Christ Crucified – Matthew’s Gospel chapter 27, verses 27 to 46
Jesus’ Crucifixion Predicted centuries before
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
Psalm 22:1 (1000 years before)
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6 (700 years before)
Jesus’ Crucifixion Done by Pilate, the Roman Governor
- Jesus cruelly mocked
- By the people
- By the soldiers
- By the religious leaders
- By the criminals tortured beside Him
42 ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, “I am the Son of God.”’ 44 In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
Matthew 27:42-44
Jesus’ Crucifixion = reconciling Love
The cross is the symbol of both suffering and of reconciling love.
The cross is the way that God took away our sins.
“Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood.”
He deserved none of this, but the world (all of us) is by nature hostile to God.
But “He saved others, he cannot save himself!” They don’t see that his suffering was the only way to save us. They did not know the scriptures, such as Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53.
the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20 New International Version – UK (NIVUK) Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Who delivered Jesus to death?
- not Judas for gain
- not Pilate for fear
- not the rulers for envy
- but God for love.
(Octavius Winslow)
Was He scourged? It was that “through His stripes we might be healed.” Was he condemned, though innocent? It was that we might be acquitted though guilty. Did He wear a crown of thorns? It was that we might wear the crown of glory. Was He stripped of His clothing? It was that we might be clothed in everlasting righteousness. Was he mocked and reviled? It was that we might be honored and blessed. Was He reckoned a malefactor, and numbered among transgressors? It was that we might be reckoned innocent, and justified from all sin. Was he declared unable to save Himself? It was that He might be able to save others to the uttermost. Did He die at last, and that the most painful and disgraceful of deaths? It was that we might live for evermore, and be exalted to the highest glory.
Bishop J.C. Ryle
