The Power of the Cross
Matthew 27:45-54
Matthew 27 tells us the story of Calvary, the place of the cross. There Jesus was crucified, having already been betrayed by one of his own disciples, Judas Iscariot. Jesus had been arrested while at prayer in Gethsemane. He stood trial before Caiaphas, the high priest, and the Jewish supreme court called the Sanhedrin. Early in the morning they came to the decision to put Jesus to death (Matt. 27:1) and handed him over to Pilate, the Roman Governor (Matt. 27:2). Jesus then stood trial before Pilate (Matt. 27:11). Even though Pilate knew it was out of envy that they handed Jesus over to him (Matt. 27:18), he eventually gave in and sentenced Jesus to be executed by crucifixion (Matt. 27:26).
The gospel accounts divide the six hours of Jesus’ crucifixion into two parts. According to Mark.15:25, Jesus was nailed to the cross at the “third hour” or nine o’clock in the morning. He hung there until the “ninth hour” which would be three o’clock in the afternoon. Jesus was on the cross for six hours.
Last time, in Matthew 27:27-44, we began to look at the Jesus the King on the cross. We saw the suffering of Jesus’ crucifixion during the first three hours. Jesus had already been beaten, humiliated, mocked, and spit upon when they led Him out to be crucified (Matt. 27:27-31). Carrying His own cross until he no longer could, they him led to Golgotha or Calvary (which means the place of the skull). There they crucified Him, nailing His hands and feet to the cross and lifting it up as the people scoffed and ridiculed Him (Matt. 27:32-44).
Starting in Matthew 27:45 we see the second half of Jesus’ ordeal on the cross. Here we will see the power of the cross. In the latter three hours, from noon until 3:00 p.m., the focus is on the supernatural, the powerful things that accompanied the atoning death of the Lord of heaven and earth.
There is an awesome power about the cross of Christ. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God…” Jesus said in John 12:32, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
We will see the power of the cross as the sky became dark, Jesus cried out, He gave up His spirit, the temple veil was torn, the earth was shaken, the dead were raised, and the centurion was convinced.
1. The Sky Was Darkened (Matt. 27:45)
Matthew tells us, “Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land” (Matt. 27:45). Do you remember the miraculous events that surrounded the birth of the Lord Jesus? Luke tells us that when Jesus was born, angels appeared to shepherds near Bethlehem at night. “And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.” (Luke 2:9).
What a contrast with His death. Jesus died in the middle of the day. Yet when the sun was at its highest, “from the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.” Just as supernatural light pierced the darkness of the night at His birth, supernatural darkness overshadowed the light of day at His death.
Imagine what that must have been like! Imagine the crowds that condemned and mocked Jesus, as the eerie “darkness” covered the land in the middle of the day. What kind of darkness was this? Some have suggested that it was an eclipse of the sun. But it couldn’t have been a natural eclipse. Passover occurred at a time of the month when the moon was on the opposite side of the earth from the sun. Some have suggested that dark rain clouds covered the sun. But this was a sudden, unexplained, supernatural darkness that fell over the land.
This “darkness,” should have been a sign to the Jews. In the Old Testament, darkness often indicates the judgment of God. A three day long darkness was the last plague on Egypt before the Passover. The prophet Amos spoke about God’s judgment on Israel in Amos 8:9-10,
“And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord GOD,
“That I will make the sun go down at noon,
And I will darken the earth in broad daylight;
I will turn your feasts into mourning,
And all your songs into lamentation;
I will bring sackcloth on every waist,
And baldness on every head;
I will make it like mourning for an only son,
And its end like a bitter day.”
I believe this darkness signified God’s judgment for the sin of mankind and His sorrow at the sacrifice of His beloved Son. It helps us remember how grieved our holy God is toward our sin. He isn’t casual about our sin. He doesn’t simply ignore it, or overlook it, or pass it by as if it didn’t matter. In His righteousness and justice, God must judge sinners and punish sin. And at the cross, God did punish sin by punishing His own Son in our place. The sky became dark as His Son bore our sin in our place.
What does this mean for us today? It means we have a Savior who took our darkness, so that we might be people of the light. Peter writes about us who have believed on Jesus, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9).
2. The Savior Cried Out (Matt. 27:46-47)
After the “darkness” filled the sky for three hours, “about the ninth hour” or 3:00 p.m., “Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’” Matthew interprets these Hebrew and Aramaic words for us. They mean “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?“
Throughout Matthew’s gospel Jesus has always spoken of God as His Father, and He has always addressed God as His Father in prayer (Matthew 7:21, 10:32, 11:25-27, 26:39, 42, 53). Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus addressed God as his Father. But at this moment Jesus is forsaken by the Father, and so He cries out “My God” instead. This is the only time Jesus does not address God as His Father in prayer.
Most Bible students know, as did some of “those standing there” (Matt. 27:47) that Jesus was speaking the words of Psalm 22:1, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?” David wrote this anguished prayer describing the undeserved suffering of a righteous man. And it’s that prayer that Jesus cried out that tell us what was really happening on the cross.
This verse is one of the mysteries of Scripture. The reformer, Martin Luther once set himself apart to contemplate and study that statement of our Lord on the cross. It’s recorded that for a long time he continued without food in deepest meditation and in one position in his chair. When at length Martin Luther rose from his thoughts, he was heard to exclaim with amazement “God forsaken of God, who can understand that?” We can never plumb the depths of what of this means. If Jesus himself called out “Why?” then who are we to understand?[1]
Habakkuk 1:13 says of the Lord, “Your eyes are too pure to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness.” Sin separated the Son from the Father… our sin.
Somehow, on the cross, God the Son was forsaken, separated from God the Father. For the only time in history, Jesus was not one with His Father. Jesus was taking the sin of the world upon Himself. Jesus was covered with the wretched filth of every sin of every man of Adam’s race. In His holiness, the Father seemingly turned His face away from His sin-coated Son. What a mystery!
We can only say for certain what the Scriptures say. Isaiah 53:5 says, ” He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities …” Romans 4:25 says He “was delivered up because of our offenses … ” 1 Corinthians 15:3 says, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 says it plainly, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Galatians 3:13 says “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”).” 1 Peter 2:24 speaks of Christ’s suffering, “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” 1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” 1 John 2:2 says, “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.“
In a mysterious, unfathomable way, Jesus not only suffered the excruciating pain of the cross, but He also endured the incomprehensible suffering of being separated from His Father as He bore our sin. Jesus did not stop being God’s Son any more than you can stop being your father’s son or daughter. He did not lose His divinity for a second, but He did suffer the loss of intimacy with His Father. None of us could even begin to understand the depth of that sacrifice. Jesus suffered separation from His Father so that we could be reconciled to Him.
3. Jesus Gave Up His Spirit (Matt. 27:48-50)
Now; we’re told that when Jesus cried out in Aramaic, “Eli, Eli . . .” that some of those who stood there said, “This Man is calling for Elijah!” (Matt. 27:27). It may be that they didn’t understand His words—that He was so weak that He could not speak those words clearly, and that the crowds mistakenly thought that He was crying out for the prophet Elijah to come and save Him. Or it may be that they weren’t mistaken at all—that they understood His words but were mocking Him and adding further to His suffering.
John 19:28 tells us that about that time, Jesus cried out, “I thirst.” Then, Matthew tells us that someone, perhaps a Roman soldier, “took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put on a reed and offered it to Him to drink.” This was not so much an act of mercy, but of prolonging the suffering of the condemned. But did you know that, once again, Scripture was being fulfilled in this act? In Psalm 69:21—another psalm that was written by King David—it says, “They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”
Then Matthew 27:49 tells us, “The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him”” Nothing, not even the supernatural darkness, could distract them nor turn them from their determination to see Jesus dead.
Perhaps Jesus used the wetness of that “wine vinegar” to clear His throat because Matthew 27:50 says “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.” John tells us that the words He cried out were, “It is finished” (John 19:30). It was a victory cry when Jesus had completed His atoning work on the cross.
Luke records that Jesus then said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit’,” quoting Psalm 31:5. Luke comments, “Having said this, He breathed His last” (Luke 23:46). Christ’s authority as the Son of God extended even to His own death. He did not die on the cross until He Himself announced that He willingly yielded His spirit!
Jesus’ life did not slip away from Him as He grew weaker and weaker on the cross. Jesus did not die with a whimper, but in the strength of a loud voice, He “yielded up His Spirit” (Matt. 27:50). “Yielded up” comes from a word that means “letting go or sending away, indicating an act of the will.” Jesus knew He had paid the price for our sin. He willing gave up His spirit.
Jesus was no victim on the cross. He was the victor! Hanging on that cross, Jesus still held sovereign control over the whole scene. He had said about His life in John 10:18, “My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes 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.”
What does this mean for us? Because Jesus gave His life, and took it up again, He also has the power to give life to all who come to Him. John 5:21 says, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.” This Man who died on the cross was no mere man. Truly He was the Son of God!
4. The Temple Veil Was Torn (Matt. 27:51a).
Next, Matthew says, “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” The inner sanctuary of the Temple, the Holy of Holies, was divided from the outer sanctuary by a large woven veil or curtain some 60 feet high, 30 feet wide and as thick as the palm of your hand. Josephus says it was primarily blue and elaborately decorated. Each year, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest went beyond the veil to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat which symbolized God’s presence. That veil served to shield sinful man from the holy presence of God. It served as a constant, visual reminder that those who sought His favor were not permitted to approach Him without the blood of atonement.
At the exact moment Jesus died the veil—that curtain that separated sinful man from holy God—was torn in two! And look how it was torn: “from top to bottom.” It was as though a large sword from heaven had been dropped upon it, as if God Himself reached down from heaven and ripped it in two. It was torn “from top to bottom” because God tore it, not man. And it wasn’t merely ripped a little bit; but was torn completely in half. Full access to the Holy of holies became open to mankind!
There is no longer a need for a veil or a high priest to offer a sacrifice in that man-made temple. The author of Hebrews tells us, “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” (Heb. 9:11-12).
Because the veil is torn, we have access to the very presence of God and we can come to Him with confidence through the blood of Jesus. Hebrews 10:19-22 says,
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
The once-for-all sacrifice has been made; the new and living way is opened. Therefore, Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
What does this mean for us? We have open access to the Father through Jesus.
5. The Earth Was Shaken (Matt. 51b)
At just the moment that Jesus “cried out… and yielded up His Spirit” not only was the temple veil torn but ” the earth quaked, and the rocks were split.” This was no mere coincidence, but a sign of God’s presence and judgment.
Many times throughout the OT, earthquakes accompanied God’s presence. For example, When God met with Moses on Mt. Sinai, “the whole mountain tembled violently” (Exodus 19:18). In many other passages we see the ground shaking in the Lord’s presence.
Do you remember what Jesus said about the worshippers at His triumphal entry? He said in Luke 19:40, ” I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.” While He hung on the cross, there was no one to sing and shout praises to Him, but a supernatural shattering of stone signaled the completion of His redemptive work and foreshadowed God’s judgment to come.
We are a people who have been shaken by God’s power. Let’s not wait for the rocks to cry out. We should be praising the Lord!
6. The Dead Were Raised (Matt. 27:52-53)
As “the earth quaked and the rocks were split,” Matthew says, “and the graves were opened.” That’s not so uncommon in an earthquake but what is uncommon is that “and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” (Matt. 27:52-53). Not all but “many” of the spirits of the saints were joined again with their bodies which had been glorified. They prefigure at Jesus’ crucifixion what will accompany His work in the end times when “the dead in Christ will rise” (1 Thess.4:16).
These weren’t mere “ghosts” that appeared to people. They were the “bodies” of the saints that were raised. They did not appear in Jerusalem until after Jesus’ resurrection in order that He might be “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor.15:20).
Matthew doesn’t answer the questions that we often want answered about this event: Who where these saints that were raised? Why them and not others? What happened to them after their appearance in town? Did they live on earth for a while and then die again—like Lazarus? Or did they ascend with the Lord when He ascended to the Father—never to die again?
The thing that Matthew wants us to focus on is the power of the cross and the significance of the death of Jesus. The tearing of the veil in two, the earthquake, the splitting of the rocks, and even the opening of the graves, would not have shown us the full significance of Jesus’ death by themselves. It took the fact that many of the bodies of the saints were raised from the dead with Him, and that they then appeared in the town, to show us just how significant His death was!
His death means that He tasted of the same sort of death that mankind experiences because of Adam’s sin. But it also means that “now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20)—”the firsborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18). And because He lives, we will live also!
7. The Centurion Confessed (Matt. 27:54)
Matthew 27:54 says, “So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!””
A “Centurion” was a Roman officer given charge over 100 men. He and “those with him” who supervised and guarded over the crucifixion saw everything that happened to Jesus. They had mocked Him in the Praetorium and scourged Him. They were the ones who drove the nails in His hands and feet and gambled for His clothing.
I’m sure that the sudden mid-day darkness must have unnerved them. However, when the ground began to shake violently and the rocks broke apart, “ they feared greatly.” The centurion and his men sensed that this was not some strange circumstance but that what Jesus had claimed was true. They proclaimed, “Truly He was the Son of God.”
There is no miracle greater than when God opens the blind eyes of a sinner to see the Savior. Perhaps the greatest evidence of Jesus’ work on the cross was that those who started the day abusing Him finished the day adoring Him.
If Jesus was just an ordinary man, then it wouldn’t matter that he died on the cross. Many had died before him, and many would die afterwards. But if Jesus is the Son of God who was forsaken by the Father when he died on the cross for you, then that makes all the difference in the world.
Let me close with a story that shows the power of the cross:
Most of you know about the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. Few people know the amazing story of Mitsuo Fuchida. He was the Japanese Naval Air Force’s top pilot in 1941 and was tapped to command the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. It was Fuchida’s voice that sent his aircraft carrier the message “Tora! Tora! Tora!” (Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!) indicating the success of the surprise mission. He served in many other engagements and was wounded during the battle of Midway in 1942. He spent the rest of the war as a staff officer. Fuchida was in Hiroshima the day before the atom bomb was dropped and returned to Hiroshima the day after the bombing to examine and assess the damage.
Here is the rest of the story. It begins with an American sergeant named Jacob DeShazer. On that Sunday in 1941 while Fuchida was in the air over Pearl Harbor, an American soldier named Jake DeShazer had been on K.P. duty in an Army camp in California. When the radio announced the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, he hurled a potato at the wall and shouted, “Jap, just wait and see what we’ll do to you!”
One month later he volunteered for a secret mission with the Jimmy Doolittle Squadron—a surprise raid on Tokyo from the carrier Hornet. On April 18,1942, DeShazer was one of the bombardiers, and was filled with elation at getting his revenge. After the bombing raid, they flew on towards China, but ran out of fuel and were forced to parachute into Japanese-held territory. The next morning, DeShazer found himself a prisoner of Japan.
During the next forty long months as a POW, DeShazer was cruelly treated. He recalls that his violent hatred for the cruel Japanese guards almost drove him insane at one point. But after twenty-five months there in Nanking, China, the U.S. prisoners were given a Bible to read. There in the Japanese P.O.W. camp, he read and read and eventually came to understand that the book was more than an historical classic. The message of the cross rang with the truth of God.
There, in the suffering of that place, he found Christ. Having been born again, DeShazer found his heart softened toward his Japanese captors. The power of the crucified and risen Christ changed his entire attitude. His hatred turned to love and concern, and he resolved that should his country win the war and he be liberated, he would someday return to Japan to introduce them to this life-changing book.
And DeShazer did just that. He returned to Japan in 1948 as a missionary. He wrote a widely distributed essay called, “I Was a Prisoner of the Japanese,” detailing his experiences of capture, conversion, and forgiveness.
Ac copy of DeShazer’s testimony eventually found its way to Fuchida, and he read it. His story was something Fichida could not explain nor forget. He bought a Bible, began to read it, and finally came to the climactic drama—the Crucifixion. He read in Luke 23:34 the prayer of Jesus Christ at His death: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Fuchida said, “I was impressed that I was certainly one of those for whom He had prayed … Right at that moment, I seemed to meet Jesus for the first time. I understood the meaning of His death as a substitute for my wickedness.”
Fuchida and DeShazer met in 1950. DeShazer welcomed the new convert and encouraged him to be baptized. While DeShazer continued to plant churches throughout Japan, Fuchida spent the rest of his life as an evangelist, spreading the gospel throughout Japan and the Orient.
He wrote this testimony in his book, From Pearl Harbor to Golgotha, “I would give anything to retract my actions of twenty-nine years ago at Pearl Harbor, but it is impossible. Instead, I now work at striking the death-blow to the basic hatred which infests the human heart and causes such tragedies. And that hatred cannot be uprooted without assistance from Jesus Christ. He is the only One Who was powerful enough to change my life and inspire it with His thoughts. He was the only answer to Jake DeShazer’s tormented life. He is the only answer for young people today. ” – From the tract originally entitled, “From Pearl Harbor to Golgotha” (1953).
That is the power of the cross. Through His death, Jesus paid the penalty for your sin. He suffered the separation from God that you deserved. Believe in Jesus who died on the cross for you, and He will transform your life. That is the power of the cross.
[1] Tom Pennington, God’s Commentary on the Cross, https://countrysidebible.org/sermons/20060416a-115536
