1When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: 2and when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. 3Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
Verse 3 says, “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned....” It seems that Judas had not expected things to turn out this way. Maybe he thought Jesus would do a miracle to escape or just walk through the crowd to safety, as He’d done in Nazareth (Luke 4:28-31). When Judas realized that Jesus had been condemned, he “repented himself.” There are two different Greek verbs which are translated “repent” in the New Testament. One of them is “metanoeo.” This verb is the one which is most used; it means “to change your mind.” The other one is “metamelomai.” It means “to feel regret.” This second verb is used only in Matthew 21:29,32; II Corinthians 7:8; Hebrews 7:21; and in the verse above. Judas did not repent in the sense of changing his mind to recognize his need for forgiveness from Christ. Judas only felt regret that things had turned out that way. He did rightly declare that he had sinned by betraying innocent blood. In their answer to Judas, the chief priests and elders again exposed the darkness of their own hearts. They said, “What is that to us?”
5And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. 6And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. 7And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. 8Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. 9Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; 10and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me.
Judas threw down in the temple the thirty pieces of silver he’d been given by the chief priests (26:14-16) and departed. The continuing hypocrisy of the chief priests is shown in their unwillingness to put the thirty pieces of silver into the temple treasury because the money was defiled. Yet they are the ones who defiled it! They decided to use the thirty silver coins to buy the potter’s field to be a cemetery for foreigners.
In Jeremiah 18, God sent Jeremiah to the house of the potter. The vessel that the potter was working on was flawed, so he re-formed the clay into a different vessel. God said, “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel” (Jeremiah 18:6). God described Himself as a Potter.
The chief priests took the price they’d set for Jesus’ blood and used that blood money to buy the potter’s field. The symbolism is clear: Jesus’ blood purchased Israel, the field of God, who is the Potter. Matthew adds, “Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.” Today also, the land and believing remnant of Israel have been purchased at the price of the blood of Jesus, the Lamb who died that Passover day. The field the chief priests purchased, however, was to become a cemetery for foreigners. Ezekiel 39 speaks of a future attempted attack on Israel by someone called “Gog.” In this prophecy of Ezekiel, God said, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, ...and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude...” (Ezekiel 39:11). Israel will become the burial place of foreigners.
Acts 1:18 says concerning Judas, Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. Matthew 27:5 says that Judas hanged himself. The chief priests did not think it would be proper to put the thirty pieces of silver into the temple treasury. Therefore, they also would not have thought it proper to buy the field in the name of the temple. According to the information given in Acts 1:18, it seems likely that they bought the field in Judas’ name. After his last encounter with the chief priests, Judas probably hanged himself quickly, but the field was likely purchased later. The detail in Acts 1 seems to imply that his body became bloated, the rope or the limb he hanged himself on broke, and he fell and burst asunder. Acts 1:18 does not say that Judas died in the same field that he bought, but he may have hung himself in the potter’s field. If so, the chief priests probably bought that same field, thus twice contaminated, to bury Gentiles in.
The prophet Jeremiah was also told by God to buy a field in Israel. Jeremiah obeyed, but he felt uneasy about the purchase because he knew that Babylon was about to invade Israel. God told Jeremiah that He would bring Israel back after their captivity in Babylon: “Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: And they shall be my people, and I will be their God....” (Jeremiah 32:37-38). God’s telling Jeremiah to purchase the field was a statement that the nation still had a future in the land of Israel.
The setting of Jeremiah’s purchase was also significant. He had the right to buy this field because he was a relative of the seller. The seller was Jeremiah’s cousin. Jeremiah was locked up in prison at the time, so the cousin came to the prison for the transaction (Jeremiah 32:8). At that time, Jeremiah said, “For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.” Again, the symbolism is clear: Jesus is the kinsman of Israel who purchased the field with the price of His blood. Believing Israel will be restored to that land.
The reference that Matthew made to Jeremiah’s words is not a quote. It is a paraphrase that also makes reference to information in Zechariah 11:12-13: “And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.” Zechariah told about the thirty pieces of silver and about their being cast “to the potter in the house of the LORD.” But Zechariah did not mention the purchase of a field with that money. The parallel with the purchase of the field is in Jeremiah.
Thus, it seems that Matthew chose to emphasize the significance of the purchase of the potter’s field, that field which may still today be rightly called, “the field of blood.” Also, Matthew closed His paraphrase with the words, “as the Lord appointed me.” When Jeremiah’s cousin came to sell him the field just as God had already told him that he would, Jeremiah said, “Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.” These words fit Matthew’s paraphrase.
11And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. 12And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. 13Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? 14And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.
The chief priests and elders of Israel had said to Pilate, “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King” (Luke 23:2). Pilate then asked Jesus whether or not he was the king of the Jews. Jesus only answered, “Thou sayest.” He was the One spoken of in Isaiah 53:7: He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. The accusations were lying distortions of the truth, Pilate was a man without integrity, and Jesus knew that He was there for a purpose. He did not answer Pilate concerning the accusations.
15Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. 16And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. 17Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? 18For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.
The Roman governor Pilate had in the past been setting free one prisoner of the peoples’ choice each year at the time of the feast of Passover. Mark writes, And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection (Mark 15:7). Pilate knew that the Jewish leaders wanted Jesus killed because they were jealous of Him, so Pilate offered to set free either Jesus or Barabbas. He probably thought that the crowd would certainly choose Jesus.
19When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. 20But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
Behind the scenes two opposing conversations were taking place. Pilate’s wife sent word to him that she had had a dream which showed her that Pilate should not be part of the plot against Jesus. She referred to Jesus as “that just man.” The other conversation was taking place between the Jewish leaders and the crowd which had gathered in front of Pilate’s judgment seat. The chief priests and elders were persuading the people to ask that Barabbas be set free and Jesus be destroyed.
21The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. 22Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. 23And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. 24When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. 25Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. 26Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
Pilate asked the crowd, “Why, what evil hath he done?” Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent. Luke 23:22 records, And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go. Even to scourge an innocent man would have been despicable injustice.
The clear majority of the Greek manuscripts, including codices Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus, include the words “this just person” in verse 24. Pilate washed his hands in front of the crowd and claimed that he was innocent of the blood of “this just person,” Jesus. Yet, Pilate is the subject of all three verbs in verse 26. Pilate released Barabbas, Pilate scourged Jesus, and Pilate delivered Him to be crucified. Pilate’s washing his hands and claiming innocence did not remove his guilt.
The response of the Jewish people standing before Pilate that day should make anyone tremble. They said, “His blood be on us, and on our children.”
27Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. 28And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. 29And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! 30And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. 31And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
During the course of the exchange between Pilate and the Jewish leaders, Pilate had sent Jesus to Herod, who was ruler over Galilee. Luke records, And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate (Luke 23:6-11). Now, Jesus is again subjected to sadistic mockery by the soldiers of Pilate. The soldiers gathered the whole cohort to join in. They clothed Him with a scarlet robe. Mark and John describe the robe as “purple” (Mark 15:17; John 19:2). The robe was probably of a hue that was between the two. By describing the cloak as “scarlet,” Matthew linked the color with that spoken of in Isaiah 1:18: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” The soldiers in their cruelty unwittingly portrayed the work of the Passover Lamb, as He took our sins, which are as scarlet, on Himself.
The soldiers also wove together branches of a thorn bush to form a painful crown for His head. Again, the soldiers’ cruelty unknowingly portrayed the salvation that Christ was about to accomplish at the cross. In Genesis 3:17-19, we read God’s words of judgment to Adam because of Adam’s sin:
“Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
The curse that Adam’s sin brought to the world was placed on the head of Jesus. He wore our sins, which are like scarlet, and He bore the curse that sin brought. We the descendants of Adam can be forgiven. The earth on which we live will be set free from the curse which has blighted it.
Verse 30 says that the soldiers also spit on Jesus. In Isaiah 50:6, the Servant of Yahweh said, “I hid not my face from shame and spitting.”
At some point before the soldiers again clothed Jesus in His garments, Pilate took Him out again to the crowd. We read in John 19:5, Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! The Jewish leaders again cried out for Him to be crucified. Pilate then had a brief conversation with Jesus alone. In that conversation, Pilate said, “Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?” Jesus answered him, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin” (John 19:10-11). Pilate thought that he was the judge. But Pilate will be judged by Jesus.
Jesus was scourged and then sadistically mocked by two groups of Roman soldiers. At each change of His garments, the flesh of His open wounds from the scourging was ripped again. Isaiah 52:14 says, ...his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.... Surely, in the unjust trial and the mistreatment of Jesus, even before His crucifixion, we see the awfulness of the state of fallen humanity and a display of the hatred of Satan for Him.
32And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. 33And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, 34they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
John 19:17 says concerning Jesus, And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha.... Thus, it seems that at first, Jesus Himself was carrying His cross. Mark, after speaking of Simon the Cyrenian being compelled to carry Jesus’ cross, says, And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull (Mark 15:22). The word “bring” in that sentence means “to bear” or “to carry” (Greek: “φερουσιν”). Thus, after having been without sleep for many hours; arrested; tried before the Jewish leaders, Herod, and Pilate; scourged; brutally mistreated by two groups of Roman soldiers; and thrust in front of a bloodthirsty mob; it seems that Jesus had no physical strength left to carry His cross. The soldiers carried – probably dragged – Him to Golgotha.
The name of the place where Jesus was crucified means “place of a skull.” A skull is a symbol of death. Paul wrote, ...the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). He also wrote, ...he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin (II Corinthians 5:21). Jesus went to the cross to take our sin and our death.
Jesus was offered a drink of vinegar mixed with a poison; the intent was to make it easier for the one being crucified to die. But Jesus did not go to the cross only to die physically. He went to the cross to die while bearing the wrath of God for our sin. He had to do that consciously. He refused to take the poison. Verse 34 also reflects the words of Psalm 69:21: They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
35And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
The whole statement and description of the crucifixion is given in one brief clause: “And they crucified him....” In the Greek text, “crucified” is not even the main verb of the sentence. It is a participle. The sentence may be translated, “And having crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting a lot.” The awfulness of crucifixion is not the focus of these verses; the focus is the fulfilling of God’s plan and the behavior of those who were there. Today also the focus is still on the reason for Christ’s suffering and how we respond to His death.
The four soldiers who crucified Jesus divided up His clothes among themselves. They cast lots to see who would get His coat (John 19:23-24). That was a fulfillment of the prophecy of Psalm 22:18. Before our ancestor Adam sinned, nakedness brought no shame, but when Adam sinned, he hid from God. When God questioned him, Adam said, “I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” Then God said to him, “Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” (Genesis 3:10-11). Adam’s physical nakedness had spiritual meaning. He began to feel shame when his sin left him spiritually exposed. Later, God clothed Adam and his wife Eve with coats of skins (Genesis 3:21). A sacrifice had to die to take away the shame of their nakedness. At the cross, Jesus was made naked and ashamed as He took our sins on Himself. He is the sacrifice that took on Himself the consequences of Adam’s sin and ours.
36And sitting down they watched him there; 37and set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 38Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.
The writ of guilt hung over His head said, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Jesus was accused of and executed for something which is not a crime. The executors were guilty because they killed the King of the Jews.
Jesus was crucified between two thieves. It seems likely that these thieves had done more than just stolen something. For example, in Luke 10:30, Jesus spoke of a man hurt by thieves:
A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
Barabbas also was called a thief in John 18:40, but Barabbas had committed murder, as well (Mark 15:7; Luke 23:19). Probably Jesus was crucified in the place where Barabbas would have been.
39And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, 40and 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. 41Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, 42He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. 43He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. 44The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
The passersby used the same words in their taunt as Satan used twice in his temptation of Christ: “If thou be the Son of God....” And, as Satan tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread for Himself and to jump off the top of the temple to prove that God would command angels to catch Him, the crowd cried out to Him to save Himself. The Jewish religious leaders also joined together to mock Him, saying, “He saved others; himself he cannot save.” It was the voice of Satan crying to Him to save Himself. If Jesus had come down from the cross and saved Himself, He could not have saved us. Satan would have won.
Colossians 2:13-15 says,
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Jesus triumphed over Satan by staying on the cross. The just accusations against us were nailed to His cross. He paid the debt that we owed. Now He can save us. Satan’s rule over a person’s life ends when that person believes in what Jesus did for him or her at the cross.
The Jewish leaders said, “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him....” With their own voices they were fulfilling the prophecy in Psalm 22:7-8: “All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, he trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.”
For a time, both of the thieves crucified with Jesus mocked Him along with the people in the crowd watching. But one of the thieves changed his mind. Luke records that one of them said as the other was reviling Jesus, “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.” Then this thief said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:40-43). In a miracle of God’s grace, this man who was hanging beside Jesus believed in Him there at the cross and was saved for eternity. We have no record of any change of mind in the other thief.
45Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
Genesis 1:5 says, And the evening and the morning were the first day. Accordingly, a Jewish day began the evening before. The sixth hour spoken of in Matthew 27:45 is the sixth hour of the morning, thus the noon hour. There was darkness over all the land from noon until three o’clock in the afternoon.
John 19:13-14, in speaking of the trial and mockery of Jesus before His crucifixion, record, When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
The “sixth hour” spoken of by John in these verses is in the context of the actions of Pilate, the Roman governor. By Roman reckoning, the sixth hour would have been six o’clock in the morning. This fits with the fact that Pilate’s wife sent him word at that point about the dream she’d had that night (verse 19). Because it was the Passover and the day of preparation for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it is not surprising that many people in Jerusalem would already have been on the streets at that hour.
Mark records that Jesus was crucified at the third hour of the morning: And it was the third hour, and they crucified him (Mark 15:25). Thus, Jesus was crucified at about 9 o’clock in the morning. Then, the darkness began at noon and lasted for three hours. This onset of darkness at noon and climax of darkness at three in the afternoon may be the fulfillment of the fact that the Passover lamb was to be killed “between the two evenings” (Exodus 12:6; Hebrew: “בין הערבים”).
In Matthew 22, in the parable of the marriage feast, there was a man who entered the wedding hall without a wedding garment. Jesus described the judgment on this man in verse 13 of that chapter: “Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The “outer darkness” was a place of torment. When Jesus bore our sins at the cross, He bore the judgment of darkness, rejection, and torment for us.
46And 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?
Luke records that when Jesus was crucified, He said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Luke also records that at the point of Jesus’ death He said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). Both times Jesus addressed God as “Father.” Only at the time of the ninth hour, at a point between the other two references, did Jesus address His Father by saying, “My God.” He cried with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” It is significant that both Matthew and Mark, the two Gospel writers who recorded this statement, translated the question “Why?” by using words which mean “for what purpose?” (Matthew: Greek: “ινατι” ; Mark 15:34: Greek: “εις τι”). They did not translate the question as “on account of what?” (Greek: “δια τι”). That is, both Matthew and Mark recorded that Jesus’ question itself implied that there was a purpose in His being forsaken by God.
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He said, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 11:41-42). Jesus said in His prayer that He was saying what He said because He wanted to give a message to the people who were listening. Also, in John 12, when God the Father spoke from heaven in answer to Jesus’ prayer, Jesus said, “This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes” (John 12:30).
Jesus knew why He was at the cross. In Matthew 20:28, He told His disciples, “...the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” He knew the purpose of His death. He knew that He would be counted sinful and forsaken by the Father. That’s why He had earlier prayed that that cup might pass from Him (Matthew 26:39). His question at the cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” was surely to communicate to those around the cross and to us today that He was dying for a purpose.
Many years earlier, at the very spot where the temple in Jerusalem was built (I Chronicles 22:1; II Chronicles 3:1), King David built an altar at the threshing floor of a man named Ornan the Jebusite (same as “Araunah” in II Samuel 24:16-25). David had sinned by numbering the people of Israel. Probably he had done so in pride. God was displeased and began to bring judgment on Israel because of David’s sin. God sent a destroying angel. In I Chronicles 21:16, we read, And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then, at God’s direction, David built an altar at the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite and offered sacrifices there. We know that God accepted David’s sacrifices because God answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. Then we read, And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof (I Chronicles 21:26-27).
There were three steps in the salvation that took place that day at that place: David offered sacrifice, fire came down from God on the sacrifice, and then God’s wrath was appeased. The destroying angel put his sword back into its sheath.
The place where Jesus died was very near the old threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. What happened there in the past was to picture what would happen there in the future. Israel and all humankind had sinned. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). All of the descendants of Adam faced eternal judgment. Jesus became the sacrifice for those sins. When the land became dark from noon until three o’clock in the afternoon and then Jesus said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” the fire of God’s wrath had fallen on the sacrifice, thus making clear that He had found the sacrifice acceptable. As we will understand from the coming verses, the requirements of God’s justice had been satisfied.
Jesus’ words at the cross are the same as those found in Psalm 22:1: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?” His death and His saying those words was a fulfillment of prophecy. When Jesus said, “My God, my God,” He spoke from His humanity. Peter wrote, Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed (I Peter 2:24). The Man Jesus became our sin bearer. He bore the rejection by God that we deserve. His one death was sufficient for all of humanity because He was both the Son of Man and the Son of God. His human blood had infinite worth.
47Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. 48And 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. 49The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. 50Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
John records that Jesus said, “I thirst” (John 19:28). When Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well, He said, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14). Yet Jesus Himself thirsted at the cross. He did not accept anything to relieve His thirst until His work of suffering for our sins was finished. He bore for us the soul thirst that is the consequence of sin.
John also tells us what Jesus said when He cried with a loud voice:
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:30).
John recorded that Jesus cried with a loud voice, “It is finished!”
The author of Hebrews, in quoting Psalm 40: 6-8, wrote concerning Christ,
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. (Hebrews 10:5-7).
Animal sacrifices could never have satisfied the demands of God’s justice against our sins. God prepared a body for His Son so that His Son might be an acceptable sacrifice. Jesus came to do the will of His Father. At the cross He finished the work of satisfying the requirements of God’s justice. There is nothing more to be done to pay the penalty for our sins. It is finished. Jesus completed the work that He was sent here to do.
Luke 23:46 records:
And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
After Jesus’ work was finished, fellowship with His Father was restored, and Jesus again addressed God as “Father.” Matthew tells us that Jesus “yeilded up the ghost.” That is, He let His spirit go. He was in control even in His death.
51And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
If a person read this chapter through verse 50 and then stopped and tried to guess what would come next, one might guess that we would then read of a great and immediate wrathful judgment of God against Israel, against Rome, and against all humanity because of the unjust and cruel murder of Jesus. But instead, verse 51 says, “And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.” The veil of the temple was a curtain which separated the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence was, from the part of the temple which the priests entered each day. The curtain was to be opened only once in a year, on the Day of Atonement; only by the High Priest; and only with the blood of the sacrifice that God had commanded.
But, as soon as Jesus’ death for our sins was finished, the curtain was ripped in two “from the top to the bottom.” Instead of God’s destroying the human race for the heinous crime just committed, He Himself removed the barrier to our freely entering His presence. The author of Hebrews wrote that we now have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19).
In the Law that God gave to Moses, He commanded that the veil of the temple be in place: “And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy” (Exodus 26:33)
Thus, if God Himself removed the veil, He also removed the Law in which He commanded it. The righteous standards of the Law remain (Romans 3:31), but the Covenant of Law was annulled at the death of Christ. The New Covenant was inaugurated at Christ’s death. That’s why He said to His disciples when He gave them the cup the night before, “...this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). The author of Hebrews wrote concerning Jeremiah’s prophecy of this covenant, In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away (Hebrews 8:13).
At Jesus’ death, there was also an earthquake, and the rocks were split. The author of Hebrews spoke of a future final shaking of the earth. He referred to the words of Haggai 2:6 when he wrote, ...now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain (Hebrews 12:26-27). The earthquake which occurred after Jesus’ death was surely a foretaste of God’s coming judgment on the old creation.
Matthew is the only one of the Gospel writers who recorded the resurrection of many bodies of the believers who had died. The structure of the Greek sentence in verses 52-53 leaves some inclarity as to whether these believers were raised at the moment of Jesus’ death or after His resurrection. If they were raised at the moment of His death, then they were raised in their old bodies, as was Lazarus. We know this because Jesus is “the firstfruits” (I Corinthians 15:23), “the first begotten of the dead” (Revelation 1:5). If they were raised after His resurrection, it is possible that they were raised in their new bodies. In either case, their resurrection stands as a testimony that Jesus’ death had indeed removed the penalty of sin for those who believe in Him. When Jesus ascended to heaven forty days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3), He took with Him the spirits of all believers who had died before His death (Ephesians 4:8-10). Thus, these resurrected believers would have also been taken to heaven with Him at that time.
54Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. 55And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him: 56among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children.
The Roman centurion and the soldiers who were with him had surely heard the words of the passersby who said, “If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross” (verse 40). They would also have heard the words of the chief priests, scribes, and elders, when they said, “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God” (verse 43). Now the centurion and soldiers with him, after seeing the three hours of darkness, the earthquake and the splitting rocks, declared that the passersby and the Jewish leaders had wrongly taunted Jesus. Mark records that the centurion was also convinced by the manner in which Jesus died: And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God (Mark 15:39). Luke states that the centurion glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man (Luke 23:47). The centurion recognized that the one whom they had crucified was a righteous man and that he was indeed the Son of God.
Many believing women were present at the crucifixion. One of them was the mother of James and John, who had just a short time earlier asked that her sons be given places at Jesus’ right and left hand in His kingdom. Jesus told her then that she did not understand the cost that would be required (20:20-22). Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus had cast seven demons (Luke 8:2) and another woman named Mary were there, too. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were also present when Jesus’ body was laid in the tomb (verse 61).
57When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: 58he went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. 59And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. 61And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.
The other Gospel writers also speak of Joseph of Arimathaea. Mark says that Joseph was an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God (Mark 15:43). Luke tells us that Joseph was a good man, and a just and that he had not consented to the decisions and actions of the Jewish leaders against Jesus (Luke 23:50-51). John speaks of Joseph as being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews (John 19:38). John also tells us that Nicodemus, who came to speak to Jesus in John 3, brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight, for the burial of His body (John 19:39).
Joseph was a rich man and probably a member of the Sanhedrin, the religious governing council of the Jews. We know that Nicodemus was recognized as a teacher of Israel (John 3:10). Both came forward to prepare Jesus’ body for burial. But there is no indication that either of them expected Him to rise from the dead.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there and witnessed the placing of Jesus’ body into the tomb which belonged to Joseph. They also witnessed the rolling of the large stone into place at the door of the tomb.
62Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, 63saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. 64Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. 65Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. 66So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.
Jesus died on Passover day. That day is also called the day of preparation because the next day began the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. By the end of Passover day, all leaven was to be out of the homes of everyone in Israel (Exodus 12:18-20). The day after the day of preparation was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was a Sabbath day, both because it was the first day of the Feast (Exodus 12:16) and because that year it fell on the seventh day of the week. Yet, the chief priests and Pharisees were busy that day with efforts to secure Jesus’ tomb.
It is a significant detail that the chief priests and Pharisees told Pilate that Jesus had said that He would rise “after three days,” yet they only requested that the tomb be guarded until the third day. This example and others like it tell us that in the language of that time, “after three days” meant “after the third day has begun.”
Strikingly, when the chief priests and Pharisees addressed Pilate as “Sir,” they used the Greek word “Κυριε,” which means “Lord.” They refused to call the Messiah “Lord” but unwittingly expressed their misplaced allegiance by addressing the Roman governor with the same word. Also, in their effort to make Jesus’ tomb secure, they unwittingly provided additional historical proof that what happened the next morning was a miracle. The seal of the Roman government, the presence of soldiers to guard the tomb, and the large stone rolled to its door could not prevent Jesus’ leaving the grave alive.
Note: All Scriptures are quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.