Beholding the Crucified Christ.

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"They crucified Him....and sitting down they watched Him there." (Matthew 27:35, 36)

The reference is to the Roman soldiers, as is clear from John 19:23, confirmed by Matthew 27:54. They were the ones authorized to carry out the death sentence which had been passed by Pilate, and into their hands the governor had delivered the Savior (Matthew 27:26, 27). With gross abuse they executed their task. Adding insult to injury, they exposed the Lord Jesus unto the indignities of a mock coronation—robing Him in scarlet, crowning Him with thorns, hailing Him as King of the Jews. Giving full expression to their enmity—they spat upon Him, smote Him with a reed, and mocked Him. Restoring to Him His clothing, they conducted Him to Golgotha and affixed Him to the Cross. Having gambled for His garments, they sat down to watch Him—to frustrate any attempt at rescue which His friends might make, and to wait until life was extinct. By way of introduction let us briefly take note of three things.

First, the CIRCUMSTANCES. The initiative to murder Jesus, had been taken by the religious leaders of Israel, for there "the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and they conspired to arrest Jesus in a treacherous way and kill Him" (Matthew 26:3, 4). How many of the foulest crimes which have blackened the pages of history, were perpetrated by religious leaders!

Yet the common people were in full accord with their leaders, for "the multitude" (Mark 15:8) requested Pilate to adhere to his custom of releasing a prisoner unto them, and when he gave them the choice between Christ and Barabbas, they preferred the latter; and when the governor asked what was their desire concerning the former, they cried "Crucify Him!" (Mark 15:13). And it was to "content the people" Pilate released Barabbas (v. 15). When Pilate expostulated with them "all the people said, may His blood be on us and on our children!" (Matthew 27:25). And Pilate, the administrator of the Roman law, which boasted of justice, acceded to their unjust demands.

Second, the SCENE. This was the outskirts of Jerusalem, a city more memorable than either Rome, London or New York. This was the residence of David, the royal city, the abode of Israel's kings. It had witnessed the magnificence of Solomon's reign. It was here that the temple stood. It was here that the Lord Jesus had taught and wrought miracles, and into which He had ridden a few days earlier seated upon an donkey, the multitudes crying, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest" (Matthew 21:9), so fickle is human nature! Israel had rejected their King and therefore He was conducted beyond the bounds of the city, so that He "suffered outside the gate" (Heb. 13:12). The actual place of the crucifixion was Golgotha which signified "the place of a skull." Nature had anticipated the awful deed, the very contour of the ground resembling a 'skull'. Luke gives the Gentile name "Calvary" (Lk 23:33), for the guilt of that Death rested on both Jew and Gentile, as its saving efficacy was to be experienced by each.

Third, the TIME. This was as significant and suggestive as the historical and topographical associations of the place itself. Christ was crucified on the fourteenth of Nissan, or about the beginning of April. It was the first of Israel's great national feasts—the most important season in the Jewish year. It was the Passover, when solemn celebration was made of that night—when all the firstborn sons of the Hebrews were spared from the angel of death in the land of Egypt. At this season, Jerusalem was thronged by immense multitudes, for it was one of the three annual occasions when every male Israelite was commanded to appear before Jehovah in the temple (Deut. 16:16). Thus, huge crowds had journeyed there from all parts of the land. It was in no obscure corner, nor in secret, that the Great Sacrifice was offered up to God. And the fourteenth of Nissan was the day appointed for it, for the Lord Jesus was the antitypical Lamb, "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Cor. 5:7). On no other day could He be slain—at an earlier date they "sought to take Him—but no man laid hands upon Him, because His hour was not yet come" (John 7:30).

"They crucified Him....and sitting down they watched Him there."

My divisions will be simple—
what they saw;
what I see;
what do you see?

I. What THEY saw.

1. They beheld the most amazing event of all history, the most awe-inspiring spectacle ever set before the eyes of men, the most tragic and yet the most glorious deed ever performed. They beheld God incarnate taken by wicked hands and slain—yet at the same time the Redeemer voluntarily laying down His life for those who have forfeited every claim upon Him. To those soldiers it was an ordinary event—the execution of a criminal. And thus it is with most of those who hear the Gospel—it falls upon their ears as a religious commonplace. To those Roman soldiers, at least for awhile, Christ appeared to them only as a dying Jew. Thus it is with the multitude today—to them the Lamb of God possesses neither form nor loveliness, and when He is set before them in the mirror of the Word—they see in Him no beauty that they should desire Him. His peerless Person has no attraction for them—His righteous claims are disregarded—His scepter is flouted—for His atoning blood, they feel no need.

2. They beheld the incomparable perfections of the crucified One. How immeasurably different the deportment of the suffering Savior—from what they had witnessed from others in similar circumstances! No cursing of His lot, no reviling of His enemies, no maledictions upon themselves. The very reverse—His lips are engaged in prayer! "Father," He says, "forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). How amazed they must have been—as they heard that Blessed One on the tree making "intercession for the transgressors" (Isaiah 53:12). The two thieves who were crucified with Him mocked the Redeemer (Matthew 27:44), but at the eleventh hour one of them was "granted repentance unto life" (Acts 11:18) and turning to Jesus he said, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom" (Luke 23:42). The Lord did not decline his appeal and say he had sinned beyond the reach of mercy but answered, "Truly, I say unto you, Today shall you be with Me in Paradise" (v. 43). Thus they witnessed an unparalleled display of sovereign grace unto one of the greatest of sinners.

3. They beheld most mysterious phenomena. They had sat down to "watch Him," but after a while they were no longer able to do so. At midday—it suddenly became as midnight, "At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock" (Matthew 27:45). It was as though the sun refused to shine on such a scene, as though nature itself was mourning over such a sight! During those three hours, there a transaction took place between Christ and God, which was infinitely too sacred for finite eyes to gaze upon—a mystery which no mortal mind can fully enter into. As soon as the Savior committed His spirit into the hands of the Father, "At that moment the curtain in the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened!" (Matthew 27:51). No ordinary sufferer was this. It was the Creator of Heaven and earth expiring—and Heaven and earth here expressed their sympathy.

4. They beheld and heard that which was blessed to their conviction and conversion. Pharaoh witnessed the most remarkable display of God's power in the plagues which He sent upon Egypt—but so far from inclining him to repentance, he continued to harden his heart. Thus it ever is with the unregenerate, while then are left to themselves—neither the most astonishing tokens of God's goodness nor the most awe-inspiring of His judgments melt or move them. But in the case before us, God was pleased to soften the callous hearts of these Roman soldiers and illumine their heathen minds, for we are informed, "The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, 'Truly, this was the Son of God!" (Matthew 27:54).

Personally we regard this as another of the miracles which took place at Calvary—a miracle of amazing grace, and it is our expectation to meet in Heaven—the very man who hammered the nails into the Savior's hands and feet, and thrust the spear into His side—God's answer to Christ's prayer, "Father, forgive them." Thus there is hope for the vilest sinner out of Hell—if he will surrender to the Lordship of Christ and trust in His all-sufficient blood.

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