…” For three years He had proved by His works and His walk and His words that He was the Son of God, and now they’re reviling Him as He hangs there on the cross. “Save yourself!” That shows how much they know about God. You see Jesus said, “I haven’t come to save myself, I’ve come to give myself. I have come to die on the cross for unworthy people.” And these people would not receive His witness. “If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Well, He did not come down and we are grateful that He didn’t. He bore the full agony and He died in our place and today we can be Christians. We can be saved from our sins because Jesus Christ finished the work of salvation at Calvary.

It’s bad enough to be arrested illegally, beaten illegally, and then crucified. But to be crucified between two common criminals! Well, that seems to be the very depth of humiliation but that’s what they did to Jesus. According to Matthew 27:38, “Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand and the other on the left.” We have here the fulfillment of Old Testament prophesy. You see so much about the life and death of Jesus Christ was already pre-written in the law, and the psalms and prophets.

The prophet Isaiah had written in Isaiah 53:12, “He was numbered with the transgressors.” Throughout our Lord’s whole life He was in a sense, “numbered with the transgressors.” He was born for sinners. “Call his name Jesus. He shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). He lived with the sinners and mingled with them. In fact, the Pharisees criticized Him. “They said to the apostles, ‘Why does your master eat and drink with publicans and sinners?'” (Mark 2:16). Yes, He was born for sinners and He lived for sinners and He ministered to sinners and He died for sinners. And today He is calling sinners to repentance.

The Lord Jesus was in the midst. One thief on one side and one on the other side. That’s where you always find the Lord Jesus; in the midst. When He was 12-years old in the temple He was in the midst of the doctors. The Lord Jesus when He appeared after His resurrection was in the midst of the apostles. He said “Where two or three are gathered together there am I in the midst” (Matthew 18:20). And now the Lord Jesus Christ is dying between two thieves. What a gracious opportunity they had! Both of them had access to Jesus. Each of these thieves could hear His words. “Father forgive them they know not what they do.” They could see His attitude and see His loving gracious manner. Most people when they were crucified would curse and swear; but Jesus bore suffering in love. Each of them could read the inscription over the cross and know that He’s Jesus, the King of the Jews.

What a gracious opportunity. One man took advantage of it. We aren’t sure about the other man. Have you taken advantage of your opportunity? Have you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ today?