Matthew 27:45-56

⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. ⁴⁶ About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” ⁴⁷ And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, “This man is calling for Elijah.” ⁴⁸ Immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. ⁴⁹ But the rest of them said, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him.” ⁵⁰ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. ⁵¹ And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; ⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. ⁵⁴ Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Within these brief 11 verses in Matthew's account of the crucifixtion, taken from today's daily reading in the One Year Bible chronological readings, there is such a rich vein of truth that we could spend days digging deeper and deeper into it's revelation.

The account begins with the three hours of darkness that fell over the land while Jesus was on the cross. I am sure that at that time satan and his evil cohorts were probably begining their victory celebration. Satan loves darkness. It appeared as though the light of the world was being extinguished once and for all.

Jesus then cries out My God, My God why have you forsaken Me and we begin to understand a liitle more about the reason for the darkness. On the cross Jesus took upon Himself every sin of all mankind from the begining of time to the end of time. All of that sin and darkness was being processed through the crucifixtion of the spotless Lamb, Jesus. The depth of the darkness must have been intense for all of that to be done in just three hours. So much sin on the body of our Lord caused something to happen to Him that He had never experienced. The sin of man caused Him for the first time to be seperated from God the Father. That's why He cried out. He no longer felt the unity, the oneness with the Father. That was the price He paid for our sin. 

As we move through the account to verses 50 and 51 we read : ⁵⁰ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. ⁵¹ And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. 

He cried out with a loud voice. John's account tells us what He cried out. John 19:30,

³⁰ Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. 

It is finished. What was/is finished? All that Jesus had come to accomplish, paying the price for our sin, redemption and restoration of our relationship to God was finished. With the words it is finished Jesus was once again able to see and hear the Father. His work was done. For Him the resurrection was a foregone conclusion. It is finished. Nothing more needed to be done. The evidence of the truth and reality of Jesus declaration follows in the text.

 ⁵¹ And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; ⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

The veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom. The temple veil seperated sinful man from the Holy presence of God. The tearing of the veil from top to bottom, by God signified that the seperation of man from God was indeed finished. Through the finished work of the cross, man's relationship with God, our ability to come into His very presence was restored. Jesus paid the price for every sin past and future, so there is nothing that seperates us from God when we are in Christ.

The tombs were opened and many were raised. The power of the resurrection was active even before Jesus Himself experienced bodily resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 speaks to this.

⁵⁵ O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; ⁵⁷ but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is finished means that death no longer had or has any power. Death was a result of sin from the begining in the garden when Adam and Eve first sinned it resulted in death. With sin fully paid for in Christ death no longer has power.

The text ends with the centurian seeing and understanding, having a revelation of Jesus. No one needed to tell him. The Holy Spirit bore witness to him. “Truly this was the Son of God!”

The revelation of Christ, Jesus spoke of the power of that revelation.

 ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

It is finished. All that Jesus came to do is finished. It is complete in heaven. Through the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, we have the keys to bring those heavenly realities here to earth. Let's get to work.