Jesus' Crucifixion Series

While on the cross, Jesus spoke seven times. Matthew records the fourth of Jesus’ seven words. It was a word of anguish. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (27:46). Just a short while later, Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit (27:50) and died.

Matthew also records several remarkable incidents in Matthew 27:51-54:

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

So did Jesus die by crucifixion.

II. What Does Jesus’ Crucifixion Mean for Us?

Second, what does Jesus’ crucifixion mean for us?

The meaning of Jesus’ crucifixion is given to us by the other New Testament writers. I want to mention two truths.

A. Jesus Is Our Propitiation

First, Jesus is our propitiation.

Paul wrote to the Romans in Romans 3:23-25a, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” What did Paul mean?

A Jew reading Paul’s letter would recall the annual Jewish Day of Atonement. On that day, the high priest offered a blood sacrifice for himself and also for the people of God. He would take some of the blood and go into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle it on mercy seat (Leviticus 16:11-22).

The mercy seat was regarded as the throne of God. It was a golden lid on the ark of the covenant, which contained the Ten Commandments. By sprinkling blood on the mercy seat, the high priest was satisfying the justice of God. Blood had been shed to pay for sin. Propitiation properly signifies the removal of God’s wrath by the offering of a blood sacrifice.

In our culture, people think of God, if they think of him at all, as a God of love. He is like a grandfather who loves his grandchildren, no matter what they do. God freely forgives sin.

But, that is a misunderstanding of God. God never merely forgives sin. His wrath must be satisfied. His justice must be satisfied. The penalty for sin must be paid. The beauty of the gospel is that God provides Jesus as the one who pays the penalty for sin so that his wrath is propitiated. D. A. Carson writes, “In pagan propitiation,…we offer the sacrifices and the gods are propitiated. By contrast, in the Bible God is both the origin and the object of the propitiating sacrifice. He provides it by sending his Son to the cross; yet at the same time, the sacrifice satisfies his own honor, and his righteous wrath is turned away without his holiness being impugned.”