(Matthew 27:24-66)
24 Now when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; you yourselves shall see.” 25 And all the people replied, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus flogged, he handed Him over to be crucified.27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort to Him. 28 And they stripped Him and put a red cloak on Him. 29 And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and put a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 And they spit on Him, and took the reed and beat Him on the head. 31 And after they had mocked Him, they took the cloak off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.
32 As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they compelled to carry His cross.
33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him wine mixed with bile to drink; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink it.
35 And when they had crucified Him, they divided His garments among themselves by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. 37 And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
38 At that time two rebels were being crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. 39 And those passing by were speaking abusively to Him, shaking their heads, 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, 42 “He saved others; He cannot save Himself! He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. 43 He has trusted in God; let God rescue Him now, if He takes pleasure in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 And the rebels who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him in the same way.
45 Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabaktanei?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” 47 And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” 48 And immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. 49 But the rest of them said, “Let us see if Elijah comes to save Him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and gave up His spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. 52 Also the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many. 54 Now as for the centurion and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the other things that were happening, they became extremely frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
TODAY'S TAKEAWAY:
Unless one's spiritual eyes and ears are opened, a person will not recognize the Lord Jesus as the Son of God... part of the Trinity, meaning, God, Himself. Even if there is a big sign over His head saying "This is Jesus the King" - the King of kings, and Lord of lords.
In verse 42, the spiritual leaders were mocking Jesus and claiming that if Jesus was able to save Himself in that moment - THEN - they would believe. But what they clearly could not understand is God's agape, unconditional, sacrificial love. What a lot of unbelievers do is try to create gods in their own image. Since everyone's sinful nature is to be prideful, selfish and self-sufficient, then their gods are going to reflect that. But Jesus is not selfish or prideful.
The Lord God IS sufficient, though! Being sovereign, He is all-powerful, all-knowing and everywhere present! He is also holy, and therefore cannot have a relationship with sin. But because God desires to have a personal relationship with us, He came in flesh to take our place in death to pay the price for all sins. We can imagine all the physical and emotional suffering that Jesus endured here, but imagine, the holy Lord God took on all sins, of all people, of all time, onto Himself.
It is in that moment of taking on sin, that Jesus cries out (in verse 46). How could God forsake Himself?. Obviously we cannot capture the depth and entirety of it all, but I think of it this way: because God is omnipresent, part of Himself is able to come in flesh. Consider this illustration. our body (represents God being everywhere), and our hand (represents Jesus in flesh on earth), and the hand having to touch something gross (represents Jesus taking on all sin), and us having to look away (represents God forsaking His Son).
Being omnipotent, Jesus could have saved Himself, but then none of us would be able to be saved from our sins. And no one actually killed Jesus, as verse 50 says, Jesus willingly, selflessly, sacrificially, gave up His Spirit. And when that happened, the earth shook, tombs opened, and believers who had passed away, came to life. And most poignant was the temple's veil tearing - from the TOP - down. This tapestry, which was 60 feet high, 30 feet wide and about 4 inches thick, was so strong that teams of horses tied to opposite sides could not tear it.
There is great significance in the temple's veil being torn. One could see it as when one is in great mourning or distress, in those cultures, they would tear their clothes. But an even greater significance is that this veil was there to keep people from going into the holy of holies and thereby dying instantly. Even the priest who would be chosen to enter at certain times, would prepare himself spiritually. And, they would tie a rope around his waist in case he died in there, so that they could safely pull him out. The veil tearing from the top down also demonstrates how God comes down to us! And God does it FOR us! Because God wants to save and help us!
Well - Jesus' death - in paying the price for all sins - makes it possible for anyone to approach the Holy of holies to receive eternal life, when we humble our hearts and repent of our sins to accept Jesus' forgiveness and salvation. Such great things happened at this event, that some people recognized it as "something". Others, like the one rebel next to Jesus, became a believer even before Jesus gave up His spirit and all these other things happened (Luke 23:39-49).
It is not necessary to have seen this event, or see Jesus in flesh. We can see Jesus in Spirit, in His word, and in our lives. The greatest miracle we can ever experience first hand is our salvation, because Jesus gives us His indwelling Holy Spirit, to change us from the inside out. And as we ask and allow, He will continue to work for us, in us and through us. I've also witnessed this miracle recently in the radically changed life of our granddaughter! These events are so undeniable! And the Lord's presence in one's close relationship with Him is so very evident!
No comments:
Post a Comment