Matthew 27:45-56
Jesus Dies
on the Cross
Matthew
27:45 Now from the
sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until
the ninth hour.
46 About the ninth hour Jesus
cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI,
LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY
HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"
47 And some of those who were
standing there, when they heard it, began saying,
"This man is calling for Elijah."
48 Immediately one of them
ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour
wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink.
49 But the rest of them said,
"Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him."
50 And Jesus cried out again
with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
51 And behold, the veil of
the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and
the earth shook and the rocks were split.
52 The tombs were opened, and
many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep
were raised;
53 and coming out of the
tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy
city and appeared to many.
54 Now the centurion, and
those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus,
when they saw the earthquake and the things that
were happening, became very frightened and said,
"Truly this was the Son of God!"
55 Many women were there
looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus
from Galilee while ministering to Him.
56 Among them was Mary
Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph,
and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
This
is the Word of the Lord ... It is meant to change
the way that we think, and the way that we live.
Commentary
by Bob Pardue
The Death of
Christ
When Jesus died on the cross
a darkness fell over the earth. This has two
meanings.
1. A Physical Darkness - The
sky actually darkened at the time of His death
leaving many in fear and wonder, some admitting
this was the Son of God.
2. A Spiritual Darkness - The
best way I can describe it is that the light of the
earth went out for a few moments. The light was
Christ who offered the world a chance to accept Him
yet, they rejected Him and finally killed His human
form.
This message from Matthew has
many parts to be interpreted but I'd like to focus
on the torn curtain.
The Jewish temple had a room
called the Most Holy Place. Only the high priest
was allowed inside and the event only occurred once
per year. He would go in to atone the nation's
sins.
Looking back on this, the
curtain represented the separation of the people
from God. The intermediary was the high
priest.
When Christ died and the
curtain was split in two, the door was opened to
allow people direct access to God.
Because of the sacrifice
Jesus made, we are allowed to talk directly to God
through Him.
All we have to do is, admit
that we are sinners and we sometimes stumble in our
goals to be better people, believe that He died and
rose again to wipe away our sins and decide to
accept Christ as our Lord and Savior.
You and I may have already
taken these steps to become followers of Jesus but
sometimes we need to be reminded of what this means
to us.
Let's take a moment to pray
and ask God to help us renew our faith and belief
in Him.
Love in Christ
- Bob
If you have never made the
commitment to receive the love and life-changing
experience of Jesus Christ, please take a moment to
go
here and take the
first
steps to salvation.
Verses about Jesus dying on the cross in
Matthew are from New American Standard
Bible
Comments are welcome. Please email
me with any questions or comments you
may have.
Another Lesson for Bible
Study
Matthew
27:32-45 - Jesus is Crucified on the
Cross -
Read the story of the crucifixion of Christ on the
cross and the horrible suffering He endured before
dying and rising again.
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