Two leading British scientists have done a great deal of research, and they have concluded
that Jesus died on Friday April 3rd, 33 A.D. Collin J. Humphreys and W. G. Waddington of
Oxford University published their findings in the British Science Magazine. Their combined
study of the Gospels and scientific records lead them to this conclusion. All 4 Gospels agree
that Jesus died just a few hours before the start of the Jewish Sabbath, which was at nightfall
on Friday. They also agree that it was at the Passover, which was the annual Jewish feast
held at the full moon.
The lambs were killed between 3 and 5 P.M. on the 14th day of the Jewish month of
Nisan, which corresponds to our March-April. Jesus was on the cross from 9 in the morning
until 3 in the afternoon, and so He died just as the Passover lambs were dying. He was the
Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, and Paul says in I Cor. 5:7, "For Christ,
our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed." The timing of His death was like the timing of His
birth. It was in the fullness of time that God sent forth His Son to be born of a woman. And
now on the cross it is precisely at the fullness of time that Jesus died, for it was at this time
that the sacrificial lambs died. It was all planned for precision timing that Jesus might be
seen as the Passover Lamb.
Jesus is identified with the lamb, for they die without a fight. They meekly go to their
death without attacking or resisting. Jesus laid down His life voluntarily, and He did not, as
the Lion of the tribe of Judah, snarl and rip and tear at His crucifiers to take some of them
down with Him. He had that power to be ferocious, but He submitted like a lamb. He
fulfilled the prophecy of Isa. 53:7 which says, "He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opens not His mouth." This was the
Lamb God provided that made all other sacrifice unnecessary. That is why the veil in the
temple was rent when Jesus died, for there was no longer any need for sacrifice to enter
God's presence for all people. The wall was down for good, for when this Lamb died, He
died for all.
Not all the blood of beasts
On Jewish alters slain
Could give the guilty conscience peace,
Or wash away the stain.
But Christ, the Heavenly Lamb
Takes all our sins away;
A sacrifice of nobler name,
And richer blood than they.
When we go to the book of Revelation and listen in on the songs that will be sung in that
land of total victory, we do not hear songs about the Lion and Conqueror, which Jesus was,
but about the Lamb. In Rev. 5 the Lamb that had been slain was in the midst of all as the
central figure in heaven, and all other beings fall down before the Lamb and sing this new
song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain and
with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and
nation." Then millions of angels joined in with loud voices singing: "Worthy is the Lamb,
who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory
and praise." And then, as if this was not an enormous enough choir, every creature alive in
the entire universe joined the song singing: "To Him who sits on the throne and to the
Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever." The poet was right who
wrote,
The whole creation joined in one
To bless the sacred Name.
Of Him who sits upon the throne,
And to adore the Lamb.
And we sing in one of our popular hymns:
Crown Him with many crowns
The Lamb upon the throne.
Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns
All music but its own.
The song of the Lamb will be the theme of music forever. And so though it may seem a
trivial detail that Jesus died at the same time as the Passover lambs, it is, in fact, a marvelous
example of God's providential guidance to link His Son's death with theirs, and thus give
Him a title that will be honored forever. Bible trivial can sometimes be Bible significa. Let's
look at some of the other details of that Good Friday experience.
Verse 45 says, "From the 6th hour until the 9th hour darkness came over all the land."
This is from noon to 3 P. M. When the sun goes dark at high noon you know something of
cosmic proportions is going on. What does this 3 hours of darkness symbolize? It is clear
from the prophets that it was a symbol of God's wrath and judgment. Amos tells of a great
day of judgment coming on Israel. We read in Amos 8:9, "In that day, declares the
sovereign Lord, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad
daylight." God uses nature to convey His emotions, and darkness at midday tells us that
God is angry. There is a duel anger in this darkness at Calvary, for God was angry at the
evil of the crucifixion of His Son, but He was also angry at His Son who became the
substitute for sinners. He took on himself the curse of the law and the wrath of God.
Darkness is a sign of God's judgment all through the Old Testament. One of the
plagues of Egypt was 3 days of solid darkness in which nothing could be done, for people
could not see. In Joel 2:2 the day of the Lord is described: "A day of darkness and gloom, a
day of clouds and blackness." Other prophets describe it the same way, and John Calvin
says this darkness is "An incomparable proof of God's anger." The cross becomes the
central focus of both the anger of men and the anger of God. Man has put Christ on the
cross because man is mad at God's ways. He does not like it that God will not go along with
the system of legalism that men have devised. Jesus came and defied the establishment, and
in anger they crucified Him.
The cross represents all of the anger of man at God. God will not play ball according to
man's rules, and this leads to great anger. We have all gotten angry at God to some degree.
Even the righteous in the Bible express that anger because God's ways are not their ways.
All of this anger of people in all of history came together at the cross, and human anger
murdered the Son of God. If you don't think anger is a dangerous weapon, just look at the
cross. The paradox is that the cross also represents the anger of God at the world. All of the
sin and folly of mankind was laid on Jesus. Those three hours of darkness represent the
wrath of God on all the sin of mankind. The cross is just how much man can get angry at
God, and just how much God can get angry at man.
The cross represents the greatest battle of anger this universe has ever seen, and since
Jesus was God, He took all of the wrath of man at God, and since Jesus was man, He took all
of the wrath of God at man. God and man are pounding each other and Jesus is the
representative of both, and so He takes the blows of both. To compare the death of Jesus
with any other death in history is to have no comprehension of the magnitude of what is
happening at the cross. No other death in history represents the anger of mankind at God,
nor the anger of God at mankind. To compare it is not just comparing apples and oranges,
but it is comparing an apple with the orange groves of the world. The death of Jesus is both
qualitatively and quantitatively in a category by itself.
This darkness sheds a lot of light on the cross, and it makes it the most unique death in
all of history. We have many days to honor and celebrate the birth of great people, but how
many of them have a day to celebrate their death as well? Good Friday is certainly not the
celebration of Christian, but the fact is, it is a day to remember and to rejoice in the death
that made eternal life possible. It was a dark day that made it possible for God's people to
enter a kingdom where darkness will be no more. Ever since the cross men have had to
decide to choose the love of power that resists God's way and produces darkness, or choose
the power of love that brings light.
In verse 46 we have the 4th word from the cross, and it is the most important of the 7,
for Mark and Matthew make it the only one they record. They felt the others could be
bypassed, but not this one. This is the essence of what the cross is all about. This is the only
break in the life of Jesus between Him and His Father. It was His only experience of the
absence of God. In this verse we hear the universal question of men to God in a fallen
world-why me? We can be so grateful that Jesus asked this question, for had he not done so
His death would not have been a truly human death. It would have been only a God-like
death. Jesus is representing the whole world of sinners in this death, and if He never asked
why, He would not really be representing them, for that is what they would all ask. All unjust
suffering brings forth the response of why?
It is not a sin to ask why. If it was, then Jesus would have been sinning in the very act of
atoning for sin. But Jesus was not sinning. He was asking why sin has so much power that it
can separate God and man? Joseph Parker remarked that he was so glad Jesus asked why
before he did. This is the Lord's prayer from the cross. This was His human nature puzzled
by the ways of God. Later on, after His resurrection and ascension, we see Jesus asking the
same question, but then it was His divine nature puzzled by the ways of man. In Acts 9:4
Jesus confronts Saul on the road to Demascus, and out of a bright light in the heavens he
asks, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Notice the repetition in both places, for Jesus
says my God, my God, and Saul, Saul. Repetition stresses the true mystery of why it is so
hard for God and man to get along. They always seem to be mad at each other and fighting
each other. The good news is that Jesus has reconciled the two, and in Him the fight is over.
One of the reasons Jesus chose Saul to be His great Apostle was because Saul was
fighting and persecuting Him. Paul represented the anger of man that put Him on the
cross. Saul was a God-fighter, but Jesus converted him and made it clear that God is not
interested in fighting man. God gave His Son to reconcile man to Himself, and the whole
goal of the kingdom of God is to bring peace between God and man. As far as God is
concerned the war is over. On the cross Jesus died for all men. God won the war and wiped
out the enemy completely in Christ. There were one hundred per cent casualties. God is
satisfied, for the penalty has been paid and all sin is atoned for. Now God's goal is to be at
peace with man and end this war that lead to the cross in the first place.
The cross was the culmination of this war at its worst, but it was also the key to the end
of the war once and for all between God and man. We glory in the cross because, though it
represents the worst war in history, the civil war between God and man, it also represents
the end of that war and the possibility of eternal peace between God and man. So this
darkness on Good Friday did not rob Good Friday of its name. It is good because the
darkness did not overcome the light. The darkness was temporary, but the light is
permanent.
I asked the heavens, what foe to God hath done
This unexampled deed? The heaven's explained,
Twas man, and we in honor snatched the sun
From such a spectacle of guilt and shame.
It was the worst thing that ever happened, and the best, for by coming to this climax God
was able to end the war of God and man and offer peace. Beware of those who minimize the
despair and distress in Christ that made Him burst forth with this question. There are many
who just say He was quoting Psa. 22. Jesus did love the Psalms and quoted them often, but
to reduce this to a mere quote, as if He never really felt the despair of abandonment is to
reject the truth that Jesus really did go to hell for us.
Bruner in his commentary on Matthew says of this verse, "Jesus's life line has been cut.
He dies here before He dies." The point is, Jesus died the death of separation from God
first, and then He died a physical death. Jesus had to conquer hell before He entered death
in order to die a victor. There are two deaths and Jesus died them both, for only by so doing
could He really be our substitute. Jesus took the death of separation from God first, and
then the separation of spirit and body. So Jesus did actually die before His death. These
three hours of darkness were His first death, and it was His victory here that enabled Him to
enter the realm of the dead, not as a captive, but as one who came to conquer and lead all the
captives to liberty.
Why did Jesus have to ask why? It was because only by taking on our despair, doubt and
death could He really be our substitute and set us free. The little boy began to sob in church
as the pastor told of the cross, and the mother whispered to him, "Don't take it so seriously."
That is the problem that many have, for they do not take the cross seriously. When the
seriousness of the cross is set aside or minimized, you get such nonsense as that of Dr. Hugh
Litchfield. Somebody came up with the idea of a guilt bag. You breathe into the bag and
symbolically breathe out all of the guilt into the bag. Then you throw the bag away, and that
is how you get rid of your guilt.
This is the humanistic substitute for the cross. The war goes on, for man says that sin is
not that big of a deal. It is natural and normal, and so they come up with gimmicks to get rid
of it. God says that sin is radically serious business, and the only way to get rid of it is to pay
the penalty. If you break the laws of the state you are punished. No policeman is going to
accept your blowing into a bag to settle the issue. We need to recognize the great cost that
Jesus paid to make it possible for our forgiveness. We dare not treat it lightly, but come to
Him in repentance to deal with our sin.
In verse 47 we read, "When some of those standing there heard this, they said, He's
calling Elijah." Here we see a misunderstanding at the cross. Eloi, Eloi sounded like Eli, Eli
to those standing by, and they concluded that Jesus was calling for Elijah. Elijah had not
died, but was taken to heaven in a chariot. This led to the folk belief that he could sweep
down and save Israelites in times of trouble. Bruner says he was sort of a Jewish St.
Christopher-a patron saint of those in trouble, and Jesus was certainly in trouble. They
think Jesus is trying to save Himself by getting Elijah to come and rescue Him from the
cross. It was a total misconception, for Jesus was struggling against all such temptation to
escape the cross. How easily people hear what they want to hear, and they distort the words
of Christ to mean something opposite of what He was saying.
The most mysterious of the last 7 words is also the most misunderstood. They are the
deepest of the words, and yet they are seen as so superficial. We see the reality of the depth
of the cross, and yet the reality of the superficiality of the cross. The two go together all
through history so that the cross is a mere piece of jewelry worn even by people who have no
hint of its profound meaning. For many it is a mere good luck charm.
In verse 48 we read, "Immediately one of them ran to get a sponge." This strange detail
reveals one of the men as having some compassion for Jesus. He is crying for help they
figure, and he ran to do what he can to give some comfort to Jesus. It was a small service,
but it is recorded. We see one stranger at the cross seeking to give a minor service to the
Savior, who is giving the most major service ever to all mankind. Will he be one at the
judgment who will hear Jesus say, "I was thirsty and you gave men something to drink, enter
into the joy of the Lord?" Jesus said that a cup of cold water given in His name will not go
unrewarded. What about a sponge full?
In verse 51 we read, "At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn into from top to
bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split." All three synoptic Gospels have the identical
account. Here God speaks by a visual aid to convey the significance of the cross. It was at
the very moment that Jesus cried out and gave up the spirit that the tearing of the curtain in
the temple took place. God did not waste a second in tearing apart this age old barrier
between God and man. The very second that sin was atoned for, the way was made open. It
was like cutting a ribbon for a new highway, and as soon as it was cut the way was open to
travel it. This split veil said that judgment was complete. It is all over and not another
atonement need ever be made, and now salvation is open to all.
Someone had quite a job sewing that curtain back up, for it was not until 70 A.D. that it
was destroyed once and for all. This tearing, which coincided with the death of Jesus, was
God's affirmation of the effectiveness of the cross. The kingdom exclusive to Israel is now
ended. The kingdom exclusive to the priests is now ended. A new religion is born in the
death of Jesus. It is a religion for all people where Jews and Gentiles, male and female, slave
and free have equality of access to God. The spilt veil is God's commentary on the cross.
This is what the cross means to God, for it says welcome sinners. Before the death of Christ
the mat before the holy of holies was not exactly a welcome mat. It was more like a threat
saying, "Perish all ye who enter here." But now a new mat is out saying, "Everyone
welcome."
The cross changed the whole relationship of God and man. It reconciled them so that
now they can be in the same room together. This rent veil was God's clapping in proud
appreciation for the heroic sacrifice of His Son. Bruner says the whole of the Epistle to the
Hebrews is a commentary on the split veil. He says in verses 51 to 53 we have these
responses to the 7 last words of the cross: 1. The curtain split. 2. The earth shook. 3. The
rocks split. 4. The tombs opened. 5. Bodies were raised. 6. Bodies came out of the tombs
and went into the holy city. 7. They appeared to many people.
In verse 52 we see a preview of coming attractions. Death was killed by the death of
Jesus. It was not the end of life, but the end of death, and this was symbolized by the
resurrection of dead people to life. In John 5:25 we read of the last shout to the dead to rise,
and here is a preview in the last shout of Jesus as He dies. It was a grave opening cry. The
two main problems of man are sin and death. In the death of Jesus there was an immediate
solution to both problems. The ripped veil meant sin was taken care of, and the open tombs
meant death was taken care of. Here is the greatest example ever of killing two birds with
one stone.
It was bodies that were raised and not just souls. God loves the body, and total
resurrection is the goal that God is interested in. Let others have their partial resurrection,
but God is going for the whole man. If a person is alive they have a body. There is no
bodiless state for the living. Matter matters to God. He never would have become a creator
of the universe if He was satisfied with non-matter. He created matter and then entered it in
the incarnation, and made it permanent in the resurrection.
In verse 54 Matthew records that it was a Gentile who was the first to honor His death,
and it was Matthew who records that it was the Gentile Magi who were the first to honor the
birth of Jesus. Gentiles were the first to acknowledge that Jesus was the Son of God. They
saw the effect of His death on nature. It was supernatural, and they knew God was speaking
by acts of wonder. The death of Jesus woke up dead saints, and this made alive the
spiritually dead also. At the cross we see the two resurrections. We see that of the literal
dead and the spiritual dead. Both come to life, and so surrounding the cross of death is
abundance of life. New life is springing up from the dead.
It was not just one centurion, but a number of the soldiers were converted to believers
here. The temple veil was split saying welcome to all, and as soon as that path was open
Gentiles began to travel it. Good Friday is good because it is a preview of that total victory
to be revealed on Easter. It is a mini Easter, which links the cross and the resurrection.
Good Friday is good because it reveals to us the total Gospel for which we will be giving our
Savior praise for all eternity
