This post completes my exegesis on Year A’s Palm Sunday Gospel for the Liturgy of the Passion, Matthew 24:11-54.

The first part, which includes that Gospel reading in full, can be found here. The second part is here.

Commentary comes from Matthew Henry and John MacArthur.

We pick up now with verse 39, where people walking past our Lord’s Cross derided Him, shaking their heads.

Matthew Henry’s version of the Bible puts the verse as follows:

And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads

Jesus and the two bandits were crucified near a highway. As it was Passover, millions of people were in Jerusalem, and thousands probably walked by the scene that day.

Henry tells us about the road and the religious hierarchy poisoning people’s minds (emphases mine below):

… it was a great road, leading from Jerusalem to Gibeon; they were possessed with prejudices against him by the reports and clamours of the High Priest’s creatures. It is a hard thing, and requires more application and resolution than is ordinarily met with, to keep up a good opinion of persons and things that are every where run down, and spoken against …

The gesture they used, in contempt of him—wagging their heads; which signifies their triumph in his fall, and their insulting over him, Isa 37 22; Jer 18 16; Lam 2 15.

The passersby said (verse 40), ‘You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross’.

Henry explains the effect that the Jewish hierarchy had among the people:

First, They upbraided him with his destroying of the temple. Though the judges themselves were sensible that what he had said of that was misrepresented (as appears Mark 14 59), yet they industriously spread it among the people, to bring an odium upon him, that he had a design to destroy the temple; than which nothing would more incense the people against him. And this was not the only time that the enemies of Christ had laboured to make others believe that of religion and the people of God, which they themselves have known to be false, and the charge unjust “Thou that destroyest the temple, that vast and strong fabric, try thy strength now in plucking up that cross, and drawing those nails, and so save thyself; if thou hast the power thou hast boasted of, this is a proper time to exert it, and give proof of it; for it is supposed that every man will do his utmost to save himself.” This made the cross of Christ such a stumbling-block to the Jews, that they looked upon it to be inconsistent with the power of the Messiah; he was crucified in weakness (2 Cor 13 4), so it seemed to them; but indeed Christ crucified is the Power of God.

Secondly, They upbraided him with his saying that he was the Son of God; If thou be so, say they, come down from the cross. Now they take the devil’s words out of his mouth, with which he tempted him in the wilderness (ch. 4 3, 6), and renew the same assault; If thou be the Son of God. They think that now, or never, he must prove himself to be the Son of God; forgetting that he had proved it by the miracles he wrought, particularly his raising of the dead; and unwilling to wait for the complete proof of it by his own resurrection, to which he had so often referred himself and them; which, if they had observed it, would have anticipated the offence of the cross. This comes of judging things by the present aspect of them, without a due remembrance of what is past, and a patient expectation of what may further be produced.

Similarly, the chief priests, scribes and elders mocked Jesus (verse 41), saying, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him’ (verse 42) and ‘He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, ‘I am God’s Son’ (verse 43).

John MacArthur points out this sad fulfilment of Scripture:

… as they pass by, they reviled Him, it says. Actually, they kept on reviling Him. It’s an imperfect tense, continual defamation, continual blasphemy. And did it with the wagging of their heads in a taunting kind of mocking form. Psalm 22 predicted this is exactly what they would do. It says in verse 7 of Psalm 22, “All they who see Me, laugh Me to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, and they say He trusted in God,” and so forth and so on. “Let Him deliver Him.”

So they fulfill exactly what the psalmist said they would. It isn’t that they are trying to fulfill Scripture. They don’t even take any consideration towards Scripture. It is that Scripture knew exactly what they would do because the author is the Holy Spirit. And so they mock Jesus. And they say this, “Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Now why did they say that? Because those were the two things that came out of the trial of Christ before Annas and Caiaphas. You remember back in chapter 26 verse 61, they got some false witnesses into that Jewish trial who said, “This fellow” – that is Jesus – “said I am able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days.” In other words, they were trying to come up with a crime. They wanted to kill Jesus. They knew what the verdict was; they just didn’t have a crime. So they were trying to come up with a crime and so they brought false witnesses in who were bribed, and they had these false witnesses say, “He said He was going to destroy the temple.” Well this had been a long time prior to this that He had referred to the destruction of the temple. In fact, nearly three years earlier when He had first come to Jerusalem. And at that time when He said that He meant the temple of His body, didn’t He?

So they’re twisting and perverting and pulling something out of the past to use against Jesus as if He was going to actually destroy their physical temple. And then over in verse 63, Caiaphas says to Him, “I adjure You by the living God that You tell us whether You be the Christ, the Son of God.” And Jesus said to him, “You said it. I am.” So they sort of capture these two things: the accusation that Jesus was going to destroy the temple and the claim that He was the Son of God …

He stayed on the cross not because He couldn’t come down, He stayed on the cross because He wouldn’t come down. And I believe that the Savior shed tears for those who shed His very blood. Such is the compassion of God and the gift of salvation.

Henry reminds us that asking for further proofs from God is a terrible thing:

… to promise ourselves that we would believe, if we had such and such means and motives of faith as we ourselves would prescribe, when we do not improve what God has appointed, is not only a gross instance of the deceitfulness of our hearts, but the sorry refuge, or subterfuge rather, of an obstinate destroying infidelity.

The bandits crucified with Jesus taunted Him in the same way (verse 44).

Here Henry points to Luke’s account of the Crucifixion, where one of the bandits says:

If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us, Luke 23 39.

Luke 23 has the account of the repentant thief who rebuked the other and asked Jesus to remember him:

⁴⁰ But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹ We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.^[d]”

⁴³ Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

From noon onwards, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon (verse 45), which explains why Good Friday devotions are held between noon and 3 p.m.

At this point, six miracles occurred, the darkness being the first of them.

MacArthur says:

Six miracles occur simultaneous to the death of Christ which become God the Father’s own commentary on the meaning of the cross. This is God’s own testimony as to what the death of Christ means. It’s all right here …

Let’s look at these six miracles and hear what God says about the meaning of the cross through these miracles. The first one we’ll call supernatural darkness – supernatural darkness. Notice verse 45, “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour” …

Now Mark 15:25 tells us Jesus was crucified at the third hour, which would be 9:00 in the morning. So He’s already been on the cross for three hours by this time. Three hours of daylight from nine to twelve in which He endured the mocking and the jeering and the reproaching and the rebuking and sarcastic cynical taunts of the passers‑by …

And during those first three hours from nine to noon the silence was only broken three times. The first time Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” as recorded in Luke 23:34. And He said that on behalf of the Roman soldiers who were crucifying Him. A little while later, He broke the silence of those first three hours again by saying to a repentant robber hanging beside Him, “Truly I say to you, this day shall you be with Me in paradise.” And the first three hours of silence was broken only a third time when He saw John and Mary – Mary His mother, John His beloved disciple – standing at the foot of the cross and knew they would be lost when He was gone. And so He committed one to the other and said to John, “Behold thy mother.” And to Mary, “Behold thy son.” And gave them to each other to care for each other. But apart from that, the three hours from nine to noon were unbroken by any word from Christ on the cross.

But now the second three hours begin. And instantaneously it becomes dark over all the land. The word land is gē. It could mean earth. It is the word to be translated earth, as well. We don’t know whether the darkness engulfed just the land of Israel, just the city of Jerusalem and its environs, or whether the whole half of the earth engulfed in sunlight normally was instantaneously transformed into night. God could do either.

Henry says this was God’s way of silencing those many blasphemers:

This surprising, amazing, darkness was designed to stop the mouths of those blasphemers, who were reviling Christ as he hung on the cross; and it should seem that, for the present, it struck such a terror upon them, that though their hearts were not changed, yet they were silent, and stood doubting what this should mean, till after three hours the darkness scattered, and then (as appears by v. 47), like Pharaoh when the plague was over, they hardened their hearts.

Henry gives us his impressions of what Christ was going through during those three hours:

But that which was principally intended in this darkness, was, (1.) Christ’s present conflict with the powers of darkness. Now the prince of this world, and his forces, the rulers of the darkness of this world, were to be cast out, to be spoiled and vanquished; and to make his victory the more illustrious, he fights them on their own ground; gives them all the advantage they could have against him by this darkness, lets them take the wind and sun, and yet baffles them, and so becomes more than a conqueror. (2.) His present want of heavenly comforts. This darkness signified that dark cloud which the human soul of our Lord Jesus was now under. God makes his sun to shine upon the just and upon the unjust; but even the light of the sun was withheld from our Saviour, when he was made sin for us. A pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun; but because now his soul was exceeding sorrowful, and the cup of divine displeasure was filled to him without mixture, even the light of the sun was suspended. When earth denied him a drop of cold water, heaven denied him a beam of light; having to deliver us from utter darkness, he did himself, in the depth of his sufferings, walk in darkness, and had no light, Isa 50 10. During the three hours that this darkness continued, we do not find that he said one word, but passed this time in a silent retirement into his own soul, which was now in agony, wrestling with the powers of darkness, and taking in the impressions of his Father’s displeasure, not against himself, but the sin of man, which he was now making his soul an offering for. Never were there three such hours since the day that God created man upon the earth, never such a dark and awful scene; the crisis of that great affair of man’s redemption and salvation.

MacArthur gives us several examples of darkness in terms of divine judgement from the Old Testament, which go some way to explaining that:

the rabbis used to teach, and it’s recorded in the Talmud that they taught this, that if the sun goes dark it will be a judgment of God on the world for committing a great crime. And indeed we could say the world had committed a great crime in crucifying Jesus Christ.

Around three o’clock in the afternoon, Jesus cried out (verse 46), ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’

MacArthur says this is the second miracle:

There’s a second miracle that I want you to see in verse 46 … “saying, Eli, Eli.” Those two words are Hebrew. Mark records “Eloi, Eloi,” which is the Aramaic form to kind of make the statement consistent. But apparently Jesus actually uttered “Eli, Eli” … And they would have known what He meant by that. There was no doubt in their minds. And then when He said, “lema sabachthani,” which means why have You abandoned Me or why have You forsaken Me, they knew well what He was saying. That He was quoting Psalm 22:1 was apparent to all of them. Those Jews knew Psalm 22:1. 

I call it the miracle of sovereign departure. It is a miracle, you see. It’s a miracle in reverse, in a sense. It’s a strange kind of miracle, but it’s a miracle in the sense that it is a supernatural inexplicable event that is beyond the capacity of human understanding, for God is separated from God. God the Father turns His back on God the Son. It is said that Martin Luther went into seclusion to try to understand this mystery and came out more confused than when he began. I understand that. God is separated from God. And Jesus in the climax of the sin bearing, at the close of the three hours of the fury of God being poured out at its maximum capacity, cries out about the fact that He is separated from God.

God had to turn away from Jesus because God hates sin so much that He could not bear to look upon His Son while He was bearing the sins of the whole world — past, present and future. God always had to have a blood sacrifice for sin, and His Son’s horrifying suffering and death on the Cross was the one perfect oblation.

MacArthur explains Christ’s relationship to God when He was on earth:

Now when Christ first came into the world, there was a certain separation because He said to be equal with God, Philippians 2, is not something to hold on to. Which means that when He became incarnate, He let go of some of that equality. So there was some separation in His incarnation and He also prayed, “Lord, restore Me to the glory I had with You before the world began,” John 17:5, which means there was something missing. And now there is an even more profound separation, not just the separation of incarnation but the separation of utter sinfulness. And the fact that God turns His back on Jesus Christ and He cries out those words that David said He would cry in Psalm 22:1, “My God, My God, why have You abandon Me,” indicates that this is a sin situation and God is turning His back on what He will always turn His back on and that is sin.

Now may I suggest to you something that’s too profound for us to understand but we must at least grasp the basic truth? While Jesus bore sin, while Jesus took all the weight of all the sin of all the ages, He never became a sinner. And if you can’t see that anywhere else, you can see it right here on the cross. More profoundly than it’s delineated in any epistle of the New Testament, it’s delineated right here. For in the midst of being engulfed in all the sins of all the ages, He has no desire for that sin. Though He is literally drowning in all of the sin of all time, He has no longing for that sin, but His longing is expressed in these words, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” What is it that He longed for? God. And therein lies the evidence of the purity of His spirit, a purity which He knew He maintained. For soon after this, having said “It is finished,” He said, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit.” Knowing full well that God would take Him, for while He bore sin, He never became a sinner. That’s why the writer of Hebrews says He is yet without sin, made sin and not sin – paradox. But when He became sin, God had to turn His back.

And the second miracle is the miracle of God turning away from Christ, a supernatural occurrence in which God turned His back on the Son – the miracle of sovereign departure. And what does it say to us? It says that Christ became sin. What is the meaning of the cross then? It’s right here. First of all, it’s an act of judgment. What does God judge? He judges sin. Where was the sin He was judging? It was on Christ. There’s the meaning of the cross.

When some of the bystanders heard our Lord’s cry, they said that He was calling for Elijah (verse 47), which is another way they mocked Him.

Henry says:

The words are related in the Syriac tongue, in which they were spoken, because worthy of double remark, and for the sake of the perverse construction which his enemies put upon them, in putting Elias for Eli.

MacArthur confirms the mockery:

They knew He didn’t say Elias, Elias. They knew He said Eli, Eli. They knew that. They knew He was saying, “My God, My God.” They knew Psalm 22. But this was part of a joke. This was their laughing matter. This was their mockery again. You see, the prophet Malachi had said before the Messiah comes to set up His Kingdom, Elijah will first come. And so they’re saying, “Well, this poor misguided Messiah, still thinking He’s going to have His Kingdom, maybe He’s calling for Elijah to come and announce Him as Messiah and proclaim His Kingdom and help Him get it going. Ha‑ha.” Cruel, cynical, sarcastic mockery, “Oh, He’s calling for Elijah.”

One of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick and gave it to Him to drink (verse 48). Crucifixion produces an incredible thirst.

MacArthur elaborates on this verse:

… thirst was part of the torture of crucifixion. And this was the fourth time the silence of Calvary was broken by the Savior. And verse 48 picks it up and says, “And straightway,” or immediately, “one of them” – probably a Roman soldier – “ran and took a sponge.” The other writers tell us he put it on a hyssop reed which would be about 18 inches high. That would tell us that the cross was very low to the ground. Lifted it up to His lips that it might be able to moisten His lips and quench His thirst a little bit. The word in the Authorized for what they gave Him is vinegar. The actual Greek word is oxos. It’s a cheap sour wine that was highly diluted with water because it was a common every day drink for laborers and soldiers. It was a thirst-quenching drink with a high amount of water and a very low amount of alcohol content and sour wine content. So they gave this to Jesus to quench His thirst.

You say, was that an act of mercy? Oh, I suppose momentary mercy, but the more mercy you showed in the moments, the more you prolonged the ultimate torture. But the idea is at least somebody came to give Him that.

The onlookers said (verse 49), again mockingly, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him’.

MacArthur says:

And the crowd saw this as another part of the joke, in verse 49, so they said, “Hold it” – let Him alone – “let’s see whether Elijah will come to save Him.” That was their idea. And they carried on their little malicious mockery as far as they could. All the way to the very end till He finally died, they jeered at Him with this kind of talk. So they missed the whole point …

Can you imagine they were doing this in pitch-black darkness? It seems to me they would have stopped to think about what might be going on. It seem to me they might have remembered Isaiah’s words about darkness and judgment. It seems to me they might have remembered some of the other prophets who associated darkness with judgment.

Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed His last (verse 50).

Luke 23 has more on what happened in our Lord’s final moments on the cross:

⁴⁴ It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, ⁴⁵ for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶ Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”^[e] When he had said this, he breathed his last.

MacArthur says that our Lord’s death — commending His spirit to God — was the third miracle that day:

… there’s a third, would you notice this one in verse 50? “Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice,” and the word is to scream or yell again, very loud, “yielded up the spirit.” Now the silence has been broken five times by Jesus. The first three in the first hours. Then “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me,” then “I thirst,” and now finally, just before He expires, just before He yields up His breath He cries with a loud voice once more. He’s still strong enough to do it. It’s so important that all these cries of Jesus in the last three hours of His life were with a loud voice – except the one “I thirst” doesn’t say it was with a loud voice. But these were loudly given cries to demonstrate that He still had physical strength. He could still have enough strength to yell. He is not slowly fading away. He is not letting His life sort of ebb out. He is still strong enough to yell with a loud voice. He is not yet at the point of utter exhaustion. He wants to make that clear. And the reason He cries out as He does is to demonstrate that He still has the resources to stay alive. In John 19:30 it tells us what He cried. He cried, “It is finished.” And having cried that, according to Luke chapter 23 verse 46, He said, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” He said them both with a loud voice.

Why? And then He yielded up the spirit. That’s a unique phrase and will answer our question. In 15 other places in Scripture where it talks about someone giving up the spirit or yielding the spirit, it’s always one Hebrew word or one Greek word that’s used, except in the case of the death of Jesus as described by Matthew and John. And in their description, both times it’s two words. And the two words give the idea not just of expiring or breathing out your last or dying, but the idea of handing over or giving over or sending away. In other words, it’s an act of volition. It is an act of the will. He literally sent His spirit away as an act of His own will. It was a voluntary act.

And herein is the great third miracle of the cross. That is this: Jesus’ life was not taken from Him. He voluntarily gave it up. And that is demonstrated to us by the fact that He died so very soon, when victims normally lingered for days on the cross. In fact, according to Mark 15 verses 44 and 45, when the word was given to Pilate that Jesus was dead, he couldn’t believe it and sent somebody to check on it, because it was so abnormal for one to die that soon. And the reason the Scripture says He cried with a loud voice or screamed or yelled is to demonstrate to us that even at the time when He gave up His life, He had the strength to live if He had willed to live.

Jesus not only had the power to take His life back out of the grave, He had the power to give His life whenever He wanted. And no man has that power any more than he has the power to raise himself. You can shoot yourself, but you’ve given the power to the bullet. You can take poison but you’ve given the power to the poison. You can throw yourself off a bridge, but you’ve given the power to the fall and to the concrete you land on. No man can by his own volition in a moment of time will his own death any more than he can will his own resurrection. But Jesus did, because He has power over death and power of life. And He is making a statement here, dear friends, about the fact that no one was taking His life. He was giving it – He was giving it.

At that moment when Jesus breathed His last, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; the earth shook and the rocks were split (verse 51).

The rending of the curtain is the fourth miracle, as MacArthur explains. This is, for me, very important. God took down the barrier from the Old Covenant between Himself and the people and instituted the New Covenant by making Himself accessible to everyone. It was also the beginning of the end of the temple system, which completely finished in AD 70 when the Romans destroyed the structure itself:

Look at verse 51. This is the fourth of these miracles in this section. We’ll call this one sanctuary devastation. The last one was self‑giving death. The one before that, sovereign departure and then supernatural darkness. Sanctuary devastation – look what happened in verse 51 to the temple. “And behold” – and that’s a startled word. Behold, amazingly, shockingly, startlingly – “the curtain” – or veil – “of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.”

Now listen, people. There’s a reason for that, that’s just not incidental. There is a reason for that. God is saying something. The word temple here is not the general word for the whole of the temple, it’s the word naos for the inner sanctuary, the holy place, the Holy of Holies. Any student of Scripture knows that in the middle of the temple, God had prescribed that there be a sanctuary in which He was to dwell in His symbolic presence. There was a holy place and then there was a great curtain or veil and inside that was the Holy of Holies where no one could ever go except one man, that was the high priest, once a year to offer blood on the altar there for the sacrifice offered for the sins of his people.

So, the Holy of Holies represented the presence of God. And the once a year on the day of atonement, the priest would lift a corner of the curtain, hurry in, sprinkle the blood and get back out again because the symbolism there was that no man really had access to the presence of God. Because no sacrifice really had ever atoned for sin …

But when Christ died, that thing was ripped from top to bottom. Josephus describes it as a massive thing, predominantly blue, very ornate with all kinds of imagery on it, hanging massively down in front of the Holy of Holies. It was a symbol of separation. And in the instant that Jesus died, God took His finger and ripped it from top to bottom. And at that very moment, the temple would have been filled with pilgrims, filled with priests, filled with sacrifices, everything going on and all of a sudden to the horror of everyone, the Holy of Holies is utterly exposed.

And what God is saying is this: In the death of Jesus Christ there is total access into My holy presence. Why? Because He paid for what? For sin. I mean, this is the Father’s own commentary on the meaning of the cross. God throws wide open His arms and says, as the writer of Hebrews in chapter 4 verse 16 says it so beautifully, “Let us come boldly to the throne to receive mercy and grace to help in time of need.” We now can rush into the presence of God for the separation is removed in the death of Jesus Christ who has paid for sin and removed it. It’s no longer a barrier. What a glorious truth.

The Father’s statement was before the whole temple population. And listen, when that curtain was ripped, it was the end of the temple. It was the end of the sacrifices. It was the end of the priesthood. It was the end of the whole system of Judaism. It was over. It was gone. And to show how much an end it was, within a few years the Gentiles came in and desecrated and trampled that temple into oblivion. That den of robbers began to be destroyed when God ripped the veil that screened off the Holy of Holies. When Christ died, men had access to God – glorious thought. The old covenant was over. The separation was gone. And this, says God, is My new covenant, through the blood of Christ, I throw open My holy presence to all who will come in the name of Christ with their sins forgiven.

Notice it was ripped from the top to the bottom to show that men didn’t do it. I doubt that they could have done it, so heavy was it. But for sure they couldn’t have done it from the top to the bottom. The finger of God did it. What is the great truth here? The great truth is that, yes, the cross is the place of God’s wrath. The cross is the place where Jesus became sin, that’s why God turned His back. The cross is the place where in a voluntary act of love unequalled in the history of the universe, God in human flesh bore the sins of unworthy sinners. Yes. And the cross is also the place where redemption was accomplished, and there’s no more need for separation, and God threw open the Holy of Holies of His own personal presence to everyone who comes in the name of Jesus Christ. So says the Father.

The fifth miracle is the earthquake (verse 51). MacArthur gives us examples of earthquakes in the Old Testament, which I will exclude here for purposes of space. A final one will come with Christ’s Second Coming:

I want you to notice a fifth miracle. Verse 51, “The earth did quake and the rocks were split.” Instantaneously at the death of Jesus Christ, the Father had something else to say and without an audible voice from heaven, He said it in a physical way. He brought to the city of Jerusalem and the area around Jerusalem a devastating earthquake which split rocks open, created fissures in the ground. No doubt those fissures to this day still exist. This was a real earthquake. What was He saying? What was the point of this?

Very often in the Old Testament when God appeared there was an earthquake …

When God shook the earth at the death of Christ, I think He was giving the world a taste of what He’s going to do in the future when He shakes the earth in the time of the coming of the King Himself. I believe when Jesus died on that cross, He so perfectly accomplished the Father’s will, He so earned the right to be the King of the earth, He so earned the right to take the title deed to the earth out of the hand of God, as it’s seen there in the book of Revelation chapter 5, as He takes the title deed out of the hand of God and begins to unroll that title deed and take over the earth from Revelation 6 to 19. I believe He earned the right to do that on the cross. I believe because of His perfect bearing of sin in His own body, because He finished the work of redemption, the Father said, You will be the King of the earth. I will give You the nations for Your footstool. I will give You the earth to rule. All people will bow the knee to You. You will rule the universe, on the earth, under the earth, above the earth, it says in Philippians 2. And I believe shaking the earth at the death of Christ was God’s way of guaranteeing the promise of a renewed world and a renewed universe. Christ had earned that and it would come – it would come.

The tombs were also opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep — died — were raised (verse 52).

After our Lord’s resurrection they came out of the tombs, entered the holy city and appeared to many (verse 53).

That raising of the dead was the sixth miracle of that day.

Henry says:

This matter is not related so fully as our curiosity would wish; for the scripture was not intended to gratify that; it should seem, that same earthquake that rent the rocks, opened the graves, and many bodies of saints which slept, arose … 

Now here,

(1.) We may raise many enquiries concerning it, which we cannot resolve: as, [1.] Who these saints were, that did arise. Some think, the ancient patriarchs, that were in such care to be buried in the land of Canaan, perhaps in the believing foresight of the advantage of this early resurrection. Christ had lately proved the doctrine of the resurrection from the instance of the patriarchs (ch. 22 32), and here was a speedy confirmation of his argument. Others think, these that arose were modern saints, such as had been Christ in the flesh, but died before him; as his father Joseph, Zecharias, Simeon, John Baptist, and others, that had been known to the disciples, while they lived, and therefore were the fitter to be witnesses to them in an apparition after. What if we should suppose that they were the martyrs, who in the Old-Testament times had sealed the truths of God with their blood, that were thus dignified and distinguished? Christ particularly points at them as his forerunners, ch. 23 35. And we find (Rev 20 4, 5), that those who were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, arose before the rest of the dead. Sufferers with Christ shall first reign with him. [2.] It is uncertain whether (as some think) they arose to life, now at the death of Christ, and disposed of themselves elsewhere, but did not go into the city till after his resurrection; or whether (as others think), though their sepulchres (which the Pharisees had built and varnished, ch. 23 29), and so made remarkable, were shattered now by the earthquake (so little did God regard that hypocritical respect), yet they did not revive and rise till after the resurrection; only, for brevity-sake, it is mentioned here, upon the mention of the opening of the graves, which seems more probable. [3.] Some think that they arose only to bear witness of Christ’s resurrection to those to whom they appeared, and, having finished their testimony, retired to their graves again. But it is more agreeable, both to Christ’s honour and theirs, to suppose, though we cannot prove, that they arose as Christ did, to die no more, and therefore ascended with him to glory. Surely on them who did partake of his first resurrection, a second death had no power. [4.] To whom they appeared (not to all the people it is certain, but to many), whether enemies or friends, in what manner they appeared, how often, what they said and did, and how they disappeared, are secret things which belong not to us; we must not covet to be wise above what is written. The relating of this matter so briefly, is a plain intimation to us, that we must not look that way for a confirmation of our faith; we have a more sure word of prophecy. See Luke 16 31.

MacArthur says:

… the last miracle, the sixth one. And this is a marvelous miracle – subduing death. “And the graves were opened.” That obviously could have happened from the earthquake. But the next part couldn’t have happened just from the earthquake. “And many bodies of the saints that slept were raised and came out of the graves.” And you should put a period there. That’s the way the text should read. There was a resurrection, folks. There was a resurrection. Did you get that? You say, what came out of the graves?” Sōmata – bodies. Bodies, not spirits. This isn’t some ethereal thing. These aren’t ghosts. Bodies. This is a real resurrection. What bodies? Many bodies. Not all of them. It was a very discriminating one. Only select ones. Who were they? Saints. What are saints? Holy ones from out of the Old Testament era who were waiting for their resurrection, who had been waiting perhaps a long time. When Jesus died, their spirits came from the abode where righteous spirits dwell and were joined with glorified bodies that came out of those graves.

You say, is this a real glorification? A real resurrection? Absolutely. So many people who know the story of the cross miss this. This is important. This is another statement by God. This is a resurrection, a real literal physical bodily glorified resurrection. But what happened? They came out of the graves. Period. The next sentence says, “After His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared unto many.” Can you imagine what kind of testimony they had? “We have a guest for dinner tonight, you won’t believe this.” You say, what would they be testifying about? I’ll tell you what they’d be testifying about – resurrection.

But they didn’t go into the city and do it until Christ had risen. Why? Because 1 Corinthians 15:20 says He’s the firstfruits of them that slept. Right? So it wasn’t until after He was raised from the dead that they along with Him began to speak. And I don’t think they spoke to anybody except those who already believed. There’s no biblical evidence Christ ever appeared after His resurrection to anyone other than a believer. And they went in and I’m sure the believers were thrilled to meet them. And they would say Christ is alive and His being alive is the guarantee that you will live and we’re living proof of that. Glorious miracle.

What was the Father saying? The Father was saying the cross is the point of greatest hope for resurrection. Why? Because if your sin is dealt with and your sin is carried away by Christ and the penalty is paid and the wrath of God is all spent and He has drunk the poison, as it were, to the last drop, then you are free from death and free to live. And if access to God is wide open and if He’s going to create a Kingdom that will never be shaken, then you have a right to that access and a right to that kingdom and you’ll live in a glorified form to possess it. This is the meaning of the cross. This is the testimony of God the Father.

When the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified (verse 54) and said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’

Henry gives us this analysis:

Observe,

1. The persons convinced; the centurion, and they that were with him watching Jesus; a captain and his company, that were set on the guard on this occasion. (1.) They were soldiers, whose profession is commonly hardening, and whose breasts are commonly not so susceptible as some others of the impressions either of fear or pity. But there is no spirit too big, too bold, for the power of Christ to break and humble. (2.) They were Romans, Gentiles, who knew not the scriptures which were now fulfilled; yet they only were convinced. A sad presage of the blindness that should happen to Israel, when the gospel should be sent to the Gentiles, to open their eyes. Here were the Gentiles softened, and the Jews hardened. (3.) They were the persecutors of Christ, and those that but just before had reviled him, as appears Luke 23 36. How soon can God, by the power he has over men’s consciences, alter their language, and fetch confessions of his truths, to his own glory, out of the mouths of those that have breathed nothing but threatenings, and slaughter, and blasphemies!

2. The means of their conviction; they perceived the earthquake, which frightened them, and saw the other things that were done. These were designed to assert the honour of Christ in his sufferings, and had their end on these soldiers, whatever they had on others. Note, The dreadful appearances of God in his providence sometimes work strangely for the conviction and awakening of sinners.

3. The expressions of this conviction, in two things.

(1.) The terror that was struck upon them; they feared greatly; feared lest they should have been buried in the darkness, or swallowed up in the earthquake. Note, God can easily frighten the most daring of his adversaries, and make them know themselves to be but men. Guilt puts men into fear. He that, when iniquity abounds, doth not fear always, with a fear of caution, when judgments are abroad, cannot but fear greatly, with a fear of amazement; whereas there are those who will not fear, though the earth be removed, Ps 46 1, 2.

(2.) The testimony that was extorted from them; they said, Truly this was the Son of God; a noble confession; Peter was blessed for it, ch. 16 16, 17. It was the great matter now in dispute, the point upon which he and his enemies had joined issue, ch. 26 63, 64. His disciples believed it, but at this time durst not confess it; our Saviour himself was tempted to question it, when he said, Why hast thou forsaken me? The Jews, now that he was dying upon the cross, looked upon it as plainly determined against him, that he was not the Son of God, because he did not come down from the cross. And yet now this centurion and the soldiers make this voluntary confession of the Christian faith, Truly this was the Son of God. The best of his disciples could not have said more at any time, and at this time they had not faith and courage enough to say thus much. Note, God can maintain and assert the honour of a truth then when it seems to be crushed, and run down; for great is the truth, and will prevail.

In closing, MacArthur reminds us of Hebrews 6, which discusses the sin of unbelief:

Hebrews 6 says that anyone who rejects Christ is guilty of crucifying the Son of God and putting Him to open shame. You either stand with those who believer or you stand with those who crucify. And maybe you’re a part of the ignorant wicked, maybe the knowing wicked, maybe the fickle wicked, maybe the religious wicked. But all unbelievers are there somewhere.

Also:

Let’s bow in a word of prayer.

Father, thank You for such testimony, so dramatically, so clearly given when Jesus died, that You are a God of wrath, a God of infinite utter holiness, but also a God of l