In Matthew 27:45, Matthew describes the entire region of Judea becoming supernaturally engulfed in debilitating darkness for 3 straight hours from 12pm to 3pm. In those hours of Jesus’ crucifixion, this darkness symbolized the blackness of the desolation of His spirit, the temporary power of Satan, God’s displeasure upon humanity for crucifying His Son, but most importantly, God’s judgment on evil as the Father turned away from Son on the cross.
In this time of indescribable desolation, Jesus loudly cried out the words of Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” There in the blackest of darkness, the iniquity of God’s people was laid upon Christ, as He who knew no sin was made to be sin, becoming a curse in the stead of His people, bearing their sins. As Jesus bore the infinite wrath of God as the punishment for these sins, He had to endure such affliction alone, as He was deprived of the intimate fellowship and favorable presence of His Father that He had always known. And yet in His darkest hour, Jesus still cried out in faith to His Father, even when He could not sense His presence nor heard any answer from the Father.
The bystanders continued to mock Him, watching to see if Elijah would come to save Him. But having now endured the incalculable punishment poured out upon Him for the sins of His people and having satisfied the wrath of God as the perfect substitutionary atoning sacrificial Lamb, Jesus cried out once more with a loud voice and voluntarily surrendered His spirit. The God-man had died a real death upon the cross in order to save His people from their sins.
Upon Jesus’ death, the massive inner curtain of the temple was divinely torn from top to bottom, demonstrating that no longer did man need fear certain death when entering into the presence of God: unrestricted access to God was now possible through the once-for-all atoning sacrifice of Jesus! Such an unparalleled death also brought about cosmic upheaval with a massive earthquake, the splitting of rocks, and even the opening of tombs.
The fallen bodies of saints were raised back to life after Jesus’ resurrection bearing witness to His resurrection, attesting that they had been redeemed by His blood, and as a demonstration that God had accepted the Son’s sacrifice. Finally in Matthew 27:54, the Roman centurion and other soldiers responsible for completing the crucifixion of Jesus were filled with great fear at what they had seen and proclaimed quite dramatically, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
Listen to this teaching on Matthew 27:45-54 by clicking on the link below:
