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Matthew 27:39-40
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.
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By Back to the BibleHave 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.