Menu

Join us for worship on Sundays: 10 AM morning service and 5 PM evening service.

The Darkest and Brightest Moment

March 27, 2016 Speaker: Kit Johnson Series: Miscellaneous Sermons

Passage: Matthew 27:45-54

Introduction

Human history is filled with terribly dark moments. Consider all of the awful events of the past 100 years. There were over 17 million military and civilian deaths in WW I. And WW II was the deadliest conflict of all time. Over 60 million people or roughly 3% of the world’s population died including over 50 million civilians. Those are staggering numbers. And of course there have been a multitude of other tragedies that were less widespread but equally horrific. Africa has endured horrific genocides, Communist regimes killed multitudes of people, and on and on we could go. But this weekend has been set aside to remember the most unjust, terrible tragedy that has ever occurred. 2,000 years ago the perfect Son of God was brutally killed by his own creation. But this weekend we also celebrate the brightest moment in human history because Jesus did not remain in the grave. He defeated mankind’s greatest enemies—sin and death. And so this weekend we ought to reflect soberly on the darkest moment of human history, and we also ought to rejoice over the brightest moment of human history.

This morning, I’d like to focus our attention on Matthew’s account of this darkest moment. We won’t consider the entire story of the crucifixion, only the last three hours and especially the last few minutes. But Matthew’s account doesn’t stay dark for long. He almost immediately moves to the eternal significance of Jesus death and resurrection, and so we also want to consider the brightness that came about from this dark tragedy. Let’s read Matthew 27:33–56, though we are going to focus in vv. 45–54.

The crucifixion of Christ naturally divides into two basic periods based on the darkness that settles in at the sixth hour or noon, according to modern time. The crucifixion began mid-morning, around 9 a.m. Matthew records several events from the late morning hours. Jesus refused wine that would have dulled the pain. The soldiers divided his garments. Matthew also goes into great detail regarding how Jesus quietly endured bitter mockery from the religious elites who masterminded the crucifixion and even from the two robbers who were crucified with Christ. There seems to have been a cruel lightheartedness about the first couple of hours as Jesus’ body began losing strength.

That brings us to v. 45, and I’d like to divide this section into five units. Verse 45 describes…

Three Hours of Judgment (v. 45).

The Hebrew day began at roughly 6:00 am; therefore, the sixth hour would have been noon. From noon until 3 a heavy darkness settled over the land. Since none of the gospels describe any notable activity during these hours, we can assume that this unusual, ominous darkness transformed people’s lighthearted arrogance into fear and unrest. That’s because this darkness was clearly supernatural. It could not have been the result of an eclipse because the Passover always occurred during a full moon, and solar eclipses only take place during a new moon. Rather God supernaturally blocked the light of the sun during the brightest part of the day. You have to imagine that Jerusalem, which was bursting with pilgrims who had come for the Passover, was suddenly filled with quiet unrest as people wondered what was happening.

But what was the significance of this darkness? Several times in the OT, darkness pictures God’s judgment. Here, God supernaturally covered Israel in darkness as a sign of judgment for their rejection and crucifixion of Christ. But more than this darkness was a symbol of judgment on Israel; it symbolized God’s judgment on his Son. First Peter 2:24 states that in his death, Christ “bore our sins in His own body on the tree.” And 2 Corinthians 5:21 states that the Father made Christ “who knew no sin to be sin for us.” These verses teach that as Jesus hung on the cross he took on himself the guilt for my sin, and the just wrath of God was executed against Christ.
Summary: And so these three hours were truly the darkest hours of human history as an innocent man became the focal point of God’s justice against a multitude of sinners. We ought to be greatly sobered today by the darkness of our sin and the judgment Christ endured.

Verse 46 continues the story by describing…

An Awful Abandonment (v. 46).

Matthew tells us that after three hours of apparently quiet darkness and probably only a few minutes before Jesus’ body gave out, he mustered the strength to cry out with a “loud voice,” “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” Matthew composed this gospel in Greek; however, the common language in Israel at this time was Aramaic, and most Jews would also be familiar with Hebrew, since the OT was mostly written in Hebrew. Rather than simply giving us the Greek translation of this cry, Matthew includes the original quotation because of its significance but primarily because it is necessary to understand the confusion described in v. 47.

But before we look at the misunderstanding, notice the significance of the quotation as captured in the translation. Between the four Gospels we know of seven statements Jesus made on the cross, but this is the only one that Matthew includes. This tells us that it is highly significant. Jesus is here quoting from Psalm 22:1. In this psalm David mourns the fact that a group of evil men has turned against him and made his life miserable. He feels like God has abandoned him, though David surely understood that God never truly abandons his people. In Hebrews 13:5 God promises his people, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” And Jesus, whose mind was filled with Scripture, uses David’s statement to express his similar pain but with a significant difference. While David only felt like God had abandoned him, the Father had truly abandoned Jesus. Habakkuk 1:13 states of God, “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.” And the second member of the Trinity had “become sin” as we said earlier. And so even though the Father and the Son had enjoyed perfect fellowship for all of eternity, in this moment, the Father broke that fellowship and turned his back on the Son. Christ experienced abandonment in a way that no Christian ever will. This is one of those statements about God that we as finite humans cannot fully comprehend. How can God abandon God? Yet that’s what happened.

Summary/Application:

Again this is a sobering picture of the darkness of our sin and the agony Christ endured. Our sin is so wicked that it temporarily broke the fellowship of the Trinity, and this break is the pinnacle of suffering that Christ endured on the cross. We ought to be deeply humbled by the darkness of our sin and at what it put our Savior through. How awful! And we also ought to thank Christ for what he endured. He endured terrible suffering on my behalf. It may be that someone here has never really pondered the full significance of Christ’s death. You’ve always just seen it as a heroic tale not much different from the death of William Wallace or any other patriot soldier. I hope you see that the death of Christ is unique because it is substitutionary. He took on himself the judgment you deserve. He paid the price for your sin. Jesus did what you can never do for yourself. He satisfied the wrath of God. Being at church on Easter Sunday, getting baptized, and helping the poor is peanuts compared to the infinite sacrifice of Christ, and these things can never save. But that’s why Jesus came. John 3:16 states, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” You can never pay for your own sin, but if you believe on Jesus’ work on the cross, you can have your sins forgiven, and you can receive eternal life. I pray that you will call on him today.

Christ endured an awful abandonment. The third section of the passage describes…

A Sad Misunderstanding (vv. 47–49)

Have you ever pushed your way into a serious conversation without realizing it and made a trite comment? You completely missed the significance of the moment and made a fool of yourself. That’s kind of what happens in these verses. Jesus is bearing the sins of the world and makes the incredible statement that the Father had forsaken him, but the bystanders completely missed it. They hear him say “Eli, Eli,” which means “My God, my God,” and by misunderstand Eli for Elias or, as we say today, Elijah. They probably heard “Elijah” because, based on a misunderstanding of some OT statements, first century Jews commonly believed that Elijah stood ready to help righteous Jews in their affliction. And so for Jesus to pray for help from Elijah in this moment would have been fairly common. But of course, that’s not what Jesus was doing. They missed the significance of the moment.

Verse 48 notes that one of the bystanders responded to Jesus cry by giving him a drink of sour wine. John tells us that Jesus actually requested a drink. Some believe that this man gave Christ a drink with the cruel intent of prolonging his suffering, but since Christ requested this wine, I believe this was an act of kindness. This particular wine was the common drink of Roman soldiers, and it was an effective thirst quencher. It certainly would have been very refreshing after roughly six hours of agonizing pain. But while this one man felt compassion, the rest felt no compassion at all. It’s possible that at least some were genuinely curious to see if Elijah would help Christ but most probably laughed off their misunderstanding of Christ’s cry as the desperate plea of a dying man. The climactic event in human history is occurring right before their eyes, and they completely missed the significance of the moment. What a sad misunderstanding.

Verse 50 follows by describing…

A Humble Surrender (v. 50)

Probably only moments after Jesus drank the sour wine, Matthew states that he cried out with a loud voice. Luke tells us that specifically he cried out, “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.” And John adds that he also cried, “It is finished” meaning that Christ’s substitutionary suffering was complete. But Matthew chooses to simply focus our attention on the completion of Christ’s agony. He pictures Christ as crying out in agony and absolute exhaustion.

And then he “yielded up His spirit.” All four Gospels describe the death of Christ as Jesus freely surrendering his life. Jesus is God, and he could have come down from the cross at any time. He could have regenerated his body so that it could continue alive on the cross. But those things weren’t the Father’s will. Jesus knew that he must die and so he yielded his life.

With this brief statement, the ultimate purpose of the incarnation is complete. Hebrews 2:14 states that the only way Jesus could provide atonement was to become one of us and to die a human death. It’s important to note that Christ’s divine nature did not die, as God cannot die. But his body ceased to function, and his human nature was separated from his body, as always happens in human death. In this moment, we see the glory of God in full display. We see a rich display of God’s righteous justice against sin. Sin must be punished with death; therefore, Jesus suffering must conclude with death. But we also see his incredible love. Christ gave his life for us. We also see God’s great grace. Because of Christ’s death, God can remain just and also forgive sin. Consider the irony of this moment. From a human perspective, Jesus died in the utmost humility outside of a relatively insignificant city, surrounded by a relatively small crowd, as a common criminal. Most of the world had no idea what was happening. But in that moment Jesus provided for man’s greatest need. He atoned for our sins, and he glorified God in a most profound way. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.”

But while most of the world missed the significance of this moment, God confirmed its significance through several incredible acts. Notice finally…

A Significant Outcome (vv. 51–54)

The veil is torn (v. 51a).

There were two veils in the Jerusalem temple, but most are confident that Matthew is referring to the inner veil which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was at the very center of the temple complex. The Ark of the Covenant was there, which represented the presence of God. Since God is holy and separate from sin, this veil separated sinners from Holy God. And only the high priest passed this veil, and he only did so once a year. But upon the death of Christ, this veil was supernaturally torn in two. We know it was supernatural because Matthew notes it tore from the top, which was 60’ high, down to the bottom. This tearing symbolized the fact that Christ had provided a new access to God. We are no longer separated from God by our sin and the veil; rather, Hebrews 4:16 states that we can come boldly to the throne of grace. And so the tearing of the veil symbolizes an incredible new reality, and it also served as convincing proof that this was no ordinary death. Something of supernatural significance had occurred.

The second confirmation is that…

The earth quaked (vv. 51b–52a).

Apparently, this was a significant earthquake, which occurred immediately after Christ died, since v. 54 notes that the centurion felt it and connected it to the death of Christ. It was such a strong quake that it split apart rocks and opened a number of tombs. Remember that people weren’t generally buried in the ground. They were buried in caves that were sealed by rocks. The earthquake apparently opened a number of graves around Jerusalem. Again, this earthquake confirmed the eternal significance of Christ’s death. Another one will occur on Sunday when Christ is raised from the dead.

The second confirmation is that…

Saints were raised (vv. 52b–53).

This is a tricky statement for a couple of reasons. First, v. 53 states that the resurrected saints entered the city on Sunday, but it seems that the opening of the graves happened with the earthquake at his death. Did they rise on Friday and then hang out in the tombs until Sunday? The best solution is to place a period after “the graves were opened” meaning that they were opened on Friday. However, the saints were raised with Christ and entered the city on Sunday. Most likely these saints would have been well-known significant figures in Israel’s history, maybe Daniel or David or Isaiah. We don’t know for sure. I think we are also safe to conclude that they were resurrected in glorified bodies, similar to the body Christ had when he rose again. They would have been physical bodies similar to our own but perfect in every way. If they had glorified bodies, they would not have died; rather, they most likely appeared for a time and then ascended to heaven. We could spend a lot of time speculating on all of the details of what occurred, but Matthew isn’t concerned to answer all of our questions, and so we need to stay focused on Matthew’s purpose. Namely, what is the theological significance behind this resurrection? Matthew mentions this resurrection for a couple of reasons. First, he places it here in the account of Christ’s death rather than with his resurrection in order to further confirm the significance of the death of Christ. It wasn’t just an ordinary criminal who died. This was the Son of God. But second, this resurrection confirms that Jesus didn’t just die. He rose again, and as the epistles say, his resurrection secures the resurrection to glory of a new people who have been united with Christ. Just like death was not the end of the story for Christ; death is not the end for God’s people. We will be glorified and live in a perfect existence for all eternity. Today is Resurrection Sunday, and my focus today has mostly been on the death of Christ, but the resurrection is also very significant. Not just because it means that death didn’t defeat Christ but also because we who are saved have been united with his resurrection. We have the power to “walk in newness of life” now and the hope of glorification in the future. As I said in my introduction, this weekend we celebrate both the darkest and the brightest events in human history. Praise the Lord for the brightness of the resurrection and the hope we have of our own resurrection.

The final confirmation Matthew gives comes from an unexpected source.

The Roman soldiers affirmed God’s works (v. 54).

After widening the scope for a moment to consider the broader events which happened around the death and resurrection of Christ, v. 54 returns to the scene at Golgotha where a Roman centurion and several soldiers had been assigned to oversee the crucifixion. They had watched for hours as people had hatefully slandered and mocked Christ. But Christ died like no one they had ever watched. He didn’t return any of the evil. Instead, he forgave and acted with kindness and holiness. Then they saw the physical phenomenon of the darkness and the earthquake. Even though the Jews hardened their hearts; it was obvious to these unbiased bystanders that Jesus wasn’t an ordinary man. Notice their response. Most likely, these men didn’t understand the full theological significance behind the title they used, but Matthew understood that they spoke better than they knew. And they affirmed that Jesus truly is the Son of God.

Conclusion

This morning, we have considered an incredibly rich account of the death of Christ. How should we respond? For those who are saved, we ought to thank God for what Christ gave and what we have received, and we will do that in a moment when we sing “The Power of the Cross.” We also ought to rest in what Christ accomplished. Christ forever dealt with our sin and gave us life. This is a solid rock on which to stand. If you have never been saved, I pray that you will look to the cross today and see the glory of God in the face of Christ and that you will believe on him for forgiveness and new life.

More in Miscellaneous Sermons

March 10, 2024

Dustin VanWyk

December 24, 2023

A Sunrise of Mercy

October 15, 2023

Your Part in God’s Grand Story