A Deep Dive into Jesus’s Incredible Sacrifice

In my journey of sharing what I’ve learned about the Bible, we’ve now reached the crucifixion.  That brutal, horrible, most painful of endings.  As a child I always wondered, after the joyous celebration of Palm Sunday … why?  Why did he have to die this way?

But of course, he had to die this way, there was no other way; and also, it’s not an ending! He also had to rise again to accomplish God’s magnificent, amazing story of redemption.

Let’s read Matthew’s account of the death of Jesus, chapter 27, translated here in the New International Version:

45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

54 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!”

There’s a great deal to unpack in that short section. Let’s dig in: (I’m using analysis provided by a website called Enduring Word):

45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 

Bible scholars say that although this unusual darkness lasted for three hours, this was not the entire time Jesus was on the cross.  Jesus hung on the cross for about six hours, between 9:00 in the morning and 3:00 in the afternoon.  The first three hours of Jesus’ ordeal were in normal daylight, so that all could see that it was in fact Jesus on the cross, and not a replacement or an impostor.

A natural eclipse wouldn't have lasted anywhere near three hours. This darkness was also remarkable because it happened during a full moon – during which time Passover was always held – and during a full moon it is impossible that there be a natural eclipse of the sun.

Interestingly, there was historic documentation outside of the Bible for this phenomenon. Phlegon, a Roman historian wrote: “In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, there was an extraordinary eclipse of the sun: at the sixth hour, the day turned into dark night, so that the stars in heaven were seen; and there was an earthquake.”

Nineteenth century Bible analyst Charles Spurgeon interpreted the darkness this way: “The darkness is the symbol of the wrath of God which fell on those who slew his only begotten Son. God was angry, and his frown removed the light of day.”

46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

Okay guys, I’m going to attempt to explain this one, but let’s all be assured that as author Larry White said in his article, Why Did Jesus Cry “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” it’s puzzling, to say the least: “In the most critical moment of the entire Bible, the moment when Jesus dies on the cross, he shouts a phrase that can be puzzling to those of us reading the account so many centuries later: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’"

I’ve always considered that it was Jesus’s human side that caused him to express this thought after so many hours of pain, humiliation and disrespect. In fact, the night before, after the Last Supper with his disciples, he went to the Mount of Olives to pray and he was agonizing about the crucifixion then: (Luke 22:42) “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

It's completely understandable that he was scared and he wanted out of it.  Although any of us, when faced with the horrible circumstance of dying by being nailed to a cross and hanging there for six hours, would be completely justified in feeling forsaken by God … Jesus didn’t. 

After all, he’s not half human and half God.  He’s fully human and fully God. Remember he was part of creating this plan from the very beginning – before Adam and Eve created sin in the first place.  See my early blog here as a reminder.

Enduring Word interprets it this way.  Read it, then read it again, because I guarantee it takes a little while to settle in! 

“The agony of this cry is significant. It rarely grieves man to be separated from God or to consider that he is a worthy object of God’s wrath, yet this was the true agony of Jesus on the cross. At some point before He died, an awesome spiritual transaction took place. God the Father laid upon God the Son all the guilt and wrath our sin deserved, and He bore it in Himself perfectly, totally satisfying the wrath of God for us.

As horrible as the physical suffering of Jesus was, this spiritual suffering – the act of being judged for sin in our place – was what Jesus really dreaded about the cross. This was the cup – the cup of God’s righteous wrath – that He trembled at drinking. On the cross, Jesus became, as it were, an enemy of God who was judged and forced to drink the cup of the Father’s fury. He did it so we would not have to drink that cup.”

In the absolute worst moment of his life on earth, Jesus the Teacher teaches us one more thing: his anguished words are taken directly from Psalm 22, written by King David and thought by Bible scholars to be a vision where David saw this exact moment of the future death of God’s Messiah.  By quoting the first line of the familiar psalm, Jesus’s Jewish followers would recognize it and go look up the rest of it and understand.

It is the greatest proof and illustration of God’s immense love for all mankind to expect His Son to take on the payment for all of our human sins, so that the debt is paid forever and always by Jesus.

51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 

What is this curtain the Bible references?  Within the holy temple in Jerusalem, a veil (or curtain) separated the Holy of Holies—the earthly dwelling place of God’s presence—from the rest of the temple where men dwelt. This signified that man was separated from God by sin. Only the high priest was permitted to pass beyond this veil, and only once each year to enter God’s presence for all of Israel and make atonement for their sins.  Historians estimate that the curtain was nearly sixty feet tall.

The size and thickness of the veil make the events occurring at the moment of Jesus’ death on the cross so much more momentous. The fact that it was torn from top to bottom symbolizes that it was God above who did the tearing. Above all, the tearing of the veil at the moment of Jesus’ death dramatically symbolized that the shedding of His own blood was a sufficient atonement for sins. It signified that now the way into the Holy of Holies was open for all people, for all time, both Jew and Gentile.

The earth shook, the rocks split  52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 

Wowza! A supernaturally extended eclipse of the sun, an earthquake, a 60-foot long curtain in the temple a mile away tore from top to bottom, and now bodies of holy people who were dead and buried were raised to life!  It’s clear what God is proclaiming about this event: this was no ordinary crucifixion and only God Almighty can perform these miraculous events!  And don’t you guys forget it! 

54 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!”

The scene at the crucifixion of Jesus was so striking that even a hardened Roman centurion confessed that this was the Son of God! This man had supervised the death of perhaps hundreds of other men by crucifixion, but he knew there was something absolutely unique about Jesus.  This event was undeniable and impossible to pass off as just another Roman crucifixion! Just as Jesus performed miracles to convince people that He was the Son of God, God used miraculous events to convince everyone that He is Lord!

We’ve taken a deep dive into the crucifixion and as I said before, it requires repetition and study to fully understand everything God was doing as the Master Planner.  But at the heart of it all is His immense and unending love for us, his children.

Let’s pray: Dear Jesus, we thank you, and thank you again, and never stop thanking you for what you did on that cross for us. By taking human sin onto your back, you paid the ultimate price of redemption to the Father.  You, who were sinless, took on the weight of human sin, past, present and future.  You died for me. You died for everyone who has ever lived.  And forgiveness is ours because of you.  We love you and we ask that you help us show it every day of our lives.  Amen.