Matthew 27

Matthew 27:1-10

Chapter 84 Remember Judas“When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Then 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, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And 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. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.

Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. Then 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; And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.” (Matthew 27:1-10) As we read the Bible, we cannot help noticing that there are numerous examples of men and women who appeared to fear God and walk with him, who in time forsook him altogether and perished under his wrath. There are multitudes in hell today who were once considered saints of God. Lot’s wife, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, Achan, King Saul, Ananias and Sapphira, Demas, and Diotrephes are all names that ought to be alarming. Like the multitude in John 6, though they professed to be disciples and were considered by all, except the Lord himself, to be his disciples, they “went back and walked no more with him.” They are beacons placed before us in Holy Scripture to warn us of the danger of hypocrisy and carnal security. All is not gold that glitters. “They are not all Israel which are of Israel.” Many who profess faith in Christ and are confident that their faith is genuine shall betray and forsake Christ in time and perish under the wrath of God in hell. No one more fearfully and glaringly demonstrates this fact than Judas, the son of perdition, our Lord’s betrayer. He is the principle subject of this paragraph. Judas was once numbered with the apostles of Christ. He once preached the gospel, performed mighty miracles, and carried the treasurer’s bag for the first church ever to exist in this world. Yet, Judas betrayed the Son of God. Afterward, though he repented, confessed his sin, and made restitution, he committed suicide, perishing under the terror of God’s justice and wrath. Today that man, who once was thought to be such a great man, such an eminent believer, burns in hell, suffering the wrath of God! Let none who read these lines follow him.God’s Word The first thing to be learned from this passage is the fact that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. I stress this fact again because we must never entertain the thought that there may be some error in the Book of God, or that it is not to be depended upon implicitly. The Bible alone is inspired. The Bible alone is God’s Word. The Bible alone is authoritative. The Bible alone is our rule of faith and practice. The Bible alone is able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21; Revelation 22:18-19). Yet, there are many who, daring to defy God, love to point out supposed discrepancies in the Scriptures. Learned infidels are only educated fools; and their folly is evident when they attempt to discredit the Word of God. Many have suggested that Matthew 27:9 is an example of a mistake found in the Bible. If you read your Bible carefully, you know that the quotation attributed to Jeremiah the prophet in verse nine cannot be found in the Book of Jeremiah. It is found in Zechariah’s prophecy (Zechariah 11:12). Does that mean that Matthew made a mistake? If so, the veracity and inspiration of the Bible falls to the ground. Find a single mistake in Holy Scripture and our faith is destroyed. Prove that the Bible is not verbally inspired, and Christianity is proved to be a lie! But Matthew did not make a mistake. He wrote exactly what the Holy Spirit inspired him to write. That which we have written in Jeremiah’s prophecy is not all that Jeremiah spoke or even all that he wrote. No doubt Zechariah quoted Jeremiah’s words in his prophecy as they were handed down to him. How do we know? We know that because the Holy Spirit here tells us that he did. There are, of course, other examples of this in the Scriptures (Acts 20:35; Jude 1:14). God has placed many stones of stumbling in the Book of Inspiration over which blind and ignorant men stumble into hell. The chief priests and elders bound Christ and delivered him into the hands of the Gentiles (Matthew 27:1-2) because the Scriptures must be fulfilled. Our Lord had prophesied that he must be delivered by the Jews into the hands of the Gentiles. Therefore, the Jews did what they did because the Scriptures must be fulfilled (Acts 4:27-28; Acts 13:27-29). Obviously, those wicked men did exactly and only what they wanted to do (Acts 2:23). Their crimes cannot be excused. The chief priests and elders, headed by Annas and Caiaphas, were so intent upon murdering the Lord Jesus that they sat up all night in council in pursuit of their wicked scheme (Luke 22:66).

But they could do nothing, except that which God had purposed from eternity (John 19:10-11). Let us ever remember that it is the hand of our God that controls all things, even the evil that men do, and that he does so exactly according to his eternal purpose of grace (Psalms 76:10; Romans 8:28-30; Romans 11:33; Ephesians 1:11). As Isaac was bound to the altar of sacrifice, so the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Isaac was a type, was bound for us as the Lamb of God to the altar of sacrifice. He was already bound with the cords of love to his elect, bound by his own will to redeem us. Otherwise, he would have broken these bonds more easily than Samson broke the bonds of the Philistines. As Matthew Henry wrote, “We were fettered with the bond of iniquity, held in the cords of our sins (Proverbs 5:22); but God bound the yoke of our transgressions upon the neck of the Lord Jesus (Lamentations 1:14), that we might be loosed by his bonds, as we are healed by his stripes.” It was prophesied from Israel’s earliest days that Shiloh would not come, that the Messiah and Redeemer promised in the Old Testament would not come, until the sceptre of civil government had departed from Judah (Genesis 49:10). This prophecy was manifestly fulfilled by this act. These enraged Jews would never have turned the Lord Jesus Christ over to Pilate to be crucified had it not been for the fact that they were now no longer a nation with civil authority.

Two years before this event the Romans had stripped them of their last remnant of national power. They had no legal power to put a man to death. If Christ were to be legally murdered by them, the Romans would have to do it. Thus, God almighty arranged for the fulfillment of his Word to the letter. God’s Work Second, we have before us a vivid illustration of the fact that “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18). The finger of God was in this matter. The hand of God ruled the whole affair. Nothing was left to chance, fate, accident, or the will of man. The Jews were not in charge here. Pilate was not in charge here.

The Gentiles were not in charge here. God almighty was in charge. The betrayal by Judas, the council of the Jews, the deliverance of Jesus into the hands of the Romans, the spinelessness of Pilate, and the barbarianism of the soldiers and the people were all under the total rule of our God. These wicked men, while doing only what their wicked hearts and wills desired, did nothing but that which God Almighty ordained and arranged for the redemption of his people and the glory of his own great name. “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain” (Psalms 76:10). Our Holy Savior Third, Judas himself gives us a glaring proof that the Lord Jesus Christ was totally innocent of the trumped up charges laid against him. I cannot imagine any evidence that would be more compelling to honest men of our Redeemer’s total innocence than the fact that even when the Jews were trying to hire false witnesses to testify against him, Judas was totally silent. If there was anyone who could have given evidence against the Master, Judas would have been the man. He was one of the Lord’s chosen apostles, one of his constant companions for more than three years. Judas heard everything he taught in public and in private. If our Lord had done anything amiss, in word or in deed, Judas would have known it.

And it would have been in his own interest to tell it. After all, if he could produce one incident of evil against the Master, his betrayal would have been justified. Why did he not do it? Why was he silent? Why did neither the Jews nor Pilate call him to their courts and question him? There can be only one answer given: — Judas did not bear witness against Christ because he knew nothing against him. Wicked, base, and vile as he was, the apostate apostle knew that Jesus Christ was an innocent man, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. This is a matter of immense importance. The Holy Spirit takes great care to give us proof upon proof that our Redeemer is the Lamb of God who, by virtue of his eternal deity and perfect humanity, was able to take away the sins of his people. “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.” (Hebrews 7:22-27) The Betrayer Fourth, Judas shows us that a person may experience much, know much, and do much that appears to be genuinely spiritual and yet perish at last. I frankly do not know how to say what needs to be said here forcefully enough. Salvation is an experience; but it is much more than an experience. Salvation involves knowledge; but it is much more than knowledge. Salvation produces good works; but it is much more than good works. In those matters, neither you nor I come close to Judas.

He was not only an apostle, but in all probability the most highly esteemed of all the apostles. Until he betrayed the Master, he was never once, in so far as the Scriptures tell us, reprimanded for anything. Judas seems to stand head and shoulders above the rest. Even after he had been distinctly identified as the betrayer by the Master (John 13:26-30), no one was suspicious of him. Yet, Judas was a lost man. He never knew God. Salvation is “Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27). Salvation is a living union of faith with the Son of God. Salvation is a heart work, a work of God in our hearts. Salvation is not something you can muster. It is not something the preacher can bestow. It is not something parents can bequeath. “Salvation is of the Lord!” Salvation is the utter surrender of a sinner to the rule, dominion, and will of God by faith in Christ. When a person comes to know Christ, the last Adam, he does willingly what the first Adam refused to do. — He bows and surrenders to God as God, acknowledging his right to be God and thus to do what he will (Luke 14:25-33). False Repentance Next, Judas shows us that there is a repentance that needs to be repented of. — “Then 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, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself” (Matthew 27:3-5). This was not the repentance of faith, but merely the repentance of a horrified man, conscious of the fact that he had committed a damning deed, and terrified by the wrath of God. Judas was horrified “when he saw that he was condemned.” It appears that he thought he could never have done such a thing. He may have thought the Lord Jesus would, by some miracle, escape from the Romans, as he often had from the Jews. It may be, in fact, I think it is very likely, that Judas never dreamed that the Son of God would be crucified as a result of his betrayal. He did what he did because he saw a chance to make a little money by kissing the Master, by a pretentious act of love and devotion! But when he saw what the results of his betrayal were, “when he saw that he was condemned,” in utter terror, he tried to undo the mischief of his crime. We are plainly told that Judas “repented himself.” He confessed, “I have betrayed innocent blood.” He even made restitution of the money he had taken. But Judas’ repentance was a fearful example of that repentance which needs to be repented of. — “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Corinthians 7:10). This matter deserves special attention. Multitudes have a form of repentance that, like Judas’, will bring them at last to hell. Solomon warns us that many shall call upon God, but he will not answer; they shall seek him early, but they shall not find him (Proverbs 1:28). Judas repented not because he had seen the glory of God in Christ, but because he was terrified at the prospect of God’s wrath. He wanted salvation, but not the Savior. He wanted mercy, but not the Master. He wanted grace, but cared nothing for the glory of God. Jesus Christ will not be a fire escape. There is a great difference in being afraid of God and fearing God. There is a great difference between an awareness of guilt and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. True repentance is the gift of God’s goodness, not the fear of his wrath (Romans 2:4). Judas stands as a beacon to warn us that the things of this world give no comfort to an immortal soul leaving this world. “The treasures of the wicked profit nothing” (Proverbs 10:2). The money Judas wanted so desperately, and the money he earned so wickedly brought him nothing but bitterness and sorrow. I suspect that Judas is still trying to cast it away! “What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” Judas teaches us that no sinner is so great a sinner as that sinner who sins against light, and knowledge, and privilege. He went out and hanged himself. What a sad, sad tale the life of Judas is! Here is an apostle of Christ, a preacher of the gospel, a table companion of Peter, James, and John, hanged by his own hands. He came to the very Door of heaven, handled the Door, and showed others the Door; but he went to hell! Be wise and JUDAS. — “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Proverbs 29:1).

Matthew 27:11-26

Chapter 85 Our Savior’s Mock Trial “And 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. And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly. Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.

And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. When 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. But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.

The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.

When 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. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.” (Matthew 27:11-26) Here the Judge of all the earth stood before wicked men to be judged by them! He that shall soon judge the world in righteousness was judged most unrighteously. He that shall one day set upon the throne of judgment with ten thousands of his saints and angels stood as a prisoner before the bar of reprobate men. Never in the pages of history was justice so violently and deliberately abused. The Son of God was denied the rights of justice given to a common thief or murderer. Before one witness was produced to testify against him, before any evidence was weighed, the Lord of glory was beaten, mocked, stripped, and abused by vile, God hating men.

Who can comprehend the depths of humiliation endured by the God-man? That one “Who, being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God,” now “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, ever the death of the cross.” Judas made good on his bargain to betray our Lord. No sooner did he kiss the Savior than the high priests had his hands bound and led him away. These wolves of the night were thirsty, longing to be sucking the blood of the Lamb of God. Their revenge and malice would not allow any delay. They could not sleep until they had his precious, innocent blood. Therefore, they resolved to kill him as soon as possible. But, so that it would not look like downright murder, they formalized it with a mock trial. The Background You are familiar with the story. Let me just remind you of the events of that night. Our Redeemer was arrested in the garden and hurried along the road which crosses the brook of Kidron, like David before him, who passed over that brook, weeping as he went. The brook Kidron was that into which all the filth of the temple sacrifices was thrown. Our blessed Savior was led to that black stream, as though he were some foul and filthy thing. He was led into Jerusalem by the sheep-gate, the gate through which the passover lambs were led. Little did those men understand that they were fulfilling to the very letter those types which God had ordained by the law of Moses. These wicked men led the Lamb of God to slaughter. May the Lord himself sanctify our hearts as we follow our Redeemer through his trial and cruel mockery. First, they led Immanuel to the house of Annas, the ex-high priest, to gratify that bloodthirsty wretch with the sight of his victim. Then, they hurriedly brought the Son of God to the house of Caiaphas, where the members of the Sanhedrim were assembled, to take counsel against the Lord and against his Anointed. Next, they took the Lamb of God through the streets to Pilate’s judgment hall.

There they sought a legal sentence of execution to be pronounced upon God’s Holy One. Pilate sent the bloodthirsty mob to Herod, the governor of Galilee. Finally, the Lord of Glory is returned to Pilate’s judgment hall, where he is tried, beaten, mocked, and sentenced to die. This is where we find him in the passage before us. Though nothing worthy of bonds or of death could be found in him, our Lord Jesus Christ was condemned to be nailed to a cross and there to hang until he died. Innocence Proved It was the intention of these wicked men to make it appear that Jesus Christ was a sinful man, worthy of death. But, by their deeds, God proved his complete innocence, and showed beyond every shadow of doubt that our Lord Jesus Christ is “holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.” Remember, our Lord was about to be offered up as the Lamb of God, a Sacrifice for Sin. The sacrificial lamb must be examined to be sure that it had no blemish. So it was necessary that the Lamb of God be found by those who crucified him to be “a Lamb without blemish and without spot.” The over-ruling hand of God so ordered the events of his trial that even when his enemies were his judges, they could find no fault and prove nothing against him. The Son of God was examined on three separate occasions. They took him from one judge to another, from one court to another, seeking some grounds for putting him to death. He was first examined by an ecclesiastical court in the house of Caiaphas the high-priest. The court here was the Jewish Sanhedrim. They were the most honored and respected men of the nation. They were supposed to be a court of seventy honorable, sober, learned, and faithful men (Numbers 11:16-17). But it was now reduced to a pack of malicious Scribes and Pharisees. Over this mob of bloodthirsty, self-righteous men, Caiaphas was the head. It was Caiaphas who led the examination. They questioned the Savior about his doctrine and his assertions that he is both the Messiah and God the Son. And they sought false witnesses against him. When he gave answer, they began to mock him, spit on him, and beat him. (Mark 14:61-65). It was at this point, which they rebelled. These Jews would gladly have received Christ as a savior to deliver them from Roman bondage; but they would not worship him as God and bow to him as Lord. That is still the point of man’s rebellion (Luke 14:25-33). There are multitudes who pretend to honor our Savior as a good, moral man and a good religious teacher, while denying his eternal deity as God the Son. But, surely, if he were not the Son of God, if the Jews had misunderstood his claims, he would have said so here! Caiaphas Caiaphas was a self-serving religious leader, the high priest in Israel, who curried favor with the Romans. It was Caiaphas who gave counsel that it was expedient for one man to die for the nation, lest the Romans destroy the whole nation. He considered the sacrifice of a man’s life a matter of insignificance, if by the sacrifice Romans were pacified. We know, of course, that it was God the Holy Spirit who compelled him to speak prophetically (John 11:47-53). Yet, his words display clearly the character of the man himself. At the same time, they show us that the time had come that was prophesied in Genesis 49:10. The scepter of civil government had now departed from Judah, because Shiloh, the Messiah, had come. The Sanhedrim was now nothing but an insignificant band of Jewish religious leaders, who had no legitimate authority or power to judge anything. Herod took all authority from them in the beginning of his reign. So they were compelled to seek a death sentence against the Lord Jesus at Pilate’s judgment hall. This fact they stated plainly in John 18:31, saying to Pilate, “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.” Pilate Still, in their pretense of righteousness, the Jews would not enter Pilate’s house, lest they should defile themselves on the passover. So Pilate came out on the pavement to them to examine the Lamb of God (John 18:28-29). The Jews brought three charges against our Redeemer: (1.) They accused him of refusing to pay tribute to Caesar. (2.) They accused him of stirring up sedition. (3.) They accused him of blasphemy. But they could produce no proof of their charges. Then Pilate personally examined the Savior. He asked him about his claims as King of the Jews. And he asked the Savior, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Perhaps he said this in sarcasm. But the Truth was standing before him; and he knew it. Pilate then sent the Lord Jesus to Herod. There again, our Lord was examined; but nothing was found against him. Herod and his soldiers mocked and beat God’s eternal Son, and sent him back to Pilate. Matthew here describes the scene of our Savior’s mock trial before Pilate. Pilate had the immaculate Lamb of God severely beaten, humiliated, mocked, and scourged. He hoped by this means to satisfy the anger of the mob; but it would not do. Finally, the verdict was passed. Immanuel was found innocent of all charges. But these men cared nothing for that. Pilate then presented the Lord Jesus to the crowd proclaiming, “Behold Your King” (John 19:14). Can you get the picture? There is the bleeding Lamb of God. A crown of thorns is upon his head. A reed is in his hand. A mock robe is on his back. And Pilate says, “Behold your King!” He is, indeed, the King. But these wicked men despised God’s anointed King. They clamored for his blood, crying, –“Crucify him! Crucify him!” And they assumed full responsibility for the shedding of Immanuel’s blood, saying, “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” It appears that Pilate’s conscience was alarmed by the things that transpired before him. His wife was alarmed as well. She had a fearful dream concerning the matter. So Pilate tried to reason with the chief priests and elders, hoping to spare himself from murdering the Christ of God. But the Jews could not be pacified. At last, Pilate consented to the will of the Jews. Obviously horrified and unable to conceal the wickedness of ordering the crucifixion of a completely innocent man, he publicly washed his hands, as if to show that he bore no responsibility for what he was about to do. Then, probably as he was drying his hypocritical hands, he pronounced the sentence of death against the Savior and proclaimed his innocence! What a mockery! Sweet Consolation Yet, this proof of our Lord’s innocence ought to be a sweet consolation and comfort for our hearts. We should be deeply thankful that our great Substitute was in all respects proved to be perfect and innocent, that our Surety was pronounced faultless by the very man who ordered his crucifixion. Who among us can number his sins? We leave undone the things we ought to do and do the things we ought not to do every day of our lives. But here is our comfort. – “Jesus Christ the righteous” stood in our place to pay the debt we owed and fulfill the law we have broken. He fulfilled the law completely. He satisfied all its demands. He accomplished all its requirements.

He was the last Adam, who had “clean hands and a pure heart,” and could therefore enter with boldness into God’s holy hill. He is our Righteousness. In him God’s elect have perfectly fulfilled all the law. The eyes of a holy God beholds us in Christ, clothed with Christ’s perfect righteousness, and made the righteousness of God in him. For Christ’s sake, God can now say of the believing sinner, “I find no fault in him at all.” Truly, the Son of God, our Substitute, “knew no sin.” And God compelled those who crucified him to confess his perfect innocence. The Lamb of God was examined publicly and privately, and he was without blemish and without spot. It must be so, because he who undertakes to be a Substitute for sinners must be sinless. Mercy and Judgment I cannot avoid directing your attention to the great mercy of our great God and Savior toward men who shed his blood. When Pilate said, “I am innocent of the blood of this just person, see ye to it: Then answered all the people and said: His blood be upon us and on our children.” The Jews defiantly pronounced God’s judgment upon themselves. Yet, our Savior sent great mercy to many of those very men. In Acts 2, when the enthroned Christ poured out his Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Peter declared that the men of Israel had with wicked hands crucified and slain Jesus of Nazareth, whom God had made both Lord and Christ. When they heard Peter’s message, they were pricked in the heart, and cried, “Men and brethren what shall we do?” Upon many of those present, the Lord God performed his great work of grace. And the precious blood of Christ graciously put upon them sprinkled their hearts to the purging of their consciences by the Spirit of God. The very first word spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ from the cross was for them. He prayed, “Father! forgive them, for they know not what they do.” In Acts 2 the Lord graciously answered his prayer on their behalf. There is always a perfect and gracious correspondence between the intercession of Christ and the gifts of God the Holy Spirit. Robert Hawker wrote, “Even the Jerusalem sinners, who imbrued their hands in the blood of Christ are made partakers in the blessedness of salvation in his blood.” That fact should be a great encouragement to sinners everywhere to come to him who has promised, “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37-45) Yet, upon others the Lord God poured out his furious wrath. The Jewish nation is to this day a nation reeking under the judgment of God. The guilt of Immanuel’s blood is still upon the children of those who crucified him! As it is written, God has “mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.” Salvation is his sovereign prerogative (Romans 9:11-24). Depravity Displayed The innocence of Christ had no bearing with the angry mob. They wanted his blood. So the death sentence was passed upon him, proclaiming the guilt and depravity of man. — “And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.” As Luke tells us, Pilate “delivered Jesus to their will” (Luke 23:25). The crowd cried, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” And Pilate, willing to please the crowd, sentenced our Redeemer to die upon the cursed tree. I am confident that Pilate knew what he was doing. There, standing before him, was the embodiment of meekness, innocence, love, and purity. Pilate tried in vain to wash his hands of the innocent blood. I expect that those bloodstained hands still torment his conscience in hell. But he gave the sentence. Jesus of Nazareth must be nailed to a cross and hung up to die. This was the most unjust and unrighteous sentence ever passed. It was an indescribably cruel sentence. The Lamb of God was sentenced to die a violent, cruel, tormenting death. It was as merciless as it was unjust. Never was there such a glaring display of the guilt and depravity of the human heart! The Pharisees and the Roman soldiers, Jews and Gentiles, Pilate and Herod were all of one mind in this matter; they hated the Son of God, and determined to murder him. We all had a hand in the crucifixion of Christ. Those men are true representations of humanity. Every rebel sinner continues to cry, “Crucify him! Crucify him!

Let his blood be upon me and upon my children,” by his willful unbelief. Unbelief is but man’s continual repetition of this hellish crime! Unbelief declares that Christ our God is a liar (1 John 5:10), the assertion that he deserved to be crucified, trampling under foot the blood of the Son of God! Unbelief is the relentless cry of man’s wicked free-will, — “Crucify him! Crucify him! We will not have this man to rule over us!” God’s Purpose Still, we must never forget that, though they knew it not, these men were under the dominion and control of that One whom they sentenced to die. They fulfilled the very words of Holy Scripture, doing no more and no less than was ordained by him whom they executed (Acts 4:26-28; Acts 13:27-29). By their wicked hands, with all the malice of their wicked will, they did exactly what our Lord had declared they would do (Daniel 9:26; Isaiah 53:1-12). Our Lord’s tormenters used the very words and performed the very deeds he had predicted by his prophets. A casual reading of the 22nd Psalm alone will demonstrate this fact. Those very words used by wicked men in the betrayal, shame, mockery, deceit, and cruelty heaped upon the Lord Jesus were but the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures (See Psalms 22, 40, 69).

The Son of God did not die as a helpless victim of circumstances. He did not die because the Jews would not let him be their king! He died by his own, voluntary will, accomplishing the eternal purpose of the triune God, as the Surety and Substitute for his people.Substitution Portrayed By the arrangement of divine providence, a substitution was made, portraying the nature of Christ’s atonement. Pilate “released unto them Barabbas.” He condemned the innocent and released the guilty. That is a picture of real Substitution. It wonderfully portrays the nature of our Lord’s sacrifice. The innocent One died in the place of the guilty and the guilty one went free. Barabbas was a justly condemned man. He was guilty. He was sentenced to die. But the Lord Jesus Christ took his place on the cursed tree. He took Barabbas’ shame and torment. He died in Barabbas place. He died in Barabbas’ stead. And Barabbas went free. That is exactly what the Son of God did for us. — “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). — “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). We were guilty. Christ took our place. He died in our stead under the furious wrath of God. Now we go free! Who can imagine the depths of our Savior’s humiliation? What infinite love is the love of Christ for us! O the blessedness of substitutionary redemption! Because the Son of God was arraigned and condemned before Pilate’s bar, and before the bar of divine justice, no believer shall ever be arraigned, or condemned, or even charged with sin before the bar of God! As Augustus Toplady wrote… “If Thou hast my discharge procured, And freely in my room endured The whole of wrath divine, Payment God cannot twice demand, First at my bleeding Surety’s hand, And then again at mine.”

Matthew 27:15-26

Chapter 86 Barabbas — A Picture of Substitution “Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. When 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.

But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done?

But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When 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. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.” (Matthew 27:15-26) There is nothing revealed in Holy Scripture that is more important than the gospel doctrine of Substitution. Men everywhere talk about substitutionary atonement, and speak much about Christ being the sinner’s Substitute. But their language is vague. Few seem to understand what the Bible teaches about substitution. In this study we will take a close look at the story of Barabbas. Here we have a clear illustration of the nature of Christ’s death. Our blessed Savior died as a substitutionary sacrifice to make atonement for the sins of his people, to redeem us from the curse of the law. Because Christ died in the place of God’s elect, all God’s elect must go free. You are all familiar with the story of Barabbas. It is recorded by all four of the gospel writers. During the days of Israel’s subjection to Rome, a strange custom was regularly practiced. On the day of the Passover, the Roman governor released a guilty prisoner. No doubt, this was intended to be an act of benevolence on the part of the Roman authorities toward the Jews. The Jews probably accepted it as a significant compliment to their Passover celebrations. Since on that day the Jews were themselves delivered out of the land of Egypt, they may have thought it a most fitting thing for some prisoner to obtain his freedom. Since some prisoner must be released on the Day of Atonement, Pilate thought that he now had opportunity to allow the Savior to go free, without compromising himself in the eyes of his superiors at Rome. So he asked the people which of the two they preferred, a notorious criminal or the holy Savior. Without hesitation or dissension, the crowd cried for the release of Barabbas and the death of Christ. Pilate’s last effort to release Christ had failed. — “Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.” The Man Barabbas Who Barabbas was we do not know. His name signifies, “His father’s son.” Some mystics think that there is an indication here that he was particularly and specially the son of Satan. Others suppose that it was an endearing name, a name given to him because he was his father’s darling, a child indulged by his father, or as we would say, his daddy’s boy. It is certain that overly indulged, spoiled children are likely to become griefs to their parents and a burden to society. Looking at the cases of Eli’s two sons, Absalom, and Barabbas, parents should take warning. — Do not be too excessive in the indulgence and pampering of your children. John Trapp wrote, “How many a Barabbas, brought to the gallows, blameth his fond father, and haply curseth him in hell!” Barabbas appears to have committed at least three crimes. He was imprisoned for murder, sedition, and robbery. We might well pity the father of such a son. This wretch is brought out and set in competition with the holy Son of God. And the poor inhabitants of Jerusalem were so hardened in their unbelief and sin, so thirsty for the innocent blood of Christ that they preferred this obnoxious creature to the man who is God’s own Fellow! The Picture This fact is very significant. There is more teaching in it than we might realize at first glance. In this act of freeing the guilty and binding the innocent, we have a vivid example of salvation by substitution. The guilty is set free and the innocent is put to death in his place. Barabbas is spared, and Christ is crucified. We have in this striking event a display of the manner in which God pardons and justifies the ungodly.

He does it because Christ has suffered and died in their stead, the Just for the unjust. We deserve to die for the punishment of our sins; but a mighty Substitute has suffered our punishment. Eternal death is our due; but a glorious Surety has died for us. We are all in the position of Barabbas by nature. We are guilty, wicked, condemned, and shut up under the law. But, when we were without hope and without strength, “in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” And now God, for Christ’s sake, can be just and yet “the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” In the Old Testament rite of cleansing lepers two birds were used. One bird was killed and its blood was poured into a basin. The other bird was dipped into the blood of the slain bird, and then, with its wings covered with crimson, it was set free to fly into the open air. The slain bird typified our Savior, whose blood was shed at Mt. Calvary; and every soul that by faith is plunged into the… “Fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins, is set free, owing its life and liberty to the Savior, who was once for sinners slain. This is substitution. It comes to this: — Barabbas must die, or Christ must die. You the sinner must perish, or Christ, the immaculate Lamb of God, must be slain. — The incarnate God died that we might be delivered. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered in the place of sinners like Barabbas, satisfying the wrath and justice of God; and, like Barabbas, all those sinners for whom Christ made satisfaction must go free. A Guilty Man Barabbas was a man guilty of many offenses. We sometimes say that a man is “as guilty as sin.” Well Barabbas was as guilty as sin. His life was a life of riotousness and sin. He was tried in a court of law and found guilty of robbery, sedition, and murder. As such he is a fair representative of all men by nature. We could all be named “Barabbas.” We are all the sons of our father Adam. His image, his nature, and his character are reflected in us all. Like Barabbas, we are all rebels. Barabbas stirred up sedition. He was a revolutionary. That is a modern name for rebels. He would not submit to authority. This is the problem with our race.

We are proud, self-willed rebels. We hate authority. In our father Adam we rebelled against God’s command. We are born with a rebellious nature. In pride and self-will we rebelled all the days of our lives against God’s throne. We sinfully rebel against God’s holy law.

Man acts like he does simply because God says, “Don’t do that.” Man sees the good and refuses to do it simply because God says, “Do it.” And we are steadfast and persistent in our rebellion. As children, we rebel against parents and teachers. As adults, we rebel against moral and civil authority. Even as believers, we have a nature within us that rebels against everything holy and good (Romans 7:14-15; Romans 7:18). Like Barabbas, we are all robbers. It was Adam’s determination to rob God of his authority, of his creation, and of his glory. And that is what man does by his sin. We have robbed God of his glory, refusing to worship him. We have robbed God of his honor, refusing to believe his Word. We have robbed God of his creation, stealing that which God has made for himself and using it for ourselves, without regard to him. We have robbed ourselves and our children of the blessedness of our original creation, of fellowship with God, of the image of God, of true freedom, of the favor of God, and of life itself. Through our sin and rebellion, our race is reduced to nothing but emptiness and vanity. Once we were princes of God’s creation. Now we are empty handed thieves (Ephesians 2:11-12). And, like Barabbas, we are all murderers. In the course of his rebellion and robbery Barabbas had committed murder. So have we all. There is not a guiltless one among us. We have all committed multiple murders in our hearts. Envy, hatred, anger, wrath, and malice are in the eyes of God’s law equal to murder (Matthew 5:21-22). We have infected our children with the deadly disease of sin. Sin is a plague of the heart. It is a family disease passed on from generation to generation. What is more, we are all guilty of the blood of the Son of God. Yes, we are guilty of slaughtering the Lord of Glory! We must never forget what we are by nature (Matthew 15:19). There is not an evil deed, or atrocious crime, or an infamous sin recorded on the pages of human history which does not reside in the heart of every man, woman, and child in the world. Yes, well could we all be named “Barabbas.” We are all the descendants of Adam. We are all of our father the devil. We are all, by nature, children of wrath. Read the book of God’s holy law. Read every commandment of the Almighty. By the law we stand judged. The verdict is guilty. Like Barabbas, we are men guilty of many offenses. A Cursed Man Barabbas was a prisoner, under the sentence of the law. He had been found guilty. The sentence was passed. Barabbas must die. On the day when the Jews observed their Passover, two thieves were to be crucified; and Barabbas would be crucified in the midst of them as the vilest of the three. He was bound hand and foot and cast into prison, to be held there as a cursed, condemned man until the day of his execution. Try to picture Barabbas in the prison. He expected very soon to be taken out, nailed to a cross, and hung up to die, as the just payment for his crimes. He was held under the sentence of the law. That is just the condition of every person in the world by nature. — “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). — “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (Romans 3:19) — “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them…The scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.” Galatians 3:10; Galatians 3:22-23) — We all “were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Ephesians 2:3). Man’s bondage is as cruel and terrible as it is sure. Men today like to boast of their independence and freedom. We are told, “I’m going to do my own thing.” But they are only doing exactly the same thing that men have been doing throughout history. Man is not free. He is in bondage. He is in bondage to religious tradition, social custom, and peer pressure. And man by nature is in bondage to sin. He is in bondage to his own nature, and the lusts of his own heart. Man is in bondage to his sinful nature. — “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil” (Jeremiah 13:23). Men are taken captive by Satan at his will (2 Timothy 2:26). Man by nature is prone to every kind of evil. It is only the restraining grace of God that keeps you and me from practicing the wicked things that we pretend to abhor. And all who are without Christ are bound under the chains of darkness. Their will is held in captivity by the fetters of iniquity. How often fallen man resolves to change. To some degree he even succeeds, reforming his outward behavior, breaking evil habits, and ceasing from the practice of outward vices. But his character, his nature, his will remains in bondage. He remains a bondman in chains of despair, and in the dark dungeon of hopeless helplessness. Christ alone can set guilty prisoners free. — “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed!” We were “such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron.” Then we cried unto the Lord in our trouble, and he saved us out of all our distresses. “He brought us out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake our bands in sunder! (Psalms 107:10-14). Man’s sentence is fixed and immutable. — “The soul that sinneth, it shall die!” God has spoken. There is no reprieve. There is no amnesty. There is no repeal. God’s law says the guilty must die. God’s holiness demands that the sinner must be slain. God’s justice requires the death of every transgressor. Man by nature is under the sentence and curse of God’s holy law. Fallen man is not on probation. He is on death row. The God of heaven judges him guilty. His own conscience consents to the verdict. The sentence is passed. The only thing lacking is the appointed day of execution. We died spiritually in our father Adam (Romans 5:12). Physical death is the consequence of sin. And every unbelieving sinner must die eternally, because of God’s immutable law. Every sinner out of Christ is dead at law. Is there, therefore, no hope for a sinner like Barabbas? Must all the guilty forever perish? Will God not have mercy? Is there anyway whereby God can be faithful to his holy law and yet pardon sin? Is there any means whereby God can both satisfy his justice and let the sinner live? God will not show mercy at the expense of his justice. But he will show mercy if justice can be satisfied in a Substitute. Blessed be the name of the Lord, there is hope for sinners, for God has found a Substitute! A Substitute Provided A substitute was provided to die in Barabbas’ place. The Roman soldier came and unlocked Barabbas’ prison door, took off his shackles, and said, “Barabbas, you’re free to go. Jesus of Nazareth is going to die in your place.” That is real substitution. That One who suffered and died as Barabbas’ Substitute is our Substitute. His name is Jesus Christ, the Lord. He is God’s own, well-beloved Son. He is the only Substitute God can or will accept (Romans 3:24-26; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24). The sinner’s Substitute must be a suitable person, able and willing to redeem. Whoever undertakes to reconcile a holy God and sinful men must himself be both God and man. He must be God, for only God is able to make infinite satisfaction. Yet, he must be man, for man must be punished. The Lord Jesus Christ is just such a Substitute. Being God, he is able to redeem. Being man, he is able to suffer. Being the God-man, he is an all-sufficient Redeemer, both able and willing to save. Someone once said, “God could not die, and man could not satisfy; but the God-man has both died and satisfied.” In order to be a Substitute for others, our Redeemer must be perfect and sinless; and our blessed Savior “knew no sin.” Yet, the sinless One, the Lord Jesus Christ, was made sin for us and suffered the just punishment due to our sins as our Substitute. When the holy Lord God made Christ sin for us, sin was imputed to him, and he was slain in our place. God took his Son without the camp. God hung his Son up in our place between two thieves. God forsook his well-beloved Son. God killed his Son as our Substitute. And by a marvelous transfer of grace, all for whom Christ Jesus was made sin are made (caused to become) the very righteousness of God in him. Barabbas Set Free Because the Lord Jesus Christ died in his place, Barabbas was set free. The Son of God took Barabbas’ place at Calvary. Therefore, Barabbas did not die. There is a glorious truth here. — All of those for whom the Son of God died at Calvary must be set free. It is not possible for the law to punish my Substitute and punish me too. Justice will not allow it. Not one soul for whom Jesus Christ died shall be found in hell. The cross of Christ can never be discovered a miscarriage. The blood of Christ cannot be spilled in vain. — “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” That is real substitution. Any doctrine that teaches that God will both punish Christ and punish those for whom Christ died is not substitution and is not the gospel. “From whence this fear and unbelief? Hath not the Father put to grief His spotless Son for me? And will the righteous Judge of men, Condemn me for that debt of sin, Which, Lord, was charged on Thee? Complete atonement Thou hast made, And to the utmost farthing paid Whate’er Thy people owed: Nor can His wrath on me take place, If sheltered in Thy righteousness, And sprinkled with Thy blood. If Thou has my discharge procured, And freely in my room endured The whole of wrath divine: Payment God cannot twice demand, First at my bleeding Surety’s hand, And then again at mine. Then turn, my soul, unto thy rest; The merits of thy great High Priest Have bought thy liberty. Trust in His efficacious blood, Nor fear thy banishment from God, Since Jesus died for thee. Understand this. — The atoning death of Christ was a satisfactory substitution. It satisfied all the designs of his Father. It satisfied all the desires of his own soul. It satisfied all the demands of his law. And it satisfied all the debts of his people. That means that every guilty sinner for whom Jesus Christ died must be set free.

Matthew 27:26-32

Chapter 87 “Then the Soldiers” “Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And 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! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And 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. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.” (Matthew 27:26-32) Here is a short, but very solemn description of the scourging, mockery, and shame inflicted upon our Lord Jesus Christ by the Roman soldiers before he was crucified. May God the Holy Spirit fill our hearts with reverence and gratitude as we are again reminded of all that our Redeemer endured at the hands of wicked men, and are reminded again that he endured it all for us according to the will and appointment of God, “that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a people zealous of good works.” The Lord of glory was humiliated, scourged, and mocked by men, that we might be exalted, embraced, and honored by God. The Scourging of our Savior “Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified” (Matthew 27:26). — When Pilate had scourged the Savior, he delivered him to be crucified. Barabbas was released; and the Lord Jesus took his place, was scourged, and crucified in the place of a vile criminal, a man who was condemned as one worthy of death. Thus, by an act of divine providence, we are given a vivid picture of our own salvation by substitution. — “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Luke tells us that Pilate tried to appease the Jews by scourging the Lord Jesus rather than crucifying him (Luke 23:22). But the Jews wanted his death. Therefore, we read here that the order was given first for our Lord to be scourged and then crucified. The indignities heaped upon the Lord Jesus, as the prelude to his crucifixion, must never be considered lightly. These things were also a part of his physical sufferings and deep anguish of soul as our Substitute, and demand our reverent attention. “Christ was scourged when we had offended, that he might free us from the sting of conscience, and those scourges and scorpions of eternal torments, that he might make us a plaster of his own blessed blood, for by his stripes we are healed, by the bloody weals (welts) made upon his back we are delivered.” (John Trapp) This act of scourging was almost as cruel, inhumane, and barbaric as crucifixion. It was done with a whip with multiple strands. The cords were made of something like rawhide. Each strand had numerous pieces of bone fragments tied into it. When the whip was dragged across a man’s back, it literally plowed it up. One lash would be indescribably painful.

Our Lord Jesus received thirty-nine lashes from the scourge! Thus the Scriptures were fulfilled — “The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows” (Psalms 129:3). — “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6). — “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). — “And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again” (Matthew 20:19). This scouring of Christ was an emblem of the scourges and strokes of divine justice, which he endured in his soul as our Surety, when he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted by the sword of divine justice as our Substitute. But scourging was not enough. We could never be saved if our Lord had only been scourged for us. He must be slain for us, and slain in a manner identifying him as one cursed of God. Therefore, once Pilate had scourged him, “he delivered him to be crucified.” No peace could be made, except by the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:20). The Sport of the Soldiers “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And 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! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And 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” (Matthew 27:27-31). Notice the first word of Mat 27:27 - “Then.” Normally, a convicted felon, even in those barbaric times, was given some time between being sentenced to death and his execution. Usually, he had a few days to be visited by family members. But the Son of God was hurried off by the soldiers to be tormented as soon as he had been scourged. While they were preparing the place of execution, an entire band of Roman soldiers (At least 500. Perhaps 1200 or 1300.) got together in Pilate’s palace to have a little fun with this man who was to be executed. The Lord of glory became an object of sporting torment for a band of depraved men! Yet, even this was according to the will of God for the fulfillment of Scripture, both to assure us that Jesus is the Christ and that he has ransomed our souls by his great sacrifice for sin. These barbarians, hardened by a lifetime of bloodshed, tried to make our Lord’s death a thousand deaths in one. These things are written for our comfort and learning. May God the Holy Spirit both teach us and comfort our hearts by them. We are specifically told by Matthew of seven things, seven acts of barbarism these soldiers did to the Son of God. 1st. “They stripped him” (Matthew 27:28). It appears that the only thing in this world that belonged to him, were the clothes on his back; but now he was stripped even of them. The shame of nakedness came into the world with sin (Genesis 3:7). Therefore, when Christ came to be made sin for us, to satisfy the justice of God for it, and to put it away, he was stripped naked and put to public shame! He was put to shame that we might be given honor. He was stripped that we might be clothed with the white raiment of his perfect righteousness (Revelation 3:18). 2nd. They “put on him a scarlet robe” (Matthew 27:28). They took some old red coat of one of the soldiers, or some old red blanket, and draped it over Immanuel in mockery, because he claimed to be the King. Thus, they derided him. Yet, in their derision of him, they fulfilled the will of God and the Word of God. This is he of whom the prophet declares, he was “red in his apparel” (Isaiah 63:1-2), who “washed his garments in wine” (Genesis 49:11). Our sins are described as being both scarlet and crimson. Thus, as he was about to be made sin, our Lord was here providentially draped in the scarlet robe as our sin-bearer. 3rd. “they platted a crown of thorns and put it on his head” (Matthew 27:29). Continuing to mock his claims as the Messiah and King of Israel, they made a crown for his head, but a crown of thorns designed by them to torture him. Had they made the crown merely for laughter, they would not have chosen thorns. It was made specifically to cause our blessed Savior as much pain as possible. What horrible pain it must have caused when shoved into his sacred head! Yet, this too was done according to the purpose of our God.

Thorns are the result of sin and part of God’s curse upon it (Genesis 3:18). Therefore, when Christ was being made a curse for us and would remove the curse from us, he wore the emblem of the curse. This was a fulfillment of the typical ram caught in the thicket that Abraham sacrificed for Isaac (Genesis 17:13). These thorns drew forth blood upon the brow of our great High Priest, which flow down from his head as precious ointment (Psalms 133:2). 4th. “They put a reed in his right hand” (Matthew 27:29. Again, this was mockery of our Master. They gave him a bamboo scepter, as if to imply that his claim to a throne and his kingdom was no more than a reed shaken in the wind. How mistaken they are who fail to see that Jesus Christ is King forever! — “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre” (Psalms 45:6). 5th. “They bowed the knee before him and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:29). Like Joseph’s brethren, they said, “Shalt thou indeed reign over us?” Like multitudes today, they mocked his claims to sovereignty and dominion. But man’s mockery will not last for long. “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). 6th. “They spit upon him” (Matthew 27:30). Robert Hawker wrote, “Their spitting on him was intended to manifest the highest indignation and contempt. Among the Jews it was the greatest indignity, imaginable. If a father spit in his daughter’s face, so filthy was she considered thereby, that like the leper, the law enjoined the being shut out of the camp seven days (Numbers 12:14).” I do not know which is more shocking: that men should dare spit upon his holy face, or that the Son of God should stoop to being spit upon as one who is utterly contemptible! Yet, to this great depth our God condescended for the salvation of our souls. — “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). 7th. “They took the reed, and smote him on the head” (Matthew 27:30). They beat him on the head, while he was wearing the crown of thorns, inflicting all the pain they could upon him. Why? Why was all this done? Why did the Lord of glory submit to it? — FOR US! The Son of God endured this misery, this shame, this torture, that he might purchase for us everlasting life, and joy, and peace, and glory!

But these things were not sufficient to save us. These torments could never satisfy the justice of God. He must be crucified. Therefore, we read, “And 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” (Matthew 27:31). They put his own clothes back on him, that all might recognize him, and led him away, as a lamb to the slaughter, to crucify him. Carefully read what the Lord Jesus said by the Spirit of prophecy in Psalms 22, 49 about the sorrow of his soul in suffering these things, and worship him who loved us and gave himself for us. John Trapp admonished, “We should read with regret for our sins, the weapons and instruments of all his sufferings; and see through his wounds the naked bowels, as it were, of his love to our poor souls.” As our blessed Savior was led away to suffer for us, “that he might sanctify us with his own blood,” suffering “without the gate, let us go forth unto him without the camp bearing his reproach” (Hebrews 13:12-13). The Service of Simon “And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross” (Matthew 27:32). — This man Simon was one of the Lord’s disciples (Mark 15:21; Romans 16:13). Whether the soldiers knew that or not we do not know. But he was compelled to carry the Master’s cross, because they feared they might be robbed of their final sport of crucifying him. However, even in this, our God was ruling and overruling to teach us spiritual lessons. — If we would follow Christ, we must take up his cross and do so daily (Luke 14:25-33). — And it is certain the cross of Christ is so contrary to our flesh that, if we take up his cross and follow him, we must be compelled to do so by the grace of God. “Oh, that we were as willing to bear Christ’s cross as Christ was to bear our sins on his cross! If anything happens to us by way of persecution or ridicule for our Lord’s sake, and the gospel’s, let us cheerfully endure it. As knights are made by a stroke from the sovereign’s sword, so shall we become princes in Christ’s realm as he lays his cross on our shoulders.” (C. H. Spurgeon) The Substitute for Sinners All that our Lord Jesus Christ suffered, he suffered vicariously, as the sinner’s Substitute, because he was made sin for us. This is a matter of the deepest importance. Until we understand the purpose of our Redeemer’s sufferings and death, we can never understand why he suffered and died, or what he accomplished by his sacrifice. The Lord Jesus Christ died in the room and stead of chosen sinners, that sinners loved by him from everlasting might be made the righteousness of God in him. He bore our sins in his own body on the tree. He died the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God in perfect reconciliation and perfect righteousness. He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The holy Lamb of God was made a curse for us, that he might redeem us from the curse of the law. He was once offered to bear the sins of his elect, that we might bear them no more. He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities, because the Lord God laid upon him all the sins of all his people (1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; Hebrews 9:28; Isaiah 53:5-6). As we read of his sufferings, let us follow our Savior through all his agony, viewing him as our sin-atoning Substitute and Surety, who voluntarily undertook from eternity the redemption of our souls. Was he scourged? It was that through his stripes we might be healed. Was he condemned, though innocent? It was that we might be acquitted, though guilty. Did he wear a crown of thorns?

It was that we might wear the crown of glory. Was he stripped? It was that we might be clothed in his perfect righteousness. Was he mocked and reviled? It was that we might be honored and blessed. Was he reckoned a sinner and numbered among transgressors?

It was that we might be reckoned righteous and numbered among the holy. Could he not save himself? It was that he might be able to save others to the uttermost. Did he die the painful, shameful, ignominious death of the cross? It was that we might have eternal life and be exalted to the highest glory. “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!” — Our sins are many and great. But our blessed Christ has put them all away forever by the sacrifice of himself. There is infinite merit and efficacy in his sufferings and death. He who suffered and died as our sin-atoning Substitute is God as well as man. It is written of him, “He shall not fail…He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.” Let this picture of Christ crucified, as it is set before us by God the Holy Spirit upon the pages of Inspiration, be stamped upon our hearts by that same Spirit’s almighty grace, compelling us to trust and love our great Savior!

Matthew 27:33-44

Chapter 88 The Crucifixion “And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. And 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. And sitting down they watched him there; And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. 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.

Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He 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. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.” (Matthew 27:33-44) These verses describe the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ when he was made to be sin for us and hanged upon the cursed tree. It is an amazing, marvelous record. It is amazing and marvelous in our eyes when we realize who suffered these things. — It was the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Lamb of God, the only truly holy and good man ever to live in this world. It is amazing and marvelous in our eyes when we are made to know for whom he suffered. — “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”(Romans 5:6-8).

It is amazing and marvelous in our eyes when we remember why he suffered. — The cause of his great sorrow and agony of body, soul, and spirit was the fact that the Son of God suffered for sin, as the sin-bearer. — “Christ died for our sins!” We have seen our Savior’s sorrow in Gethsemane when he prayed three times, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Such was the shock of his holy soul at the thought and prospect of being made sin that our Redeemer broke out into a sweat of blood. Luke describes it in these words: — “Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). We have seen the scourging of Pilate’s judgment hall, too. There our Lord was condemned in a mockery of justice (John 19:13). There he was delivered into the hands of cruel, barbaric Roman soldiers to be scourged. They took him into the common judgment hall where they gathered an entire band of soldiers, between five and twelve hundred of them, to scourge our Savior. They stripped him. They mercilessly whipped him with a Roman scourge. They mocked him. And they spit upon him! “Then they led him away to crucify him.”Golgotha “And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull” (v.33). — Calvary, the place chosen for the slaughter of God’s dear Son, is called by Matthew, “Golgotha.” “Golgotha” means “place of a skull.” It was called Golgotha because in this place of slaughter, people who were stoned to death or crucified were simply covered over with a little dirt. Consequently, in a matter of time skulls and bones were seen everywhere. Our blessed Savior was slaughtered in this hideous place of infamy where the carcasses of dead bodies were exposed as dung upon the earth as things abhorred both of God and men. God’s prophet, speaking of one cursed of God, said concerning him, “They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 22:18-19). Therefore, when our Savior came to redeem us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, he put himself in the place of one cursed of God. — “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). He took our curse and was made a curse for us, that he might redeem us from it. Sovereignty Displayed In this scene of slaughter at Golgotha the Holy Spirit shows us a tremendous display of God’s glorious sovereignty in three things. First, we see God’s sovereignty displayed in the fulfillment of Holy Scripture by men who had no regard for the Scriptures. These soldiers had no more regard for the Scriptures than hogs have for diamonds. Yet they did exactly what God ordained that they would do and said that they would do (Acts 4:27-28; Acts 13:27-29). Thus, the Lord God makes even his Son’s murderers to be his witnesses! “They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink” (Matthew 27:34). This mixture of vinegar (flat wine that had gone sour and bitter) mixed with gall was thought to be a mixture that would prolong one’s life. It was given by the soldiers because they must, according to God’s decree, fulfill the prophecy of Psa 69:21. — “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” John Gill wrote, “This potion of vinegar with gall was an aggravating circumstance in our Lord’s sufferings, being given to him when he had a violent thirst upon him; and was an emblem of the bitter cup of God’s wrath he had already tasted of in the garden, and was about to drink up” “When he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.” — Our Lord refused to drink of this mixture because he was determined to suffer the wrath of God for us without any distraction or intoxication of mind. And he refused to drink of it because he would make all to know that he would do nothing to prolong his life, but was willing to die now that his hour had come. The fullness of time had come, and he would now lay down his life. “And 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” (Matthew 27:35). — Again, we are reminded that the Lord God was in total control on this day of infamy. The barbaric soldiers did nothing except what God had long before said they would do. This parting of our Lord’s garments was a fulfillment of Psa 22:18. — “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.” “And sitting down they watched him there” (Matthew 27:36). — After they had scourged him, mocked him, beat him, and crucified him, these hardened men sat down to watch the Lamb of God die. Like little boys cruelly throw a worm into a fire just to watch it wiggle, squirm, and die, they watched the Son of God; but to their utter astonishment, there was no wiggling, no squirming, and no dying until he gave up the ghost by his own sovereign will! Second, we see a display of God’s sovereign, distinguishing grace in the two thieves crucified with our Lord. “— Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left” (Matthew 27:38). Our Lord Jesus was crucified between two thieves, just as the prophet Isaiah declared he must be. “He was numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12). You do not need me to remind you that one of these thieves was plucked as a firebrand from the burning out of the very jaws of hell by God’s sovereign grace, while the other was left to suffer the just consequences of his sin. Let it never be forgotten by us that if we are saved, we are saved because God did it. The only distinction between you and me and the damned in hell is the distinction that grace has made (1 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Corinthians 15:10; Romans 9:16). Third, we see in these verses a great display of God’s sovereignty in causing reprobate, unbelieving men to declare his truth, to declare the very essence of the gospel, though they never knew it themselves. We do not know for certain, but it may be that it was the testimony of spineless Pilate, the testimony of these wicked, taunting, jeering Jews, and the testimony of the mocking chief priests, scribes, and elders that became the instruments by which God taught that elect thief the gospel and brought him to faith in Christ.Pilate declared, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS” (Matthew 27:37). — Pilate, by the order of divine providence, announced that the crucified Christ is the King of the Jews, and refused to alter it, though urged to do so. This proclamation was made in Hebrew, the language of religion, in Greek, the language of philosophy, and in Latin, the language of science. That was no accident. There is no true religion, no true philosophy, and no true science that does not begin with the acknowledgment and confession that Jesus Christ is King. The priests, scribes, elders, and people, danced in a drunken, hellish party around Immanuel’s cross, and in their blasphemy spoke the truth of God as distinctly as inspired apostles. In Matthew 27:40 they jeered, “Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days.” — Though they knew it not, these religious ritualists here proclaimed the fact of our Lord’s death and resurrection. He destroyed the temple of his body in death and raised it up again in three days. Again, they mocked the Lord of Glory, saying, “He saved others; himself he cannot save” (Matthew 27:42). — That is the very essence of the gospel! The Son of God died as our Substitute. If he would save us, he could not save himself. Those “fools and blind” did not know that they were proclaiming that which is Immanuel’s greatest glory. It was because he saved others that he could not save himself. Were he willing to let chosen sinners perish, he could have easily saved himself. But he bore, not only the cruel nails and spear, but their more cruel mockeries, rather than give up his self-imposed task of saving his people by the sacrifice of himself “He trusted in God” (v.43). Our Lord Jesus Christ, as a man, lived by faith, in all things trusting God his Father. Thus he taught us that the only way we can honor, obey, and live for God in this world is by faith. And by his faith, consummating in his obedience unto death, as God the Holy Spirit declares in Galatians 3:22-26, we were justified. It is not our believing that fulfilled God’s covenant promise and brought in that blessed righteousness by which we now stand before him in life. The promise is given to all who believe.

But the promise was fulfilled and comes to us “by faith of Jesus Christ.” It was Christ to whom the promise was made as our Surety in the everlasting covenant upon condition of his obedience unto death as our Substitute. And it is Christ who obtained the promise by his faithful fulfillment of his covenant engagements as our Surety (Hebrews 10:5-14). It is this, “the faith of Jesus Christ,” that is revealed to us by the gospel. We are shut up to Christ, who is the faith that is now revealed in the gospel. Our faith in Christ is not revealed to us; it is given to us and worked in us by the mighty operations of God the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:19-20; Ephesians 2:8-9; Colossians 1:12). It is Christ (“the faith of Christ”) who is revealed. When God the Holy Spirit comes to chosen, redeemed sinners in the saving power of his omnipotent grace, he convinces them of all that Christ accomplished by his faithful obedience as our Substitute. When he reveals Christ in a person, he convinces him that his sin has been put away by Christ’s atonement, that righteousness has been brought in by Christ’s obedience, and that justice has been satisfied by Christ’s blood (John 16:8-11). And the sinner, being convinced of these things, trusts Christ. Again they taunted our Redeemer, saying, “He said, I am the Son of God” (Matthew 27:43). Modern infidels choose to ignore it; but these people heard his doctrine plainly. Jesus Christ of Nazareth openly, publicly declared himself to be the Son of God. And that is who he is! He is God and man in one glorious Person — the Godman, our Mediator. He was the Godman in Mary’s womb, while he lived on earth in obedience to the Father’s will for us, and when he died as our Substitute upon the cursed tree. And he is now, and forever the Godman, exalted to save his redeemed! The Sufferings of our Savior When we think about the crucifixion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ought always to bear in mind, to the best of our ability, the extent and reality of his sufferings. Our Lord Jesus endured all the hell of God’s wrath for us when he bore our sins in his body on the cross. He suffered all the wrath of God that we deserved in his body, in his soul, and in his spirit. The bare listing of his agonies is torturous to read. What must it have been to experience! The most savage barbarians in history have not been able to equal the tortures heaped upon the Son of God by the Jews and the Romans who crucified him.

J. C. Ryle wrote, “Never let it be forgotten that he had a real human body, a body exactly like our own, just as sensitive, just as vulnerable, just as capable of feeling intense pain.” Without question, many place too much emphasis upon the physical, bodily sufferings of Christ, trying to get people to feel sorry for “poor, helpless Jesus.” That is not my object. Jesus Christ did not die as the helpless victim of circumstances. He is the God of circumstances. Let us weep for the sins that made his death necessary.

But he does not need or desire our pity. In fact, he plainly said, “Weep not for me, but for yourselves, and for your children.” Yet, many seem to think our Lord’s bodily sufferings were of little importance. The Word of God records the physical, bodily sufferings of Christ in great detail in all four gospel narratives, in several of the Psalms, and in Isaiah 53, as well as in numerous other passages of the Old and New Testaments. Isaiah describes in considerable detail what our Savior suffered for us. In Psalms 22 David tells us what he said as he suffered the wrath of God for us. These things are recorded by divine inspiration for our learning and edification, because it is important for us to know what the Son of God suffered for us at Calvary. Crucifixion was the most indescribably horrid form of execution ever forced upon a human being. The person crucified was stretched out on his back on a piece of timber. His hands were stretched out on the cross piece, and nailed through the wrists to the wood with huge spikes. His feet were crossed one on top of the other and nailed together with a huge mallet driving the spike through them both and fastening them to the wood. Then the Lord Jesus was picked up on the cross, and it was dropped into a socket three or four feet deep with his body attached to it! There he hung, not dying suddenly (No vital organ was touched!), in excruciating pain for six long hours.

There he hung, naked, shamed, covered from head to foot with the excrement of other men’s foul throats and his own holy blood. His head, his hands, his feet oozing with blood, throbbing in pain, the Lord of glory hung there for six indescribable hours of hell. Yet, his agony of soul was infinitely more excruciating to him than that of his body. I understand the biblical doctrine of the atonement. I know that “without the shedding of blood is no remission,” not because God is vengeful and cruel, but because he is good, righteous, holy, and just. I understand the agony of our Savior’s tormented body. I can even understand the torments of his broken heart to some degree. But the sufferings of our Savior’s holy soul, I simply cannot comprehend “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:10-11). “Much we talk of Jesus’ blood, But how little’s understood! Of His sufferings so intense Angels have no perfect sense. Who can rightly comprehend Their beginning or their end? ‘Tis to God and God alone That their weight is fully known. See the suffering Son of God- Panting, groaning, sweating blood! Boundless depths of love divine! Jesus, what a love was Thine!” The Son of God was made sin for us! Our sins were imputed to the Son of God! That fact in itself is overwhelming. But I am certain that there is more to the sufferings of our Lord for us than the mere legal, or forensic term “imputation” implies. His heart was not broken simply because he was made to be legally responsible for the debt of our sins. Our sins were not pasted on him, or merely placed to his account. The Lord Jesus Christ was “made sin for us!” He was not merely made legally responsible for sin, or merely made to be a sin-offering. The language of Holy Scripture is crystal clear — “He hath made him sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21). When he was made sin for us, the Lord God made his soul an offering for sin. Then, when our Savior was most perfectly obedient to God as our Representative, his Father forsook him. Martin Luther was exactly right, when he declared, “God forsaken of God, my God, no man can understand that!” The Lamb of God was made sin for us. He was forsaken by his Father. And he was slain by the sword of his own holy justice. Robert Hawker’s comments on this portion of Matthew’s Gospel are as instructive as they are precious… “Here let us pause over the solemn subject; and again look up by faith, and ‘behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world!’ Methinks we may, as we look up and behold that wondrous sight, contemplate Jesus as thus with arms extended, inviting his redeemed to come to him, as his arms are stretched forth to embrace them. And while his arms are thus open to receive, his feet are waiting for their coming. And with his head reclining, he looks down with his eyes of love, as welcoming their approach. And what a thought is it for every true believer in Christ to cherish, and never to lose sight of: Jesus in all this, hung on the cross not as a private person, but as the public head of his body the Church. For as certain as that you and I, were both in the loins of Adam, when he transgressed in the garden, and were alike implicated in his guilt and punishment; so equally are all the seed of Christ crucified with Christ, and interested in his salvation. For so the charter both of justice and of grace runs: ‘In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory’ (Isaiah 45:25).” How Christ Died When we think about the crucifixion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ought always to remember with deep reverence, gratitude, and praise “how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). The gospel is much more than the mere declaration of the fact that Christ died. The gospel is the declaration of “how” he died. The gospel has not been preached until it has been told, “how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” It can be summarize in three words. Voluntarily — Our Lord Jesus Christ died as a voluntary victim. He was made sin; but his own hand laid our sins upon him. He was slain by the sword of justice; but his own hand held the sword (John 10:14-18). Vicariously — All our Lord’s sufferings were vicarious. He suffered not for his own sins, but for ours. He died as a Substitute in the room and stead of chosen sinners (Isaiah 53:5-6; Isaiah 53:8-10; Matthew 1:21; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18). Do not allow yourself to be satisfied with vague, general ideas about substitution and atonement. Everything our Savior did and endured as a man was for us, as our vicarious Sacrifice. — Was he scourged? “With his stripes we are healed.” — Was he stripped? It was that we might be clothed. — Was he condemned?

It was that we might go free. — Was he mocked? It was that we might be blessed. — Was he numbered with the transgressors? It was that we might be numbered with the sons of God. — Was he unable to save himself? It was that he might save us. — Was he made sin? It was that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. — Did he die? It was that we might live through him.

As John Newton wrote… “In evil long I took delight, Unawed by shame or fear, ‘Til a new object struck my sight, And stopped my wild career. I saw One hanging on a tree In agonies and blood Who fixed His languid eyes on me, As near His cross I stood. Sure never till my latest breath Can I forget that look. It seemed to charge me with His death, Though not a word He spoke. A second look He gave, which said, ‘I freely all forgive. This blood is for thy ransom paid. I die that thou mayest live.” Thus, while His death my sin displays In all its blackest hue, (Such is the mystery of His grace), It seals my pardon too. With pleasing grief and mournful joy My spirit now is filled, That I should such a life destroy, Yet live by Him I killed.” Victoriously — When the Word of God asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ was and is triumphant and victorious in his death, the meaning is just this: — He shall have that for which he died. His people shall be saved. His Father shall be glorified. He shall be exalted forever (Isaiah 53:10-12; Hebrews 10:10-14). “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh…Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:1-3; Romans 8:33-34).

Matthew 27:45-56

Chapter 89 Three Hours of Darkness “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And 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? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And 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. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

And, 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; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now 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. And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him: Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.” (Matthew 27:45-56) “Yonder, amazing sight! I see — Th’ incarnate Son of God Expiring on th’ cursed tree, And weltering in His blood. Behold, a purple torrent run Down from His hands and head, The crimson tide puts out the sun; His groans awake the dead. The trembling earth, the darken’d sky, Proclaim the truth aloud; And with th’ amazed centurion, cry, ‘This is the Son of God!’ So great, so vast a sacrifice May well my hope revive: If God’s own Son thus bleeds and dies, The sinner sure may live. Oh that these cords of love divine Might draw me, Lord, to Thee! Thou hast my heart, it shall be Thine! Thine it shall ever be!” Samuel Stennett In the verses before us we have Matthew’s account of our Savior’s last three hours of agony upon the cursed tree, the last three hours of torture he endured for us as our Substitute, because he was made sin for us. This inspired narrative should always be read with reverence, with hearts broken over sin, and yet rejoicing at the forgiveness of sin obtained at such a price. May God the Holy Spirit sanctify our eyes, our hearts, and our minds as we attempt to meditate upon our Lord’s sufferings and to worship him who suffered all the hell of God’s holy wrath for us. After suffering the wrath of God as our Substitute, in his body, in his soul, and in his spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ became obedient unto death and “yielded up the ghost.” Everything in these verses is simply remarkable, utterly amazing! The Darkness“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour” (Matthew 27:45). — First, Matthew calls our attention to a remarkable darkness that covered the land. This was not a natural solar eclipse, but a supernatural one, an eclipse specifically performed by God on this occasion. It was an eclipse that the prophet Amos prophesied. — “It shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day” (Amos 8:9). It lasted for three hours. And it was attested to by men in other parts of the world who had no idea what was going on in Jerusalem. One Dionysius, living in Egypt at the time, said, “Either the Divine Being suffers, or suffers with him that suffers, or the frame of the world is dissolving.” This was a remarkable eclipse, lasting three hours.

From high noon until three o’clock, the sun refused to shine. Thus, the Lord God gives a vivid, symbolic display of four things. 1st. The darkness covering the land indicates the heinousness of the crime being committed. Wicked men were murdering the Lord of Glory! Though our Savior died and was slaughtered by the hands of wicked men exactly according to the purpose, will, and decree of God for the salvation of his elect, God’s decrees did in no way excuse their sin in crucifying him. 2nd. The darkness indicated the blackness, darkness, and blindness of men’s hearts by nature. No impression was made upon these men, though God performed miracles, unheard of before or since, all around them. The fact is, man’s heart by nature is so blind that no acts of providence, either in goodness or in judgment, can be seen by him, unless God takes the scales off his eyes. 3rd. Surely, this darkness was designed to declare the emptiness and darkness of Christless religion. Judaism had become mere ritualism. As such it was altogether darkness. Religion without Christ, without life, without faith is darkness, no matter how orthodox it appears. 4th. The darkness covering the earth was reflective of the darkness that passed upon and engulfed our Savior’s holy soul, when he was made to be sin for us. When the Light of the world was made sin, darkness flooded the world as darkness flooded his soul. Christ Forsaken “And 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?” (Matthew 27:46). — Second, the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to record the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was forsaken by his Father. “And about the ninth hour,” about three o’clock in the afternoon, which was about the time of the slaying and offering of the daily sacrifice, which was an eminent type of Christ, “Jesus cried with a loud voice,” as one in great distress. In great darkness for three hours he had been silent, patiently bearing all the torment of his Father’s furious wrath in utter abandonment, and all the assaults of hell. Who can imagine the anguish of his soul? At last, he breaks out in a cry of terrible agony, “saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Here our Savior speaks as a man, the man chosen, made, ordained, and anointed by God with the oil of gladness above his fellows. As a man, our Lord was upheld and strengthened by the Father, just as we are. As a man, he trusted God, loved him, and prayed to him, just as we do; only he did so perfectly, without sin! Though now the Father hid his face from him, still he expresses strong faith in him and love for him. When he is said to be, “forsaken” of God, the meaning is not that he was separated from the love of God, or did not know the reason for his abandonment. Our Surety now stood in our place, bearing our sins. He, therefore, had to endure abandonment by God the Father to satisfy justice. This cry, “My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me?” expresses the very soul of his sufferings as our Substitute. Indeed, all the wails and howls of the damned in hell to all eternity will fall infinitely short of expressing the evil and bitterness of sin. But here we see how vile a thing sin is. When God found our sin upon his darling Son, he forsook him in wrath! Whenever we read these words, hear them, or think about them — “My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me?” ¾ we ought to be immediately reminded of the fact that the Lord our God is infinitely holy and just. As such, he must and will punish all sin.

Our souls should be flooded with a deep appreciation of God’s infinite love, indescribable, everlasting, saving love for us! And we ought to be assured that God’s elect shall never be forsaken, not in this world or in the world to come. Utterly Forsaken “My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me?” — These are the words of our blessed Savior when he hung upon the cursed tree as our Substitute, when he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. At the apex of his obedience, at the time of his greatest sorrow, in the hour of his greatest need, the Lord Jesus cried out to his Father, — “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” If we look at Psalms 22, where the Holy Spirit gives us the agonizing cries of our Redeemer in greater detail prophetically, we will find him answering his own heart-rending cry. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel” (Matthew 27:1-3). How utterly forsaken he was! So utterly forsaken that the Father refused to hear the cries of his own darling Son in the hour of his greatest need. — “Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.” I read those words with utter astonishment. I will not attempt to explain what I cannot imagine. But these things are written here for our learning that we might through patience and consolation of the Scriptures have hope. And I hang all the hope of my immortal soul upon this fact. — When the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for me, he was utterly forsaken of God and put to death as my Substitute; and by his one great, sin-atoning Sacrifice he has forever put away my sins. He not only bore our sins in his body on the tree, he bore them away! The Reason In Psalms 22:3 our holy Savior, when he was made sin for us, answers the cry of his own soul’s agony. He cried, “My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me?” — “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” Why was the Lord Jesus forsaken by his Father when he was made sin for us? Because the holy Lord God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Our Savior was forsaken by the Father when he was made sin for us, because justice demanded it. — “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity” (Habakkuk 1:13). Here, as he was dying under the wrath of God, our great Substitute justified God in his own condemnation, because he was made sin for us. He proclaims the holiness of God in the midst of his agony. He is so pure, so holy, so righteous, so just that he will by no means clear the guilty (Exodus 34:7), even when the guilty One is his own darling Son! Rather than that his holy character be slighted, our Surety must suffer and die, because he was made sin for us. Our Savior had no sin of his own. He was born without original sin, being even from birth “that Holy One” (Luke 1:35). Throughout his life, he “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21), “did no sin” (1 Peter 2:22), “and in him is no sin” (1 John 3:5). But on Calvary the holy Lord God “made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Just as in the incarnation “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), in substitution he who was made flesh “was made sin for us.” I do not know how God could be made flesh and never cease to be God; but he was. I do not know how God could die and yet never die; but he did (Acts 20:28). And I do not know how Christ who knew no sin could be made sin and yet never have sinned; but he was. These things are mysteries beyond the reach of human comprehension. But they are facts of divine revelation to which we bow with adoration. “Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias” (Matthew 27:47). — While darkness covered them, they were apparently terrified and silent; but as soon as it was light again, their fear abated and they resumed their derision of the Son of God. Christ our Passover was now being roasted in the fire of his Father’s holy wrath. When he cried, “I thirst,” they gave vinegar to drink. We read in Matthew 27:48-49, “And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.” He thirsted and drank the bitter vinegar of divine justice, that we might drink of the water of life and never thirst; as John Trapp put it, “that we might drink of the water of life, and be sweetly inebriated in that torrent of pleasure that runs at God’s right hand for evermore.” A Self-inflicted Death “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost” (Matthew 27:50). — Third, the Spirit of God reminds us that our blessed Savior died a remarkable, self-inflicted death. His strength was not abated. His last word was not the gasping breath of a failing life, but the triumphant shout of a conquering King. The Son of God voluntarily laid down his life for his sheep. He did not lose his spirit; he dismissed it! His work was finished. His life was complete. Therefore, he laid it down as a voluntary Surety, vicarious Sufferer, and our victorious Savior. That is exactly how he said he would die (John 10:14-18). “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” The Spirit of God emphasizes the fact that our Savior cried “with a loud voice.” He did not speak as an exhausted, beaten man, but as a conqueror in the field of battle, carrying away the spoils of his conquests (Colossians 2:15). He cried aloud, that all on earth, all in heaven, and all in hell might hear, — “It is finished!” What was finished? Redemption’s work was finished. The law’s curse was finished. Death, hell, and the grave were vanquished. Robert Hawker wrote, “The most glorious views of that life and immortality, which Christ first brought to light by his gospel, were seen from the hill of Calvary, brighter than Moses saw on the heights of Pisgah, of the promised land. And that song was sung in heaven, which the beloved apostle heard in vision. — “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood” (Revelation 5:9). Divine Testimonies Fourth, the Lord God performed several startling, divine testimonies, declaring that this One who died at Calvary more than two thousand years ago is indeed the Christ of God. — “ And, 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; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” (Matthew 27:51-53). Anyone who considers the miracles that were performed by God’s providence at this time must recognize as the centurion did, that “This man was the Son of God!” The miracles wrought by God as his Son laid down his life for us seem to say, “These are my witnesses, testifying who I am and what I have accomplished.” The veil of the temple rent into two pieces, from the top to the bottom, because the Son of God had now opened a way of access to God by his blood (Hebrews 9:6-12; Hebrews 10:19-25). The earthquake and the rending of the rocks were celebrations of this glorious event. And the opening of the graves and the resurrected bodies of the saints were unmistakable displays of wonders of redemption and salvation by the death of Christ. These resurrected saints were visible demonstrations of Christ’s quickening power, whereby he shall soon raise our vile bodies, and make them like his glorified body, spiritual, immortal, and glorious. Truly, by the death of Christ for us, “death is swallowed up in victory!” The Centurion’s Confession Fifth, Matthew records a remarkable confession made by one of our Savior’s tormentors. — “Now 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” (Matthew 27:54). — As the centurion was compelled to confess, by all the things he saw and heard on that infamous, glorious day, “This man was the Son of God,” soon, in the great day of wrath, all shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God (Philippians 2:8-11). Exemplary Women Sixth, we see many, faithful, loyal, exemplary women beholding their Savior. — “And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him. Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children” (Matthew 27:55-56). — Let us find our place with these women, beholding Christ crucified for us. Behold him afflicted in his body, in his soul, and in his heart, that he might undo our affliction. Behold him wounded for us, that we might never be wounded. Behold him made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Behold him put to shame for us, that we might never be put to shame. Behold him dying for us, that we might never die. Behold how he loved us! “Sons of peace redeem’d by blood, Raise your songs to Zion’s God; Made from condemnation free, Grace triumphant sing with me. Calvary’s wonders let us trace, Justice magnified in grace; Mark the purple streams, and say, Thus my sins were wash’d away. Wrath divine no more we dread, Vengeance smote our Surety’s head; Legal claims are fully met, Jesus paid the dreadful debt. Sin is lost beneath the flood, Drown’d in the Redeemer’s blood, Zion, oh! how blest art thou, Justified from all things now.” John Kent

Matthew 27:57-66

Chapter 90 Our Savior’s Burial “When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And 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. And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre. Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command 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.

Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.” (Matthew 27:57-66) In our study of Matthew’s Gospel we have seen, from this inspired narrative, Matthew’s declaration of the gospel “How that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” Our Lord Jesus Christ died as a voluntary Substitute, a vicarious Sacrifice, and a victorious Savior. Whenever we think about the death of Christ upon the cross, we should always think of four words in our minds’ association with it: sovereignty, substitution, satisfaction, and success. Our Savior died by an act of and in accordance with God’s sovereign will. He died as a Substitute in the place of God’s elect, his people, his sheep, those who are actually justified and saved by his blood. The Son of God did not shed his blood for nothing. He did not die in vain for the multitudes who perish under the wrath of God. To suggest that he did is to make his blood meaningless and of non-effect.

By his death upon the cross our Lord Jesus Christ made atonement particularly and distinctly for his elect and effectually accomplished and obtained our eternal redemption. That means that his sacrifice and death were a success. He shall have all that and all those for whom he suffered and died. That is the message of the gospel. That is “How that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” In this portion of Matthew’s gospel narrative we are given an inspired account of the fact “that he was buried.” Our Lord’s burial is usually passed over quickly in commentaries, sermons, Bible studies, and theological material. It is commonly looked at as being only a necessary event between his death and his resurrection. There is a strong tendency to ignore the burial of our Redeemer. We look upon his death as an amazing thing; and it truly is. And we very properly look upon his resurrection as an amazing thing. We should look upon our Savior’s burial as equally amazing. Every detail recorded about our Lord’s burial, including the scheming of his enemies, is a divinely ordered testimony to the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is exactly who he claims to be: the Messiah, the Christ, the King, the Son of the living God. Matthew’s account of the burial of our Lord contains two very important lessons that I want to set before you in this study. The first is a lesson about the people of God. The second is a lesson about the providence of God. The People of God First, the Holy Spirit gives us a lesson in this passage about the people of God. Here we are introduced to a man called Joseph of Arimathea. We know very little about him. In fact, he is not mentioned before this incident, and he is not mentioned after it. The Gospel writers tell us only six things about him. — (1.) His name was Joseph, a very common Jewish name. — (2.) His home was in Arimathea, probably the city of Ramah. (3.) He was a man of considerable wealth. (4.) He was a member of the Sanhedrin (Mark 15:43). (5.) He took the Savior’s dead body down from the cross, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and buried it in his own new tomb. And (6.) he “also himself was Jesus’ disciple.” Joseph had been until this time a secret disciple. We have no way of knowing how long he had been a believer, how he heard the gospel, or why he had kept his faith a secret from others. Much speculation has been made regarding these things I will not add to the confusion. If the Holy Spirit had intended for us to know them, he could have informed us as easily as he gave us the man’s name. But there are some things to be learned from this man. We should never presume that we know the spiritual condition of others. We do not. Our Lord has disciples and friends in this world who are altogether unknown to us. There may be some true disciples living very near, perhaps even among our own families, who are unknown to us. I realize that believers confess Christ before men, that they confess him and identify with him and his people in believer’s baptism, and that they are known by their fruits. I am aware of all those things. But that which is normally the case is not always the case. And we must take great care not to look upon someone as an unbeliever because he or she does not appear to us to be a believer. We simply do not have the ability to look upon the hearts of other people. We do not have the ability to separate sheep from goats, or wheat from tares. That is why the Lord tells us to leave them alone. No one would have named Joseph among the Lord’s disciples; but he was a man whose love for Christ was demonstrated when none of the strong disciples dared to do what he did. At just the time he was needed, Joseph came forward to do honor to his Savior. At a time when the apostles had forsaken him, at a time when it was most dangerous to confess him, at a time when there seemed to be absolutely no earthly advantage to professing allegiance to him, Joseph came forward with boldness, begging Pilate to let him have the body of the Son of God, that he might save it from further desecration. He wrapped the Savior’s body in clean linens, carried it in his own arms to his own tomb, and buried it in honor. Not all believers are alike. Some are bold. Others are timid. Some are strong, others weak. Some are known around the world, others are hardly known at all. Some are very passive. Others are very active. Some build up the church and kingdom of God as zealous witnesses, preachers, missionaries, and evangelists. Others come forward only in times of specific need, like Joseph. Yet, all are led by God the Holy Spirit and glorify their Master in the specific way, time, and place he has ordained. The fact that we are here told of a disciple like Joseph, unknown to the other disciples, ought to make us both charitable and hopeful. We should be charitable in our opinions of those who profess faith in Christ. I am not suggesting that religious infidels, people who deny the gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ, should be embraced as our brothers and sisters in Christ. But I am saying that those who profess faith in Christ, who profess to believe the gospel of God’s grace, should be received and embraced as true believers, as Paul put it, “not to doubtful disputations” (Romans 14:1), though they may behave in ways that we find inconsistent with faith, or who form associations we simply cannot fathom. Joseph’s example ought to make us hopeful, too. We are far too often like Elijah, thinking that we alone are left in this world to serve our God. That is never the case. “Many shall (yet) come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). John tells us that Nicodemus, another prominent Pharisee, and another secret disciple, joined Joseph at the tomb. I find that interesting and instructive. Don’t you? Those disciples, who had openly followed the Lord during his lifetime, fled from him in the end. But these two men, who had kept their faith in Christ secret while he was alive, came forward publicly to bury him honorably. God’s Providence The second lesson in these verses is also a very important one to learn. It is a lesson about God’s providence. In infinite wisdom our God foresaw the objections that unbelievers, infidels, and atheists would raise against the resurrection of our Lord from the dead. Did the Son of God really die? Did he literally rise from the dead on the third day after his death? Might there not have been some delusion as to the reality of his death? Might there not have been some distortion of truth in reporting his resurrection? These and many other questions have been raised by men; but they are raised without a fabric of a basis in fact. Our God, who knows the end from the beginning, prevented the possibility of such cavils having a basis in fact. By his over-ruling providence, he fixed it so that the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord were established as irrefutable facts. And he did so by overruling the actions of those very men who most desired to stop the influence of Christ in this world — his murderers! The facts recorded in these last verses of Matthew twenty-seven are recorded by Matthew alone. They make it evident for all to see that the Son of God literally died as our penal Substitute, that he was buried as a dead man in the earth for three days, and that he arose from the dead on the third day after his death.[7] [7] Robert Hawker’s comments on Matthew 62-66 are excellent. I give them here without comment. — “Here is a precious testimony, and from the mouth of Christ’s enemies also, in confirmation of the resurrection which followed. And with respect to the story of the disciples taking away the body, it is in itself too childish and ridiculous to deserve even the relation of it. That a few poor timid disciples, who during their Lord’s trial, and before any danger to themselves had even appeared, had all forsook Jesus and fled, should project such a scheme, as to come by surprise on a guard of Roman soldiers, who were placed at the sepulchre for no purpose but to watch the body of Jesus; and whose military discipline was the strictest in the world; and should actually take away the body, is one of the most extravagant suppositions, which ever entered the human mind. And to heighten the representation still more, it is added, that this was done while the soldiers were asleep. Soldiers and centinels asleep! And so it seems, that the evidence these soldiers gave of this transaction, of what had happened, was while they were asleep. A new way of giving testimony! Moreover, it is time to enquire, what possible motive these poor fishermen of Galilee could have to take away a dead body? Nothing can be more plain and evident than that the disciples of Jesus, at the time this transaction of Christ’s death took place, knew not any more than their enemies, what the resurrection from the dead should mean. They had no other notions of Christ, notwithstanding all that Jesus had said to them, than that of a temporal prince; and when by his death, the hopes they had conceived of this kingdom were over, they would in a few days have returned to their former occupation again. In fact they did so. Besides, where could they have put the body? Was it stolen, and yet intended to be concealed? And if so what could be then accomplished by it? And can it be supposed for a moment, that when the soldiers all of them awaked from their sleep and found the body gone, and taken away by disciples; would the Roman soldiers, aided by the whole Jewish Sanhedrim, have suffered this handful of poor fishermen of Galilee to have remained a single hour, without giving up their plunder, and bringing them to immediate punishment. I have not dwelt so circumstantially on this subject from any apprehension of its necessity, for my Reader’s confirmation of the faith once delivered to the saints; but for the preciousness of any thing, and every thing connected with the resurrection of Jesus. Oh! the blessedness of knowing, and from divine teaching too; the certainty of that glorious truth, Christ is risen from the dead. And oh! when the conviction of that glorious truth is secured in the soul, by a testimony founded in the faithfulness of Jehovah; then in Christ’s resurrection, the sure resurrection of his redeemed is included. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power. (Revelation 20:6). ” The Lord our god is so gloriously sovereign that he makes even the actions of his enemies, even the most wicked acts of men to serve his purpose for the salvation of his elect and the glory of his own great name. Sometimes God performs notable miracles, by which he alters the course of nature to accomplish his purpose for the good of his elect and the glory of his name. (The Flood — The Plagues in Egypt — The Slaying of the Firstborn — The Crossing of the Red Sea and Drowning of Pharaoh — The Manna that Fell in the Wilderness — Water Flowing out of the Smitten Rock — The Day the sun Stood Still — The Fallen Walls of Jericho — The Axe that Swam — The Ass that Spoke — The Opening of the Ground to Swallow Korah — The Fish to Swallow Jonah — The Burning Bush — The Fire that Could not Burn Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego — The Lions that Would not Harm Daniel). But the supernatural miracles performed by God seem almost insignificant, when compared to his sovereign disposition of all things in providence. Consider for a moment the magnitude of God’s providence. The Scriptures universally declare that our God rules all things, everywhere, at all times, absolutely (1 Chronicles 29:11-12; 2 Chronicles 20:6; Job 23:13; Psalms 76:10; Psalms 115:3; Psalms 135:6; Proverbs 16:4; Proverbs 16:9; Proverbs 16:33; Proverbs 21:30; Isaiah 46:9-10; Daniel 4:34-35; Romans 11:36; Ephesians 1:11). The Word of God is filled with examples of God’s sovereign providence ruling and overruling even the most vile actions of men for the accomplishment of his purpose: — Joseph and His Brethren — Elimelech, Naomi, and Ruth — Esther, Haman, and Mordecai — David and Bathsheba (Psalms 76:10; Proverbs 16:9; Jeremiah 10:23). Yet nowhere in Scripture is God’s incredible and amazing providence more evident than in the burial of our Lord. Every detail, from Joseph’s begging for his body, to Pilate’s agreement, to the scheming of the Jews to have his tomb sealed under the protection of Roman guards, all are a testimony to the fact that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is indeed the Christ of God, our Savior, and our Lord, crucified, buried, and raised again for our justification. There is no human explanation of these events. Let all who truly are the Lord’s disciples come forth in this hour when his name is maligned to confess him in believers’ baptism. As he was buried for us, we must take our place with him in the watery grave. May God give us grace both to boldly confess our Savior’s name in the midst of his enemies and to calmly trust his wise and adorable providence (Romans 8:28-31).