CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST AND FOLLOWING EVENTS. Matthew 27

Those who watched the Lord Jesus die on the cross were overcome by a dreadful fear.

‘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.’

( 27: 54 ). It took the death of God’s dear son, the earth-shattering quake ( Richter scale did not record its severity); and the bursting of the graves to confirm that the lifeless body hanging on the accursed cross was that of the eternal Son of God.

How odd that a pagan Roman guard should have guarded the body of the Lord Jesus, whom they had crucified. No ungodly hands touched the sacred body after He had shed His precious blood and given His body as a sacrifice.

Loyal women clung to their duty of ministering to Him of their consecrated womanhood. ‘Many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar.’ Matthew attributed this faithfulness to the noble women, who loved their Lord. Their gentle manner, pitiful crying, calm disposition even in this grim graveyard, and fearlessness of the guards, told of their deep faith in their eternal God. (v55)

John told how His mother mary, the virgin who,by the Holy Spirit, had conceived Him, carried Him, nursed and nourished Him through all His years was at the cross. She knew that her SON had died. No-one could ever deny that. Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils, and whose presence spoke of His transforming power was present; also Mary, the mother of James and Joses and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.’ (v56)) God’s word honours these pure women for their closeness to Christ in their persistence during the hours of crucial suffering, watching Him deliver up His life to the Father.

We presume that the sun shone after the Lord had surrendered His spirit to the Father for Scripture said, ’Evening came’, and the normal soft twilight leading to darkness reminded many of the pitch blackness of the hours when He hung on the rugged cross. ‘A rich man, from Arimathea, Joseph, who himself had also become a (secret ) disciple of Jesus’ appeared on the scene. Had he waited until nightfall to make his request? We do not know.

He was determined to honour his Lord with dignity, and so care for the body of the ONE, he trusted.’ This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.’ (v57) He showed courage in identifying himself with the despised Nazarene. He did not know how Pilate would receive Him and his request. However, the governor waited for justification in his dispute with the Jewish hierarchy, presuming his judgment of Christ more accurate than their’s.

Pilate responded immediately to this stranger’s unusual plea. Most bodies would be given to the jackals or discarded in a cheap communal grave. This was the body of the Son of God, and had been offered as a sacrifice on the altar of the cross. ’Give the body to him,’ Pilate bad-temperedly commanded. The miracle of our atonement had been achieved in this precious body. Now the next wonder was the resurrection of this body in three days, to accomplish our justification Oh, how important was the body of our King. Other religions make light of the resurrection of the Son of the living God. Cherish it!

Did the beautiful women help Joseph, ‘For when he had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth?’ Scripture did not tell whether they prepared HIS corpse by cleansing the clotted blood from His entire body. Nor did it tell how many tears were shed by these noble ministering angels. How tenderly they fulfilled their task. They chose linen cloth because the linen in scripture spoke of the ‘righteousness of saints’ made possible only through the shedding of His precious blood. All heaven watched in stunned silence , staggered that the most Holy One should be reduced to the cold, unfeeling, lifeless body.

Thank God that was not the end!

Joseph had prepared an expensive grave exclusively for himself and his family. ‘He laid it

( the body of his Lord ) in his new tomb, which he had hewed out of the rock, and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed.‘ (v60) Importantly, no others had been laid in that tomb, who may have been raised from the dead when our Lord had risen. God had foreseen that no such confusion followed when the Lord miraculously rose from the dead. A new tomb; hewn from solid rock’ and an immense stone at its entrance would guard from intruders. .

‘Mary Magdalene was there and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.’ The bible does not comment beyond this. Loyal, steadfast, bruised inwardly- yet with constant love for Him.

The religious leaders panicked; ‘The chief priests and Pharisees gathered together with Pilate on the next day, the day of Preparation.’ (v62) They recalled the promise of the resurrection the Lord had given, for they knew His teaching, ‘ Saying ‘Sir, ( they unwillingly honoured him, whom they despised ), We remember while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I shall rise again.’ God forbid that they should address the Lord so! One of satan’s titles is ‘deceiver,’ whereas ‘all grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.’

They had prepared their brief , ‘Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Lest His disciples should come by night, and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ so the last deception will be worse than the first.’ Why should evil men fear the glorious bodily resurrection? It undeniably proves the almighty power of the eternal God. Paul knew this for he met the risen Christ on his journey to Damascus; and devoted the remainder of his life to serving the Lord - even to martyrdom.

Pilate’s anger surged as he snarled at them, ‘You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how. ’( v65) He detested their religious pretence, and that they had tricked him into falsely trying and condemning the ‘King of the Jews.’ He had judicially washed his hands, testifying to his innocence of the blood of this just man; now he wanted no alliance with these dubiously-religious men whose hatred for holiness had precipitated this affair. He really meant, ’Get out of my office. I loathe you, tricksters.‘ We must not pretend but be transparent in our walk with the living God.

‘So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.’ How silly and puerile that they should stand in the path of the Holy One, vainly trying to stay the hand of Him, Who created the heavens and earth. Man’s puny efforts are laughable. We have a great God; Who is greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable.’

The following chapter ‘HE IS RISEN’ will show the almightiness of our God and the frailty of man. Click on God’s plan, and read in your mother tongue the greatest message possible.