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!”
Matthew 27:54
It was the 14th day (sunset to the following sunset) in the Jewish month of Nisan, also known as “the day of Preparation of the Passover” (John 19:14). This was the day when the lambs were sacrificed. This was also the day when the ultimate Lamb would be slain. It had been foreordained.
Jesus’ early morning “trial” and condemnation was complete. He had already been beaten, flogged, spit upon, and mocked. The King of the Jews was stripped of His clothes and forced to wear a gruesome crown of thorns. Can you picture this in your mind, what our Savior went through before His death?
Condemned to die by religious and political leaders alike, Jesus was then forced to carry the horizontal beam of His cross up to a place called Golgotha, “the place of the skull.” It was located in the hills of Moriah (remember Isaac?). The path was so difficult and Jesus’ physical condition so pitiful from the torment and abuse that a man named Simon from Cyrene (likely a Passover pilgrim) was forced to carry the beam for Jesus.
Jesus was painfully nailed to the cross around 9 a.m. (Mark 15:25), the time the morning lambs were sacrificed, and was shamefully put on public display between two thieves. The mocking continued from the crowd, soldiers, and religious leaders. How could this be their long-awaited Savior? He couldn’t even save Himself! Their eyes had been blinded to what the Scriptures foretold.
From noon until 3 p.m., darkness covered the land as Jesus hung dying. Only a few of the women in His life and John were near Him to the end. And when He died at 3 p.m. (the time the afternoon lambs were sacrificed), He “gave up his spirit” and a great earthquake occurred, shaking the ground and the rocks and the graves (Matthew 27:50–51). It was so unmistakable that the Roman centurion in charge exclaimed the truth of the matter: “Surely he was the Son of God!”
The Israelites of old had been saved from literal slavery by the blood of an unblemished lamb on the doorposts of their homes. Now, Jesus’ blood adorned the beams of a cross, and all the peoples of the world would have an opportunity to be saved from slavery to sin and death forever (Romans 6). “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7b). “You were redeemed . . . with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (1 Peter 1:18–19).
As I write today’s devotional, it just so happens to be the one-year anniversary of my father’s death. A year ago today, my dad died the morning after my father-in-law’s funeral. It was an incredibly tough time, especially for our kids, who lost both granddads within one week. But we “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13b). We believe in the risen Savior who defeated death!
We have all lost someone we loved. Take heart if they believed in Jesus. And be motivated to share with those who don’t yet believe—while there’s still time.