Mark 15:1-39
(The Cross for Good Friday, 14 April, 2017):
1. Why…“Good Friday”…???
2. Thus…we read about the Cross…in Mark 15:1-39…
3. I wanted us to read all of this…but we will focus on just the last section…Verses 33-39…
– Let’s read those again…once more…
– Vss.33-39:
4. I think this passage wants us to focus on Two Very Important TRUTHS…that the Crucifixion of Jesus puts in front of us…
The Impact of Sin…
The Results of Christ’s Death…
I. The Impact of Sin
– We see this in Verses 33 and 34 :
1. FIRST…the Bible wants us to know…(in vs.33)…that a very strange thing occurred when Jesus hung upon the Cross…
– DARKNESS fell over the whole land…
– It is the term σκοτος …(skotos)…and it means the deep, penetrating BLACKNESS of the NIGHT…
a. (DISCUSS…what does darkness like this suggest…???)
(Fear, the Unknown, Danger, Losing Your Way, etc…)
b. Here…because it is very unusual…coming at “the sixth hour”…(12:00 Noon)…and because it falls “over the whole land”…and because it lasted for 3 hours…“until the ninth hour”…(says the verse)…
– HERE…it is clearly meant as a symbol of…the gloom and ugliness…of SIN!
– DARKNESS here conveys the awful impact of SIN…
– And behind SIN…in the Bible…is always SATAN…the author of all that is EVIL…
c. And in the Gospel Story…JESUS IS HANING UPON THE CROSS…because…GOD IS CONFRONTING SIN and SATAN…
d. It is…in other words… THE IMPACT of YOUR SIN…and MINE…and the SINS of all of HUMANITY…and the EVIL OF SATAN who inspires sin…which is the reason that Christ is Crucified…
e. And…this Very Unusual Darkness…tells us that what happened to Jesus…is nothing less than The Impact of Sin…
(SILENT CONFESSION: In prayer…silently…we confess to God that is OUR SIN…that required Jesus’ Death on the Cross…)
2. SECOND…the Bible wants us to know…that Jesus Christ…BORE THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR SIN…
a. We see this…very particularly…in Verse 34 :
b. In other words…the Impact of our Sin…is that Jesus was “FORSAKEN”…by God…His Father…!!
– The word means…to Cut Off and Abandon…which is how God in His Holiness must respond to Sin…
– This would be MY CRY…and YOUR CRY…“My God, My God, why have You FORSAKEN me?”
– BUT…Jesus took upon himself ALL of the SIN of the world…including yours and mine…
– And so…it is HIS CRY…rather than Yours…
c. The IMPACT of Sin and Evil…is that JESUS was Forsaken…Cut Off…Abandoned by God…
II. The Results of Christ’s Death
1. OPEN and FREE ACCESS to God…for ALL…
a. We see this in another very strange thing that happened when Jesus Died on the Cross…
In Verse 38…“And the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”
b. The VEIL of the Temple separated the HOLINESS of GOD…from common, ordinary human beings…
But…when it was TORN IN TWO…it is another symbol that something drastic has changed…
That JESUS’ DEATH…has OPENED the way for ALL to have ACCESS TO GOD…
EVEN…the Roman Centurion…(the enemy)…who is responds to Jesus…in Verse 39.
2. RECOGNITION of Christ as THE SON OF GOD
a. We see this…so clearly…in Verse 39:
b. The Bible is telling us…here…that ALL people can respond to God…because it is (as we said) A ROMAN SOLDIER who is the first to understand the significance of Jesus’s Death…and WHO HE IS!!
c. But…do see how the Bible here tells us something very specific?
It says…this Roman Centurion…recognized Christ…(in Verse 39) “…when…[he] saw the way He breathed His last…”
d. And that takes us back to Verse 37… which says that when Jesus “breathed His last”…He “uttered a loud cry”…
This must have been what the Roman Soldier heard and saw…that led to his proclamation…
So that…it must have been…NOT a cry of Fear or Hate or even Agony…
BUT A CRY of PRAISE to God…A CRY of VICTORY…A CRY of TOTAL TRUST in the God…
Because Jesus knew that SIN and SATAN were OVERCOME by His Own Death…
And Because…Jesus knew that…RESURRECTION was coming!!
e. SO…here is the LASTING RESULT of the Death of Jesus on the Cross…
– BOTH…the RECOGNITION and the PROCLAMATION…that JESUS CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD !!
f. Let’s proclaim it together…joining in with this Roman Centurion…in FARSI…and in ENGLISH:
“Truly this man was the SON OF GOD.”