MATTHEW: THE KING HAS COME, WEEK 186

TITLE: THE MIRACLES OF THE CROSS, PART I

TEXT: MATTHEW 27:45-51A

INTRODUCTION: (1) I’VE TITLED OUR MESSAGE THIS MORNING, “THE MIRACLES OF THE CROSS, PART I.”

* AND TODAY BY GRACE WE’LL LOOK AT 4 OF THE SEVEN MIRACLES THAT HAPPENED ON OR AROUND THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST.

** NOW THE QUESTION COMES UP AS I INTRODUCE OUR THEME TODAY, WHAT IS A MIRACLE?

*** WELL, WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY DEFINES A MIRACLE AS “AN EXTRAORDINARY EVENT MANIFESTING DIVINE INTERVENTION IN HUMAN AFFAIRS.”

**** THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY DEFINES A MIRACLE AS “AN EVENT THAT APPEARS INEXPLICABLE (INCAPABLE OF BEING EXPLAINED) BY THE LAWS OF NATURE AND SO IS HELD TO BE SUPERNATURAL IN ORIGIN OR AN ACT OF GOD.”

(2) AND THEN EASTON’S BIBLE DICTIONARY DEFINES A MIRACLE AS “AN EVENT IN THE EXTERNAL WORLD BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE IMMEDIATE AGENCY OR THE SIMPLE VOLITION OF GOD, OPERATING WITHOUT THE USE OF MEANS CAPABLE OF BEING DISCERNED BY THE SENSES, AND DESIGNATED TO AUTHENTICATE THE DIVINE COMMISSION OF A RELIGIOUS TEACHER AND THE TRUTH OF HIS MESSAGE (JOHN 2:18, MATTHEW 12:38).”

* “A MIRACLE IS AN OCCURRENCE AT ONCE ABOVE NATURE AND ABOVE MAN. IT SHOWS THE INTERVENTION OF A POWER THAT IS NOT LIMITED BY THE LAWS EITHER OF MATTER OR OF MIND, A POWER INTERRUPTING THE FIXED LAWS WHICH GOVERN THEIR MOVEMENTS, A SUPERNATURAL POWER.” (WHICH OF COURSE, THAT SUPERNATURAL POWER WOULD BE GOD’S POWER).

** NOW WITH THOSE DEFINITIONS IN MIND, CHARLES SPURGEON MADE THIS INTERESTING COMMENT ABOUT OUR LORD’S MIRACLES, HE SAID AND I QUOTE:

*** “ALL OUR LORD’S MIRACLES WERE INTENDED TO BE PARABLES. THEY WERE INTENDED TO INSTRUCT AS WELL AS TO IMPRESS. THEY ARE SERMONS TO THE EYE, JUST AS HIS SPOKEN DISCOURSES WERE SERMONS TO THE EAR.” (END QUOTE)

**** NOW I LIKE WHAT SPURGEON HAD TO SAY, ESPECIALLY THAT MIRACLES, SPECIFICALLY OUR LORD’S, WERE INTENDED TO INSTRUCT AS WELL AS IMPRESS.

(3) AND CERTAINLY THE CROSS WAS A GREAT MIRACLE AND CERTAINLY IT INSTRUCTS AND IMPRESSES.

* FOR THE CROSS WAS SUPERNATURAL, A MIRACLE, IN NOT ONLY WHAT IT ACCOMPLISHED BUT ALSO IN THAT IT EVEN HAPPENED.

(4) I MEAN WHO NATURALLY COULD EXPLAIN WHY GOD WOULD BE PLEASED IN BRUISING HIS SON AND PIERCING HIM, ISAIAH 53:10.

* NOW THAT’S A MIRACLE, THAT ACTION AND RESPONSE GOES BEYOND NATURAL LOVE TO SUPERNATURAL LOVE AND THAT IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE FOR US.

** FOR WHY WOULD GOD SEND HIS SON TO DIE FOR HIS ENEMIES, FOR SINNERS, FOR REBELS, FOR BEINGS THAT AT EVERY TURN REBEL AGAINST HIS HOLY AUTHORITY?

*** AND I RESPOND IT WAS GOD’S LOVE. AND I RESPOND THAT IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE. IT IS A MIRACLE THAT IS SO SUPERNATURAL THAT SHOULD MAKE US SHAKE OUR HEADS – I MEAN WHY?

(5) BUT NOT ONLY WAS THE CROSS A MIRACLE IN ITSELF THAT IT HAPPENED, BUT ALSO SOME OF THE EVENTS THAT SURROUNDED THE CROSS WERE MIRACLES. MANY SUPERNATURAL THINGS TOOK PLACE AROUND THE CROSS AND ON THE CROSS.

* AND THOSE MIRACLES LEAD US TO OUR TEXT TODAY, MATTHEW 27:45-51A.

** FOR NOWHERE IN SCRIPTURE IS THE MEANING AND MIRACLES OF THE CROSS DELINEATED MORE POWERFULLY THAN IN THIS TEXT, WHICH RECORDS SEVEN MIRACLES THAT FORM ALMIGHTY GOD’S OWN COMMENTARY ON THE MEANING OF THE CROSS.

*** BECAUSE OF THAT, I’VE TITLED OUR MESSAGE THIS MORNING, THE MIRACLES OF THE CROSS, PART I.

(6) AND UNDER THAT TITLE, WE’LL LOOK AT FOUR OF THE SEVEN MIRACLES THAT COMMUNICATE TO US THE HEART OF GOD AND SOME OF THE MEANING AND MESSAGE OF THE CROSS. AND WE’LL FINISH THE OTHER MIRACLES, LORD WILLING, NEXT SUNDAY.

* AND WITH THAT IN MIND, LOOK AT MATTHEW 27:45 WHERE WE’LL SEE MIRACLE NO. 1 OF THE CROSS, SUPERNATURAL DARKNESS.

I. MIRACLE NO. 1, (READ MATTHEW 27:45)

A. NOW WHEN JESUS WAS BORN, THE NIGHT SKY AROUND BETHLEHEM WAS FILLED WITH SUPERNATURAL LIGHT AS “THE GLORY OF THE LORD SHONE AROUND” THE SHEPHERDS IN THE FIELD, LUKE 2:9

* THEN LATER JOHN SPOKE OF JESUS AS “THE LIGHT OF MEN” AND “THE TRUE LIGHT WHICH, COMING INTO THE WORLD, ENLIGHTENS EVERY MAN”, JOHN 1:4, 9.

** AND JESUS SPOKE OF HIMSELF AS “THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD”, JOHN 8:12 (READ IT).

1. SO JESUS WAS LIGHT AND THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, BUT THE FIRST MIRACULOUS SIGN THAT ACCOMPANIED JESUS’ DEATH WAS NOT GLORIOUS LIGHT, BUT DEEP DARKNESS.

* FOR ACCORDING TO V. 45, FROM THE SIXTH HOUR WHICH IS NOON, WHEN THE SUN IS AT IT’S ZENITH, DARKNESS FELL UPON ALL THE LAND UNTIL THE 9^TH HOUR WHICH WAS 3:00 P.M.

** AND IF YOU RECALL, JESUS’ CRUCIFIXION HAD BEGUN AT THE THIRD HOUR OR 9:00 A.M. ACCORDING TO MARK 15:25, SO WHEN THE DARKNESS BEGAN JESUS HAD BEEN ON THE CROSS FOR 3 HOURS.

2. NOW AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND 3 HOURS THE GREAT MIRACLE OF DARKNESS FELL UPON ALL THE LAND.

* AND WHETHER THIS DARKNESS FELL UPON ALL THE LAND OF ISRAEL OR THE WHOLE WORLD WE DO NOT KNOW. THE FATHER COULD HAVE DONE IT EITHER WAY, HE’S NOT LIMITED IN HIS POWER.

** BUT REGARDLESS OF ITS EXTENT, THE DARKNESS OF THE SUN FROM 12 TO 3 WAS BY THE SUPERNATURAL INTERVENTION OF ALMIGHTY GOD.

*** IN FACT, DURING THAT 3 HOUR PERIOD, LUKE EXPLAINS THAT THE SUN WAS OBSCURED IN LUKE 23:45.

3. AND I DON’T HAVE TIME TO DEVELOP WHETHER THE FATHER USED CLOUDS TO MAKE IT DARK, OR WHETHER THERE WAS AN ECLIPSE, OR THAT GOD JUST PUT HIS HAND IN FRONT OF THE SUN, BUT WHATEVER WAY HE DID IT, FOR 3 HOURS THERE WAS DARKNESS.

* AND APPROPRIATELY SO, FOR WHAT MANKIND DID IN NAILING THE INNOCENT SON OF GOD TO A CROSS WAS A DARK DEED THAT THE FATHER WOULD USE IN HIS PLAN TO SAVE PEOPLE, ALL KINDS.

** NOW TWO QUICK THINGS BEFORE I MOVE ON. NO. 1 THE DARKNESS WAS NOTICED BY AT LEAST ONE PAGAN WRITER.

*** FOR PHLEGON, A ROMAN ASTRONOMER, SPEAKING OF THE 14^TH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF TIBERIUS, WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE THAT IN WHICH OUR SAVIOR DIED SAID, “THAT THE GREATEST ECLIPSE OF THE SUN THAT WAS EVER KNOWN HAPPENED THEN, FOR THE DAY WAS SO TURNED INTO NIGHT THAT THE STARS APPEARED.”

**** AND BELOVED, IT WAS SO DARK THAT YOU COULD FEEL IT.

4. NOW THE QUESTION COMES UP AT THIS POINT, WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THIS DARKNESS?

* WELL, THE PURPOSE FOR THE DARKNESS IS NOT EXPLAINED IN THE GOSPELS OR ELSEWHERE IN SCRIPTURE, BUT ACCORDING TO THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD MANY RABBIS HAD LONG TAUGHT THAT DARKENING OF THE SUN WAS A JUDGMENT OF GOD ON THE WORLD FOR AN UNUSUALLY HEINOUS SIN.

** NOW, IF THAT WAS GOD’S INTENTION AT THE CRUCIFIXION, HE PRESENTED A GIGANTIC OBJECT LESSON TO THE WORLD REGARDING THE GREATEST SIN EVER COMMITTED BY FALLEN MANKIND.

*** YET LET ME ADD, SOME INTERPRETERS HAVE SUGGESTED THE DARKNESS WAS A MEANS OF GOD’S CASTING A GREAT VEIL OVER THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST.

**** AND OTHERS THAT IT WAS AN ACT OF DIVINE FATHERLY SYMPATHY GIVEN TO COVER THE NAKEDNESS AND DISHONORING OF HIS SON.

5. BUT IN LIGHT OF MANY SCRIPTURAL TEACHINGS AND EVENTS, IT WOULD SEEM THAT CRUCIFIXION WAS INDEED A MARK OF DIVINE JUDGMENT.

* FOR MANY REFERENCES IN THE O.T. AND N.T. TIE TOGETHER DARKNESS AND GOD’S JUDGMENT. SCRIPTURES LIKE ISAIAH 5:30; ISAIAH 13:10&11; JOEL 2:2; ZEPHANIAH 1:14&15; II PETER 2:4; JUDE V. 6; MATTHEW 8:12; 22:13 AND 25:30.

** AND BELOVED THE CROSS WAS A PLACE OF IMMENSE DIVINE JUDGMENT, WHERE THE SINS OF SINNERS WERE POURED OUT ON THE SINLESS, PERFECT SON OF GOD.

*** IT WAS THEREFORE APPROPRIATE THAT GREAT SUPERNATURAL DARKNESS EXPRESS GOD’S REACTION TO SIN IN THAT ACT OF JUDGMENT. AND THAT WAS MIRACLE NO. 1. NOW MIRACLE NO. 2 STARTS IN V. 46. SO PLEASE LOOK AT V. 46.

II. MIRACLE NO. 2, (READ V. 46)

A. NOW A SECOND MIRACLE OCCURRED AT THE NINTH HOUR OR 3 O’CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON.

* AND AT THAT TIME JESUS CRIED OUT WITH A LOUD VOICE SAYING, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACTHANI.”

** AND MATTHEW EXPLAINS THE HEBREW MEANING OF THAT PHRASE WHICH WAS, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAS THOU FORSAKEN ME?”

*** NOW IN THIS UNIQUE AND STRANGE MIRACLE, JESUS WAS CRYING OUT IN ANGUISH BECAUSE OF THE SEPARATION HE NOW EXPERIENCED FROM HIS HEAVENLY FATHER FOR THE FIRST TIME AND ONLY TIME OF ETERNITY.

**** IN FACT, IT IS THE ONLY TIME OF WHICH WE HAVE RECORD THAT JESUS DID NOT ADDRESS GOD AS FATHER.

1. THE REASON BEING, JESUS HAD TAKEN SIN UPON HIMSELF, SO THE FATHER TURNED HIS BACK. THERE WAS NO COMMUNION AT THAT TIME.

* AND THAT MYSTERY IS SO GREAT AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE THAT IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT MARTIN LUTHER IS SAID TO HAVE GONE INTO SECLUSION FOR A LONG TIME TRYING TO UNDERSTAND IT AND CAME AWAY CONFUSED AS WHEN HE BEGAN.

** AND BELOVED, THE GOD MAN JESUS WAS SEPARATED FROM GOD THE FATHER FOR A BRIEF TIME AT CALVARY, AS THE FURIOUS WRATH OF THE FATHER WAS POURED OUT ON THE SINLESS ONE, WHO IN MATCHLESS GRACE BECAME SIN FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN HIM.

*** NOW WHY DID THE FATHER HAVE TO TURN HIS BACK ON HIS SON? WELL, HABAKKUK DECLARED OF GOD IN HABAKKUK 1:13, “THINE EYES ARE TOO PURE TO APPROVE EVIL, AND THOU CANST NOT LOOK ON WICKEDNESS WITH FAVOR.”

2. SO GOD TURNED HIS BACK WHEN JESUS WAS ON THE CROSS BECAUSE HE COULD NOT LOOK UPON SIN, AND JESUS BECAME THE SIN OFFERING, HE BECAME THE SUBSTITUTE SACRIFICE FOR SINNERS.

* THE FATHER FORSOOK THE SON BECAUSE THE SON TOOK UPON HIMSELF OUR TRANSGRESSIONS, OUR INIQUITIES, ISAIAH 53:5; ROMANS 4:25; I CORINTHIANS 15:3; II CORINTHIANS 5:21; I PETER 2:24; I JOHN 4:10. (READ THEM)

** AND GET THIS, JESUS CHRIST NOT ONLY BORE HIS PEOPLE’S SINS, BUT ACTUALLY BECAME SIN ON HIS PEOPLE’S BEHALF, IN ORDER THAT THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN HIM MIGHT BE SAVED FROM THE PENALTY OF THEIR SIN.

*** AND FRIENDS, JESUS CAME TO TEACH MEN PERFECTLY ABOUT GOD AND TO BE A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF GOD’S HOLINESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS.

3. BUT AS HE HIMSELF DECLARED, THE SUPREME REASON FOR HIS COMING TO EARTH WAS NOT TO TEACH OR TO BE AN EXAMPLE, BUT “TO GIVE HIS LIFE A RANSOM FOR MANY” – MATTHEW 20:28.

* SO GOD WAS SEPARATED FROM GOD, GOD DIED FOR GOD AND HIS PEOPLE. AND ALTHOUGH THE PHYSICAL PAIN OF CRUCIFIXION AND THE THINGS THAT LED UP TO IT WERE TERRIBLE, THE PAINFUL LOSS OF FELLOWSHIP WITH HIS FATHER BY BECOMING THE SIN OFFERING WAS A GREAT MIRACLE AND MYSTERY.

** AND IN THIS TIME OF SEPARATION, OF GREAT PAIN, MAN’S DEPRAVITY AND SIN IS BROUGHT OUT AGAIN IN V. 47. LOOK AT IT PLEASE.

B. READ V. 47. NOW THE SAYING OF SOME PEOPLE AROUND THE CROSS, “THIS MAN IS CALLING FOR ELIJAH” WAS NOT CONJECTURE ABOUT WHAT JESUS SAID, BUT WAS SIMPLY AN EXTENSION OF THEIR CRUEL CYNICAL MOCKERY.

* AND MOST LIKELY NO MISTAKE. ELIJAH WOULD COME BEFORE THE MESSIAH IN JEWISH BELIEFS AND JESUS CLAIMED TO BE THE MESSIAH, AND SINCE GOD WOULDN’T HELP HIM, MAYBE ELIJAH WOULD.

** AND ALTHOUGH I DON’T HAVE THE TIME TO DEVELOP THIS VERSE, THESE PEOPLE WERE KICKING JESUS WHILE HE WAS GOING THROUGH THE DARKEST TIME OF ALL ETERNITY. AND MAN’S SINFULNESS AND CHRIST’S LOVE IN DYING FOR SINNERS IS CONTRASTED HERE.

** NOW LOOK AT V. 48 PLEASE AS WE SEE AN ACT OF COMPASSION IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING, ANOTHER CONTRAST.

C. READ V. 48. NOW SOON AFTER JESUS CRIED OUT TO GOD ABOUT BEING FORSAKEN, ACCORDING TO JOHN’S GOSPEL IN JOHN 19:28, AS WE COMPARE MATTHEW AND JOHN, THE NEXT THING THAT HAPPENED WAS JESUS CRIED OUT “I THIRST.”

* AND ALTHOUGH MATTHEW DOESN’T RECORD IT HERE, JOHN DOES, AND IN RESPONSE TO THAT, SOMEONE RAN TO GET JESUS A DRINK.

** NOW THE ONE WHO RAN TO HELP JESUS WAS PROBABLY ONE OF THE ROMAN MILITARY GUARDS, AND BY TAKING A SPONGE AND FILLING IT WITH SOUR WINE, HE MOST LIKELY HOPED TO TEMPORARILY TAKE CARE OF JESUS’ THIRST.

*** AND OFFERING THE DRINK TO JESUS WAS PERHAPS AN ACT OF MERCY, BUT WAS MINIMAL IN ITS EFFECT AND SERVED ONLY TO PROLONG THE TORTURE BEFORE DEATH BROUGHT RELIEF.

1. BUT GET THIS, THE REST OF THOSE STANDING NEAR THE CROSS USED THAT GESTURE OF KINDNESS AS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO CARRY THEIR MOCKERY OF THE LORD STILL FURTHER, SAYING, “LET US SEE WHETHER ELIJAH WILL COME TO SAVE HIM.” LOOK AT V. 49 PLEASE.

D. READ V. 49. NOW IT SEEMS INCREDIBLE THAT EVEN THE PITCH DARKNESS OF MIDDAY DID NOT ALARM THE WICKED CROWD.

* THEY WERE SO BENT ON SCORNING JESUS THAT EVEN SUCH A MOMENTOUS PHENOMENON AS THE BLOCKING OUT OF THE SUN DID NOT DETER THEM.

** UNFORTUNATELY THE SINGLE THOUGHT NOW ON THEIR MINDS WAS TO MAKE JESUS’ DEATH PAINFUL AND HUMILIATING. THEY HAD NO COMPREHENSION OF THE AMAZING ALIENATION OF THE SON FROM THE FATHER, MIRACLE NO. 2 AT THE CROSS.

*** WHICH LEADS US TO MIRACLE NO. 3. LOOK AT V. 50 PLEASE.

III. MIRACLE NO. 3, (READ V. 50)

A. NOW THE MIRACLE FOUND IN V. 50 IS ARTICULATED AND SUMMARIZED BY AUGUSTINE WHO SAID ABOUT JESUS IN THIS VERSE:

* “HE GAVE UP HIS LIFE BECAUSE HE WILLED IT, WHEN HE WILLED IT, AND AS HE WILLED IT.”

* AND THE MIRACLE IS JESUS DIED AT THE EXACT MOMENT HE DECIDED. JESUS DID NOT GRADUALLY FADE AWAY, FOR EVEN THOUGH HE HAD SUFFERED PHYSICALLY AND SPIRITUALLY AS THE SIN OFFERING, HE HAD THE RESOURCES TO STAY ALIVE IF HE SO DESIRED.

** SPIRITUALLY HE COULD HAVE CALLED 10,000 ANGELS.

*** AND PHYSICALLY, HE STILL HAD STRENGTH, FOR WHAT DOES V. 50 SAY, “HE CRIED OUT WITH A LOUD VOICE.”

**** IN OTHER WORDS, THIS WAS NOT THE LAST BREATH OF A DEFEATED, NEAR DEATH INDIVIDUAL, BUT THE VICTORIOUS CRY OF A VICTORIOUS SAVIOR.

1. FOR THE LAST WORDS THE LORD CRIED OUT FROM THE CROSS WERE FIRST “IT IS FINISHED” ACCORDING TO JOHN 19:30, INDICATING THAT THE WORK HIS FATHER HAD SENT TO ACCOMPLISH WAS COMPLETE, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, (READ JOHN 19:30.)

* NOW RIGHT AFTER JESUS SAID “IT IS FINISHED” HE CRIED OUT WITH A LOUD VOICE ACCORDING TO LUKE 23:46, “FATHER IN THY HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.”

** SO JESUS DIED AT THE EXACT TIME HE WANTED. HE YIELDED UP HIS SPIRIT. AND THE GREEK WORD FOR YIELDED UP IN MATTHEW 27:50 HAS THE BASIC MEANING OF LETTING GO OR SENDING AWAY, INDICATING AN ACT OF VOLITION.

*** AND BELOVED JESUS’ LIFE WAS NOT TAKEN FROM HIM BY MEN BUT RATHER HE SURRENDERED HIS SPIRIT BY THE CONSCIOUS ACT OF HIS SOVEREIGN WILL.

2. AND AS HE EXPLAINED TO HIS DISCIPLES IN JOHN 10:18, NO ONE COULD OR WOULD TAKE HIS LIFE FROM HIM.

* FOR JESUS SAID, “I LAY IT DOWN ON MY OWN INITIATIVE. I HAVE AUTHORITY TO LAY IT DOWN, AND I HAVE AUTHORITY TO TAKE IT UP AGAIN.”

** AND LET ME ADD JESUS DIED MUCH SOONER THAN NORMAL FOR A CROSS VICTIM, EVEN THOUGH HE HAD A RESERVE OF ENERGY TO CRY OUT WITH A LOUD VOICE FROM THE CROSS.

*** IN FACT, WHEN JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA INFORMED PILATE OF JESUS’ DEATH AND ASKED FOR HIS BODY, THE GOVERNOR WAS SURPRISED AND ASKED A CENTURION TO GIVE VERIFICATION ACCORDING TO MARK 15:43-45.

3. AND THE POINT I WANT TO MAKE AGAIN IS JESUS DIED VOLUNTARILY AT THE EXACT MOMENT HE PLANNED DISMISSING HIS OWN SPIRIT IN VICTORY.

* FOR THE WORK OF SACRIFICE WAS COMPLETE, “IT IS FINISHED.” SO THE MIRACLE IS JESUS DIED VOLUNTARILY, WHEN HE WANTED, AND WILLINGLY SURRENDERED HIS LIFE AS A PENALTY FOR SIN.

** HE GAVE UP HIS LIFE BECAUSE HE WILLED IT, WHEN HE WILLED IT, AND AS HE WILLED IT. WHICH LEADS US TO THE LAST MIRACLE WE’LL STUDY TODAY, LOOK AT V. 51 PLEASE.

IV. MIRACLE NO. 4, (READ V. 51A)

A. NOW THE FOURTH MIRACLE THAT OCCURRED DURING THE CRUCIFIXION WAS THE TEARING OF THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE IN TWO FROM TOP TO BOTTOM.

* AND THIS WAS NO SMALL MIRACLE, FOR ACCORDING TO THE RABBIS THIS CURTAIN WAS A HANDBREADTH IN THICKNESS, AND WOVEN OF SEVENTY-TWO TWISTED PLAITS, EACH PLAIT CONSISTING OF 24 THREADS. IT WAS 60 FEET LONG AND 30 FEET WIDE.

** NOW THIS MASSIVE CURTAIN SEPARATED THE HOLY PLACE FROM THE HOLY OF HOLIES, THE INNER SANCTUARY, WHERE GOD DWELT IN HIS SYMBOLIC PRESENCE IN THE JEWISH TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM.

1. AND ONCE A YEAR THE HIGH PRIEST OF ISRAEL WAS ALLOWED TO PASS THROUGH THIS VEIL ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT TO SPRINKLE BLOOD ON THE ALTAR FOR THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE.

* AND THIS RITUAL HAD TO BE REPEATED EVERY YEAR, ANTICIPATING THE ONE, TRUE SACRIFICE FOR SINS THAT THE SON OF GOD HIMSELF ONE DAY WOULD OFFER.

** AND WHEN CHRIST YIELDED UP HIS SPIRIT, THAT ONCE-FOR-ALL SACRIFICE WAS COMPLETED AND THE NEED FOR THE VEIL NO LONGER EXISTED.

*** AND THERE IS NO MORE NEED FOR SACRIFICE FOR JESUS IS NOW THE HIGH PRIEST, HEBREWS 10:10-12, 14.

**** AND BY COMING TO CHRIST, ANY MAN COULD NOW COME TO GOD DIRECTLY, WITHOUT NEED OF A PRIEST, SACRIFICE OR RITUAL.

2. CONSEQUENTLY, THE VEIL WAS TORN IN TWO FROM TOP TO BOTTOM BY GOD’S MIRACULOUS ACT, BECAUSE THE BARRIER OF SIN WAS FOREVER REMOVED FOR THOSE WHO PUT THEIR TRUST IN CHRIST AS LORD AND SAVIOR.

* AND BELOVED, THE FACT THAT THIS RIPPING OCCURRED FROM TOP TO BOTTOM SIGNIFIED THAT GOD IS THE ONE WHO RIPPED THE THICK CURTAIN.

** IT WAS NOT TORN FROM THE BOTTOM, THE ONLY WAY MAN COULD RIP IT, BUT FROM THE TOP, THROUGH GOD ALMIGHTY RIPPING IT.

*** AND BY RENDING THE TEMPLE VEIL, GOD WAS SAYING IN EFFECT, “IN THE DEATH OF MY SON, JESUS CHRIST, THERE IS TOTAL ACCESS INTO MY HOLY PRESENCE FOR JEW AND GENTILE.”

**** AND JESUS PAID THE FULL PRICE FOR SIN FOR EVERYONE WHO COMES IN REPENTANCE AND FAITH.

***** NOW IN ADDITION TO THIS GREAT TRUTH, JAMES MONTGOMERY BOICE TELLS US IN HIS COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW, THAT THE VEIL WAS TORN IN TWO AT 3 O’CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON, WHICH WAS THE TIME OF THE BEGINNING OF THE EVENING SACRIFICE.

3. AND THE PRIESTS WOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE TEMPLE, ENGAGED IN THEIR DUTIES, WHEN THE VEIL WAS TORN.

* THEY WOULD HAVE SEEN IT, NO DOUBT STANDING AGHAST BEFORE THE NOW EXPOSED INNERMOST RECESS OF THE TEMPLE, AND THEY WOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT THE AGE IN WHICH THEY HAD SERVED WAS OVER AND A NEW AGE OF GOD’S DEALINGS WITH HIS PEOPLE HAD BEGUN.

4. AND LET ME QUICKLY ADD THIS, THE FATHER’S DRAMATIC TEARING OF THE VEIL WAS MADE WHILE THE TEMPLE WAS FILLED WITH WORSHIPPERS, WHICH INCLUDED NOT ONLY COUNTLESS PRIESTS, BUT ALSO MANY THOUSANDS OF PILGRIMS WHO WERE AT THE VERY MOMENT CELEBRATING THE PASSOVER SACRIFICE.

* AND WHAT A CLEAR MESSAGE TO THEM, THAT GOD WAS THROUGH WITH THE SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM, AND THAT THE DEATH OF HIS PASSOVER LAMB WOULD TAKE AWAY THE SINS OF HIS PEOPLE.

AND FOLKS, AS I WRAP UP THINGS TODAY, (1) WE SEE FROM THESE MIRACLES ON AND AROUND THE CROSS, GOD ALMIGHTY’S COMMENTARY ON THE MESSAGE AND MEANING OF THE CROSS.

* AND THE MESSAGE AND MEANING OF THE CROSS WOULD FILL THE BELIEVER’S HEART WITH PRAISE, WITH GRATITUDE.

** IT SHOULD MOVE US TO OBEDIENCE AND SACRIFICAL LIVING. IT SHOULD LEAD US TO HUMILITY, IT SHOULD LEAD US TO TAKE UP OUR CROSS AND FOLLOW JESUS IN A MORE COMMITTED WAY.

*** LOVE SO AMAZING, SO DIVINE, DEMANDS MY SOUL, MY LIFE, MY ALL! (WHAT A MOTIVATION, WHAT INCENTIVE).

(2) SPURGEON SAID: “NO SCENE IN SACRED HISTORY EVER GLADDENS THE SOUL LIKE THE SCENE OF CALVARY. NOWHERE DOES THE SOUL FIND SUCH CONSOLATION AS ON THAT VERY SPOT WHERE MISERY REIGNED, WHERE WOE TRIUMPHED, WHERE AGONY REACHED ITS CLIMAX.”

* BUT SPURGEON ALSO SAID CONVERSELY, ON THE OTHER HAND, “THE MOST TERRIBLE WARNING TO IMPENITENT MAN IN ALL THE WORLD IS THE DEATH OF CHRIST. FOR IF GOD SPARED NOT HIS OWN SON, ON WHOM WAS LAID IMPUTED SIN, WILL HE SPARE SINNERS WHOSE SINS ARE THEIR OWN?”

** AND THE ANSWER IS NO. AND I TRUST THAT IF YOU HAVE NOT REPENTED AND RECEIVED CHRIST THAT TODAY YOU WILL TURN TO HIM AND CRY OUT FOR FORGIVENESS TO THE ONE WHO SUFFERED ON THE CROSS. IT’S REPENT OR PERISH. (LET’S PRAY)

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