At noon, darkness came over Palestine and at 3:00pm Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Luke writes that Jesus followed this cry with His last words, “into Your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). Jesus takes His last breath and dies there on that cruel cross. He willingly laid down His life and shed His blood to become the perfect sacrifice for sin. Death was the only thing which could satisfy the wrath of God upon sin. Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He [God the Father] made Him [Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us [mankind], that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” John MacArthur makes this observation about this verse, “As Christ was not a sinner, but was treated as if He were, so believers who have not yet been made righteous are treated as if they were righteous. He bore their sins so that they could bear His righteousness. God treated Him as if He committed believers’ sins, and treats believers as if they did only the righteous deeds of the sinless Son of God” (MacArthur Study Bible, p.1772).
At the time of Jesus’ death, the veil of the temple was miraculously torn from top to bottom (15:38) signifying that the way now into God’s presence was no longer through a priest, but through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. When the evening came Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus (15:42-44). When Pilate was certain that Jesus was dead, he released His body to Joseph and “he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb” (15:46). Jesus had been crucified and now buried. What was next?
Dear God, thank You for Your Son, Jesus, who willingly offered up His life for me on the cross.
