A DAY LIKE NO OTHER

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”).

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave Him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save Him.”

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely He was the Son of God!”

Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for His needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

Matthew 27:32-44

At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”).

When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, He’s calling Elijah.”

Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave Him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take Him down,” he said.

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed His last.

The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how He died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome. In Galilee, these women had followed Him and cared for His needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.

Mark 15:21-32

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” When He had said this, He breathed His last.

The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous Man.”

When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew Him, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Luke 23:44-49

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When He had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of His bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the One they have pierced.”

John 19:28-37

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Here’s a question for you.

Have you ever remembered a day when things went completely dark because the sun literally stopped shining?

I can’t remember one in my lifetime and I’ve been alive more than 61 years now. In fact, the truth of the matter is that no one has experienced this for more than 2,000 years because the only time it has happened in the history of creation was the day that our Lord and Savior Jesus was crucified.

This alone would have made it a day like no other but there were other amazing events that happened.

Like the huge curtain in the temple that separated the holy place from the holy of holies. The purpose of the curtain (also referred to as a veil) was to separate the presence of God from the Israelites and you may recall that only the high priest was permitted in the holy of holies.

So what was the significance of the curtain tearing?

Having drawn His last breath, Jesus had atoned for the sin of all mankind. Through belief in Him, a person would no longer find themselves in enmity with God. Rather, they would now be justified before Him and destined to not be isolated from Him but with Him forever.

And so the sun stopped shining and the temple veil was torn in half without any human action. Then there was the earthquake and zombies.

Seriously, there were zombies, a veritable biblical edition of the modern day drama, “The Walking Dead”, except for the fact that these zombies were real, emerging from the tombs that shattered when the ground shook so violently.   

Did I mention it was a day like no other?

Countless people had drawn their last breath and passed away before Jesus did that dark Friday while nailed to a cross and lifted high to die on the outskirts of Jerusalem. None of their deaths led to the sun to stop shining, the temple curtain to tear in half, an earthquake to strike, and zombies to walk the earth. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that maybe Jesus was who He said He was, the Son of the living God Most High. A centurion on the scene seemed to figure it out pretty quickly.

As for the others, there were measured responses.

Those who had mocked and ridiculed Jesus, manipulated by the Jewish religious leaders, seemed to have a change of heart as they watched Jesus draw His final breath, bow His head, and surrender His spirit. The scriptures tell us they went away from the scene beating their breasts, symbolic of remorse and mourning.

That air of mourning was even more prevalent within the group of Jesus’ followers, predominantly women who had traveled with Jesus all the way from Galilee. They had cared for Jesus and made sure His needs were met so He could minister to the needs of others.

Indeed it was a sad day, the Day of Preparation in advance of the special Sabbath, special because it was the Sabbath following the Passover observance. The Jewish religious authorities were anxious and concerned because they didn’t want the crucified holding onto life into the Sabbath and so they asked Pilate to have his soldiers break the legs of those on the crosses so to accelerate their death.

First, the soldiers observed the two rebels hanging on either side of Jesus. Both men were still alive and so the soldiers broke their legs which prevented them from supporting themselves. Death came quickly afterwards.

And then the soldiers turned their attention to Jesus but He was already dead so they left Him alone except for piercing His side with a spear which resulted in a sudden flow of blood and water rushing from his side. Both actions were not mere happenstance. Rather, they were just as the scriptures predicted, those scriptures found in Exodus, Numbers, Psalms, and Zechariah.

So this day like no other, the day that Jesus was crucified until He died, was drawing to a close and there was the matter of attending to Jesus’ body.

How would the Romans handle this?

We’ll find out in tomorrow’s message.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com