Focus: The signs surrounding Christ’s death point to the significance of his death.
Function: To move the people to interpret the signs and worship Christ, the Son of God.
Text: Matthew 27:45-54
In his book, The Silver Chair, C.S. Lewis tells us the story of Jill and Eustace, looking for the lost prince Rillian, who was captured by the wicked witch and taken to her palace in the underworld. Aslan, the wonderful, gracious lion, told Jill and Eustace to go on a journey with the Marshwiggle by the name of “Puddlegum” or “Pigglewig” or “Fiddlestick” or some such name.
Together they must find the lost prince of Narnia. As Aslan sends them on the journey, he gives them signs to look for. He names the signs. And as they travel, Jill and Eustace and the Marshwiggle must look for the signs. Consider the signs!
Today, as we stand by
the foot of the cross and consider the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus,
we must look for the signs—the signs that give us understanding, signs that
explain the depth and the wonder of Jesus’ crucifixion and death, signs that
move us to worship the Son of God.
As Matthew tells us the story of Jesus’ passion, Matthew points us to a number of signs: There is the sign of darkness, the sign of the torn temple curtain; there is the sign of the earthquake and rocks split open; and there is the sign of open tombs followed by resurrection. All these signs stare us in the face tonight.
The question is: do we see the signs? Do we comprehend their significance? Good Friday becomes indeed “good” if we take to heart the signs at the cross of Jesus. Matthew mentions these signs for our benefit. The signs are our teachers. Consider, then, the signs!
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Darkness: The first sign is darkness. The text says: “From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.” Remember now that this darkness appears at the most improbable time—at 12 noon, at the middle the day, at a time when the sun shines at its brightest. It’s at that time that darkness invades the land of Israel.
Clearly, this darkness is super natural; it’s out of this world. It’s as if the hand of God is covering up the face of the sun, blocking its penetrating rays from shining on Jerusalem and Palestine.
This darkness is not some minor eclipse of the sun. In fact, it’s impossible to have an eclipse at this time because it’s Passover time. And the Jewish Passover celebration starts when there is a full moon. No, this darkness is God’s way to drive home a point; it’s a sign.
In the
past, God has used darkness as a sign of judgment. Remember Moses and the
Israelites in Egypt. God used ten plagues to bring the ruler of Egypt to his
knees, so that deliverance and freedom would come to God’s people. The Lord
said to Moses (Ex.
10:21) “‘Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness
will spread over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.’ So Moses stretched out his
hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No
one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days. Yet all the
Israelites had light in the places where they lived.”
I remember a time in Holland when I rode my bicycle in
the countryside late at night. It was foggy and dark—pitch dark! You could not
see more than one or two yards ahead of you. And you could taste the fog mixed
with darkness.
I was scared that night, and I decided to walk home, so that I would not end up in the ditch alongside the road. Thick darkness can be terrifying. When that darkness comes to you at a time when you don’t expect it at all—such as at 12 noon at Golgotha at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion—then that darkness takes on the weight of judgment. Consider the signs!
The sign of darkness at Golgotha underscores the nature of Jesus’ suffering on the cross. Jesus is experiencing judgment—God’s judgment on our sins. For three hours, ominous darkness surrounds Jesus. For three hours Jesus is staring the wrath of God in the face. What he sees is nothing but darkness.
No wonder that Jesus at the end of that three hours of darkness cries out: “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani?—my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The darkness covering the land and surrounding the cross invades Jesus’ soul. He experiences a deep sense of abandonment—a God-forsakenness, which forces his soul to utter the cry of anguish. Ah, consider the signs! Darkness swallows up the Lord Jesus. It’s the darkness of God’s judgment on our sins.
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The Torn Temple Curtain: The second sign is about access. It comes at the moment that Jesus gives up his spirit and dies. Matthew tells us “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” Think about this:
Ø Jesus dies outside of Jerusalem; the temple is inside the city of Jerusalem. Yet, what happens to Jesus outside the city leads to an astonishing act inside the city, inside the temple of God.
Ø Jesus gave up his spirit at Calvary’s cross. The Holy of Holies in the temple of God gave up its privileged access when the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy place was torn in two from top to bottom. Consider the sign!
Ø Once a year Israel’s high priest could enter the very presence of God in the Holy of Holies and pray for and act on behalf of the people of God. But now, at the moment of Jesus’ death, when he entered Paradise, the people of God received a new high priest—one whose sacrifice is perfect.
Consider the signs! As the invisible hand of God the Father covers up the sun and tears the temple curtain in two from top to bottom, so the hand of God points us to the Son of God on that cross.
The signs expose the significance of Jesus’ dying. The signs move us to explore—and then to respond with awe and wonder to the Son of God.
The writer
of Hebrews explains the significance of the torn temple curtain in this way: “(Christ)
entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained
eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer
sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are
outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the
eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from
acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God” (Hebr. 9:12-14).
When Jesus died, he opened the way to God the Father. The torn temple curtain is a sure sign. We now may have confidence “to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body” (Hebr. 10:19-20). By dying on the cross, offering up his body, his life, the Lord Jesus gives us access to God, saying, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Do not ignore this sign!
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The Earthquake: The third sign points to an earthquake. Matthew tells us that “the earth shook and the rocks split.” Now the outer surface of the earth is broken into what geologists call plates.
Earthquakes occur when plates move under, over, or slide past each other. Most earthquakes occur along the edges of the large plates that make up the earth’s crust.
So, earthquakes happen when parts of the earth’s crust move. Big earthquakes occur with movements of about a yard or two. Small earthquakes happen with movements of a few millimeters.
But what do you make of an earthquake caused by the death of the Son of God?
Perhaps you think it was mere coincidence that this earthquake occurred at the moment of Jesus’ death. But I don’t think so. The timing of this earthquake points to the release of power—explosive, earthshaking power. The early Christian church often portrayed Jesus’ death as a literal descent into the realm of the dead. In that realm called Hades, the power of death rules. All the spirits of the dead are held captive by Death itself.
But when the Lord Jesus Christ died, he entered the realm of death and set the captives free. Death no longer could hold its prisoners, for the Son of God paid the wages of our sin by his own blameless death. Jesus’ death shook the power of death: the earth quakes; the rocks split. Never will the realm of the dead be the same anymore. For Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross rocks, knocks, and blocks the power of death from holding on to the dead.
Consider the signs! The earth shakes; the rocks split. Why? Because Jesus is battling the powers of darkness and death.
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Open Tombs/Resurrected Saints: The fourth and
final sign on this Good Friday blows us away! It’s outrageous, yet appealing;
it’s astonishing, yet attractive; it’s incredible, yet inviting us to trust.
Listen: “The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had
died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’
resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.”
Here the cross and death of Jesus connect us with divine cemetery vandalism. The Son of God dies; tombs open. Jesus enters the realm of the dead; holy people who had died are raised to life; they walk out of their tombs. And three days later, when the Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead, these saints or godly people raised to life reveal themselves to many people in the holy city of Jerusalem. What an astonishing sign!
This sign, in particular, raises many questions, I know. For example, who are these godly people? What happened to them after Jesus’ resurrection? Did they die again? Why don’t the other gospel writers mention them? Did these tombs break open on Good Friday and release their dead on Easter Sunday. Or did these godly people rise from the dead before Jesus rose from the dead?
If they arose from the dead before Jesus did, why didn’t others see them until after Jesus’ resurrection? And if they arose from the dead before Jesus’ resurrection, where did they hide or stay between Good Friday and Easter Sunday? And why were only a few saints raised from the dead? Don’t all God’s people fall within the scope of the resurrection of Christ? Questions galore!
Many Bible commentators observe that the sign of open tombs and resurrected saints is a particular sign—a sign in which God testifies that His Son had entered death’s prison, not to stay there locked up by the power of death, but to set free those who were held captive. At the moment of Jesus’ death, then, the splendid and divine power of Jesus reaches down to the underworld or realm of the dead. That’s the reason why Jesus, who was soon to be buried in a tomb himself, opened the tombs elsewhere.
The French Reformer, John Calvin, believed that the resurrection of these saints followed the actual resurrection of Jesus. Calvin said, “It seems likely to me that at Christ’s death the tombs at once opened; at His resurrection some of the godly men received breath and came out and were seen in the city. Christ is called the Firstborn from the dead and the First fruits of those who rise, because by His death he began the new life, and by his resurrection completed it, not that the dead at Jesus’ dying immediately revived, but because His death was the source and start of their life.”
In other words, the breaking open of the tombs was the foreshadowing of new life. The fruit itself, the effect, appeared three days later as Christ rose again, and led other companions from the graves with himself.
For now we shall live with the mystery of the resurrection. Tonight we do well to consider and ponder the signs!
Go home and cherish the insights given to us by the signs of open tombs and resurrected saints:
Ø In order that we may not be mortified by Jesus’ death, God gave us these signs to stir within us deep hope. By raising a few of his people in the context of Christ’s death, the Lord God gives us a taste of the resurrection that is to come—the resurrection of the body that is to be enjoyed by all God’s people at the end of time.
Ø In the context of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross, God revealed to us the resurrection life in a few people. He did this to show the hope that Christ sets before the whole world at the moment of his death.
Folks, the world has it all wrong. The world wants us to
hunt for Easter eggs on Sunday morning. The scriptures, however, compel us
today, on this Good Friday, to hunt for or follow the signs.
Here’s how we know that we have followed the signs and grasp their significance: when you and I come to the same point as that centurion at the foot of the cross. Listen: “When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, ‘Surely he was the Son of God.” You see” The signs lead us to proclaim and worship Jesus as the Son of the living God!
Worship him! Amen.