Three hours of agony beyond what we can imagine passed slowly away;
and then, "at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli,
lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me?"--the very words which stand, at the beginning
of the 22nd Psalm, wherein David foretells many things that would
happen at this time. "Some of them that stood by," not understanding
Hebrew, "when they heard the words spoken by Jesus, said, Behold, he
calleth Elias. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now
accomplished," and that His release was at hand, "that the Scripture
might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar: and straightway one" of the by-standers, more humane than
the others, "ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and
put it upon hyssop, and put it on a reed," with which he raised it
high enough "to put it to his mouth, and (so) gave him to drink. The
rest said, Let be; let us see whether Elias will come to take him
down."
The common drink of the Roman soldiers was "posea," a poor kind of
wine, often called vinegar, but not like what we mean by vinegar. This
"posea" was now offered to Jesus. "When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, It is finished." All was now accomplished; every
prediction uttered by the Prophets concerning the Messiah, had been
fulfilled; the Redemption of man was completed. Let the cost of that
Redemption make us give ourselves to our Redeemer, to be His faithful
followers and servants.
"Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, said, Father, into
thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he bowed his
head, and gave up the ghost,"--he yielded up his life, according to
his own words, "I lay down my life for the sheep. No man taketh it
from me, but I lay it down of myself." The sacrifice was voluntary,
otherwise it could have availed us nothing. Jesus died: His spirit
departed from the body; and His last words prove that the mysterious
suffering had passed away, that He again felt the comfort of His
Father's love, and that He was no longer forsaken.
The Almighty God now again bore testimony to the Divine nature of Him
who had just yielded up his human life: heaven and earth alike
testified that this was indeed the Son of God. During the time of His
deepest agony, "the sun was darkened"; now that He had given up the
ghost, "the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were
opened. And behold the veil of the temple was rent in twain, in the
midst, from the top to the bottom."
The veil which divided the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple,
was a thick curtain, something like a worked carpet. The tearing of
this down the middle was a very significant action, showing that the
death of Jesus had done away with all the ceremonial observances
established by the Law of Moses. A new Covenant, the Covenant of
Grace, was now to replace the old Covenant of Works.
The Holy of Holies was looked upon by the Jews as a type of heaven;
and only the High Priest was allowed to enter into it. Christ died to
open the way into heaven to all mankind, whether Jews or Gentiles;
thus the veil was rent, to show that through the mediation of Jesus,
all might have access to God the Father.
"Now when the centurion which stood over against him, watching Jesus,
and they that were with him, saw the earthquake, and those things that
were done, and that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, they
feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God."
The Roman centurion had witnessed many executions, and the wonderful
events attendant upon this one had convinced him of the truth of all
that Jesus had said; "and he glorified God, saying, Certainly, this
was a righteous man." The very people, who had been persuaded by the
Priests to ask for the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of
Jesus, now shared the feelings of the centurion; for we read that "all
the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things
which were done, smote their breasts," in token of remorse and grief,
"and returned."
"And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from
Galilee," "among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James
the Less and of Joses, and Salome" "the mother of Zebedee's children,"
"and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem," "stood
afar off, beholding these things."
The ninth hour, after which our Saviour breathed His last, answers to
our 3 o'clock P.M., and a new day, according to the Jewish mode of
reckoning, would begin at 6 o'clock P.M. As Jesus was crucified on
Friday morning, the day now about to begin, was the Sabbath; and being
the Sabbath in the Passover week, it was a particularly solemn, or
"high day," to be observed with special reverence. On the morrow after
that Sabbath, the Jewish people, according to the ordinances of the
Mosaical Law, were accustomed to assemble in the temple, bringing with
them, as a thank-offering to the Lord, a sheaf of corn, the "first
fruits" of the harvest, which began at this season of the year. At the
same time, particular sacrifices were to be offered, all in
thanksgiving to Him who giveth us the fruits of the earth in due
season.
Crucifixion, as we have said, was often a lingering death: and
sometimes, to hasten the end, the legs of the poor wretches hanging
upon the cross were broken. The beginning of the Passover Sabbath was
now fast approaching: it was not lawful, according to the Jewish Law,
for any criminal who had been hanged, to be left hanging all night;
that is, beyond the close of the day of their execution. The bodies of
criminals who had been executed, were usually buried without any form
or ceremonies; but sometimes, at the earnest entreaty of the family,
they were allowed to take the body, and bury it with funeral honours.
The Jewish priests and rulers were very particular in observing all
outward rites and ceremonies, even when they had just been guilty of a
fearful sin; and "therefore, because it was the preparation," the time
for preparing for the coming Sabbath, "that the bodies should not
remain upon the cross on the sabbath day (for that sabbath day was an
high day)" the Jews "besought Pilate that their legs might be broken,
and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake
the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they
brake not his legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his
side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water": this water, proved
that the heart had been actually pierced, so that none could doubt
that Jesus was really and truly dead. It was very necessary that the
fact of His death should be clearly established, so that men might
afterwards have no doubt as to His "Resurrection from the dead."
Amongst those who saw the water and blood flowing from the wound made
by the spear, was the beloved disciple, St. John; for in his Gospel,
he tells us, "And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true:
and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe." In this
treatment of the body of Jesus by the Roman soldiers, two prophecies
concerning our Saviour, the true Paschal Lamb, were fulfilled. "For
these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone
of him shall not be broken," and "They shall look on him whom they
pierced."
"And after this, when the evening was come, because it was the
preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, there came a rich
man of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: named Joseph, an honourable
counsellor," who "had not consented to the counsel and deed of them"
in putting Jesus to death. "He was a good man, and a just: who also
himself waited for the kingdom of God: being a disciple of Jesus, but
secretly, for fear of the Jews." Anxious to save the sacred body of
Him in Whom he believed, from further injury or insult, this man
"came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus:
and besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus."
Arimathaea, supposed to be the same as Rama, where Samuel dwelt in the
time of Saul, lay to the N.W. of Jerusalem, on the way to Joppa.
Joseph, as a man of wealth and influence, must have been known to the
Roman governor, who would be willing to oblige him, especially in such
a matter, since he himself was convinced that Jesus was no malefactor.
His only hesitation arose from his doubt as to whether Jesus was at
that time dead; "Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling
unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while
dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, Pilate gave him leave; and
commanded the body to be delivered to Joseph." Joseph having obtained
Pilate's leave to remove the body of Jesus, "bought fine linen" to
wrap it in, according to custom. "He came therefore," and with the
help of others, "took the body of Jesus" down from the cross.
"And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen
cloth: there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by
night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred
pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen
clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury." This
was all that the time allowed to be done then, in the way of
embalming.
"Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in
the garden a new sepulchre, and Joseph laid the body in his own new
tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock, wherein was man never yet
laid." It was a custom in those days, for the rich, with whom Christ
was to be in his death (as Isaiah had said), to form their tombs, by
having a sort of small room cut out of the solid rock; leaving a
narrow door, which was the only possible way by which any one could go
in or out. This door or entrance was always closed by a large stone.
Within the room or cave, was a sepulchre or sepulchres, in which the
body was laid. In such a sepulchre "they laid Jesus therefore, because
of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand: and
the sabbath drew on." And they rolled a great stone to the door "of
the sepulchre, and departed."