yonder amazing sight I see, the
incarnate Son of God, expiring on the accursed tree and weltering
in his blood. Behold, the purple torrent ran
down from his hands and head. The crimson tide puts out the
sun. awake the dead. The trembling
earth, the darkened sky, proclaim the truth aloud, and with the
amazed centurion cry, This is the Son of God. Come with me,
if you will, once more to Golgotha's dark brow. I want us today to
observe those things which the centurion observed on that day
of man's infamy, the day of God's glory, when the Son of God was
made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. When the Son of God is enjoying
the grace of God. Look with me in Mark chapter
13, or chapter 15 rather, and verse 39. when the centurion, which stood
over against him, saw that he so cried, and gave up the ghost,
he said, Truly, this man was the Son of God." Now this centurion
being convinced that Jesus Christ was a righteous man, that he
was the Son of God, is recorded in all three of the Synoptic
Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, And all three of them stated
with clarity, I want to know what convinced him. What is it
that caused this crusty Roman soldier, this centurion, probably
a man of considerable age and experience, a man whose business
all his life had been the slaughter of other men, a man who now had
the charge and responsibility of being the executioner of the
most barbaric form of death the world has ever known. This centurion
had seen many men die at his hands. He had tasted the blood
of many, and they never moved him in the least. Now, however,
he stands before the Son of God. He's been watching him for three
hours, and he is covered with the blood of the incarnate God.
And somehow, something that he saw, something he heard, something
he observed, laid heavily upon him, and constrained him, convincing
him, that this man is the Son of God. He was, we are told in
the Scriptures, fearful, exceedingly fearful. I can imagine. Here
he is, with the Son of God hanging upon the tree, and he's the one
who nailed him there, and he says, this man, is the Son of
God. Now as we look at what he saw,
I pray that God the Holy Spirit will likewise convince you that
this man is the Son of God. Not only that he will convince
you that this man is the Son of God causing you to fear and
quake, but oh may he convince you now of your sin, of the accomplishment
of righteousness by the sacrifice of this man who is himself God. and of the judgment of sin in
him. We will look at seven things,
look at them very briefly. Six of them certainly the centurion
saw, probably the seventh one as well. First, here in Mark
chapter 15 in verse 33, we see that the sun was turned into
darkness for three hours. When the sixth hour was come,
there was darkness over the whole land until the night fell. Luke tells us that the sun was
dark. Now some argue as to whether
or not this darkness covered the whole earth or whether it
just covered the land of Judea. It really doesn't matter. But
there's certainly indication that this darkness was far more
far-reaching than just the land of Judea. Now I recognize that
ungodly men in the name of religious intellectualism, in the name
of religious superiority, are forever trying to explain away
the miraculous and the supernatural in Holy Scripture. They tell
us that this darkening of the sun was something that really
didn't happen at all. It was just an exaggeration on
the part of these disciples who were telling the story so as
to give greater emphasis to the story or at best to give some
moral teaching or spiritual teaching from the story. Others will tell
us that this darkness is just something that really did not
happen, period, and the disciples were just wrong about this. Well,
the fact is that this darkness did happen. It was not just an
ordinary solar eclipse. It was not just something that
took place that can be explained away. All the notions that men
have are just cows that won't fly. The scriptures are very
plain. The sun was turned into darkness. The report was given by divine
inspiration. That enough is enough to convince
any honest believing man that what is reported here is true.
Not only was it written by divine inspiration, it was written by
honest men who had nothing to gain from telling a lie. These
reports were given by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and they were given
with explicit clarity for the express purpose of declaring
to us what happened. The darkening of the sun was
something that took place at a time of full moon. It was the
time of the Jews' Passover. It always took place at the full
moon, so it could not possibly have been an ordinary solar eclipse,
but rather it was something that was extraordinary, something
that happened by a miraculous intervention, by God's intervention. At midday, at high noon, suddenly
God darkened the sun, and the sun refused to give its light.
This is recorded and reported not only in the Gospels, But
it is recorded and reported by the historians and chronologers
in ancient Roman times as well. In fact, there was one Dionysius
who saw this great darkness over the earth while he was in Egypt. And this is what he wrote. He
said, either the divine being, best notion he had of God, either
the divine being suffers or the divine being suffers with him
that suffers. or the frame of the world is
dissolving. This noonday darkness was predicted
by the prophet Amos. Turn back to Amos chapter 8.
It would do you good to go home and read this whole chapter.
It speaks of so much in so many different periods of time. But
here in Amos chapter 8 and verse 9, it is clear that this darkness
of the sun was given and predicted by the prophet Amos as an indication
of God's judgment upon the nation of Israel for their despising
of his word, of his prophets, and the rejecting of his gospel. Here in Amos chapter 8 and verse
9. And it shall come to pass in
that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to
go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day. So that prophecy is about as
plain as you can get. Without question, then, these
three hours of darkness, which engulfed the earth from twelve
o'clock noon until three o'clock in the afternoon, were intended
by God to be specific, specific messengers, to teach us specific
lessons. At the very surface, there are
a few things that are obvious. These three hours of darkness
are intended to display, in the most convincing manner possible,
God's abhorrence of sin. When the Lord God made His Son
to be sin for us, as God forsook His Son, turned His back upon
His Son, and He darkened the earth so that the Son refused
to give her light, at midday He calls the Son to go down in
darkness. He says to the world, I am holy
and I will not tolerate sin. We have no comprehension of it.
We become more and more Hardened to sin every day every day we
I Can't believe myself Much less the world around me But we that
we see things and we see them and we see them and we see them
and we see this after a while They just be commonplace. They
just be ordinary and it becomes it becomes to us nothing my dear
friends if you could fathom for a moment that when God Almighty
made his son to be sinned He drew out his sword of justice
and killed him. Sin would be a terror to your
soul. God abhors sin. God will punish sin. There's just no question about
it. This darkness also represented the blindness and the darkness
of divine judgment, which was now given upon the nation of
Israel by the hand of God. You see, when God takes away
the light, He flat takes away the light. You wonder why this
generation in which we live can't see? You wonder why you talk
to them, you reason with them, you show them things in scripture,
and it just flies right through their ears, never even slows
down on the way out. You wonder why? Because when
God sends darkness, Muriel, God sends darkness. God has sent
darkness over the nation of Israel. because they despise his word. And God has sent darkness over
the land in these days because men have despised his word. They
would not walk in the light so God takes away the light and
darkness comes. There's an even more home application
of that than what I've said thus far. Some of you sitting here
hear the word of God and you just push it aside, push it aside,
push it aside, push it aside. You profess to have had the light
and you just keep pushing it aside, push it. Ignore it, ignore
what God says, ignore what God reveals, ignore what God teaches.
I warn you, if God takes away the light, you will spend eternity
in darkness, in darkness. These three hours of darkness
engulfing the earth certainly signify the darkness that engulfed
our Savior's soul when he endured the wrath of God for us. Oh,
what darkness was upon him when he who is the light of the world
cries out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The dark,
dark wrath of the Almighty was upon him because he was made
to be sin for us. All right, look at verse 38 here
in Mark 16. Not only did the sun turn to
darkness by the hand of God, but the veil in the temple. Now,
try to picture this. The veil in the temple. Now,
that's not one of these curtains. It's not a thick, thick piece
of tapestry. That veil in the temple was a
thick, thick veil. It was knotted together as much
as 82 knots in depth. It was 60 feet high, 60 feet,
40 cubits, 60 feet high. That veil in the temple, was
ripped in two by the hand of God Almighty. Look here, Mark
15, 38. And the veil of the temple was
rent in twain from the top to the bottom. All three records
tell us plainly the veil was ripped from the top to the bottom. Lest anyone should say, well,
you know, that veil had been around a long time. Boy, they'd
been using that thing for hundreds and hundreds of years And now
it was just worn out, so it gradually just ripped up. No, it was ripped
from the top to the bottom, split in two by God's hand. This thick,
thick veil was ripped in two specifically at the time of the
offering of the Jews' sacrifices, their evening sacrifice and the
sacrifice of the Passover lamb. You read about it if you are
following your scripture reading this week in Leviticus chapter
16. No one was allowed to go behind that veil. That veil which
separated the holy place from the most holy place. That veil
which kept in seclusion the holy of holies, where God said he
would meet with men upon the mercy seat, overshadowing the
Ark of the Covenant, covering the broken law that the children
of Israel had broken there. No man could go except the high
priest. And he could go only once a year.
And he could enter in behind that thick veil once a year only
with the blood of that Paschal Lamb which God had appointed.
He dare not go otherwise. Now can you imagine? Can you
imagine? That's how I put myself in that
old boy's shoes. Here's this high priest. He doesn't
have anything left except ceremony and pretense and faith, but he's
convinced it's real. Here's this high priest, he's
going about his daily business. Perhaps he has just offered the
evening sacrifice. The time has come for the offering
of the Paschal Lamb. And he doesn't, he's not even
present now while the Lord Jesus is hanging on the tree. He's
left the scene and he's going about his business. And suddenly,
the veil splits wide open. I bet he ran out of that place.
like he had seen some kind of a horror movie. I mean, he was
gone. He knew nobody goes in there
except with God's sacrifice. What he didn't know is that there
was a high priest who had gone in there, now with God's sacrifice. This man, with his own blood,
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
rent the veil in two. That veil represented His flesh,
according to Hebrews chapter 9. That veil represented the
dissolving of His flesh under the wrath of God, the sacrifice
of His body. When the veil was rent in two,
the sacrifice was made. And that veil represented the
law, the law which separated God from man. Throughout the
days of humanity, throughout the days of the Old Testament,
men could not come to God except in a ceremonial way through a
representative priest with blood atonement. They could not come
any other way. And so there, once a year, the high priest
sprinkled blood to make atonement. Then he came out and ceremonially
blessed the people. But now the veils rinse into
it. Blessed be God. This is what
that means. That means all the Mosaic law, all its commandments,
All its ordinances, all its ceremonies, all its types, all its shadows,
all are forever abrogated and absorbed because Jesus Christ
has fulfilled them all. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. Why don't we have
altars today? Because Christ is our altar.
Why don't we kneel down at some altar and have a little religious
ceremony and have some religious sentiment and some show? Because
Christ is our altar. Why don't we go to a priest to
confess our sins? We do, but he's in glory. He's
not down here. Why don't we offer sacrifices
today? Because Christ our Passover sacrificed
for us. It's all done. Now, to try to
reestablish legal commands to try to reestablish legal worship,
to try to reestablish altars and a priesthood and all these
ceremonies of the Old Testament is to deny that Christ has accomplished
what he came here to do. The rending of that veil says
God has opened a way, a way into the holiest of all by which sinners
may draw nigh to God with full assurance of faith. Isn't that
amazing? Turn over there, Hebrews chapter
10. Let me show you this passage. Hebrews chapter 10. The rent
veil means that God himself has opened the way for sinners to
come to him. And that way is the blood. Hebrews
10 verse 12. This man, this man, the Lord
Jesus, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat
down on the right hand of God. He went into the Holy of Holies.
and sat down. But there wasn't any place in
that Holy of Holies for a priest to sit down. That's not the one
we're talking about. He went into glory and sat down
on the throne of God represented in that mercy seat. He went there
and sat down on the throne of grace. Why was there no seat
in the Holy of Holies for the priest? Because he could never
finish his work. His work was never done. As soon
as he got done offering a sacrifice, he had to go get ready to offer
another one. But this man, this high priest, this man who is
God, offers himself a sacrifice to God, and his sacrifice finishes
the work forever. So he sat down. He sat down. Look at it now. From henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one
offering he hath Perfected forever, them that are sanctified. What
does that mean? It means just exactly what it
says. It means that Jesus Christ, by his effectual blood atonement,
has made perfect every sinner chosen by God, separated from
the human race by God's eternal election, perfected us so that
we are now accepted of God through the merit of his blood. Perfected
forever, them that are set apart. Verse 15, wherefore 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 God. I'll put my laws into their hearts
and in their minds will I write them. I want to make them new
creatures. I want to give them a new heart,
new way, new will. And their sins and iniquities
Well, I remember no more. How come? Because of this blood
atonement. Now, where remission of these
is? Look at it. There is no more offering for
sin. What are we thinking a little
bit ago, Lindsay? Jesus paid it all. He paid it all. Well, but you know, you got something
to pay. No, not if he paid it all. But you're going to have
some debt you incur after he paid it off. No, he paid it off
forever. That means, Bobby, God never requires anything from
us. Nothing, nothing. Jesus paid
it off. All the debt I owed sin had left
the crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. All
right, read on, verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness.
That doesn't mean cockiness. That doesn't mean arrogance.
But it means confidence, confidence, boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus. That high priest every year in
Israel, I'm going to guarantee you that old boy examined that
Paschal Lamb those 14 days it was supposed to be shut up. I'm
going to guarantee you he examined him from hoof to tail to nose
every day in those 14 days. to make sure that lamb met the
requirements that God set before them in his holy law. Because
if he didn't, he was a dead man. He was a dead man. And even after
examining that lamb for 14 days, day and night, all day long through
the day, check that lamb out, I'll guarantee you as he crept
in behind that veil, he walked in there just as slow, because
he's not ever sure it's just right. Here we are, we come to
God Almighty and we walk before him with confidence, with boldness. How come? Because Bob, I am dead
sure this is just right. This lamb is the lamb God provided
and this lamb is himself God. Therefore God will accept anybody
who comes to him bringing the blood of this land read on look
what it says Having boldness to enter in to the holiest by
the blood of Jesus by a new and living way Which he had consecrated
for us through the veil that is to say his flesh through the
sacrifice of his flesh Having a high priest over the house
of God. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance
of faith. I having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.
All right, now look at Matthew 27 for a moment. Just hold your
Bibles open to Matthew 27. Let me show you a few other things.
In verse 51, we read that the earth quaked. And behold, the veil of the temple
was wrenched in twain from the top to the bottom, and the earth
did quake. Now again, both the prophet Amos
and the psalmist David tell us that this earthquake was a token
of God's anger and God's wrath and God's judgment upon the nation
of Israel because of their evil works. Listen to this in Psalm
18, verse 7. Then the earth shook and trembled,
the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because
he was wrong. This earthquake is a symbol of
the shaking of the Jewish nation to its very foundation. the shaking
of Jewish religion to its very foundation, so that those things
which are shaken and can be removed are taken out of the way, so
that those things which cannot be shaken and cannot be removed
remain forever. Now, this is what Paul means
by that statement in Hebrews chapter 12. when they're talking
about the shaking of the earth and the quaking of the earth.
He's telling us that all of the Old Testament symbolism, all
the Old Testament ritualism, all the Old Testament type, all
the Old Testament laws, all the Old Testament shadows, all those
things of physical worship in the Old Testament which pointed
to Christ and spiritual worship in this day. All those physical
things are destroyed forever. Now that which cannot be shaken,
Jesus Christ and faith in him stands firm. The earthquake,
the earthquake because of God's judgment now upon that nation
and upon that empty religion of Judaism. Now look at verse
51 again in Matthew 27. And the rocks raised. The rending of these rocks seems
to indicate two things. First, it represents the terrible
fury of God's holy wrath. This is how Nahum describes it.
The mountains quake at him, the hills melt, and the earth is
burned at his presence. Yea, the world and all that dwell
therein, who can stand before his indignation? And who can
abide the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are thrown down by him. What warnings God gives men? Here is a special, miraculous
warning. God warns us of judgment to come.
But listen carefully, my friends. The sound of the thunder is the
voice of the Almighty. When God sends a tornado, he
says, fellows, pay attention. I had my way in the whirlwind,
and this is nothing compared to the whirlwind of my wrath.
When God sends a tidal wave, God says, this is nothing compared
to the flood of my fury that awaits you. When God sends an
earthquake and the earth breaks up, God says, one of these days
everything here shall be broken up at the very foundation. God
Almighty sends warning after warning after warning after warning
of the fury of Israel. Sometimes people get so wrapped
up in trying to get things theologically straight. I had a letter from,
you ladies forgive me, but I Now don't forgive me if you're this
way, you need for me to forgive you. I get letters from ladies
who are imaginary theologians, you know. They think they've
got it all figured out. This gal, she was trying to,
she wrote the other day, and I know she's sincere as she could
be, but she said my son said he's afraid of going to hell,
and I know that's not a right reason for coming to Christ.
And I wrote back, I said, well, it's not the best reason, but
it's a pretty good one. It's a pretty good one. My soul, I'm
terrified of God's wrath if I was outside Christ. And if you're
outside Christ, you have reason to be terrified of God's wrath.
The fires of hell are upon you. The judgment of God is upon you.
And one reason to flee to Christ is to flee away that you may
find refuge in him who is a man crucified for sinners. But there
is also here a picture of the conversion of God's elect. by
the preaching of the gospel. You see, as a result of Christ's
death, when the gospel is preached, hard-hearted sinners, sinners
with hearts of stone, are broken by the power of God. You remember
what happened in Acts chapter 2? Just a few days after this,
when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, there were 3,000
who were pricked in their heart by the Word and cried, Sirs,
what must we do? Now look at Matthew 27 and 52. And the graves were opened. When
the earth quaked, the rocks rent, the graves were opened. Just
split open. I like what John Gill said about
this. He said, this was proof of Christ's power over death
and the grave. By dying, he through death destroyed
him that had power of it. And he abolished death itself.
He became the plague of death and the destruction of the grave.
And he took in his hands the keys of death and of hell. He's
the victor even over death, the conqueror of the grave. Now then,
look at the next line, verse 52. And the bodies of the saints
which slept arose, many of the bodies of the saints which slept
arose, not all but many, and came out of the grave after the
resurrection, after Christ's resurrection, and went into the
holy city and appeared to many. It was a miraculous resurrection
of many of God's saints. This, too, was predicted in the
Old Testament. In Isaiah 26, 19, the Scripture
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
Jews, as the Jew of herbs in the earth, shall cast out the
dead. This resurrection of those saints
was by virtue of Christ's resurrection from the grave. You'll notice
that it is recorded here, but it was written that they came
out of the grave after the Lord's resurrection. Why is it recorded
here then? Because now is the time when
the basis of the resurrection is done. Jesus Christ was now
crucified and by virtue of his death he arose from the grave. arose because the grave had no
more power over him. He was put in the tomb and they
put a rock over the tomb and they sealed it. But on the third
day, God came down and rolled away the rock, sent his angels
to take it away and Christ came out of the grave. And when he
did, many of the saints arose with him, arose with him as pledged
of our resurrection by him as well. They arose, however, with
his dead body because he must be the first fruits of the resurrection.
Now then, turn over to Luke chapter 23. Let me show you a miracle
of mercy. This too the centurion saw. Verse 23, this thief who also
had reviled him said, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy
kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee today,
Shalt thou be with me in paradise. This man was a thief, common
thief. This man was a blasphemer. If
you read Matthew's account again, you'll remember that this thief
also reviled the Lord Jesus. While he's hanging on the tree,
he mocked him. But now, suddenly, something happened! I'll tell
you what happened. God conquered him by his grace.
And this thief was now made to cry out for mercy, believing
on that crucified Son of God. Now, I bid you believe on the
Son of God. Call on God for mercy in Jesus
Christ the Lord. And God will have mercy on you
as well right now. Christ will take you with him
to paradise when times shall be no more. Amen.