May the Lord be with us now as
we turn to his word this evening and we'll turn to the chapter
we read the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 27 and we'll
read verses 50 to 53 Gospel according to Matthew chapter
27 reading verses 50 to 53 Jesus when he had cried again with
a loud voice yielded up the ghost and behold
the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the
bottom and the earth did quake and the rocks rent and the graves
were opened and many bodies of the saints which slept arose
and came out of the graves after his resurrection and went into
the holy city and appeared unto many. For many people, on this terrible
day of the crucifixion of the Lord, it must have seemed that
there was nothing particularly special. Nothing particularly unusual,
at least for a time, they fail to notice many obvious things
that we look at today and would note. For instance, such things
as Pilate's wife and her dreams. Such things as the Lord's answer
to Pilate when he asked, are thou the King of the Jews? And
he says, thou sayest his acknowledgement as such a truth. There are, of
course, very unusual, very unique things about Jesus suffering
and death, but I believe for many people as they went by and
as they looked on the suffering saviour, they would have seen
just another crucified man. Here was a man who had been arrested,
he had been taken by a group of soldiers, he had been taken
to the judgment hall of both Caiaphas and Herod and Pilate,
And here was a man who was now condemned to die. Condemned to
go to the cross. He had been beaten, mocked, scourged
and crucified. And now as far as many of the
Jews were concerned, this was now the end of a man who they
considered the great blasphemer. The man who had dared to say
that he was the son of God. the man who had claimed to have
unity with the Father, and the ability to forgive sins. To this
man, for the Jews rather, this man was the blasphemer, the man
of Nazareth, the despised city. And now they believed, as they
looked upon him in his suffering on the cross, that now he was
shown to be but a weak man in the end. He was shown to be a
man subject to their will, to what they wanted to do, and ultimately
subject to the very nails that hung him on the cross. For the
Romans, here was another Jewish criminal. Here was another man
who the Jews wanted away with. Here was a man whose following
and teaching, it was claimed, was only going to cause problem
for the Roman occupiers. Here was a man who Pilate just
wanted to be away with so that the peace could be kept. For
many of the Roman soldiers, for a large extent of the time, here
was just another execution, another crucifixion. And it would seem
for a long time, for a number of hours as Christ is led to
the cross, he is crucified and he hangs there in agony and in
suffering for a while, as far as dramatic things are concerned,
there was nothing. It was going the way that all
people went. All people who were taken to
the cross. All people who suffered as he did. In a natural way,
as you look on, there was no difference between his suffering
and the suffering of the two thieves next to him, literally
in a bodily sense, on that cross. And it would seem that his manner,
his grace, his forgiveness, his words that came from his suffering
on the cross were lost on many people. Father, forgive them.
Today thou shalt be with me in paradise, and so on. lost on
many people. They just reviled him, cast it
in his teeth, if thou be the son of God come down from the
cross and so forth. But when we come to the end,
to the final three hours of his life, what may have seemed to
be another crucifixion, another suffering criminal, now takes
on a very different a very different time. Because now the miraculous
occurs. Something that does never occur
before or since. And now something happens which
didn't normally happen when a man was crucified. We enter into
three hours of darkness. Intense, deep darkness. And here is the time of a particular
sign of Christ's innermost sufferings and innermost paying really for
our sins. And we then read of further miraculous
signs. As he yielded up the ghost, three
things The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top
to the bottom, firstly. The earth did quake and the rocks
rent, secondly. And thirdly, the graves opened
and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. Three miraculous,
dramatic signs. The temple's veil was rent, the
earth quaked and the rocks split, and the graves were opened and
many were raised. Here was something utterly different.
This is not usual. This is nothing that has been
seen before. Suddenly this suffering man,
this death, takes on a whole new dimension, a new consideration. Here are great and miraculous
signs which accompany the suffering and the death of Christ. Here
are signs that things have changed. Things have changed. What do
they tell us? What do these three signs of
his death tell us? Well, firstly we have the veil
of the temple. Behold, the veil of the temple
was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. Immediately after
he breathes his last, after he yields up the ghost, the veil
in the temple, it is rent in two. Here we have a sign that
something has changed. There is now a different time,
a different age of the world. And what has changed? Well, the
Lord's people, their relationship with God has changed. Our relationship
with God has changed. The veil which was in the temple,
which I'm sure we're all aware that it's referring to here was
the veil between the holy place and the most holy place, in the
midst of the temple building. In the holy place we have items
such as the candlestick and the table of showbread. But in the
most holy place is the Ark of the Covenant. Now it would seem
that quite possibly at this time the Ark of the Covenant actually
physically isn't there. Not sure if it returned from
captivity in Babylon. But be that as it may, the place,
the Holy of Holies, still has its significance. And there was
where God was. That was where he appeared to
the high priest once a year on the Day of Atonement. It was
there where his presence was in a particular way above the
ark and between the cherubim and the mercy seat, the lid on
the ark. And we're told that none could
enter the most holy place. No one could just wander in.
No one could go into the presence of the Lord. Only one man could
and only one man could do it once a year. And of course that
was the High Priest. Once a year he could enter in
with the blood of the sacrifice and he would go in with that
and sprinkle it on the mercy seat to make atonement for himself
first and then for the people. And only the High Priest then
was welcome with the blood into the most holy place. The people
were barred. The people were kept out. Only
the representative could go in. All their pleading, as it were,
was done through the one man, was done through the high priest. And in that sense, then, the
veil was seen as a barrier. The veil had embroidered on it
cherubims, a sign of guarding of the most holy place. And if
you were privileged, as only few were, to come to one side
of that veil, you would have seen, as it were, those cherubims
guarding the way. You cannot come in. You are not
welcome, as it were, into the presence of God, only the high
priest, only with blood. There was a barrier between. And now, at this time, The first
sign after his yielding up the ghost, the veil of the temple,
the barrier for the people, is rent in twain, is torn in two
from the top to the bottom. It is removed. It is torn down. There is now symbolically access
into the most holy place. The way is now open. There is
no longer a barrier. There is no longer the guarding.
Now there is a way in to the most holy place. And if it were
God has said through this sign that his people now are welcome
to come into my presence. There is no longer the bar. There
is no longer just the high priest. My people can come into my presence. The veil is rent in two. There is now a way to God. When we come through this suffering
Saviour, when we come pleading His name and His work, when we
come as it were carrying His blood, presenting His sacrifice,
you are welcome into the most holy place. Of course, the Apostle
tells us this so clearly, doesn't he, when he writes to the Hebrews
that so well-known passage as he expounds these truths to us
in the Hebrews. Firstly, Hebrews 9, he tells
us, Christ being come, and high priest of good things to come,
by a greater, more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, 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. So here, firstly,
the Apostle tells us that Christ has entered into the holy place.
Like the high priest, as his people's representative, he has
gone in with his own blood. He has entered in to the holy
place to plead for us and to present his sacrifice for his
people. But then the Apostle goes on
in the next chapter And he says, having therefore brethren boldness
to enter into the holiness by the blood of Jesus by a new and
living way which he has consecrated for us through the veil as to
say his flesh. We have boldness then to enter
through the Lord Jesus Christ. He has gone in and we also go
through the veil has been removed. The veil has been torn down and
then through the Lord with boldness we can draw near unto our God. Boldly to a throne of grace. This is the sign. This is the
wondrous evidence of what his death has done. Of what his suffering
has accomplished. He yields up the ghost and the
veil of the temple is torn into The law no longer bars us. We can come through Christ. So here is a radical change,
a radical difference from the Old Testament age to the New
Testament age. our change to our relationship
and how the believer approaches unto God. We can approach through
the veil into the presence of the Lord through the Lord Jesus
Christ and what he has done. Now the individual can come. We have a high priest, Christ
himself. But the wonder is that also the
individual can now draw near unto God. and plead Christ and
we are received in him. The veil of the temple was rent
in twain from the top to the bottom. The second sign is the
earthquake. The earth did quake and the rocks
rent. It would seem that at this very
time there was literally a shaking of the earth. to such force that
rocks were broken in two. It must have been evidence, it
must have been seen by the people. Clearly it was seen by the centurion
who saw these things and the earthquake. It was clear what
was happening. And it was clear the centurion makes the link
between the earthquake and the death of Christ. He sees that
the two are linked. The earth quakes to such an extent
that the rocks are rent. Well, what does this sign tell
us? Well, firstly it tells us something, I believe, about the
wrath of God. It shows us something of God's
power, something of what it means to stand in the wrath of God,
that the very earth was shaking as Christ finished his suffering. As God, as it were, saw all that
had been poured on his son, and all that he had had to endure,
and the sinfulness of the world, and the world's rejection of
the Lord Jesus Christ, we have something of the idea of the
wrath of God. We read in Psalm 18, there went
up a smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth, devoured. Coals were kindled by it. He
bowed the heavens also and came down. The darkness was under
his feet and the earth shook and trembled. The earth shook
and trembled for the foundations also of the hills moved and were
shaken because he was wrath. The foundation of the hills moved
and were shaken because he was wrath. Here we have this earthquake,
the ending of the rocks. We see something of the anger
of God against the sins of the people. But there is more than
that, I believe, in this earthquake. What we have here is a sign that
things that were seemingly so solid, seemingly were so certain
and unmovable, like the very rocks, were now utterly changed. The earth quakes, the rocks rent. What seemed to be certain and
unmovable were now to be utterly changed. What were some of those
things? Well, firstly, the Word of God,
the work of God is now no longer just for the Jews. It is no longer
just for the literal descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Something which seems so certain that those people were blessed.
Now there is an utter change. Now the word goes to the Gentiles.
It goes to the whole world. It's as if the very earth is
shaken and the rocks rent. Such stable, such solid Old Testament
truths. And now it is open to the world
at large. Also the Lord shows through this
that he is going to work in power to break into hearts. Hard hearts. Stony hearts. Hearts which seem
like they will never move. Hearts that seem that they will
never hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And now
the earth shakes. As if he says, I will break into
those hearts. I will work in the hardest of
people. I will shake them and I will rend those hard hearts
to give them a soft heart. I will rend the hardness of the
nations that the Gentiles may receive me. I am going to work. to break into the sinful world
and into sinful hearts. Also, I believe here he is telling
us that what seemed to be powerful and what seemed to have the victory,
that is the devil himself, who seemed to win, who seemed to
defeat Christ, the devil who seemed to have gained the victory,
the sinful world in which he reigned over was broken. was destroyed and now the blessing
will flow. Satan himself, who brings hardness
and deadness in the world, who seemed to have won the victory. The earth quakes and the rocks
rent. He is broken. He is destroyed. The blessing will flow. So what
seems certain is now utterly changed. There's a change in
our relationship with God. We can enter in. There's a change
to what seems to be a stable world. It's shaken and the rocks
are rent. And thirdly we have this other
sign. The graves were opened and many of the bodies of the
saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after
his resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared unto
many. Here we have another change.
Here we have a change of death to life. Death to life. Now these are strange verses
and I don't seek to fully understand them or be able to expound them
fully to you tonight. There are different views. People
have different ideas exactly what happened but we do not know
Who they are, these people. We don't know who rose. We do
not know who they appeared to, though we're told they appeared
to many. And we do not know where they went. Where they went in
the coming days. There is much we do not know,
but there are things that we do know. Certain things from
the word. We are told that the graves opened.
certain graves at least, the graves of the saints, they opened. Believers, whether it was old
believers who have been gone for many years or believers of
recent time who have died recently, we don't know, but their graves
opened. And it was seen that the graves
opened at the earthquake time. that as the earthquake, then
these graves were opened and the ground came apart, the graves
were opened. And when Jesus rose again, those three days later,
it was then that the bodies came back to life and they rose from
their graves. I think that would follow the
logic of the passage. We're told the graves opened
and the bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out
of the graves after the resurrection. I think we have the graves opening
and a few days later we have the bodies rising again and they
lived after the resurrection. Where they went is not clear
afterwards. But what we have here is a proof
of life. A proof of resurrection. As if
the resurrection of Christ was not enough, which of course it
is, that he rose and he appeared again. Many people saw others
who had risen again. By the power of Christ's resurrection,
they had been brought into life as well. And there was a witness
to many that this event, the death, the resurrection of Christ,
had an impact, had an effect on other people as well. The
graves were opened. Here we have another great change.
Another miraculous change. Death to life. And you see now we can see through
this and through these events that the death and resurrection
of Christ was not just as it were what he did and entirely
remote from us. The resurrection of these people
at this time shows to us that through him there is resurrection
for his people as well. There is life for his people
as well. As certain as he rose from the
dead, so certainly his people also have been blessed with life. Doesn't the Apostle tell us,
now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits
of them that slept. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Life is a clear evidence to the
others around, as these appeared unto many, that now there was
a change from death unto life. That Christ, through his death,
had defeated death. That Christ through his death
had freed others that they might live. That Christ through his
resurrection had assured others of a certain resurrection for
his people. He is the firstfruits, the earnest,
the token, the first sign. And as certainly as we believe
in the resurrection of Christ, so certainly his people must
have life. and must rise also. Spiritual
life and a physical life, a bodily rising again on the day of resurrection. There was a change from death
to life. These are what these three things
tell us, these three changes. A change of the way we approach
God, a change to the world and what seemed to be so stable and
certain, and a change to life from death unto life. These three signs. Well, this
evening, let us come more personal. Let us come more to how these
things apply to us, how they can make us consider as well
as the wonderful doctrine of course that they contain. The
question that we must all need to consider is this. Have we
known these changes? Have we known the effects of
these changes in our own hearts? The effects of what these things
mean in our own lives. Is this real? Has this got an
application for you and for me? The veil of the temple was rent
in twain. Do we see for ourselves, not
just generally as an idea or a truth or a doctrine, but do
we see for ourselves the vital necessity and the wonderful blessing
of coming to God through Christ? Do we realise how much we need
the veil to be torn? How much we need Christ to have
entered in with his own blood? Do we realise what a blessing
it is that we, as sinful individuals, can approach into the presence
of God through Christ? Do we know the blessing? Do we
appreciate the necessity of it? have we experienced, as it were,
that change? Maybe once we came, but we came in our own merits.
We try to pray pleading what we were, pleading what we have
done, thinking that God accepts us for what we are, as it were,
bringing our own sacrifice, our own offering to God. Accept me
because of what I've done, accept me because of who I am, and so
forth. But now if you come to realise
That's not how I approach to God. If I come like that, there's
a curtain, there's a veil, there's a barrier. Oh, I need to come
through a mediator. I need to come through shed blood. I need to come just as I am,
but with the name of Christ upon my lips. If you come to see that
change, that you're accepted in the Beloved, that your prayers
are heard. For Jesus Christ's sake, have
you now reached a point that you are so thankful that when
you come to your prayers, you can say, in Jesus' name, Amen. That he hears you, in Jesus'
name. Isn't it wonderful? Isn't it
a wonderful blessing that when we pour out our heart to God,
and we feel our shortcomings, and we feel our poorness in our
prayers, and we wonder if we're praying rightly at all, and we
wonder if we should bring this to the Lord, and we wonder if
He is able to help, and we wonder if He will hear us, that we can
lay it all before Him, and we can say, Lord, I present it in
Jesus' name. and for his sake and in his name
and because of his blood I believe that the Lord will hear me and
will do what is right for me. Do you see the blessing of the
rent veil of the temple in a way that perhaps you've never seen
before? Has that change in your relationship, in how you approach
God, has that taken place in your heart, in your life? And
now you see Jesus Christ not just as a suffering man not just
as a man on a cross and you know we can read passages like this
and we would be we wouldn't be human if we didn't have a natural
sympathy if we weren't broken down by the intense sufferings
of Christ if we didn't think about his scourging and crucifixion
and be moved even in a natural way of course we are but you
look beyond that as well You're moved by it. We all are. But
we see beyond that. And now we don't just see him
as a suffering man. We see him as vital. We see him
as everything. Because we see that through him,
everything that has been a barrier between us and God is broken
down. The law is broken down, fulfilled in Him. Our sins are
broken down, paid by Him. Our unrighteousness is broken
down, we're clothed in His. And we can boldly come into the
holiest of holies through Christ. Do you see the wonder of the
veil of the temple being rent in twain? A change has occurred. You also know the change of the
earthquake. The change of the earthquake.
That the things which seemed so solid have been broken up. Do you know that change? Where
the hard heart that you once had, an indifferent heart, an
unconcerned heart, an unprayerful heart, an unlistening heart,
has been broken down. It's been shaken. and certain
things, things that you once relied on in the world, people
that you once relied on in the world, your own self that you
once relied on and thought it was solid and thought it was
acceptable, it's been shaken. You see that they're not enough.
You see that they're not as certain as you thought they were and
you now see they cannot be relied on. You cannot present one another,
as it were. You cannot say that the Lord
received me because of this one, or the Lord received me because
of these things which are seemingly so solid and unmovable. Because they've been shaken.
They've been changed. And you now, you see things differently. I once had a hard and cold heart,
but now there's a change. Now there's a difference. Now
it's desiring the Lord. Now it feels to be seeking Him. My old life is being shaken.
And the things that once appealed to me, and once were idols to
me, they just don't have the appeal they used to have. My life, my heart has been shaken. Do you know that earthquake?
Do you know it's taken a miracle of an earthquake to do it? To
shake your heart? It's a miracle that any of us
would have a hard heart broken to a soft heart. It's a miracle
that any of us would come to see that what we thought was
sure and certain is not sure and certain. The Lord has done
it. The Lord has made the change. Have we been changed? Has our
heart been changed? And then thirdly we have the
graves, the dead coming to life. Well clearly here we have the
sign of life. And of course the question is
have we been changed from death unto life? Have we been changed
that we might know him? That we might have that eternal
life which the Lord Jesus speaks of when he prayed to his father? He describes it like this. This
is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. This is life eternal, to
know God and Jesus Christ. That is life. And we say, I've
had the change of death unto life because I know God and Jesus
Christ whom He has sent. I've known life. I know the way
of life. I love the way of life. I love
Christ. I love His Word. I believe I'm
a new creature. If any man be in Christ, the
Apostle says, he is a new creature. All things have passed away.
Behold, all things have become new. And there's life within. There's liveliness within. There's desire within. And there's
the blessing of Knowing the Lord is near, the blessing of hearing
His word, the blessing of speaking with Him in prayer. Oh, life
in the soul, liveliness in the soul, to know God and Jesus Christ
of His sense. Have we known that change? Have
we known that change? That Christ now is all to us. Through him those who have life
have a hope of glory, have a hope of heaven. Through him those
who have life have faith to claim his promises, claim his word
for themselves. They have life through his name. This is the sign. This is the
change. A dead, cold, unmoving heart
to a living, Fleshy heart. A heart that longs for God. Life through His name. Well, do we know these changes? These changes in our own lives,
in our own hearts? You know, it's a wonderful, wonderful
blessing. It's His grace. It's His choosing
of His people to make these miraculous changes, the revealing of the
way to God, the changing of the heart and the imparting of life
through his name. Do we know these things ourselves? Do we know the effects of his
death in our heart? The effects of what he has done
and accomplished in our lives and all that he has done and
all that he has worked this evening if we do not know that. And we
may not. We may not be able to say that
we can, as it was, see in our lives, see in our experience,
the opening up of these things to us. We cannot see a change
as we would or cry to him that you might. Plead with him that
you might. And look unto him and Consider
the reality of what He has done. These things are real events,
real history. Consider the reality of what
He has done. Oh, and consider what happens
to those who are outside of Christ. Consider what happens to those
who are outside of the knowledge of Him. And plead that the Lord would
not leave you. And pray that you might Have your eyes open
to see this and draw near and sit at this cross as the Lord
enables you to see that you might, as it were, be able to enter
in through these wonderful things. Oh, consider the end of those
outside of Christ. What a difference, what an opposite
it is for them. For those outside of Christ,
the veil, as it were, is still there. There is no access to
God. For those outside of Christ,
they still have hard hearts, unmoving, unconcerned hearts.
For those outside of Christ, there is no life, there is only
death. And there is only, if left, eternal death. What a vast difference. What
a solemn difference. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
says, I am the way. I am the way, the truth and the
life. You and I, we need the way. You need the truth. You need life. And you may have
looked in all sorts of places, in all sorts of things and people
and yourself. Tonight leave with these words
echoing in your ears. I am the way, Christ and Christ
alone. Amen.