The Significance of Christ's Death: Prophecy Fulfilled, Matthew 27:45-49

This morning we are looking at the significance of Christ's death: prophecy fulfilled. This is only the beginning; it's not an in-depth study. I want to hit it in more of a survey fashion to help us understand what has transpired here as we look at the cross on Golgotha.

Since we got into the period of Christ's arrest and then the six trials I began to take us through a step-by-step of all of the things that happened between the taking of Jesus from Pilate's presence to Golgotha, putting together all of the Gospel accounts, so that we can have a full picture of what transpired.

We looked at the first five stages and that covered the procession to Golgotha as Jesus was led away carrying His cross. Following that we looked at the first three hours on the cross, where the wrath of man was directed toward Jesus as He was reviled, ridiculed and mocked by those who went by. Then we looked at the second three hours, which is the time when the sin payment was made. Again and again in Scripture there is a depiction of sin as a debt, and that that debt has been paid. That is not, in my opinion, probed enough today. The debt has been paid; it has been canceled. The word for cancellation has to do with forgiveness—same word. It was an economic term and it meant that at the cross, a financial type transaction took place that canceled the debt. That's what Colossians 2:12-14 tells us. It canceled the debt.

There was forgiveness of the debt, a real forgiveness for all, which lays the foundation for our salvation: that it is not that that sin is forgiven, although it is in a second type of forgiveness at the time that we trust Christ as Savior, but there is a genuine cancellation of the sin penalty at the cross, so that Jesus said it is finished—again, a term that was used in a financial transactions to state that the debt or the payment was made in full. It was completed; nothing could be added to it. That doesn't mean that people are automatically saved, it means that the sin problem has been truly dealt with for everyone. And so the issue in salvation is not sin, it's Christ; it's who He is and what He did for us. That payment was made during those three hours of darkness when God the Father judicially imputed to Christ the sins of the world.

We saw that this is emphasized most by the Gospel of John. John states in John 19:30 the state statement Jesus made on the cross: "It is finished". But prior to that in John 19:28 John said: "After this …" That is, after He had completed the payment for sin. "… Jesus (and that would be, should be translated as a causal participle) because He knew that all things were now accomplished …" That's the same phrase in the Greek, the same identical term. It's a perfect participle, which means it's completed action, it is done at that point; it's not still going on, it is completed and finished at this point. So John 19:28 says, "Jesus because He knew that all things were completely finished …" He is silent." Remember, like we just read in Isaiah 53, "like the lamb before his shearers is dumb, so He opened not his mouth". He didn't open His mouth until it was finished. Once it was finished, then He said, "I thirst".

So the emphasis there is on that completed payment that we can't add to; we can take away from it; it's done, and it provides forgiveness, it cancels the debt of sin.

Then we come to the 24th stage when Jesus dies physically. In the 24th stage He makes His seventh statement from the cross, and that's given to us in Luke 23:46, And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” Having said this, He breathed His last.

This is His final statement. Luke emphasizes that He does this with a loud voice. He screams out with this loud voice, and when it says, "He cried out", and "He said", they are probably not two different things. This is more of a Hebrew idiom that this is what he said when He cried out; this is the content of this cry. In the Greek it says, He cried out with a loud voice. He is screaming this out, shouting it out, and He says, "My Father, into your hands I commit my spirit".

Now what does that mean? Some translations use the word "commend", other translations use the word "commit", and so we have to look at the word that is used here in the Greek. It is PARATITHEMI, which has the idea of depositing something. So if you were to go to the bank because you trust the institution to take care of your money, you deposit your money into an account at the bank; you entrusted to them. That's the idea there. He is committing himself, the God-Man, His immaterial spirit, to God. He says, "Into your hands I commit my spirit". This is again a fulfillment of part of a messianic psalm. The verse is Psalm 31:5, and He is reciting that "into your hand I commit my spirit", indicating that is a prophecy that is fulfilled ultimately in the Messiah. And it's a Hebrew word that is in the hiphil stem.

Hebrew is kind of different from Indo-European languages; it has these different stems for verbs. You can have a verb and it can be and what they call the cal or the niphal, or the piel, the pual. The hiphil stem is causative, so He is indicating that He is causing this to happen because it's finished. Again we see that He is in control. Throughout this whole process man in his rebellion against God hates God and through the instrumentality of the religious leaders of Israel, through the instrumentality of the soldiers of Rome and the governor, they are seeking to kill Him, and they are torturing Him. They have beaten Him, they flogged Him, they ridiculed and they mocked Him, and they've spit upon Him. But He is the one who is in control.

There's a great lesson for us in this. It is that when we live in the Devil's world, when we live in a sinful, chaotic world, God is still in control. It may not appear as such to us, but He's in control. We are to relax and trust Him and to continue the mission that God has given us in the spiritual life, which is to continue to grow and mature to fulfill all of the different mandates that are given us in Scripture in terms of our spiritual growth, in our ministry and our service to the body of Christ, in all the different one another admonitions that we are given, to pray for one another, to encourage one another, to love one another. All of these things we continue to do, not being distracted by the chaos going on around us, but to focus on the mission God has given us also in terms of being a living witness through our life as well as a witness through our lips and talking to people and telling them the gospel. All of that is part of it. We don't get distracted. God is in control. We trust him and we move forward with the mission that God has given us.

Jesus has completed the mission. That's why He said it's finished, paid in full. And now that it is done He lowers His head and His last cry out, "I commit my spirit" (I entrust it). The Hebrew word has the same idea. It has a number of different meanings but that word "appoint" is similar to it—I am setting this, committing it to you, giving this over and trusting it to you.

Psalm 31:5 "Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have ransomed me, O LORD, God of truth". The word "redeemed" [ransomed] has to do with the fact that God is rescuing Him from this payment of sin, from this life, and God is going to be taking Him to Himself at the time of physical death.

He says He commits His spirit. In the Gospel accounts that emphasize this aspect they use the term PNEUMA—here in Luke 23:46 and also in Matthew 27:50. I believe firmly in a view that the human a human being is composed of three parts. That's called technically called trichotomy. He as a physical body, he has a soul, and he has a human spirit. When we are born spiritually dead we are not born with the human spirit. But when we trust in Christ we are regenerated, born again, we receive this human spirit. It's an aspect of our immaterial makeup that allows us to have a relationship with God.

But these terms PNEUMA for spirit and PSUCHE for soul are not always used in a technical sense. Sometimes PSUCHE simply means life, and it refers to anyone. And sometimes it is just talking about the immaterial part of man and emphasizing that soul. Sometimes PNEUMA is a term that doesn't just describe the human spirit, but describes just the immaterial part of man, and I believe that is what He is saying here. It was idiomatic. You can go back and find various passages related to this in the Old Testament where spirit is used for God taking "his spirit" is used as an idiom for death. That is what Jesus is saying here. He is dying physically and His immaterial being, His soul and spirit, will be separated from His physical body and go into the presence of God, as His body will be taken from the cross and then and then buried.

Matthew 27:50 doesn't say what Jesus cried out. It simply says, "Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit". Matthew uses the word "yielded". He uses the verb of the APHIEMI, which is usually translated to cancel or to forgive, but the root meaning of both of those ideas is to let something go, to release it, and so he's using this word in that sense, that Jesus is releasing His spirit. The time is done, Jesus has completed the mission, and so in a final act showing that he is in control He picks the exact time when He dies physically. His spirit goes to be with the Lord.

John in his and his Gospel (John 19:30) says, Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

Again he is using that same word, so you don't have a word PSEUCHE in any of the passages, it just talks about His spirit of the immaterial part of His being.

That brings us to the physical death of Christ on the cross, and what I want to do is pause here before we go further into what transpires in terms of what happened, what is said after his death by the Roman centurion, what happens in terms of His body being pierced by the spear, taken down prepared for burial, all of those things, and take a pause as we think about what has happened and why it has happened.

We've looked at the historical record, but Jesus came into this earth, He entered into the human body that came through miraculous means—through virgin birth—and that His soul and spirit entered into that human body in order to go to the cross and to die. Why did he do that? What is the significance of that spiritual and physical death of Christ?

To begin that, I want to look at the Old Testament preparation. We are not going to make this an exhaustive study, but just to be reminded. I think everyone of us needs to have under our control 3, 4, or 5 different solid prophecies from the Old Testament that we can go to and use at times when we are witnessing, or talking to somebody about the Lord Jesus Christ. We have near prophecies. By near prophecies I mean that Jesus demonstrated that He was a prophet in fulfillment of the prophecy of Moses in Deuteronomy, that there would be a prophet like him that would come that is fulfilled in Jesus. And three times He made prophecies in the synoptic Gospels related to His death in Jerusalem.

In Matthew 16:28 we read, "Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." He is prophesying the fact that the Son of Man would be coming and that there would be those who would live to see that. That was fulfilled. Earlier Matthew 16 He predicts that He will go to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man would be betrayed and would be crucified by the religious leaders. Then in Matthew 17:22 we read, "Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of man".

Matthew 16:21 "From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day." That is one of His first predictions to his disciples of what would happen. Then in Matthew 17:22, 23 He repeats that again. "They [the disciples] were deeply grieved". They still didn't grasp it but they understand that He is making this prediction of His death.

Then we come to Matthew 20:17-19, As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve {disciples} aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify {Him,} and on the third day He will be raised up.”

We have seen that each of these predictions comes true, demonstrating that Jesus is a true prophet and that He accurately predicted His death and what exactly would happen, as well as his resurrection. John is very different from the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I want to look at three specific prophecies that are alluded to in the Gospel of John, and the first one is in John 1:29. This occurred as Jesus was inaugurating His earthly ministry. Before this, He has not been known. He has been living in obscurity and Nazareth. Now, at this point after John the Baptist has been announcing the coming kingdom, and to repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand, Jesus comes to John, who is his cousin, to be baptized. This will inaugurate His earthly ministry. And when John saw him coming down to the Jordan, he announced, "The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

What exactly does he mean when he announces the Lamb of God, for there are various sacrifices in the Old Testament. We could think of the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement, which is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. It teaches something about that, but the sacrificial animals on the Day of Atonement are goats, not sheep. We might think of various other sacrifices that involve bowls and they involve goats they involve birds at times, but what John is saying here focuses on this idea of a lamb. So where does that idea of a lamb come from?

We can go back to other sacrifices in the Old Testament, but I think in terms of a Jewish audience the most significant reference to a lamb is at the Passover.

Exodus 12:12 ‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the LORD.

This is at the time of the 10th plague. The Israelites have been enslaved for over 400 years in Egypt and now God, true to His promise to Abraham, is going to free them, and has sent a deliverer, Moses. Moses as the deliver is also a type of Christ. The word "type" is an antiquated word but it's a word that is embedded in theology. It is a word from the Greek TOUPOS, which means an example. It's the idea of something that depicts some aspect of something future, especially in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So there are various different things used in the Old Testament to picture these things. People are used that way, such as Moses, things are used that way, such as, for example, the Ark of the Covenant, and animals are used this way in terms of the sacrifices.

That 10th plague has been announced, that God would take the life of the firstborn throughout Egypt, the firstborn in every family and the firstborn of their herds and flocks, but there would be one way to survive and that is this provision of a blood sacrifice. That is the Passover lamb.

The Lord instructs Moses and Aaron. Exodus 12:2, 3 “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household".

This lamb has to be inspected. It has to be evaluated; it has to fit certain criteria. Not just any lamb will do; it has to be a lamb that is without spot or blemish to depict the fact that the Savior has to be without sin. This is fulfilled literally in a time frame when Jesus enters into Jerusalem on the 10th of Nisan, and He is, as it were, evaluated, tested by the religious leaders as they are asking various questions. They are opposed to Him and we see how He responds to each of those interrogations. As a result of that we see that He demonstrates who He is, that He is the qualified Savior. He doesn't lose his temper. He doesn't get angry at them in terms of a sin, there is no personal sin committed; and in terms of His whole life there is no personal sin. He is qualified to go to the cross.

The picture, the type of this is this lamb that is evaluated between the 10th and the 14th of Nisan. They have tested this lamb, evaluated it and made sure that it fits the criteria. Just think about that. At this particular time, because God the Father knew what was going to happen, you have about 3-million Jews. So let's say there are ten in every family. You have about 300,000 lambs that are going to be required. That's a lot of lambs. God had provided, not just 300,000 lambs, but 300,000 lambs who are without spot or blemish so that there would be the right number at that time, and nobody was going to say well we ran out of qualified lambs. That's a fascinating way to think about God providing for everyone a perfect salvation.

They take the lamb on the 14^th, a lamb that is a year old. So that must indicate the size of the flocks, that they had to have so many that were a year old as well, a tremendous provision, supernatural provision of God.

Exodus 12:6 ‘You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.

Think about the logistics of that. There are going to be 300,000 lambs that are all sacrificed at the same time. Then they were to take the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel, the upper crosspiece on the doorframe on which they eat it. Think about that: the blood on each side and at the top. If you connect the dots you have the form of a cross.

Then they were to roast it. Exodus 12:8 ‘They shall eat the flesh that {same} night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

What is the significance of eating there? Two things that we should emphasize with eating: first of all, anyone can do it; it is available to anyone. And when you eat something you are taking it and making it a part of yourself. It is a picture that is used throughout Scripture of belief, of the act of trusting, because when we trust Christ we are accepting Him as our Savior. This idea of accepting Christ or believing is another way problem of believing in Him, which is depicted through eating.

The other thing that it emphasizes is fellowship, because in the ancient near East, as it is today, sitting down at a meal together is a picture of fellowship, that picture of community that is there and that relationship among those who are eating. That is what is depicted here, because the way in which we enter into eternal fellowship with God is by accepting the salvation, the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

The prescriptions are given here not to eat any of it raw or boiled it all with water, but roasted with fire. That's a picture of judgment. Jesus is going to be judged on the cross.

Exodus 12:10 ‘And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. [11] Now you shall eat it in this manner: {with} your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the LORD’S Passover.

That has to do with the logistics of that time because they're getting ready to be released leave. Later on after this initial Passover they will eat lying down, which indicates that they rest in that provision.

So this is the image that would come to a Jew. When John the Baptist says, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world", that word for taking away is a word that would be parallel or synonymous with this redemption as they are released from Egypt. They are going to be taken away from that slavery in Egypt, just as when we trust in Christ we are taken away from that slavery to sin; we are set free. That is the first example of a lamb. The second example is from Isaiah chapter 53; specifically verse seven.

One of the things that we see as we read through Isaiah 53. I just want to begin in verses six and read through verse eight looking at this context.

Isaiah 53:6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. [7] He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. [8] By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke {was due?}

In verse six we have a reference to sheep again but it refers to all of us and that we are like lost sheep. All of us like sheep have gone astray. The "all of us" is a universal term indicating every human being. "… but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him". That's the picture of substitution. In a sacrifice, when you are bringing a sacrifice as a burnt offering, as a guilt offering, trespass offering, then the one who brings a sacrifice puts his hand on the sacrificial animal, and it is a picture of their sins being transferred to that animal. Then the animal is killed for their sin. It is a perfect picture of substitution. "… the iniquity of us all will fall on Him". That is again, a universal term. "All of us" means everyone, without exception. At the end, "the iniquity of us all" is the same phrase. It's universal; it refers to every single human being. This is one of the great passages for refuting the idea of a limited atonement that Christ died only for the elect.

Then we look at verse seven. "He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter …" This is where we see this imagery again where the work of the Messiah is compared to that of a lamb. "… like a lamb that is led to short slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers so He did not open his mouth." Verse eight goes on to say that He was judged "… taken from prison for judgment and who will declare his generation. He's cut off from the land of the living and for the for the transgressions of my people." Again that idea "for the transgressions" is the idea of substitution, "for the transgression of my people".

The second verse in John that again develops a typology, is John 3:14. Everyone is familiar with John 3:16. We see people who have banners with John 3:16 honored at various sports events, and people will put it on their license plates, but very few people will put John 3:14 on their license plate. The John 3:14 tells us about an Old Testament incident and how that depicts what happens in relation to salvation.

John 3:14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up [15] so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

I've always thought this is a verse that really helps us to understand what faith is. There is a lot of discussion that goes on about what faith is. Some people think faith is commitment. Some people think that faith is something that is different from off all other kinds of faith. But what we see in this illustration is that faith is just trusting in something. It is the something that's trusted in that has the efficacy. It is what is trusted in that is significant; it's not the faith as faith that saves you, it's what you believe in. It's the object of your faith.

Numbers chapter 21 describes an incident of rebellion that takes place among the Israelites as they are going through the wilderness after they have been released from slavery in Egypt and complaining about their food. So God is going to bring some judgment on them.

Numbers 21:4  Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey.

The people spoke against God and Moses, so they are cursing God, and they are cursing Moses. They're tired of traveling and walking and they want to go back to Egypt. "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?" This is always the trend of human beings. They want somebody to provide everything for them and they would rather be in slavery than really live on the basis of individual freedom. And that was self-destructive for this generation.

They complained, "For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.” God has provided manna for them and they are angry with God for His provision, though He gives them everything that they need. So God judges them.

Numbers 21:6 The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

There is a lot of discussion about what kind of serpents they were, or whether the "fiery" there has to do with the serpents being fiery, or whether it is that the venomous light burned and so that is describing the result of the bite. Those are all issues to be studied at another time. The fact is that many people died. This is a picture of spiritual death, a picture of a problem sin, and God is going to provide the solution.

Numbers 21:7 So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.

Numbers 21:8 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery {serpent,} and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.”

So he is going to make a bronze serpent that depicts this viper, put it on a pole and raise it up high enough so everyone can see it—everyone in the camp. Again, it is a universal solution; it's not a limited solution. It is not God choosing some to be delivered and that those are the only ones who can look at the serpent. God said to look at it and they will be healed. And they are believing that to be true. They are simply assenting to the fact that that is true. That's what assent means. They are assenting to the right thing, they are agreeing that this is true, and if I do it, I will be delivered.

This is exactly what takes place, '"when he looks at it". It's simple, there's no commitment. There is no inviting the bronze serpent into their life, no inviting the bronze servant into their heart, none of this silliness that often accompanies the way the gospel is explained today; it is simply faith. You know, the only biblically acceptable terms, are belief and accepting or receiving Jesus as your Savior. It doesn't say to receive Jesus into your life; that is a result.

Now do I think that people who invite Jesus into their heart, or invite Jesus into their life, are not saved? No. I think that they are believing in Him; they're just being told the wrong terminology to use. That doesn't excuse sloppiness in gospel presentations, because a person doesn't get saved because they pray a prayer, a person get saved because they believe Jesus died for their sins. What they do subsequent to that in terms of praying a prayer, inviting Jesus into their life, or whatever, is something that only reflects something that happened internally. Salvation is when we believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins. And when we understand the gospel and we believe it, that's in mental act. It's an act of our soul; it's a decision. And at that instant we are saved. Saying something would always be subsequent to an act that has occurred in our mind, and it is that act of belief, of trust, believing yes that is true, Jesus died for my sins.

Some people say well assenting to the truth just doesn't sound right. But what they get confused about is that often people assent to the wrong truth and are not saved. I can say I agree that the Bible teaches that Jesus died for my sins. Am I saved? No. I believe that Charles Darwin taught that man evolved from simple forms to complex forms, from amoeba to man, but I don't believe in evolution. I believe that's what Darwin said but that doesn't mean I believe what Darwin said.

A lot of believe people think, well I believe that's what the Bible teaches. But that doesn't mean that they believe what the Bible teaches. You have to believe in the right proposition, and the right proposition is Jesus died for my sins, and you put your name in there. You believe that, you are agreeing that that's true.

That illustration of assenting in something like this is when you're doing your income tax. I quit doing this years ago because I don't like numbers. But at one time I did do that. I would fill out the form put in all of the numbers and I would double and triple and quadruple check, it and when I agreed that my computations were accurate I assented to the truth of that conclusion. I quit working on it. I stopped. I rested in it. That's what faith is. You agree that it is true, and then you just to stop, you're done, you have faith in that computation.

That is what happens here in this picture and it is picked up in John three to indicate what is said. Then in John 3:16 it is belief in Christ alone that changes us from those who are perishing to those who have eternal life. And then when we come to John 3:18 it is reinforced once again.

John 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

It's not believe and anything; it is simply believe. He who believes in Him on him is not condemned; He who believes not is condemned already"—

you're born in condemnation; you're still there. He who believes not is condemned already. Why? Because he has committed sins? It doesn't say that, does it? Because he has committed certain sins? It doesn't say that either. Why? Because that transaction occurred at the cross and they are wiped out the paid for. So the issue isn't what sins they committed, the issue is whether they believe on Him.

John 3:18 ends, "He is condemned or judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." That is the salvific proposition. Do you believe in the name of the Jesus who died on the cross for your sins or not? That's it. If you agree that that is true you assent to it and say, yes that's true in your heart. God knows what you're thinking in your mind, and if you believe it in your mind then you're saved. If not, then you're not saved; you're still condemned.

That is the second example. The third example is in John 6:51 where Jesus said, "I am the living bread that comes down from heaven". So He is comparing that to the manna that was provided by God to nourish and sustain the Israelites as they are going through the wilderness. "I am the living bread which comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of the bread, he will live forever". Now what does eating describe? Eating is another way of illustrating faith, of accepting something of taking it into one's self. Anyone can eat; anyone can believe. It is a provision that God has given in salvation. And so Jesus then describes what this bread is. We think about it in reference to the Lord's Table. "The bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world", talking about His death on the cross.

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