The Victorious Death of Jesus
Matthew 27:45-53
April 7, 2013
As you know we are studying that tremendous section in Matthew’s gospel which chronicles the death of Jesus.
And as such we have sort of divided this out
To help better understand what Matthew is desiring to show us.
THE PLOT OF JESUS’ DEATH
• This was God’s plan, determining the exact timing of Christ’s death.
• It would occur during the Passover, the one time the chief priests did not want it to occur.
THE PURPOSE OF JESUS’ DEATH
• Forgiveness
• We saw it in the upper room and also in the garden
THE PARTICIPANTS OF JESUS’ DEATH
• Soldiers arresting with no charge
• Caiaphas illegally convening court and convicting Jesus
• Judas admitting he falsely betrayed innocent blood
• Pilate having his ruling ignored multiple times
THE PICTURE OF JESUS’ DEATH
• We saw this last week as everyone took part in mocking Him, heaping upon Him shame after shame
And now this morning we move to the 5th point in Matthew’s dialogue, which is:
THE POWER OF JESUS’ DEATH
We don’t typically think of death as a powerful thing.
People certainly didn’t think of death by crucifixion as a powerful thing.
And yet that is precisely what it was.
1 Corinthians 1:22-25 “For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
To a lost world the cross looks weak and foolish,
But to those who are saved, the cross is wisdom and power.
And this is precisely what Matthew is showing us here this morning.
In fact Matthew takes special care to make sure that you and I see
The victory that was achieved through Jesus’ death.
And this is really the beauty of the cross.
It looks weak
It looks shameful
But looks can be deceiving.
For it is through His shameful, humiliating, and excruciating death
That He won the ultimate victory of the ages.
Often times throughout this study we have reverted back
To that famous 53rd chapter of Isaiah.
When we talked about His shame, when we talked about His suffering.
• We read that “He was despised and forsaken”
• We read that “we did not esteem Him”
• We read that “He was pierced through for our transgressions”
• We read that “He was oppressed and afflicted”
• We read that “He did not open His mouth”
And all of those are beautiful pictures of the substitutionary work
Of the Savior on our behalf.
But Isaiah 53 doesn’t end in humiliation.
Isaiah 53 ends in glory
Isaiah 53 ends in tremendous victory
Isaiah 53:10-12 “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”
The last stanza of that chapter is a stanza of victory.
• We see phrases like: “the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper”
• We see phrases like: “He will see it and be satisfied”
• We see phrases like: “My Servant, will justify the many”
• We see phrases like: “I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong;”
Those are statements of achievement
Those are statements of success
Those are statements of victory
Take another Old Testament prophecy regarding the cross
In Psalm 2 it begins with scorn and rage and an attack on Christ.
Psalms 2:1-3 “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!”
But it doesn’t end there, it ends in victory.
Psalms 2:4-12 “He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'” Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”
Take Psalms 118, it speaks greatly of the anguish and suffering of the Messiah.
Psalms 118:10-12 “All nations surrounded me; In the name of the LORD I will surely cut them off. They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me; In the name of the LORD I will surely cut them off. They surrounded me like bees; They were extinguished as a fire of thorns; In the name of the LORD I will surely cut them off.”
But it ends in victory
Psalms 118:22-26 “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. This is the LORD’S doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. O LORD, do save, we beseech You; O LORD, we beseech You, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD; We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.”
Take Psalms 22. It gives tremendous details about the suffering of the Messiah.
Psalms 22:1-2 “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest.”
Or
Psalms 22:13-18 “They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.”
But this Psalm doesn’t end in defeat, it ends in victory.
Psalms 22:28-31 “For the kingdom is the LORD’S And He rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship, All those who go down to the dust will bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep his soul alive. Posterity will serve Him; It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation. They will come and will declare His righteousness To a people who will be born, that He has performed it.”
This is the overwhelming message of Scripture.
The Messiah may suffer, and the Messiah may die.
But it does not end in shame or death.
IT ALWAYS ENDS IN VICTORY
And that is precisely the point Matthew is making here.
He was innocent, yet He did suffer
And His suffering will end in victory.
And so this morning as we read the account of Christ’s death,
Recognize the victory that is achieved here.
There are 3 things.
#1 HE SUCCESSFULLY BORE SIN
Matthew 27:45-46
Last week we read and talked quite a bit about that great verse
In 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
And from that verse we talked about the concept of “IMPUTATION”
Christian doctrine hangs upon
The imputed righteousness of Christ.
We say that we are now righteous before God,
Not based on our own righteousness,
But based upon Christ’s righteousness imputed to us.
Christianity says when the sinner comes to Christ in repentance and faith,
Christ imputes His righteousness to their account.
Now, this is only possible based on the fact
That our sin has first been imputed to Christ.
We can only receive and enjoy His righteousness,
If He first receives and pays for our sin.
TO PUT IT SIMPLY:
If Christ didn’t receive our sin, then we didn’t receive His righteousness.
And that is what makes this truth on the cross so important.
For here we find Jesus suffering.
Not suffering as a martyr would suffer, but suffering as a sinner would suffer.
He is feeling the full blunt of God’s wrath, and He is experiencing
The tragic separation from God that sinners experience.
Look at the text.
(45) “Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.”
Mark tells us that it was the third hours when Jesus was crucified.
So after hanging on the cross for 3 hours listening to the scorn of men,
Jesus then enters a new and greater phase of suffering.
“from the sixth hour” (that would be noon)
“darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.”
It is not possible that this was an eclipse,
the timing of Passover would not have permitted it.
Furthermore this was a three hour darkness, and no eclipse lasted this long.
RATHER, THIS A DIVINE REALITY OF GOD’S JUDGMENT.
When God first spoke into the universe He said, “Let there be light”
• Light then became a symbol of God’s presence.
• Jesus was even called “The Light of the World”
• At His birth a special star rested in the heavens.
• At His transfiguration He glowed in unapproachable light.
Conversely, darkness is associated with
The wrath and judgment of God.
We are all familiar with the plague of darkness in Egypt,
But beyond that, listen to the prophets describe God’s day of wrath.
Isaiah 13:10-11 “For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light. Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.”
Joel 2:1-2 “Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations.”
Amos 5:20 “Will not the day of the LORD be darkness instead of light, Even gloom with no brightness in it?”
Zephaniah 1:14-15 “Near is the great day of the LORD, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the LORD! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness,”
Even in the New Testament, the imagery continues.
2 Peter 2:4 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;”
Jude 6 “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,”
Even Jesus used this imagery.
Matthew 8:11-12 “I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
It is obvious what is occurring as Christ hangs on the cross.
• God is angry.
• God’s wrath is being poured out.
• Judgment is taking place.
Now many have assumed that God’s wrath here is focused on Israel for their deep wickedness to crucify God’s Son.
And not to make light of this grave sin.
But we must remember Christ has already prayed
That God not count this trespass against them.
Furthermore, the very next verse makes it abundantly clear
Who was feeling the wrath of God.
It wasn’t those standing around the cross, it was the One on the cross.
(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?”
Christ was filling the effects of God’s judgment.
WHY?
WELL, THERE IS ONLY ONE REASON.
He must really be taking our sin.
• Since we know by now that Christ was innocent.
• Since His innocence was validated by His resurrection
We can only come to one conclusion.
Christ is bearing sin, and God is judging it.
At this moment Christ is realizing the full separation
That sinners have experienced since the garden.
• Christ is feeling the shame of Adam and Eve with their heads down walking out of Eden.
• Christ is feeling the shame of the Israelites as they watch God move His tent outside the camp.
• Christ is feeling the shame of Ezekiel as He watched the glory of God depart from God’s temple.
• Christ is feeling the shame of separation from the Father.
And at this He cries out:
“Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Interestingly enough, this is the only time that Jesus ever called Him God,
And not Father.
The intimacy was gone. – Separation had set in.
Now, I can’t for even a moment fully grasp the implications
Of what is occurring here, let alone explain it to you.
I don’t understand how for the first time in eternity there was a separation in the trinity.
I don’t understand how Christ could be forsaken of the Father.
It is far bigger than me.
But what I do understand is that there is only one reason
Why it could have happened, and that is sin.
You can take courage this morning friends in realizing that
Christ’s righteousness is imputed to you,
For your sin was imputed to Him.
He successfully bore our sin.
#2 HE SUCCESSFULLY FINISHED HIS TASK
Matthew 27:47-50
Last week Matthew was very thorough in showing us
All the shame and scorn that were heaped upon Jesus.
• We heard Him brutally mocked by soldiers
• We heard Him baselessly mocked by travelers
• We heard Him bitterly mocked by religious leaders
• We heard Him blindly mocked by the thieves
And honestly I don’t know how He endured it.
Now, I know how you and I would have endured it.
We would have endured it
Because there would have been nothing we could do about it.
• If 600 soldiers surrounds you and wants to mock you, it is going to happen and there is nothing you can do about it.
• If they nail you to a cross and the people below you desire to mock you, there is nothing you can do about it.
But Christ could have…
• When those soldiers were mocking Him as the King of Israel, all He had to say was “I am” and they would have all bowed for real…but He didn’t.
• When those travelers told Him, “if you are the Son of God come down from the cross”, there are only about a million ways He could have…but He didn’t.
• When those religious leaders said, “Let God rescue Him”, He could have at once called His 10,000 angels…but He didn’t
• When those criminals mocked Him with the same words, He could have said, “Peace be still” and they would have instantly calmed down…but He didn’t
That means that the only reason He went to the cross
Was because He chose to.
John 10:17-18 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
• He stayed in the garden…
• He submitted to arrest…
• He allowed them to condemn Him…
• He let them mock Him…
• He chose to stay on the cross…
And even now, He is dealing with the pain of being forsaken by the Father,
And yet they still abuse Him.
“And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, “This man is calling for Elijah.”
There are two possibilities here.
1) They didn’t know what He said, and took the “Eli” as a literal call for Elijah.
2) They did understand, but chose to purposely twist His words
Most believe it was the second.
That even now, Christ was being mocked and reviled.
And yet, He endures.
We even get a special prophetic occurrence in verse 48.
(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.”
WHY DID HE DO THAT?
John 19:28-29 “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth.”
I love that verse.
He had already done so much.
He had already endured so much.
And yet, obedience was so important;
Fulfilling the prophecies was so important,
That before Jesus could die,
He had to fulfill what the prophets spoke and say, “I thirst”
Jesus is cutting no corners
Jesus is no stopping short
He is doing it just as He must.
And still they mock
Even as the man is giving Him a drink
(49) “But the rest of them said, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him.”
The crowd isn’t even merciful enough to let Him get a drink.
They want the man giving it to Him to get out of the way and let’s see if Elijah comes.
It was continuous mocking.
But Jesus never took their bait…
1 Peter 2:22-24 “WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”
Jesus just endured, and fulfilled His calling.
Right up through verse 50
“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.”
We even know what He said:
John 19:30 “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”
It is done! – Paid in full! – Completed!
That was victory.
In Jr. High I was forced to run the mile in track.
For me, just finishing was victory.
Have you ever been involved in a project like that?
“If I can just make it to the end and complete it…”
That was the type of race Jesus was in.
Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
That is what Jesus did here.
He finished His race.
He successfully finished His task.
He didn’t quit early He didn’t stop short
He bore every sin, He fulfilled every prophecy,
He endured every insult, He did what He came to do.
That is victory!
He Successfully Bore our Sin He Successfully Finished His Task
#3 HE SUCCESSFULLY SECURED OUR SALVATION
Matthew 27:51-53
Obviously these three verses spell out the victory in even greater fashion.
We know Christ bore our sin and we know He finished His task, but what did it accomplish?
His death obviously accomplished two things.
1) ACCESS TO THE FATHER IS GRANTED
“And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom;”
Man didn’t tear it, God did.
It was torn “from top to bottom”
WHAT WAS THE VEIL?
It was what separated the glory of God from sinful man.
No one was allowed behind the veil except for the high priest
Once a year and when he went, he had to take blood.
The whole point was that God was off limits.
TURN TO: HEBREWS 9:1-14
(VERSES 1-5) Describe the layout of the tabernacle.
(VERSES 6-7) Describe the priestly service
(VERSES 8-10) Describe the point
God was off limits.
Bring all the sacrifices you want, but God is still off limits.
(VERSES 11-14) Describes the effectiveness of Christ’s death
Christ did what had never been done.
He made God accessible.
HOW?
• He atoned for sin.
• He was the propitiation.
• And His blood was so acceptable that God no longer needed the veil
Access was granted!
We can now know God!
The second thing?
2) DEATH WAS DEFEATED
“and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.”
People today often talking about Christ
Defeating death at His resurrection.
But it wasn’t the resurrection of Christ that defeated death,
It was the death of Christ that defeated death.
Hebrews 2:14-15 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”
Christ’s death defeated death,
His resurrection merely displayed the victory!
Death is the supreme consequence of sin,
And through His death Christ atoned for sin,
And instantly death was defeated.
1 Corinthians 15:56-57 “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Three days later Jesus proved it by stepping out of the grave.
But you see now that Christ’s salvation worked,
For the second He died access to God was granted
And death was defeated.
• There was no waiting period,
• There was no delay while heaven rebooted,
• It was instant, it was effective, it was here.
Christ successfully secured salvation.
And because of that the writer of Hebrews would say:
Hebrews 10:19-22 “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Because Christ was successful, we can now draw near to God.
Because Christ was successful, we are assured of our sanctification
That was Christ’s victory!
• He Successfully bore Sin
• He Successfully finished His task
• He Successfully secured salvation
That is why we can sing, “O Victory in Jesus! My Savior forever! He sought me and bought me, with His redeeming blood! He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him. He plunged me to victory, beneath the cleansing flood!”
He really did it.
He took our sin
He paid it in full
He ushered in salvation
It may have looked like a terribly defeat,
But it was in reality a glorious victory!
1 Peter 3:18-19 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison,”
And after He made that proclamation of victory:
He rose from the dead
1 Peter 3:22 “[He] is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.”
We praise God this morning because it worked!
