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Read the crucifixion story and you’ll find
many incredible aspects which fell to the cutting room floor in film
production of The Passion, not the least of which is the explanation of why
Jesus did it and what to do next…how to be saved as a result! The
supernatural miracles which took place got little or no attention.
Many people in your life are searching like
that Ethiopian Eunuch that Philip talked to in Acts, and just need someone
to guide them…look for those opportunities!
Scripture records a number of supernatural
phenomena that occurred while Jesus hung on the cross. Those events were
God’s own supernatural commentary on the cross. They gave proof that the
execution taking place that day was an event of cosmic importance.
The routes to the city that day were jammed
with pilgrims coming and going as they prepared to celebrate Passover. Few
if any of them realized what a monumental event was occurring at Calvary.
God’s Lamb was dying on that very Passover to provide forgiveness for all
the sins of all the redeemed of all time. But relatively few
were taking notice.
But then suddenly all nature seemed to
stop and pay attention.
THE SUN
DARKENED
The first of the miraculous signs that
accompanied Jesus’ death was the darkening of the sky. Matthew writes in
Matthew 27:45
Now from the sixth hour there was darkness
over all the land unto the ninth hour.
The sixth hour would have been noon. At the
precise moment when the noon sun should have been brightest in the sky,
darkness fell over all the land, and remained for three hours. This was
probably not a total blackness, but rather a severe darkening of the
normaldaylight intensity of the sun. “Over all the land” is an expression
that might refer to the land of Israel, or it could refer to the whole
world. I’m inclined to think that the sun itself was dimmed, so that the
darkness would have been universal, and not limited to the local area
surrounding Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, according to some of the Church
Fathers, the supernatural darkness that accompanied the crucifixion was
noticed throughout the world at the time. Tertullian mentioned this event in
his Apologeticum—“At the moment of Christ’s death, the light departed
from the sun, and the land was darkened at noonday, which wonder is related
in your own annals and is preserved in your archives to this day.”
The darkness could not have been caused by a
solar eclipse, because Passover always fell on a full moon, and a solar
eclipse (caused when the moon gets between earth and sun, blocking the sun’s
light) would be out of the question during the full moon. But
God is certainly
able to dim the sun’s light, and has
many times in order to make a statement:
During
Moses’ time, darkness had fallen
inEgypt because a plague of
locusts was so thick that the flying insects had blocked the sun (Exodus
10:14-15). In Joshua’s
time the opposite had occurred, and the sun
stood still over Israel for a whole 24-hour period (Joshua
10:12-14). In Hezekiah’s
day, the shadows turned backward ten
degrees, as the earth’s rotation seemed to reverse for about 40
minutes (2 Kings 20:9-11).
The darkening of the sun
is commonly mentioned in Scripture as an
apocalyptic sign
of the end times (Isaiah
50:3; Joel 2:31; Revelation 9:2). (Amos
8:9). Throughout Scripture, darkness is connected with judgment, and
supernatural darkness of this type
signifies cataclysmic doom
(cf. Isaiah 5:30; Joel 2:2; Amos 5:20;
Zephaniah 1:14-15). So the darkening of the sun at noon like this was
certain to evoke widespread fear that catastrophic judgment was about to
fall. Some have suggested the dimming of the sun signified God’s
displeasure with those who put Christ to death. This darkness may well have
signified the Father’s judgment against the sin Christ bore in His person on
our behalf.
In any case, the darkness is certainly an
appropriate reminder that the cross was a place of judgment. In those awful
hours of darkness, Christ was bearing the judgment meant for His people. He
was standing in their place as the wrath of God was being poured upon Him
for their transgressions. The culmination of the darkness is Christ’s outcry
to the Father: “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice,
saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why has Thou
forsaken Me?’” (v. 46).
Shortly afterward, “Jesus cried out again with a loud voice” saying “Tetelestai!”
Then commending His spirit to God, He “gave up the ghost” (Matthew 27:50).
THE VEILTORN[hard to see]
At the very moment of Christ’s death, a
series of remarkable miracles occurred. Matthew writes, “Then, behold, the
veil of the temple was rent in twain [torn in two] from top to
bottom” (v. 51).
The veil was a heavy curtain that blocked the
entrance to the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem Temple, the place where the
Ark of the Covenant was kept, symbolizing the sacred presence of God. The
Historian Josephus described the veil as an ornately decorated curtain, made
of blue woven fabric. Only one person ever
traversed the veil, and that was the
HighPriest. He ventured into the Holy of Holies just
once a year, on the Day of Atonement, when he was permitted to
enter only to bring the blood of a sacrifice.
The veil was of vital symbolic importance, signifying “that the way into the
Holy of Holies was not yet made manifest” (Hebrews 9:8). In other words,
it was a constant reminder that sin renders
humanity unfit for the presence of God.
Hebrews 9:11-12
But Christ being come an high priest of good
things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with
hands, that is to say, not of this building; [12] Neither by the blood of
goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
The tearing of the
curtain at the moment of Jesus’ death dramatically
symbolized that His sacrifice was a
sufficient atonement for sins
forever, and the way into the Holy of Holies was now open.
The entire Levitical system of rituals, animal sacrifices, even the
priesthood itself were done away in the moment of His death. The redeemed
now had free and direct access to the throne of grace without the need for
priest or ritual (cf. Hebrews 4:16).
The tearing of the curtain from top to
bottom signified that it was God Himself who removed the barrier. He was
in effect saying, “My Son has removed this veil and eliminated the need for
it, through a single, perfect, once-for-all sacrifice that cleanses the
redeemed from their sins forever. The way into my Holy presence is now open
to every believer and the access is free and unobstructed.”
At the moment the tearing of the veil
occurred, the Temple was packed with worshipers who were there for the
killing of their Passover lambs. By God’s design, it was in the very hour
that those thousands of lambs were being slain that the true Passover Lamb
died. He was the real Lamb whom all the others merely symbolized.
The Temple itself would be completely destroyed when Titus sacked Jerusalem.
But the true end of the Old Testament sacrificial system occurred not with
the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, but here at the moment of Jesus’
death, when God sovereignly declared Christ’s death a sufficient sacrifice
for sins forever, by supernaturally splitting the Temple veil from top to
bottom.
THE EARTH
SHAKEN
Another miracle also occurred at the exact
moment of Christ’s death. “And the earth did quake, and the rocks rent”
(Matthew 27:51). An earthquake powerful enough to split rocks would be a
significant temblor. (The crowd in the temple probably assumed the
earthquake was the cause of the tearing of the veil.) Such a powerful quake
would be a frightening experience for everyone in the region of Judea.
Although earthquakes were a fairly common phenomenon, an earthquake with
enough force to split rocks would have instantly brought the entire city of
Jerusalem to a halt for several minutes.
Earthquakes in Scripture
are often used, like darkness, to signify
a graphic display of divine judgment. In particular, earthquakes signify
God’s wrath. When
Moses met with God
at Sinai to receive the
tablets of the law, “the whole mountain quaked greatly” (Exodus
19:18). David wrote, “Then the earth shook and trembled; the
foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken, because He was angry”
(Psalm 18:7). “The earth shook; the
heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God; Sinai itself was moved at
the presence of God, the God of Israel” (Psalm
68:8). The prophet Nahum wrote,
Nahum 1:3-5
The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all
acquit the wicked…the mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the
earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
The book of Revelation indicates that
the final judgment of the earth will commence with a
global earthquake more powerful than any ever experienced before (Hebrews
12:26-27;
Revelation 6:14-15).
So it is clear that a supernatural earthquake like this one could only
signify the wrath of God. At the cross,
the wrath of God against sin was poured out on God’s own
Son.
The accompanying
earthquake, coming at the
culminating moment of Christ’s atoning work,
was a kind of
divine punctuation mark,
perhaps signifying God’s anger at the fact that sin had cost His Son so
much.
THE DEAD
RAISED
At that very same moment when Christ died,
yet another miracle occurred:
Matthew 27:52-53
And the graves were opened; and many bodies
of the saints which slept arose, [53] And came out of the graves after his
resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
Many of the tombs in and around Jerusalem to
this day are hollow stone sepulchres, resting at ground level or just above.
The earthquake was evidently powerful enough to split sepulchres like these.
That was not the miracle; that might have occurred in any earthquake. The
great miracle is that those who emerged from the broken sepulchres were
raised from the dead.
Although “many . . . saints who had
fallen asleep” were raised, not all were. These were select representatives
of the multitude of saints buried in and around Jerusalem.
Notice, in fact, that
those who rose from the dead
did not appear in Jerusalem until
after Jesus’ resurrection. Where these resurrected saints were in
the days after they were loosed from the grave and before they appeared in
Jerusalem is not specified. But the fact that they waited until after
Christ’s resurrection to appear to anyone
reminds us that He is the firstfruits of those risen from the
dead (1 Corinthians 15:20).
These risen saints most likely came forth
from the dead in glorified bodies already fit for heaven (rather than being
restored to life in unglorified mortal bodies, as Lazarus had been). They
“appeared to many” (v. 53). Again, how many is not specified, but
there were enough eyewitnesses to verify the miracle!
Their appearance proved
that Christ had conquered death, not
merely for Himself, but for all the
saints. One day “all that are in the graves shall hear
His voice and shall come forth” (John
5:28-29).
THE CENTURION
SAVED
But perhaps the most dramatic miracle that
occurred at the moment of Jesus’ death was
the conversion of the centurion charged with
overseeing the crucifixion. As Christ’s atoning
work was brought to completion, its dramatic
saving power was already at work in the lives
of those who were physically closest to Him.
Matthew 27:54
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.
A Roman centurion was the commander of a
hundred-man division (or a “century”) the basic building-block of a Roman
legion. The centurions were usually career officers, hardened men of war.
Because this particular officer was with those guarding Jesus, it appears he
is the very one who had been given charge of overseeing and carrying out the
crucifixion of Christ and probably the crucifixions of the two thieves as
well. He and his men were close eyewitnesses to everything that had happened
since Jesus was taken to the Praetorium. They had personally kept Him under
guard from that point on. (It is even possible that the centurion and some
of the men with him were also the same soldiers who arrested Jesus the night
before. If so, they had been eyewitnesses from the very beginning of the
entire ordeal.)
They had seen how Jesus held His silence
while His enemies hurled accusations at Him. These same soldiers had
strapped him to a post for the scourging, and watched while He suffered even
that horrific beating with quiet grace and majesty. They themselves had
mercilessly taunted Him, dressing Him in a faded soldier’s tunic, pretending
it was a royal robe. They had battered His head with a reed they gave Him as
a pretend scepter. These very same soldiers had also woven a crown of cruel
thorns and mashed it into the skin of His scalp. They had spat on Him and
taunted Him and mistreated Him in every conceivable fashion, and they had
seen Him endure all those tortures without cursing or threatening any of His
tormentors.
In all likelihood, the soldiers heard with
their own ears when Pilate repeatedly declared Jesus’ innocence. They knew
very well that He was guilty of no crime that made Him a threat to Rome’s
interests. They must have been utterly amazed from the very beginning about
how different He was from the typical criminal who was crucified. At first,
they probably were inclined to write Him off as a madman. But by now they
could see that He was not insane. He fit no category they had ever seen in
the hundreds of crucifixions they had probably superintended.
Until now, the uniqueness of Christ had made
no apparent impact whatsoever on these soldiers. They were hardened men, and
Jesus’ passivity made no difference in the way they treated Him. His obvious
innocence had not gained any sympathy from them. They had showed him no
mercy. They were professional soldiers, trained to follow orders. And so
they had dutifully nailed Jesus’ hands and feet to the cross. They had set
the cross upright and dropped it into the hole dug for it. They had cast
lots for Jesus’ garments. And then they had sat down to watch Him die.
But
Christ’s death was unlike any
crucifixion they had ever witnessed.
They heard Him pray for His killers. They saw the noble way He suffered.
They heard when He cried out to His Father. They experienced three full
hours of supernatural darkness. And when that darkness was followed by an
earthquake at the very moment of Christ’s death, the soldiers could no
longer ignore the fact that Christ was indeed the Son of God.
Mark suggests that there was something about
the way Jesus cried out that struck the
centurion as supernatural, perhaps the
powerful volume of His cry, coming from someone in
so weakened a condition. Mark writes,
Mark 15:39
And when the centurion, which stood over
against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he
said, Truly this man was the Son of God.
Matthew indicates that it was also the
earthquake, coming at the exact moment of Jesus’ final outcry, that finally
convinced the centurion and his soldiers that Jesus was the Son of God:
Matthew 27:54
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. Notice
that Matthew indicates all the soldiers had the same reaction. When the
earthquake occurred they “feared greatly”.
This kind of fear was a typical reaction of
people who suddenly realized the truth about who
Jesus is (cf.
Mark 4:41; 5:33). [disciples when
Jesus said peace be still during storm, and at mt. of transfiguration]
They were stricken with terror. It wasn’t
merely the earthquake that they were afraid of. Rather
they were terrified by the sudden
realization that Jesus was innocent, and not merely
innocent, but He was also precisely
whom He claimed to be. They
had killed the Son of God. He had heard Jesus claim to be God, and having
seen these things, he rendered his own verdict on the matter: “Truly this
was the Son of God!”
The words were evidently a true expression of
faith. Luke says,
Luke 23:47
Now when the centurion saw what was done, he
glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man. So
the centurion and his soldiers with
him were the very
first converts to Christ after His
crucifixion, coming to faith at precisely the moment He expired.
Christ was dead, but death had not conquered
Him. On the first day of the week, He would burst forth triumphantly from
the grave and show Himself alive to hundreds of eyewitnesses (1 Corinthians
15:5-8). He thus not only atoned for sin, but He demonstrated His Mastery
over death in the process.
Every believer’s deepest yearning should be
this:
Philip. 3:10
That I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable
unto his death…
