Miracles at the Cross (Part 1)

Take your Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter 27.

! Matthew 27, and if you'll find verse 45, we'll get started there in just a moment. Matthew 27, verse 45. This morning and next Sunday, two Sundays, to look at this text.

The focus will be the cross, of course, and as soon as we start reading it, you'll know that's what we're talking about here, what we're reading about. Then after these two Sundays, it'll be Mother's Day, and I'll preach a sermon indicative of that great holiday, great celebration, great day of honor.

And then after that, I am, if God gives us the days, going to preach through Philippians. So if you want to read ahead and start looking at Philippians and reading it devotionally and otherwise, then you're free to do that.

And so that's where we're going to be for the next several months or however long it takes. But this morning, we're going to be in Matthew chapter 27, and as I said a moment ago, we'll be there again next Sunday as we focus on the cross.

So let me read the text, starting with verse 47, excuse me, 45. Now, from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, there was darkness over all the land.

And 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? Some of those who stood there when they heard that said, this man is calling for Elijah.

A little explanation here, he was speaking in Hebrew, and many of those in that day around the cross were familiar with Greek, of course.

That was the language of the day, and many of the Jews spoke Aramaic. And so for some reason, the Hebrew was a little confusing. So they said, well, he's calling for Elijah.

Elijah. Immediately, one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to him to drink. The rest said, let him alone.

Let us see if Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep, that is, they were dead, were raised.

And coming out of the graves after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 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.

All right, we're going to stop right there, because that portion of the chapter takes in the part of the story that I want us to focus on starting this morning and then continuing and finishing it up next Sunday morning.

In the early 80s, before the fall of communism, and some of you might remember this event in the news, but in Poland, in fact, it was the last communist prime minister of Poland who ordered that crucifixes should be removed, were to be removed from the classrooms, just as they had already been banned in factories and hospitals and other public buildings.

The ban, of course, was not popular. If you know anything about Poland, very strong Catholic. In fact, it seems that if you're not a Catholic, you're not even a patriot of your own country.

And so it was not received very well, of course, and resentment spread all across the nation. Catholic bishops openly attacked the ban. And ultimately, the government, communist government, relented to a point.

They insisted that the law still be on the books, but they agreed not to press or enforce the law to the point of removing the crucifixes from the schools, classrooms and lecture halls and so forth.

But one zealous communist school administrator decided that the law was the law and it should be enforced. And so one evening, he had seven large crucifixes removed from the lecture halls of the school.

But the parents, some of the parents, entered the school and hung more crosses up, more crucifixes up in their places.

The administrator promptly took these down and the next day, two-thirds of the schools, some 600 students, staged a sit-in in protest.

Now, when heavily armed riot police arrived at the school, the students were forced out of the school and into the streets. And then, with crucifixes held high above their heads, they paraded and moved the protest to a nearby church where they were joined by over 2,000 other students from other schools.

Well, soldiers soon surrounded the church. And things were looking a little bit dicey. But pictures from inside the church, pictures of the students holding up the crucifixes, started to spread all around the globe.

And so did the words of the priest who delivered the message that morning when he said, there is no Poland without a cross.

Poignant words. No Poland without a cross. Now, tell that story or relate that story to ask this question.

Why would he say that? Why would he say that? And why would these students do what they did? Defy their government?

Stage a protest, an illegal protest? Assemble to pray and to weep? Just over the removal of some crosses from their school classrooms and lecture halls.

Why would they do that? I mean, what is so important about the crucifix itself? Have you ever thought about that? What's so important about that? Really?

I mean, that these students would risk so much. What is the big deal? I mean, the crucifix is just an image, right? An icon, so to speak.

A symbol. A symbol. Albeit a very important symbol. That's all it really is, right? Just a crucifix. I mean, countless thousands of churches have one erected on their steeples.

We have a couple on the facade of our building in at least two places. And we have one displayed right back here.

Right? There it is. And if we were to pull up the screen, you'd see another one there just above the baptistry. You know, and no doubt many of you here this morning have a cross somewhere, maybe multiple crosses, crucifixes displayed in your home as decorations and different things.

Some of you here today are wearing them as part of your jewelry. So why? If I may ask. Why?

Do you have some sense of the grisly method of torture that the crucifix represents?

Well, if you've been around very long, you know, don't you? Have some sense of that? Have pretty good details about that? And by the way, the Romans were experts at crucifying people.

By the time of Christ, they had used this grisly form of execution on 30,000, some 30,000 people just in the area, the region of Palestine alone.

And they would go on and, you know, they had it down to science, this form of execution. They had some sense of this grisly method, horrifying method of torture and execution.

Let me give you an expert description of crucifixion provided by a medical doctor who had done quite a bit of research on it. Listen to how he described it, and I'll read what he said.

This is how he begins, he said. The cross is placed on the ground, and the exhausted victim is quickly thrown backwards with his shoulders against the wood and arms stretched out.

The executioner then feels for the depression in his wrist, in the wrist, the depression there in the front of the wrist.

And when he finds it, he drives a heavy square wrought iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flex of movement.

The cross is then lifted up and dropped into place. Then the left foot is pressed backward against the right foot.

And with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each foot, leaving the knees flexed somewhat.

The victim is now crucified. And he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciatingly, with fiery pain.

This pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to literally explode in the brain. The nails in the wrists are pulling pressure on the median nerves.

As he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places the full weight on the nail through his feet. And again, he feels the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of his feet.

And then, as the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain.

And with these cramps come and comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but not exhaled.

And he fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the bloodstream.

And the cramps partially subside. But spasmodically, he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen.

He now endures hours of limitless pain. Cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps. Intermittent partial asphyxiation.

Searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins.

A deep, crushing pain in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It's almost over now.

The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level. The compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues. The tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air.

And he can feel the chill of death creeping through his tissues. And finally, he dies. What a description. Terrible.

Huh? Terrible. What a grisly way to die. What a grisly way for Jesus to die. And incredibly, the Bible records all of what this medical doctor has just described for you.

The Bible records all of that in four words. And they crucified Him. That's all we get to describe this.

It's terrible. So then I come back to the question. Knowing this about crucifixion, and we really don't know the half of it, why in the world would we want to display the cross?

Why would we want to do that? On our steeples, and on the outsides of our church buildings, and as decorations in our homes, and as jewelry on our fingers and around our necks, and as pins on our clothing.

Why would we want to memorialize the cross, this cruel death of someone we love so much? Why would we want to do that?

Why is the cross so important to us? And why did Jesus, by the way, have to die in that horrifying way? Why? Why indeed?

And all that to bring us to this, it seems that Jesus asked that very question to you. Didn't He?

Seems that way. Matthew 27, 46. I read it a moment ago. The Bible says that Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and He said, My God, My God, Why?

Why have You forsaken Me? Now, it is the answer to that question that should tell the world why Christians proudly display the cross everywhere we can.

It is the answer to Jesus' question. As God answers Jesus' question from the cross, it is the answer that should tell the world why Christians glory in the cross.

Far from it being repulsive to us, we glory in it. We glory in the cross. The cross is glorious, as well as precious, and many other things to us.

Now, does God the Father answer Jesus' question? It may not seem that He does, but I would submit to you that He does.

Most profoundly, God answers Jesus' question. We've just read from Matthew 27, God the Father's answer.

Now, before we consider the answer, we really need to understand the question. It may seem like a very simple question. It's a famous question, but we need to understand the question that Jesus asked Him.

After the three hours of darkness ended, verse 45, Jesus cried out in the Hebrew tongue, verse 46, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.

He cried that out. And then, of course, it's interpreted for us. And it's, of course, a question, right? I mean, we look at our Bibles, and there's the question mark at the end of the sentence, so we know it's a question mark.

But, of course, the Greek and Hebrew, they have no punctuation. So how do we know it's a question? Well, it's pretty simple. We know it's a question by the word lama.

Lama is an interrogative adverb, and it's translated, why? Almost always translated, why? And so Jesus asked a question. It's a question from the cross.

Eli, my God. Eli, my God. Lama, why? Sabachthani. Have you forsaken me? Why have you forsaken me?

Now, in biblical Hebrew, there are two common interrogative adverbs that are generally translated, why? Two different Hebrew words, one English word.

It means something slightly different. The first one is the word maddua. Maddua. We would spell it in English, M-A-D-D-U-A. Maddua, which means, or we could translate it, for what cause?

And that's generally what we think of when we look at this verse. That Jesus is asking for what cause? It's maddua, would be the word in the Hebrew, not the one that Jesus used.

That's a different word. We'll get to that in just a moment. But maddua means for what cause, and maddua typically looks backward after the fact and seeks an answer to the cause of an event or the cause for a certain kind of action.

It looks backward. Maddua, why? Why did this happen? For what cause? The other word is the word lama. And we have that right here in our text, don't we?

Lama, which means, for what purpose? Now, this is very important we see this distinction. For what purpose?

Or to what end? And so, therefore, lama, unlike maddua, lama looks forward. It looks forward and it seeks a demonstration.

A demonstration of purpose. A demonstration for a certain action. It looks forward to something. For what purpose?

To what end? It asks, what is to be accomplished by this event or action? Isn't that interesting? And that's how Jesus worded His question.

And so, it's pretty simple. Jesus did not use the word maddua, but He used the word lama, l-i-l-i-lama sabachthani. And so, this was not a cry of ignorance.

Of course, Jesus knew why. It's inconceivable to think that Jesus would have come to the cross and not know why it happened.

Or, to come to that place and God the Father forsaking Him there, it is inconceivable that Jesus did not know why. No, no, this was not a cry of ignorance.

Also, this was not a cry of confusion. Confusion. Confusion. Or, bewilderment. He may have known why, but this just didn't make sense to Him. That's not what this means. Jesus certainly didn't mean that.

This is also not a cry of despair. And I think oftentimes, we kind of take that from this question.

We would be totally wrong. Jesus is not, was not, in a place of despair or discouragement at this point. That's not what the question is.

In fact, I would tell you that Jesus was not asking the question for His own benefit. He was not asking the question for His own information. Jesus asked the question for the benefit of those who were there that day.

Who had gathered around the cross that day. Those who had witnessed the crucifixion. He asked the question of the Father for their benefit. That the answer would benefit them.

And not just them there that day, but generations later. All those who would read of this account. And that would include us. He asked the question for our benefit.

And so, literally, here is the question Jesus asked. God, give a demonstration of what my cross means.

Give a demonstration for all those here and the countless generations that will follow. Give a demonstration of what is to be gained by your forsaking me here to die.

This death of a criminal. Give a demonstration. And so, that leads us to God, the Father's response. His answer. The answer to the Son's question.

Now, He, of course, does not answer with words. We kind of wish that He would have. He doesn't answer with words. doesn't speak from heaven with audible words that man can understand.

We have no record of any verbal answer from God. He answers with works. With wonders.

With wonders. Wondrous works. We just read them a moment ago. Wondrous works. Miracles. Miracles.

And so, here it is. God the Father performs here, or did perform, a series of seven, I see, identifies seven miracles here in this account that stand as a demonstration of the eternal significance of the cross of Christ.

And I say eternal significance not only for those who have believed or will believe, not only for those who have embraced the cross and Christ who died there, but also for those who have rejected Him and rejected the cross.

There's a demonstration of something here for those who are even now, right now, and maybe some even here today who are in unbelief, rejecting the cross and the provision of Christ for your sin.

there's a demonstration here for you. As a matter of fact, we're not going to be looking at all of the miracles this morning. I'm going to group together those that specifically are speaking to those who have yet to believe.

What does this cross say to you? what does it demonstrate? Miracle number one.

Worldwide darkness at midday. Worldwide darkness at midday. Look at verse 45 again.

Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, there was darkness over all the land. Just a simple statement of this supernatural event.

Or we could translate it this way and I think probably the NIV puts it this way. It's more explanatory. And here's how it would go and I think they're absolutely accurate.

From 12 noon until 3 in the afternoon, darkness came over the whole earth. The whole earth. The entire earth.

Now, I've not failed to notice that this darkness occurred before Jesus asked the question in case you're wondering. I've not failed to see that. But I include this in here because this is a miracle.

And it's a demonstration of something. This darkness, God sent this darkness, this supernatural event that took place was for a purpose.

And it does demonstrate something essential to our understanding of the cross of Christ. darkness. So, for three hours, darkness.

Darkness. You know, what a contrast this gives us between the birth of Jesus and His death. You ever thought about this? Remember when the angels announced His birth, the birth of Christ, announced that to the shepherds there that night?

And the Bible says the glory of the Lord shone round about them. Great light. Dazzling light at the birth of Christ. And you remember that the wise men were drawn to Jesus' birthplace by what?

The light of a star. A bright shining star. Something that stood out among all the other stars. It was a great light they saw. And later, the apostle John would speak of Jesus as the light of men.

He would say the true light which gives light to every man that comes into the world. Even Jesus spoke of Himself as the light of the world. Yet, in stark contrast, the first miracle occurring at the death of Christ was not light.

It was darkness. A great darkness. A darkness that came when the sun was at its highest and brightest in the day.

A darkness that covered, I believe, the entire planet. Not just there in Palestine. But the entire planet. In fact, according to some ancient historical records, it encompassed the populated world of that day.

And I think the entire globe. This was a complete eclipse of all light. It was extensive. It was total.

It was supernatural. This was not some natural event. You couldn't explain it by some terrible storm cloud that came in. This was supernatural. But what did it mean?

Isn't that important? Well, it's a demonstration of something. A demonstration, of course, of God's eternal judgment on sin.

That's what it was a demonstration of. First, taking place right then upon Jesus at that moment in time and done under the cover of darkness.

Veiled in a thick darkness. God's judgment was poured out upon Jesus. See, Jesus became sin for us there. He became sin.

Isaiah 53 in verse 6, the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity, that's just a specialized word for sin, the iniquity of us all. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 in verse 21, for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us.

We quoted that earlier today in our worship series. And at some finite point within this three hours of darkness, the eternal Son absorbed, literally absorbed, the eternal wrath of God on sin.

but it is a demonstration of God's future judgment as well. Don't miss that.

Because it's a demonstration not only of what was taking place there at the cross, God's judgment on sin, but it was a demonstration of the future and God's judgment upon sin upon all those who have and will reject the cross, upon all those who are rejecters of God's provision, gracious provision for sin.

Darkness. Now listen, many, I'm sad to say, will see that darkness again. The darkness that was demonstrated, occurred there as a demonstration.

Many in our world today and over the centuries past and the centuries future, however long we go on, all those who will reject and die in their unbelief.

In fact, even before death, there will be many, countless thousands and millions of people who will witness this darkness again.

At the end of the age, this age, those who have refused Jesus as Lord and Savior will experience darkness during the great tribulation.

The church, of course, will not be here. The bride of Christ will be raptured, caught up to be with the Lord forever and ever. But what about here on this earth?

Isaiah 13 and verse 10 tells us, Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and He will destroy its sinners from it.

For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.

And then there's Joel 2, verse 2, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. And then there's Amos chapter 5, verse 20, shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light, even very dark and no brightness in it?

But now listen. This is just the beginning of the darkness awaiting all those who reject Christ.

All those who reject His cross and die in unbelief. I want you to listen to how the Bible describes the place of eternal judgment for sinners.

The Bible says a lot about that place. But let me just pick a few here. How about Jude, verse 6? Everlasting chains under darkness.

Jude, verse 13, the blackness of darkness forever. Imagine that. And 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 4, chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment.

And 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 17, the blackness of darkness forever. Forever. Matthew chapter 8, verse 12, verse 12, the sons of the kingdom, that's Satan's kingdom, will be cast out into outer darkness and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Do you want a demonstration of how God responds to sin? Look at the cross. Look at the cross of Christ. second miracle.

God the Father's abandonment of God the Son. It's a miracle. God the Father's abandonment of God the Son.

Look again at verse 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? As I've already explained, pointed out a moment ago when Jesus cried this question, cried out this question of God the Father, He was not asking for information.

He was asking for a demonstration. He was not asking for His own benefit. He was asking for the benefit of those who had gathered there and for us today.

Right? But now listen. That in no way minimizes or subtracts from the fact that God the Father had indeed forsaken God the Son at the cross.

He did. And this is something unusual. This is something very supernatural, very strange, very supernatural. This is a miracle. It's a miracle.

And it means something, dear people. It means something. See, for the first time in all of eternity, God the Son experienced total separation from God the Father.

In fact, did you notice? Maybe you hadn't noticed, but this is the first time we hear Jesus referring to the first person of the Trinity as God rather than Father.

That ought to tell you something. There was a separation. And we think, what a mystery this is. God the Father abandoned God the Son.

What a mystery. But there's no mystery here. It's a miracle, yes, but it's not a mystery. Habakkuk chapter 1 verse 13 speaking of God, he said, you, God, are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness.

So this is not a mystery. God the Father forsook God the Son because God the Son had taken your sin and my sin upon himself. Romans chapter 4 verse 25 Jesus was delivered for our offenses.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. And Peter said in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 24 that Jesus himself bore our sins in his body on the cross.

It's a miracle, yes, this forsaking, this abandonment, this separation of God the Father from God the Son, something that never happened before in all of eternity.

A miracle, yes, but not a mystery. Jesus endured the hell of hell while he bled and died hanging upon that cross.

And the hell of hell, dear people, is separation from God the Father. Now, dear unbelieving soul, whoever you are, the miracle at the cross is a demonstration of what is in store for you if you do not repent and trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

That's what's in store. Eternal separation from God without any hope. See, your problem, of course, is sin.

Isaiah 59 and verse 2 said, but your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear you.

that's serious. But even having said that, God the Father has not yet totally abandoned you. Not yet.

There is, because there's breath in your lungs, blood flowing in your body. There is still time for you to repent and trust Jesus Christ.

I would urge you to do it today. do it today. There's still time. But one day, I'm saddened to tell you, but I must tell you, one day it will be too late.

I don't know what day that will be. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 7, Paul described it this day when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

These shall be punished, he said, with everlasting destruction. And then listen to this, from the presence of the Lord. That's separation.

Punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. Do you want to know what will happen to all those who die in unbelief?

Do you want to know? Look at the cross. Look at the miracles at the cross. Darkness. Abandonment.

these are the things that Jesus took for you. But these are things that you will have if you do not trust Christ.

We have time to look at one more miracle. And to keep with the same theme, let me skip down to the fifth one. And then we'll see the other four next week.

The fifth one is the violent earthquake. See, all three of these have something in common. I'm not trying to scare you with these things.

I can't frighten anybody into heaven. I'd like to frighten you out of it, out of hell. I don't say these things to scare you, but to tell you the truth.

The violent earthquake. Verse 51, the graves were open, many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and we'll get to that miracle next time.

And coming out of the graves, excuse me, 51, didn't I say 51? You weren't listening. Then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked and the rocks were split.

The earth quaked and the rocks were split. By the way, the Jewish Talmud, which is a set of commentaries explaining and expanding upon the law, the Talmud makes mention of an earthquake occurring 40 years before the destruction of the temple in A.D.

70. That would put it at A.D. 30, the year Jesus was crucified. There are a number of other sources that corroborate this earthquake, violent earthquake.

And clearly, from how it's described here by Matthew, it was an extremely severe earthquake. This was not a small tremor. It just kind of shook the ground like some of those we've had here.

in recent months. Now, this was a violent event. The Bible says rocks were split. Split. Verse 54 tells us that even the battle-hardened Roman soldiers who were there to perform the crucifixion and were standing there to guard the crosses, even these battle-hardened Roman soldiers were terrified.

this was a violent earthquake. But what did it mean? Jesus asked for a demonstration that would explain God's forsaking him at the cross.

And so, what is the earthquake a demonstration of? Well, Matthew doesn't tell us. None of the gospel writers tell us, matter of fact.

But an Old Testament prophet does. A psalmist and prophet, David, tells us in Psalm 18. Psalm 18 is one of many messianic psalms that David was inspired to write.

And this psalm describes prophetically the cross and here specifically the agony of Christ. verse 7 of Psalm 18 says this, Then the earth shook and quaked and the foundations of the mountains were trembling.

This is the event that Matthew is recording here. This is the cross. They were trembling and were shaken because he was angry.

He being God was angry. Don't just think angry just means he was a little ticked. The word angry is the Hebrew word korah and it's a very strong word and it means to be hot, furious, to burn, to be kindled, like wood reaching a kindling point and bursting into flame.

That's what was happening at the cross. This violent earthquake. I tell you, God is serious about sin. I tell you, our culture is moving us away from that reality.

Even our sadly Christian culture. God is serious about it. Serious about unbelief. He's serious about your sin.

He's serious about your unbelief. Do you doubt that? Then look at the cross. Just look at the cross.

God shook the earth because of sin and listen, one day He will do it again. One day He will do it again. How about Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 25?

See that you do not refuse him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then, then, as at the cross, shook the earth.

But now He has promised, saying, yet once more I shake not only earth, but also heaven, and that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

That is, the kingdom of God will remain. It can't be shaken. And so are you a part of His kingdom through faith in His Son? Are you? You see, there are three, seven rather miracles at the cross.

And three of them we have looked at and all attach to the demonstration of God's response to sin and unbelief, darkness, abandonment, wrath.

But here's the good news. The good news is if you will repent of sin, turn, abandon your sin and your self-trust and turn to Christ.

Place your trust, your faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. God's grace will grant you light rather than darkness.

fellowship rather than abandonment. And peace in the place of wrath.

All this. All this. If you turn to Jesus. grace and