Matthew 27, and starting at verse
50, the Lord Jesus has, as we read last week, asked His Father
to receive His Spirit. He said, Father, into Thy hands
I commend my spirit. And that's where we are in verse
50. So the cross now, the Lord Jesus Christ has been here hanging
on the cross for six hours. And He cried out. that his father
receive his spirit and people heard his cry that it is finished
and now we read in verse 50 Jesus when he had cried again with
a loud voice yielded up the ghost that was when he cried to his
father father into thy hands I commend my spirit and then
in verse 51 and behold the veil of the temple was rent that means
it was it was torn rent in twain from the top to the bottom And
the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, they also split open. 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. 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. And many women were there beholding
afar off which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto
him, among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James
and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's children. When the
even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph,
who also himself was Jesus' disciple. He went to Pilate and begged
the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body
to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the
body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his
own tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. And he rolled a great
stone on the door of the sepulcher and departed. And there was Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulcher. And we're going to go ahead and
read the end of the chapter even though we're not going to get to that during
the sermon. It says, Now the next day that followed, the day
of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together
to Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while
he was yet alive, after three days, I will rise again. Command
therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third
day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away,
and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead, so the last
error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said to them, You
have a watch, go your way, make it as sure as you can. So they
went and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone and setting
a watch. I just want to comment briefly
on those last few verses. The very thing that Pharisees
and the scribes and the elders feared the most was that the
disciples would tell everyone that Jesus had risen, that he
had actually risen from the dead. And so that the worst, the last
error, the last problem that they had to deal with would be
much worse than the first. That's exactly what happened.
And the very thing they feared came upon them. I laugh. I'm no different than them, but
I think it's interesting the way God brings the counsels of
men to nothing. It says in the Psalm, Psalm chapter
2, He who sits in the heavens shall laugh and have them in
derision. And that's exactly what happened
here. So back in verse 51 it says that when the Lord Jesus
gave up the ghost, four things happened. The veil of the temple
was torn from top to bottom. And there was a great earthquake
and the rocks split open, or rent it says here. And then 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 to many." I've entitled this
message, God's Testimony of His Son. I entitle it that because
when we read the account of the crucifixion, the sufferings of
Christ, and the resurrection that followed, what we see here
over and over again is that in every case, everything that's
said in Scripture gives an account of those who also bear record,
bore witness and testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ and His
crucifixion. First of all, We could go through
this, but I just want to briefly remind you of what happened.
Remember Caiaphas, what he said? He said, it's necessary that
it's expedient for us that one man should die for the people
and that the nation perish not. He didn't intend to bear record
to Jesus, to his son, but that's what he said. And so Caiaphas,
who actually plotted to kill Jesus, actually bore record by
the guidance of the Spirit of God to the truth that he was
going to die for the people in order that the entire nation
of Israel perish not, like Sodom and Gomorrah. And then remember,
Caiaphas also asked Jesus pointedly, he said, tell us whether you
are the Christ, the Son of the Blessed. And at that time Jesus
said, I am. I am. I am the Christ. I am the Son of the Blessed.
That was in Mark chapter 14. And he said also this, Jesus
told Caiaphas and those that were there, Hereafter you shall
see the Son of Man coming, sitting on the right hand of power and
coming in the clouds of heaven. So that was Caiaphas. God used
him to bear record to the Lord Jesus Christ. Both did what he
said in prophecy, that he would die for the people, and both
in asking Jesus and then Jesus responding, I am the Christ,
I am the Son of the Blessed, the Son of God. And then remember
Pilate. Pilate had told the Jews, he
had said to the Jews, that they delivered him to death. He didn't
tell the Jews this, but he said about the Jews that they had
delivered him to death because they envied him. Not because
there was anything wrong with Jesus. Pilate said that he had
done no wrong. Three times Pilate told the Jews,
I find no fault in this man. And on the third time he interrogated
the accusers of Jesus and he asked them, When they cried out,
crucify him, Pilate said, why? What evil has he done? So Pilate
himself gave record by God of the innocence of Christ at his
resurrection. Remember Pilate's wife told him,
have nothing to do with that just man. Even his wife in a
dream understood that Jesus was a righteous man. And remember
Pilate took water and washed his hands and he said, I am innocent
of the blood of this just person. Well, no man can wash away his
own sins before God, but he tried to, he wanted to, and yet he
condemned him to death, had him beaten, and had him crucified. So he couldn't wash away that
guilt. Nevertheless, he admitted in that that Jesus was innocent.
And another time, Pilate told Jesus before, when he was interrogating
him, he says, I, don't you know I have power? to crucify you
or to release you. And Jesus told him you could
have no power unless it were given to you from heaven. So
all these things were God using Pilate to bear record to his
son. And then the chief priests and the scribes and the elders
also testified of Jesus. The people who hated Him most
gave record by the guidance of the Spirit of God of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Remember what they said in Matthew
27 verse 41? It says, He saved others. They
admitted it. He saved others. The very thing
they wanted to deny, the reason He was there, they actually affirmed
by what they said. They claimed that they could
actually believe Jesus if they wanted to. They said in Matthew
27, 42, He says, I'll read it to you,
he says, "...he saved others, himself he cannot save." And
then they said this, in arrogance, "...if he be king of Israel,
let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him." Such a boast of a religious man
that he can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ if he chooses to. And yet he rose from the dead
and they didn't believe him. So it was proven that they were
liars and unbelievers, hardened in their sin. And then also,
in verse 43 of Matthew 27, it says he trusted in God. They
admitted he trusted in God. He did trust in God. That's why
he was here, submitting himself in obedience to his Father. Even
though all this came upon him, he trusted his Father. And they
also said this in the same verse. He said, I am the Son of God. So they admitted that they heard
him say, I am the Son of God. He trusted in God. He saved others. All these things compiled together
were their testimony of Christ in the truth of the Gospel. God
used their own mouths to condemn them and also to exalt His Son. And the people also testified
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They accused Him in saying this,
that He would destroy the temple. He said He would destroy the
temple and then build it again in three days. But they didn't
know that He meant the temple of His body, that He would raise
His own body again from the dead in three days. And they didn't
know that by his death he would actually build a church and raise
the church out of his own side. Like Adam, as Eve was taken out
of the side of Adam. God formed her out of his side.
And so all these things were their testimony of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And remember the soldiers also.
They said to the Lord Jesus in Luke chapter 23, They continued
to propagate the truth they had heard. They said, But He proved His words and His
submission in His obedience by not getting down from the cross.
Which required greater power, coming down from the cross or
staying on the cross? Wasn't it staying there and submitting
to the will of God, dying at the hands of wicked men, enduring
their mocking, And their rude and cruel gestures, and yet staying
there in order to fulfill His Father's will. And to save His
people from their sins. They thought it was weakness
that He was nailed to the cross. They thought they had power over
Him. But little did they know that He had power. Power even
over His own life to lay it down and take it again. And so we
see these men. And they were the ones who heard
Him. These soldiers around the cross heard Him. They heard what
He said. His prayers. They heard His cries.
They heard His words to the thief. And these men were going to bear
witness of Him in a little bit as we read on in Matthew 27.
And now let's turn here to Matthew 27 where it says here that this
testimony that God Himself gave of what His Son did. He says
here, When he died, it says in verse 51 that the veil of the
temple was torn, or rent, entwined from top to bottom, and the earth
did quake, and so on. Now, what is this sign of the
veil, the riven veil, as it says in a song I heard a long time?
The riven veil, the veil that was there hanging in the temple. Well, in the temple, in the tabernacle,
in the Old Testament, there were two chambers, two rooms. And
they were separated by this huge veil. Someone said it was 60
feet in length. I don't know if that was 60 feet
across or high or what. But it was a huge veil. And they
had to have it there. And they put this veil there
to separate the place where the priest came in all the time and
did service to God from the most holy place called the Holy of
Holies. This was the veil that separated
the people from the very presence of God. This was the place, the
Holy of Holies is where the Ark of the Covenant was. The Ark
of the Covenant. The covenant God made with Israel
that they broke. And in that Ark was the tables,
the Law of God, which they broke. A testimony against them. And
in that Ark also was the manna that God had given in the wilderness.
Another testimony of God. and also Aaron's rod that budded. And then over the ark was a mercy
seat, and the cherubim would look down on that ark, and every
year, once in a year, the high priest would enter the holy place,
and he would sprinkle the blood of the goat on that mercy seat,
and God would accept the people. He would make atonement for the
people in that place once in a year. At least he made a typical
atonement. He had never actually made atonement.
But he would come out after he had sprinkled the blood, and
God's glory would fill that place, the tabernacle. Now, when the
Lord Jesus died, that veil that separated the holiest of all
from the other part of the tabernacle was torn from top to bottom. When people are passing through
a curtain, you know it wears out at the bottom first, doesn't
it? There's no possibility that this veil would have ripped from
top to bottom. It was held by couplings at the
top. And yet it was torn from top to bottom. And it's no doubt
that that signified the fact that God Himself tore that veil. Men didn't tear it. It was far
too heavy and too thick for a man to tear. So God is the one who
tore that veil. But what does that represent?
What was the significance of that? Again, it's God's testimony
of what His Son accomplished when He died. What He accomplished. Not what He intended to do, but
what He actually did. God removed the separation between
sinful men and a holy God through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what the veil represented. And you can read about this in
the book of Hebrews. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter
9 and read it again. I love reading these things over
and over because it shows to us what God has done. Look, it
describes the tabernacle in the first nine verses here and tells
us what the veil was about. Verse 1 of Hebrews 9, it says,
Then verily the first covenant, the covenant of works given to
Moses, the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service
and a worldly sanctuary. Not a heavenly, but a worldly
sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made,
the first, the first part of that tabernacle wherein was the
candlestick, and the table, and the showbread, which is called
the sanctuary, and after the second veil, that's the veil
we're talking about, the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of
all, which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant,
overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot, that
had manna, and Aaron's rod, that budded, and the tables of the
covenant, and over it the cherubim of glory, shadowing the mercy
seat, of which we cannot now speak particularly. Now, when
these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into
the first chamber, the first tabernacle, accomplishing the
service of God. But into the second went the
high priest alone, once every year, not without blood, which
he offered for himself and for the errors of the people. And
here's what it meant, that he entered once through that veil.
It says, "...the Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way
into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, wasn't made
known, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing." Now the first
tabernacle, as long as it stood there, God was signifying by
this veil and the entrance of the priest once a year, that
the way into the holiest of all, where God's presence is, was
not made known, was not clear until that old covenant, that
tabernacle was done away, it was fulfilled in Christ. Now
look over, in fact let's just keep reading here. That tabernacle,
it says in verse 9, was a figure for the time then present in
which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not
make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the
conscience. Nothing ever perfected anyone
under the old covenant. The law made nothing perfect. But verse 10 says, Those things
stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal
ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. But
Christ, this is the Reformation part, but Christ being come and
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,
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 the significance here of all
of what Christ did is in verse 12. When He actually shed His
blood, He went into heaven. Not the holy place on earth,
but into heaven itself. And He went there in the Spirit,
by the eternal Spirit. It says, in verse 14, and when
he went into heaven with his own blood, by the eternal spirit,
offering himself to God, he didn't just make atonement in a typical
way, not in a pretend way, not in a way that shadowed the true,
but he actually obtained eternal redemption. Not a yearly, but
an eternal redemption. And so, in verse, go over to
chapter 10 now, of Hebrews, and look at verses Verses 9, we're
going to read until verse 21, verse 20. Verses 9, Hebrews 10
verse 9, it says, The Lord Jesus said, Lo, I come
to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, the
first tabernacle, the first covenant, that he may establish the second,
the New Testament. Verse 10, By the witch will,
God's will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. In other words, God's people
are made holy by the offering of Jesus Christ. And that was
a once-for-all offering. And every priest standeth. In the Old Testament, every priest
standeth. Not sit, stands. Daily ministering. Not once, but daily. And offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices. which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God." That's a completion. When he had offered once himself
to God, he actually completed what God gave him to do and he
sat down. And what he completed was our
eternal redemption. Look at verse 13. From henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. There's
a few verses that I repeat over and over again. You'll recognize
that. That's one of them. One offering
perfected forever them that are sanctified by God. Verse 15. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts, and in
their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. That's what God said. Because
Christ entered once, perfected all those for whom He died, it
says their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. That
was God's promise and it was fulfilled when He died. Verse
18. Now, where remission of these is, there is no more offering
for sin. Why is there no more offering?
Because remission has been made. In verse 19, this is where I
want to get to. Having therefore, brethren, boldness,
openness, transparentness, no cloak, we come exposed before
God Because He's given us this way. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. We don't
come empty. We come by the blood of Jesus.
Faith looks to Christ. And looking to Christ, we come
to God by Him. We come in prayer, in our heart.
We say, Lord, receive me. because of Jesus, because of
what He's done, because you received Him. Receive me for His sake. Forgive my sins for His sake.
My iniquity is great. Pardon my iniquity for Your name's
sake, O Lord." We come by faith. By faith we come knowing that
God has received. He's provided and received from
His Son. God could do nothing greater
than this. And we come by faith, glorifying God for His mercy,
having therefore, brethren, boldness to come into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated
for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh. What is
this veil? What did it represent? It represented
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, and His blood, His body broken,
and His blood shed, in order that the way to God, into His
very presence for sinners, because that's why His blood was shed,
is now open. Access is granted by God. And
you can read about that throughout the New Testament. God has given
access. He has reconciled His people
to Himself. He's given us a way to come to
Him. We have a High Priest. We come
by the blood of the Lamb of God. Christ crucified for us. That's
the first sign God gave in Matthew 27. And isn't it a great sign
that God would show to us that we are now justified by His blood. We have access to God through
Him. Who can hear, who could see that veil being rent from
top to bottom without wondering, in amazement, that now they could
see into the holiest of all. And those priests in that day
had no offering to offer. There was no ark inside. When
that veil was torn, there was no ark because the ark had been
long ago taken by the Babylonians. There were no tables of the covenant. There was no manna in the ark.
There was nothing there. It was empty. Because God had
already begun to decay that old covenant. And when He fulfilled
it in His Son, it was done away. So that's the first sign. The
old covenant is done. The new covenant is put into
force by the blood of Jesus. is given to sinners to come to
God by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Atonement has been
made. God's people are justified in
his sight because of what he received from Christ. I want
to read one verse to you. Look at Leviticus chapter 16.
I know I've mentioned this verse a number of times, but it thrills
me to just look at these again. Leviticus, chapter 16. This was
the day when the high priest would go in and make atonement.
On this day, one day, once a year, the high priest did this. Look
at Leviticus, chapter 16, verse 21. At the end of God describing
how it should be done, in verse 29 it says, "...and this shall
be a statute forever unto you, Leviticus 16 29 this shall be
a statute forever unto you that in the seventh month on the tenth
day of the month you shall afflict your souls and do no work at
all whether it be one of your own country or a stranger that
sojourneth with you For on that day shall the priest make an
atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from
all your sins before the Lord." Man, there is nothing more, there's
no better news than that. Is there? Sinners. By the high
priest, on one day, cleansed from all their sins before the
Lord. That's what it's saying here.
That's what Jesus did. In verse 31, it shall be a Sabbath
of rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls by a statute
forever. When we hear what Christ has
done, we recognize the evil of our sin. We're to afflict our
souls because of that. To see it was my sin that put
my Savior there. That my wickedness is so great
that only the death of God's own Son could purge me of my
sins. And we're to rest, do no work
at all. And to behold the Lord Jesus
Christ, what He's done. Our High Priest, the Lamb of
God, who offered Himself to God. He offered Himself to God. No
one else ever died like He did. No one else dismissed His Spirit.
No one else cried, into Thy hands I commend my Spirit, as the one
who delivered His Spirit into God's hands. He had power to
lay His life down and power to take it up again. I was thinking
about this. I remember teaching the kids
Sunday school a long time ago, and I asked them this question.
What did Jesus do? What did He actually offer? What
did He offer? I find that this is a way to
help my children understand. What did He offer? What did He
do? In Hebrews chapter 7, verse 27, it says, He offered Himself. And also in Hebrews 9.14 he says
the same thing. He offered himself. He sacrificed
himself. He's the high priest who in his
own body bear our sins and carry them up to the tree, and on the
tree bore those sins as his own, and confessed them to before
God, because he was both the high priest and Lamb of God. He laid his hands, as it were,
on his own head, and confessed all of the sins of all of his
people on himself, and he bore the wrath of God for them. As
God He Himself made that spear. The metal of that spear that
was fired in the wrath of God and pierced His side. He made
it for His own side. That He might lay down His life
and obtain eternal redemption for us. This is what our Lord
Jesus did. Now back in Matthew chapter 27,
it says not only did the veil of the temple tear from top to
bottom, because God Himself did this. That's the message. God
made the way for sinners. In the Old Testament, in Genesis,
the way to the Tree of Life was kept guarded by the cherubim. They were kept there so that
they couldn't get at that tree of life. But now God makes the
way. The way is made known now. As
long as that old covenant, that old tabernacle was standing,
it was not clear. But God ripped it from top to
bottom. Now it's clear. It's in the blood
of Christ. And so we see here, the next
thing that happened in Matthew 27 verse 51, it says, after the
veil was torn, it says, and the earth did quake and the rocks
split open. I like to read it that way because
that's what it means. They were divided, they were
split open. The earth quaked and the rocks
were split open. Now, what do we make of this? What does this have to do with? Robert Hawker says, "...the earthquake
and the rock splitting were the celebrations of the glorious
achievements of Christ's atonement." And I think that's a really good
way of looking at this. Look at Romans chapter 8. Romans
chapter 8 says this, This is what creation is doing right
now. Remember, when God created the
earth, what did He do? He subjected it to man. He put
all things under man in Adam. Although man never really did
obtain that dominion over the entire creation. But yet, here
we have in Romans chapter 8 a description of what's going on. He says in
verse 18, Paul says to the believers, he says, that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. All that we suffer as
God's people in this life has no comparison to the glory that
shall be revealed in us. Verse 19. For the earnest expectation
of the creature, or the creation, waits for the manifestation of
the sons of God. What is creation doing now? According
to God, it's waiting for God to reveal His own sons. For the
creature, or the creation, was made subject to vanity, not willingly,
but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. All
of creation was subjected to futility. Because of sin. When Adam fell. Because it was
subjected to man, and man was a sinner. Couldn't have a perfect
creation if man was in charge. He was a sinner. So God subjected
it to vanity, to futility. And it was done in hope, in hope
of what God would do later, which we're addressing now. In verse
21, he says, "...because the creature, or creation itself,
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the children of God." What is that liberty? Well, it's the release of our
bodies from the dominion of sin. The sin in our bodies. It's the
total release of us. Not only the redemption of our
sins before God, not only the redemption of our souls when
we're born again, but the release of our body. Look at verse 22.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now, not only they, but ourselves also, which
have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within
ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our
body." God has given us His Spirit. That's the firstfruits of our
resurrection. The full harvest of the resurrection
will occur when the Lord Jesus comes on the last day. And our
bodies will be raised up, either from the dead, or if we're living,
in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. We'll be raised up. So
he says in verse 24, So now creation and all believers are waiting
in hope. By faith we hope for the hope
of righteousness, it says in Galatians 5.5. We hope now for
what's coming. And what's coming is the reward
of Christ's obedience and death. And so when the rocks rent, when
the earth quaked and the rocks rent, it was a foretaste It was
a foreshadowing, just a token, of that final time when the Lord
Jesus would come and all of creation would be released from its corruption
and bondage and vanity into the glorious liberty of the children
of God. So that is what's happening back
here in Matthew 27. And that's why it's also joined
with what happens next. It says, Not only did the earthquake
and the rock split, but the graves were opened, and many bodies
of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after
the resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared to
many. So at the time of the earthquake and the rock splitting, the graves
were also opened. Not all of the graves, but some
of the graves. And when those graves were opened,
those who were in the graves, the saints that had died, after
Christ rose from the dead, they were raised up. And they went
into the Holy City, it says here. And so, this also is teaching us
that the Lord Jesus Christ, by His death, guaranteed the resurrection
of believers. Not only in spirit, not only
in soul, but in body, spirit and soul. Entirely redeemed by
God. So that in Isaiah chapter 26,
look at that, Isaiah chapter 26. This was a prophecy of what
would happen. Isaiah 26, he says this in verse 19. He says, Thy dead men shall live. Together with my dead body shall
they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell
in the dust. For thy dew is as the dew of
herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. This is what's
happening. Thy dead men, God's people, the
saints, Together with Christ, His dead body. When He arose,
they arose also. Not all of the people arose then,
but some of these saints arose. And they rose as a token of the
fact that when Jesus rose from the dead, all of His people really
rose with Him. Because as the covenant head,
they now are going to live again. Jesus told Martha, He says, I
am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. Though we die in our body, we
shall live again. He that believeth on me, though
he were dead in his body, he shall live again. And then He
said this also. And he that liveth and believeth
on me shall never die. Because in our souls, when we
die, we go to be with the Lord. We never actually die in our
spirit, because we've been given life. And then Jesus asked Martha
this, Believest thou this? Do you believe that I am the
resurrection and the life, so that all those in me must live? He told his disciples in John
14,19, Because I live, You shall live also. Just because I live,
you shall live also. And then back in Romans 8. Look
at this in Romans 8. I really like these verses here
in Romans 8. It says in Romans 8 verse 9. You are not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. This is the most amazing thing
of all. When we are justified by Christ, The Spirit of God
is given to us to know our justification, and in giving His Spirit to us,
He gives us faith in Christ. That's a work of God. It's a
work of His grace. He gives His Spirit to us, who
gives us life in our spirit, and we are enabled to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Here he says that if we If the
Spirit of God dwells in us, we're in the Spirit. Now, he says in
verse 9, continuing, he says, Notice how he... talks about the Spirit of God
in us as Christ being in us. Why is that? Because the Spirit
of God is the Spirit of Christ. If Christ be in you, the body
is dead because of sin. Our body is sinful and it's going
to die because of sin. But the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. The Spirit of Christ in us is
eternal life. Isn't that amazing? That in us
and every believer we now have the Spirit of God. The Spirit
of Christ in us. Eternal life in us. And then
in verse 11, it brings it home. He says, "...but if the spirit
of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken, make alive
your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you." The reason
we're raised from the dead is because Christ is in us. And
Christ never dies. He is eternal life. He is the
resurrection and the life. We cannot not be raised because
Christ is in us. He that believeth on me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. Back in Matthew chapter 27. So
the graves were opened, the bodies came out. This is God's testimony
of what happened when His Son died. His people were redeemed. He actually obtained redemption. And the token of the future resurrection
is seen in the earthquake, and the splitting of the rocks, and
some of the saints coming out. Did these saints go into Jerusalem? Were they seen by people there
in that city? then? Or did they go somewhere
else? Well, there's two possibilities. One is that they went into the
Jerusalem on earth. And here it says they went into
the holy city. It doesn't say Jerusalem on earth
specifically. It just says the holy city. And
almost all commentators tell you that that's what they did.
They went into the Jerusalem on earth. But there's also another
possibility. Remember what God says about
Jerusalem on earth? In Revelation 11 he says that
spiritually Jerusalem on earth is called Sodom and Egypt. Sodom was destroyed by fire.
Egypt was destroyed by God through the ten plagues. Both of those
places were destroyed by God for their iniquity. And he's
saying spiritually the Jews religion and the capital of their religion,
Jerusalem, is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was
crucified. That's Revelation 11, verse 8.
So whether Jerusalem on earth is intended here, when the bodies
of the saints arose, or the heavenly Jerusalem above is intended,
is not clear to me and I can't tell you for sure which one was
meant because I know that in Revelation it says that the holy
city descends from heaven from God out of heaven in Revelation
21 and 22 so it could be that the Saints rose in their bodies
and they went into glory and the Saints who were already there
in spirit saw them come into glory and realized that the Lord
Jesus Christ had now risen from the dead because Christ also
would have been there in glory with them So it was either that
or they went into the city of Jerusalem. If they went into
the physical city on earth, it means that then they had to rise,
go ascend into heaven later. And it's not clear whether that
happened or not. So it raises a lot of questions
that just aren't answered from scripture. In any case, what
it means is that the Lord Jesus Christ is the first fruits. And those who were raised then
were raised with Him because they live because He lives. And
so that's the important point I wanted to get to in this place
here. But look now. It says also in
verse 54, another witness is born of the Lord Jesus Christ. All these witnesses, Pilate,
Caiaphas, the Jews, the elders, the scribes, the thief on the
cross. the centurion. All these were
witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you look at the account of
the resurrection, one thing should come clear. It's about Christ,
the Lamb of God. It's not so much about Peter's
denial, or Judas' betrayal, or the forsaking of the disciples,
or Caiaphas' evil intent, or the Jews' murderous behavior.
All those things are there. They testify of our iniquity
and our wickedness, but it's all there as scaffolding to build
up and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see it both in contrast
in the backdrop of our sin and the plain testimony of God here
given by these different accounts. So Matthew says here in verse
54. He says, now when the centurion,
a centurion, I believe, means a captain of at least a hundred. The word cent is a hundred, so
we know that has to do with a hundred. It may be a couple of hundred.
He was a very important man in the Roman army. 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. Now look at Luke chapter 23,
because Luke gives us a little bit more information about what
he said. The centurion, think about this man, he was given
charge over the crucifixion. All of his men there were working,
doing what he had commanded them to do, to crucify Christ. It
says here, Luke 23 verse 46 when Jesus had cried with a loud voice
he said father into thy hands I commend my spirit and having
said thus he gave up the ghost in verse 47 now when the centurion
saw what was done he glorified God saying certainly this was
a righteous man isn't that amazing the centurion said He did three
things according to God. He glorified God. He said, certainly
this was a righteous man. And then he also said, truly
this was the Son of God. Three things. How did he come
to that information? How did he realize that? Well,
you gotta know that he heard about it. Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. But here the centurion was to
the entire account of Christ's crucifixion. He would have been
there when Jesus prayed, Which meant he had to be the son of
God, forgive them for they know not what they do. Here the Lord
Jesus Christ was a righteous man because even though he was
put to death by wicked men and by the cruelty of these soldiers,
he prays for his very enemies. What kind of a righteousness
exceeds that righteousness? Love fulfills the law. Christ
prayed for his enemies. He made intercession to God his
Father while he was offering up his own blood. This is how
he saves all of his people. And the centurion would have
heard that with the thief. That's the way the thief knew.
He said to him, Lord, Lord. He's the son of God. He called
him Lord. Remember me when you come into your kingdom. He knew
who he was. And the thief said, he's done
nothing amiss. The centurion would have heard
the thief's own testimony. Like the preaching, the trumpet
of God's gospel coming to the centurion in his ears. And having
heard all this, he not only heard that, and he saw the darkness,
the three hours of darkness over the whole earth. He heard Jesus
cry, it is finished. He saw him shed his blood. He
knew he was a righteous man. Therefore he wasn't dying for
himself. He was dying for others. He saved others. He heard that.
He wouldn't save himself. He couldn't. Because he came
there to save others. The centurion was processing
all this by the Spirit of God, and he applied it to him. He
was a Gentile, a trustworthy man in the army of the Roman
Guard here. And he says, he glorifies God,
this was truly the Son of God. He saw the earthquake, he heard
the rocks splitting, the graves opening, he heard Jesus' cry,
he heard the preaching of the Gospel. And notice here, it says,
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.
These men, by all reasonable accounts, became
believers at this point. in time. And it's no wonder. Didn't Jesus actually make intercession
for those who were crucifying Him when He said, Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do. These men didn't know
they were crucifying the Lord of glory. And He prays for them. And His prayer undoubtedly was
heard. And that is why, these men, that
is why any believer ever comes to Christ, because the Lord prayed
for them, because the Lord died for them. And so we see this
further testimony by the centurion and they that were with him of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that amazing that he said
that? What is the significance of what
he said here? That this man was the son of
God. Why is it so significant that he said this man was the
son of God? To be the Son of God means He's
equal with His Father, that He's co-eternal with His Father, that
He has all the authority and the power in heaven and earth
of His Father, that He is the glory of God, that He's the heir
of all things. All these things were implied
when he says, this is the Son of God. And it means, because
he is the Son of God, and God himself, that therefore God purchased
the church with his own blood. It's significant. He's the Lord
of all, the Son of God, the King of glory, the Lord of glory,
the Prince of life, the just one, the holy one. The Lord,
both of the dead and the living. These are all things used to
describe the Son of God. We could just go on and on, couldn't
we? The Son of God, He says, He came to save His people. He
could not fail. He is eternal. They are saved,
therefore, to the uttermost. Certainly, He was a righteous
man and He is the Son of God. A two-fold testimony to the Lord
Jesus Christ here. Don't you see these things? And
now finally, look at the last point here. He says, in verse
55, "...and many women were there beholding afar off, which followed
Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto Him." And he names them
Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and Mary
the mother of Zebedee's children. Now these three women are mentioned
by name, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and his
brother is mentioned here, Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's children,
which were James and John, the other James, and John, his brother. These three women were not the
only women, though, because he says, and many women, in verse
55, many women were there beholding afar off. Think about what this
means here. What are we talking about? We're
talking about God's testimony of His Son. All these people.
But here now, we're focusing on these women. Why does God
point out these women? Because these women had followed
Him from Galilee. These women had spent their time
ministering to the Lord Jesus Christ. They were very affectionate
towards him. They loved him. He was their
master. And they wanted to be with him,
like his disciples. How did they support themselves
following him around the countryside? Where did they find the means
by which they could serve him and follow him all this time?
I don't know. But they gave up a lot to follow
Christ. They followed Him. They ministered
to Him. They served Him. And now, in
His death, what do they do? They behold Him afar off. They behold Him. And they see
Him suffering. They see Him die. And then, next,
look at it. He says here, in verse 57, while Joseph comes
and gets it, it doesn't show it here, but it says, In the
other account, in Luke, it says that they saw where they laid
Him. They not only beheld Him on the
cross in His sufferings and His death, the anguish of their soul,
in seeing their master there, their beloved master dying. And
then they saw where they laid him, they saw where he was buried.
They saw Joseph and Nicodemus burying their master. And then
these women, Mary Magdalene and this other Mary, go to the tomb
and sit on the tomb, and come to the tomb, and the angel of
the Lord meets with them and tells them he's risen. So they
saw him in his death, they saw him in his life, they saw him
in his burial, they saw him in his resurrection. They followed
him and they believed when the angel told them he's risen from
the dead. They went and told the disciples in fear and great
joy. What does this point us to? It
teaches us what all of God's people do. All of these believers
are teaching us that. The thief on the cross, he believed
and was saved exactly like all believers are. He heard the gospel. He heard he was the son of God.
That he was the Lord of all. That he was the coming king.
That he's the one who died to save sinners. He heard his prayer
as mediator. The centurion also. And now the
women beholding him. Crucified. Accomplishing redemption. They heard his cry. These women
now see Him buried and saw where He lay, and they knew He had
risen from the dead. This is what believers do. They
follow Christ, they serve Christ, they behold Him. This is the
way they live. And it's God's testimony to the
fact of Christ, life, death, burial, and resurrection. And
these women, these women are used for that way. Isn't that
amazing? The apostles are used powerfully in the New Testament
later on. But God features these women
now, who didn't have a place to preach the gospel, except
that they were preaching the gospel in God's record of what
they did when God revealed Christ to them. He caused them to follow
Him, and serve Him, and love Him, and look upon Him in His
crucifixion, and see where they buried Him, and see that He had
risen, and they believed Him, and had great joy because of
Him, and they looked for Him. This is what the believer does,
isn't it? This is God's testimony of His
Son. And isn't it wonderful when you
find in your own heart this desire to look upon the Lord Jesus Christ
here afar off, it says. We behold Him, in a sense it's
afar off, but in reality it's very near because we have God's
Word setting forth Christ evidently crucified among us. The Lamb
of God, that's who He is. Christ crucified, evidently crucified,
buried, risen, accomplishing our salvation. And as God's people,
we love Him, we believe Him, we follow Him, and we want to
serve Him. That's what they did. And that's what we see here.
God's testimony concerning His Son. Look at my Son. See Him
bearing the curse, that you might bear the curse no more. See Him
stripped naked because of sin, that you might be clothed in
righteousness. See Him crowned with thorns,
that you might be crowned with glory and eternal life. See Him
shamed, that you might bear reproach no more. See Him forsaken by
God, that you might be forever received by God and have access
to the very holy presence of God Himself by faith. Let's pray.