FIVE MIRACLES FROM THE CROSS
Matthew 27:45-53
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: NOTHING LIKE EXPERIENCE
1. There was once a very small man who applied for a job as a lumberjack out in the Pacific Northwest. He approached the boss (who was a big strapping brute) while he was chatting with a half dozen others of the same sort.
2. The little man said, “I want a job cutting wood.” They all began to laugh. “You’re too small for this work.” the boss replied. But one of the men said, “At least give him a chance to show you what he can do” (it looked like an opportunity to have some fun).
3. The boss, catching on quickly said, “Okay, come over here.” He selected one of the largest, hardest trees he could find. He said, “Let’s see what you can do with this.” Big bruisers gathered all around.
4. They began to whisper, “I couldn’t chop that one down in a day!” Another: “Yeah, his axe’ll bounce off and hit him in the head.” He lifted his axe and, swish-whoofff! Down it came with one clean stroke. The big fellows looked from the tree to the little man in disbelief.
5. “What’s wrong with that tree? Do that again.” They took him over to harder one and a bigger one. Swish-whoofff! Down it came in the same way. “Well,” said the boss, “you’re hired, but first tell me one thing.
6. Where did you ever learn to cut wood like that?” The little fellow replied, “In the Sahara Forest.” “The Sahara Forest? You mean the Sahara Desert, don’t you? The little fellow answered: “That’s what they call it now.”
B. TEXT
"Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour…, And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." Matthew 27:45-53 (KJV)
C. THESIS
1. There were Five Miracles that occurred while Jesus was being crucified on the cross.
a. Darkness at midday vs. 45
b. Rending of the veil of the Temple vs. 51
c. Quaking of the earth vs. 51
d. Opening of the graves vs. 52
e. Coming forth of the bodies of the saints after the resurrection of Christ vs. 53
2. All of these miracles are part of God’s plan and were designed to build upon and enhance the saving work of Jesus Christ.
3. These miracles were confirmations in the physical realm of the vast power expended in the spiritual realm; of the overthrow of the powers of darkness and the accession of the Son of God over all His rivals.
I. DARKNESS AT MIDDAY vs. 45
A. DESCRIPTION & MEANING
1. The KJV of Mt. 27:45 reads, "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land(NIV “Earth”) unto the ninth hour."
2. Luke adds "for the sun stopped shining." Luke 23:45 (NIV). (It was NOT an eclipse because an eclipse during Passover, when the crucifixion took place, would have been impossible; a solar eclipse cannot occur during a full moon.)
3. When the Bible says “the sun stopped shining,” it uses the language of appearance. It doesn’t mean the sun went completely dark, but shown very dimly.
4. We can assume some light was present or no one could have seen all that happened during the crucifixion – soldiers gambling, priests mocking, wine-vinegar sponge lifted to Jesus, Jesus giving his mother’s care to John, soldier’s watched Christ die and thrust the spear in His side, etc.
5. Everyone would have been groping around like blind men had it been totally dark. So is was shining only very faintly.
6. Why would God give this sign? Because the Light of the World was being extinguished! The Light shines in the darkness and they didn’t comprehend it.
7. Also, Heaven was veiling the sad scene with darkness. The Father Himself had to withdraw from the Son. The darkness could represent God’s sadness at the terrible murder of His Son.
B. HISTORICAL CONFIRMATION OF THIS DARKNESS?
1. If this darkness covered the Earth, even regionally (since it was already night in half the world), then not just those on Calvary’s Hill would have seen it, but in Turkey, Greece, Egypt,
India, etc. They too would have been cast into deep darkness.
2. ACCOUNT OF THALLUS
Thallus wrote a history of the eastern Mediterranean world since the Trojan War. Thallus wrote his regional history in about AD 52.6 Although his original writings have been lost, he is specifically quoted by Julius Africanus, a renowned third century historian. Africanus states, ‘Thallus, in the third book of his histories, explains away the darkness as an eclipse of the sun—unreasonably as it seems to me.’ Apparently, Thallus attempted to ascribe a naturalistic explanation to the darkness during the crucifixion.
3. ACCOUNT OF PHLEGON
Phlegon was a Greek historian who wrote an extensive chronology around AD 137:
“In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad (i.e., AD 33) there was ‘the greatest eclipse of the sun’ and that ‘it became night in the sixth hour of the day [i.e., noon] so that stars even appeared in the heavens.” [Maier, Paul. Pontius Pilate (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1968), p. 366. Phlegon’s citation is a fragment from Olympiades he Chronika 13, ed. Otto Keller, Rerum Naturalium Scriptores Graeci Minores, 1 (Leipzig Teurber, 1877), p. 101.]
4. TERTULLIAN
Tertullian wrote: “At the moment of Christ’s death, the light departed from the sun, and the land was darkened at noonday, which wonder is related in your own annals, and is preserved in your archives to this day. [Sanders, Oswald. The Incomparable Christ, p. 203, Moody Publishers, 1982.]
5. Dr Paul Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University, notes ‘This phenomenon, evidently, was visible in Rome, Athens, and other Mediterranean cities.’[cited above]
II. THE TEARING OF THE VEIL vs. 51
A. PURPOSE OF THE VEIL
The temple in those days was divided into three areas or parts:
a. The Outer Court where the congregation was permitted to enter; b. the Holy Place where only the priests entered; and c. the Holy of Holies where only the High Priest could enter.
1. IT WAS FOR CONCEALMENT. The word “VEIL” in Greek (katapetasma) means "that which is spread out before." It was
similar to the veil which covered Moses’ face (2 Cor. 3:14- ).
2. It showed that in the Knowledge About God – THE MYSTERIES -- of the Old Testament were NOT YET REVEALED.
3. Chiefly -- it's symbolized the Separation Between God and Man that existed until the blood of Christ eternally atoned for sin.
B. DESCRIPTION OF THE VEIL (Alfred Edersheim)
1. 60 feet long and 30 feet wide
2. As thick as the Palm of a man's hand.
3. Made of 72 squares, which were joined together.
4. Ancient document -- "took 300 priests to lift it."
C. WHO TORE THE VEIL?
1. FROM TOP TO BOTTOM! Only God could have torn that veil; no man could have done it! Have you ever tried to rip a Houston phone book? It would be more difficult to rip that veil.
2. Imagine the priests coming in to burn incense that evening and seeing the veil torn from the top to the bottom! I suspect that the priests were so struck with amazement that they fled from the holy place, fearing sudden death.
D. OTHER RECORDED EVENTS AT THE TEMPLE
1. Josephus says that on the day that Jesus died on the cross, the middle lamp of the candlestick in the holy place went out.
2. Josephus and Tacitus say that the Great Temple Gates supernaturally opened by themselves.
E. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TORN VEIL
1. THE OLD COVENANT WAS ABOLISHED. The whole system of types, and shadows, and ceremonies had come to an end! The ordinances of an earthly priesthood were torn with that veil, God’s Spirit even abandoning the Temple as a relic no longer necessary. The legal dispensation was over. The torn veil seemed to say — “From now on, God no longer dwells in the thick darkness of the Holy of Holies.”
2. The veil never ripped when Jesus bled, or when he was resurrected, but when He died! At that moment, the New Covenant promised in Jeremiah 31:31 was put into effect.
3. God has always longed to be with us and in us by His Spirit. But He couldn't because of our sins. But once our inner sanctums were cleansed, God abandoned the house of stone and took up residence in pulsating human hearts and spirits,
His new temple of our bodies. Praise God, redemption was complete!
III. THE QUAKING OF THE EARTH vs. 51
A. RECORD & PURPOSE OF EARTHQUAKE
1. Mt. 27:50-51 describes it as, “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.”
2. Notice, that the earthquake took place at the exact moment Jesus died. This also was a miraculous sign.
3. In Job 9:5-8, Job spoke of God’s mighty works, “He moves mountains without their knowing it and overturns them in his anger. He shakes the earth from its place and makes its pillars tremble. He speaks to the sun and it does not shine; he seals off the light of the stars. He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.”
4. In Ezek. 38:20, God speaks of a time when “all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down…”
5. Earthquakes primarily symbolize sadness or anger, either of God or of nature, reacting to some terrible event. That’s what happened here.
6. But also earthquakes can be a demonstration of God’s power. That’s also possible here, especially if stretched to the time of the resurrection, when Christ overthrew the powers of darkness and took ownership of Hell.
B. OTHER RECORDS OF THE EARTHQUAKE
1. PHLEGON’S RECORD. “In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad (i.e., AD 33) there was ‘the greatest eclipse of the sun’ and that ‘it became night in the sixth hour of the day [i.e., noon] so that stars even appeared in the heavens. There was a great earthquake in Bithynia, and many things were overturned in Nicaea.”
2. AFRICANUS. Africanus writes: “On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down.” [http://www.christian-thinktank.com/jrthal.html]
IV. OPENING OF THE GRAVES vs. 52
A. THE EVENT
1. Mt. 27:51-52, “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open.”
2. It appears that graves were opened by the earthquake but the bodies of the saints did not come out of the graves until after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
3. We often say, “If so-n-so were alive, they’d roll over in their graves!” That’s probably part of what happened here. The patriarchs and prophets had waited in hope for thousands of years for God to send His Messiah.
4. And when He came, how was He received by the Jewish people? They arrested Him, beat Him, and crucified Him! I bet Abraham, Jacob, Moses & David turned over in their graves!
5. What a heart-rending event! So terrible was this event that graves broke open! In O.T. times, when kings wanted to vent their anger on a town, they would desecrate their graveyard. Maybe it was the graves of those who schooled the Jewish leaders to reject Jesus.
6. Or, it could have been a prelude to the resurrections that would take place 3 days later. It was heralding Christ’s triumph in death over sin! Victory!
B. HISTORICAL RECORD: ORIGEN
1. Until the Enlightenment era, the crucifixion darkness story was often used by Christian apologists because they believed it was a rare example of the biblical account being supported by non-Christian sources.
2. ORIGEN. When the pagan critic Celsus claimed that Jesus could hardly be a God because he had performed no great deeds, the third-century Christian commentator Origen responded, in Against Celsus, by recounting the darkness, earthquake and opening of tombs. As proof that the incident had happened, he referred to a description by Phlegon of Tralles of an eclipse, accompanied by earthquakes felt in other parts of the Empire during the reign of Tiberius (probably that of 29 CE).[Roberts, Donaldson & Coxe (1896), Volume IV, "Contra Celsum", Book II, chapter 23 p. 441.]
V. RESURRECTION OF DEAD SAINTS vs. 53
A. THE TEXT & EVENT
1. Mt. 27:51-54, “The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
2. Since Christ is the firstfruits of the dead (1 Cor. 15:23), the resurrection of these people did not occur until Jesus was raised.
3. The tombs, then, broke open at Christ’s death, probably by the earthquake, thus heralding Christ’s triumph in death over sin, but the bodies were not raised till Christ was raised.
4. These people returned to Jerusalem, (the Holy City) where they were recognized by friends and family. Like Lazarus (John 11:43-44), Jairus’ daughter (Luke 8:52-56), and the widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7:13-15), they too passed through physical death again.
5. It was the POWER OF THE RESURRECTION of Christ by which the bodies of the saints were raised!
B. THE RESULT OF THESE 5 MIRACLES?
1. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” (54)
2. They also should inspire faith in us! The hour is coming, in which the Son of man will come again.
3. All that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; They that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” John 5:
4. At the rapture, when the dead shall come out of the graves, “Then we which are alive and remain faithful shall be caught up to meet them in the air.” 1 Th. 4:17. Are you ready?
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
https://vimeo.com/70954969
B. THE CALL
1. If you are unsure about your salvation, you need to make sure now. Let’s pray.
2. Lord’s Supper celebration.
[This is a rewrite of a message by Bruce Lee of the same title.]
