The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus Christ

Please take your Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Matthew chapter 27 and we’re gonna be
reading together verses 27 to 50. Matthew chapter 27 beginning
in verse 27. This is the word of God. Then the soldiers of the governor
took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered
the whole battalion before him, and they stripped him, and put
a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they
put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand, and kneeling
before him, they mocked him, saying, hail, king of the Jews. and they spit on him and took
the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked
him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes
on him and led him away to crucify him. As they went out, they found
a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry
his cross. And when they came to a place
called Golgotha, which means place of a skull, they offered
him wine to drink mixed with gall, but when he tasted it,
he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him,
they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they
sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head
they put a charge against him which read, this is Jesus, the
king of the Jews. Then two robbers were crucified
with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who
passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, you who
would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save
yourself. If you are the son of God, come
down from the cross. So also the chief priest with
the scribes and elders mocked him saying, he saved others,
he cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel. Let
him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him. He
trusted in God. Let God deliver him now if he
desires him. For he said, I am the son of
God. and the robbers who were crucified
with him also reviled him in the same way. Now from the sixth
hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth
hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus
cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, Lama, Shabbathani. That means, my God, my God, why
have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing
it said, this man is calling Elijah. And one of them at once
ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it
on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the other said,
wait, let’s see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus
cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. What we have just read is the
truth about the death of the Savior. Please receive it as
from God himself. Let’s pray. Our Father and our
God, we ask you to help us in the person of your Holy Spirit
to illuminate the truth of your word which we have just read.
for our understanding and our edification. We ask you this
in the name of Jesus, amen. The crucifixion and death of
Jesus is recorded in all four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John. And this morning we’ll be looking
at Matthew’s narrative of these events, which comes to us under
the supervision and inspiration of God. The book of Matthew was
written by Matthew, also known as Levi. He was a former tax
collector who left everything to follow Jesus. Matthew, who
was one of the 12 apostles, was an eyewitness to Jesus’ life
and ministry. So as we dig into this passage
of scripture today, keep in mind that it comes from someone who
was on the scene, who actually saw these events unfold, and
who wrote down what he observed under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit. This coming Friday is known as
Good Friday. And Good Friday is a day when
Christians around the world ponder and consider the crucifixion
and death of Jesus. The universal symbol of Christianity
is the cross. And we will see from Matthew
27 that it is at the cross where Jesus paid the price for our
sin. In verses one and two of chapter
27, Matthew tells us that early on that Friday morning, the religious
leaders made plans to put Jesus to death. They tied Jesus up
and handed him over to Pilate, who was the governor of the Roman
province of Judea. And the religious leaders did
this because they were envious of Jesus. Later on in chapter
27 in verses 11 to 26, Matthew reports how Pilate yielded to
pressure from his wife and the angry, hostile, and riotous crowd,
which the religious leaders had stirred up, and Pilate was persuaded
to condemn Jesus to death, even though our Lord had done nothing
wrong. Pilate had Jesus brutally whipped. A Roman whip consists of a wooden
handle with multi-leather strands on the end, and tied into those
strands were very sharp pieces of metal and bone. So this type
of brutal whipping and beating is called a scourge, which was
part of capital punishment for criminals in those days. The
purpose of the scourge was to weaken Jesus’ body prior to his
crucifixion. At this point in Matthew’s historical
account, Jesus’ body is beaten, bloodied, bruised, and his flesh
torn open by the scourge. After this cruel and severe beating,
Pilate then handed Jesus over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified,
and that’s where we’ll pick up the text in verse 27. Look at it with me, please. Then
the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s
headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. After the scourge, Pilate’s soldiers
took Jesus into the governor’s palace in Jerusalem, which was
known as the Praetorium. Your Bible may use that name. This was Pilate’s residence and
the barracks for his official guard. A whole battalion, or
cohort, as your Bible may read, was a group of up to 600 soldiers
which had gathered around Jesus. These soldiers were not Jews.
Most likely, this battalion was composed largely of Syrians who
lived in the surrounding areas and spoke Aramaic. As Matthew
gives his narrative of these events, he focuses on the way
Jesus was mocked and ridiculed before and during his crucifixion. Matthew continues to describe
the mocking, verse 28. And they stripped him, and put
a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they
put it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand, and kneeling
before him, they mocked him, saying, hail, king of the Jews. In the previous chapter, Matthew
tells how the Jewish religious leaders physically abused and
ridiculed Jesus after they condemned him. Now here in chapter 27,
it is the Roman soldiers turn and they were free to abuse Jesus
as much as they pleased as long as they didn’t kill him before
the crucifixion. After the soldiers gathered at
the palace, they removed Jesus’ clothes and redressed him in
a scarlet robe. This was an act of extreme humiliation. The scarlet robe was merely a
soldier’s red cape, and making Jesus wear this red cape was
mockingly symbolic of royalty and served as a cheap imitation
of the emperor’s purple robe. The soldiers then put a crown
of thorns on Jesus’ head, which they had woven together. This
crown of thorns was to parody the wreath Caesar wore on official
occasions and which could be seen on Roman coins that bore
Caesar’s image. As this travesty continued, the
soldiers placed a flimsy-looking reed in Jesus’ right hand which
was meant to mimic a monarch’s scepter, the symbol of authority
and power. Such a scepter could be seen
in Caesar’s right hand on Roman coins. With their jeers and scorn,
these wicked soldiers were putting on a kind of burlesque show as
they concocted this condescending caricature of a king and then
mockingly knelt before Jesus saying hail king of the Jews
in fake adoration. These callous soldiers spewed
their venom on Jesus with laughter and taunts as he bled profusely
with terrible lacerations from his shoulders down, exposing
his muscles, ligaments, blood vessels, and possibly even internal
organs. Verse 30. and they spit on him
and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they
had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own
clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. Just as the Jews
had done in chapter 26. Now here in chapter 27, the Roman
soldiers spit on Jesus, which was regarded as the ultimate
indignity. Their spitting on the Lord was
the fulfillment of Isaiah in the second part of verse six,
which says, I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. Think about this. Hundreds of
soldiers spitting on Jesus taking turns, one after the other, after
the other, after the other. These ruthless soldiers took
the reed that Jesus was holding, which may have looked flimsy,
but it was long enough and firm enough, like a broom handle,
to inflict extreme pain. And they struck Jesus on the
head with this reed. In John’s narrative of these
events, He adds that the soldier struck Jesus with their fist
as well. After further abuse and insults,
the soldier stripped Jesus of the red cape, put his clothes
back on him, and led him away down the path known as the Via
Del Rosa, the way of suffering, to the place of crucifixion,
which was located outside the city of Jerusalem. Verse 32,
and they went out, or as they went out, they found a man of
Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry
his cross. It was customary to force a prisoner
to carry their own cross to the place of crucifixion where they
would die. Bible scholars disagree. on whether
Jesus carried the entire cross, which would have weighed in excess
of 200 pounds, or just the crossbar that would later be attached
to the permanent post. The text does not say, or the
text says cross, not crossbar. And the Greek word for cross
is styros, which means an upright stake or pole. At this point, Jesus’ body is
emaciated and depleted of strength due to the scourge and the beatings. In this weakened condition, Jesus
carried his cross from Pilate’s palace to the gate of the city. But when he staggered, the soldiers
seized the first able-bodied man they could find. And Matthew
tells us that a man named Simon from Cyrene was pressed into
service. Mark includes in his narrative
that Simon was a passerby coming to Jerusalem from the country. Simon was probably Jewish and
on his way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. So as Jesus was
being taken out of the city, Simon was coming in and their
two paths crossed. And the soldiers forced Simon
to assume the load and perform the demeaning task of carrying
a condemned man’s cross. Luke adds that Simon carried
the cross behind Jesus. Verse 33. And when they came to a place
called Golgotha, which means place of a skull. They offered
him wine to drink mixed with gall, but when he tasted it,
he would not drink it. Golgotha was on the outskirts
of Jerusalem, outside the city’s gate. And this was the place
chosen for Jesus’ crucifixion. The location captures the total
rejection of Christ. Golgotha is an Aramaic word which
means skull. And place of the skull is the
equivalent term in Greek. And by the way, Calvary is derived
from the Latin word for skull or cranium. So understand Golgotha,
place of the skull, and Calvary all refer to the same place where
Jesus was crucified. But the differences in the words
or terms are merely based on the language in use. Before the
soldiers nailed Jesus to the cross and it was hoisted up into
the ground, they gave him wine mixed with gall which refers
to something bitter. This use of gall is the fulfillment
of Psalm 69, 21. And interestingly, Mark identifies Gaul as Myrrh,
and Myrrh was one of the gifts presented to Jesus after his
birth by the wise men. The soldiers were not showing
Jesus any mercy because they wanted to inflict maximum pain
on him. But this wine mixed with myrrh
may have been an act of compassion by a group of wealthy women standing
nearby. And this aligns with the Old
Testament admonition found in Proverbs 31, six and seven, which
says, give strong drink to the one who is perishing and wine
to those in bitter distress, let them drink and forget their
poverty and remember their misery no more. Now I must interject
and say here that these accounts of the compassionate women offering
Jesus a drink comes from extra biblical sources, not from the
four gospel narratives which is inspired scripture. If the
soldiers did this, they would have given the mixture of drink
to Jesus for the purpose of sedating or tranquilizing his mind and
body in order to keep him from struggling as the nails were
being driven into his hands and feet. On the other hand, the
women would have offered this drink to Jesus to ease his pain
while dying. Whether this wine mixed with
myrrh came from some compassionate women nearby or the violent soldiers
on guard, once Jesus tasted what was offered, he refused it and
he would not drink it. Instead, Jesus willingly chose
to endure the full measure of pain and suffering for our sin,
fully conscious, without any numbing or pain relief. Look at verse 35, which Matthew
writes with such eloquent simplicity. And when they had crucified him. None of the gospel writers describe
the procedure for securing Jesus to the cross, nor do they tell
us about the crucifixion in detail. It is only from Thomas’s comments
in John 20, 25, after Christ’s resurrection, that we learn Jesus
being nailed to the cross by his hands and feet, rather than
being tied to a cross with cords, as was often the case. Matthew
does not give us any gory details of Jesus’ pain and suffering
on the cross. When Matthew says, and when they
had crucified him, He was not referring to the finished execution. Matthew is simply telling us
that the death sentence is underway. Now keep in mind, it is nine
o’clock in the morning which we learn from the collective
narrative of the four gospels. Jesus is now hanging on the cross
where he will spend the next six hours being held in place
by nails in his hands and in his feet. back to verse 35. And when they had crucified him,
they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they
sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head
they put the charge against him, which read, this is Jesus, the
King of the Jews. Jesus was hanging naked on the
cross. having been stripped again of
his clothes when he reached Golgotha. This was another method the Romans
used to make a prisoner feel humiliated and disgraced. They wanted to embarrass and
shame Jesus. When the soldiers divided up
Jesus’ clothing by casting lots, which was a form of gambling
like rolling dice, the Old Testament prophecy in Psalm 22, 18 was
fulfilled which says, they divide my garments among them and for
my clothing they cast lots. There were probably four soldiers
assigned to be on guard at the cross until Jesus died. In verse 37, Matthew reports
that these soldiers posted a sign on the cross over Jesus’ head
which says, this is Jesus the King of the Jews. It was customary
to place a sign over the cross, over a condemned, or on the cross
over a condemned man stating the crime for which he was dying. This sign was for the benefit
of the people who passed by so they would know what was going
on and be warned against committing a similar crime. John tells us
that Pilate wrote these words himself in three languages, Aramaic,
Latin, and Greek. Pilate just wanted to rub it
in and offend the Jews. But he wrote more of the truth
than he knew. To the Jews, king of the Jews
meant Messiah. So according to Pilate, Jesus
was charged with being a messianic pretender. When the Jewish religious
leaders saw the sign, they were horrified and they didn’t like
what Pilate had written and wanted the wording changed to read,
this man said, I am the king of the Jews. But Pilate refused
to make any changes to the inscription. Matthew tells us that Jesus was
killed for claiming to be the Messiah, which is exactly who
he was. Verse 38. Then two robbers were
crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. Jesus was crucified between two
robbers. These two men were more than
common thieves. They were revolutionaries and
possibly companions of Barabbas, the notorious insurgent who Pilate
had released from prison earlier that day instead of Jesus, which
Matthew records for us earlier in this chapter, chapter 27.
Luke reports that when Jesus was crucified with criminals,
he fulfilled another Old Testament prophecy, this one found in Isaiah
53, 12, which says, he was numbered with the transgressors. Verse 39. And those who passed
by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, you who would
destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself.
If you are the son of God, come down from the cross. So also
the chief priest with the scribes and elders mocked him saying,
he saved others. He cannot save himself, he is
the king of the Jews. Let him come down now from the
cross and we will believe in him. He trusts in God, let God
deliver him now if he desires him. For he said, I am the son
of God. And the robbers who were crucified
with him also reviled him in the same way. The mocking and
rejection of Jesus is a dominant theme in Matthew. From the Jewish
religious leaders in chapter 26 to the angry mob and Roman
soldiers earlier in this chapter, we now see in verses 39 to 44,
Jesus being subjected to more ridicule, more scorn, more derision,
more contempt, more disdain, more sarcasm, more jeering. It seemed never-ending. Now we
learned that even the people passing by on the road were wagging
their heads which was a jester of contempt and derision and
shouting hostilities at Jesus. Matthew also reports that the
religious leaders hurled further hatred and insults at the Lord.
this mockery by the passerby and the religious leaders fulfilled
another Old Testament prophecy, actually two, found in Proverbs
22, found in Psalm 22 verses 7 and 8. which reads, all who see me mock
me, and they make mouths at me. They wag their heads. He trusts
in the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him
rescue him, for he delights in him. Even the two robbers who
were being crucified with Christ spewed their venom and loathed
Jesus. Although Luke reports for us
in his narrative that one of those robbers was converted later
that day. Verse 45. Now from the sixth hour there
was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. It is now 12 noon and Jesus has
been hanging on the cross for three hours. Suddenly, in the
middle of the day, everything goes dark, complete blackness.
This darkness was not caused by an eclipse. because the Jews
used a lunar calendar, and Passover always fell on the full moon,
which would eliminate the possibility of an eclipse. This was supernatural
darkness caused by God. And God is at work here, and
he brought about this darkness, which covered the land for at
least the next three hours. Verse 46, and about the ninth
hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, Lama,
Shaboxhanai. That is, my God, my God, why
have you forsaken me? Jesus has now been hanging on
the cross for six hours. the past three in total darkness. Around three o’clock in the afternoon,
Jesus cried out with a loud voice. Speaking both Hebrew and Aramaic,
he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? At this
moment, Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy found in Psalm
22 one. which says, my God, my God, why
have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving
me from the words of my groaning? So what is happening here? Jesus is the sin bearer. Every sin that we commit is against
God. for sin is death. Every one of us, each person
here, has sinned and we deserve to die for our own sin. But in verse 46, we are seeing
the result of God the Father pouring out his divine wrath
on his only son for the sins of all those who will believe
in Christ the Messiah. So if you’re a Christian today,
Jesus has taken your punishment from God, which you fully deserved,
He endured the pain, He endured the suffering, He endured the
rejection, He endured the wrath of Almighty God, and finally,
He endured death for you and for me. Matthew and the other gospel
writers give us a straightforward record of the events that surround
the crucifixion and death of Jesus. But it is usually through
the epistles in the New Testament that we come to understand the
meaning and significance of Christ’s death on the cross. Would you
turn in your Bibles with me to 2 Corinthians 5.21. 2 Corinthians
5.21. We’ll come back to Matthew 27 in a moment. But let’s look
at 2 Corinthians 5.21. The Apostle Paul is writing here
and he says, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no
sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. And then flip over several books
to 1 Peter chapter two, verse 24. 1 Peter chapter two, verse
24. Peter is speaking here and he
says, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that
we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds,
you have been healed. Jesus died as a substitute for
all those who believe in him. John 3.16 says, for God so loved
the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in
him should not perish but have everlasting life. On the cross,
Jesus received and paid the punishment for every sin of every believer. At my moment of faith, When I
came to Christ at nine years old, all of my sin, past, present,
and future, was transferred to Christ on the cross, and his
righteousness was transferred to me for all eternity. That’s
how we’re made right with God. As a preacher of the gospel,
I must also say this. If you were with us today and
you’re not a believer in Christ, what more does God have to do
before you submit to him? If you do not possess Christ’s
righteousness, then the scripture tells us that you are lost for
eternity and one day you on your own will face the wrath of God
for your sin. If you’re not in Christ today,
I plead with you to repent of your sin and to believe in Jesus
as your Savior and Lord. Today is the day of salvation. Back to our text in Matthew 27,
we’ll pick it up in verse 47. And some of the bystanders hearing
it said, this man is calling Elijah. And one of them at once
ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it
on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the other said,
wait, let’s see whether Elijah will come to save him. These
bystanders were still mocking our Lord Jesus, and saying that
he had called out to Elijah for some kind of divine help, although
there is no scriptural account of Christ saying any such thing. Even in the darkness, the mocking
and scorning of Jesus continued. The drink of sour wine was also
a fulfillment of Psalm 69 21 which was echoed earlier. Verse 50. And Jesus cried out
again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. Jesus still had enough strength
to utter his final words with a loud voice. Matthew doesn’t
tell us what Jesus cried out, but John records that at this
moment Jesus said, it is finished. And then bowed his head and died. The atonement was final. Jesus had completed the work
God sent him to do. And then the son entrusted himself
to the father. Jesus is dead on the cross where
he has hung for six grueling hours. He took everything that
man could do to him. And he took the full wrath of
God for our sin. At this point, Things are looking
pretty bleak. And darkness rules the land both
literally and spiritually. If the story ended here, we would
have no hope. But it’s only Friday. Sunday’s coming. Come back next
week. as we celebrate our Lord’s resurrection. Let’s pray. Our Father and our God, thank
you for sending Jesus to be our sin bearer. Without him, we would
be lost and separated from you forever. And as the old hymn says, Jesus
paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. In the name of our risen Savior,
Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.