Matthew 27

The official verdict against the Son of God, the Savior of Israel, was delivered by those who were in charge of the religious courts of the covenant people of God. The Messiah had come to the descendents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their chief priests and elders had determined that He should be put to death. For this reason they brought Him to Pilate, since the Roman civil authorities would be the ones to oversee his execution if they determined Him to be a capital criminal.

Meanwhile, the betrayer of our Lord from His own close disciples, Judas, was filled with hatred of himself for his actions. He knew that Jesus was innocent, and he knew that he, Judas, had sinned greatly by betraying the Lord to the chief priests and the elders. He went to these men directly, an amazing act of boldness, but when they refused to get their hands dirty with his ugly situation, he executed his own justice against himself. Throughout all of these events we see the fulfillment of the words of the Psalms and the prophets, for God had decreed these important events. He did so not out of hatred, envy, or greed, but out of love, and covenant faithfulness.

Jesus was now in the hands of the Roman authorities, but it did not at all seem certain that He would be put to death. In fact the Roman Governor, Pilate, was trying to prevent His execution, in part based on information from his wife who had been troubled in a dream concerning the One she called "that righteous man." First Pilate looked to Jesus to defend Himself against His accusers. Then he looked to the crowd to have them ask for His release. Shockingly, they went along with the venom of their religious leaders, and demanded the release of a dangerous prisoner instead of Jesus. Even more than this, they were the ones now insisting loudly on the crucifixion of the One who came to die for the sins of His people. When Pilate protested that he was innocent of the blood of Jesus, it was the crowd that insisted that the blood be upon, not only their own heads, but upon the heads of their children! The truth is that the guilt of the cross is upon the heads of all who are covered by the saving blood of Christ. Whether Jew or Gentile, our common confession is this: Jesus died for our sins. Our sins brought Him to the cross.

When Pilate consented to their demands, the Lord was handed over to those who would exactly fulfill the facts of Psalm 22, written so many centuries before, long before any evidence of any crucifixion. It was not Jews who were performing these detailed actions according to some strange scheme to work out a gruesome fulfillment of this ancient Hebrew song. It was Gentile soldiers who were doing things described there, things that were hidden in its verses, things that only God could have known. But Jesus knew. That is why He quoted the first verse of this psalm from the cross before His death. "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

On the way to that death, the facts of Psalm 69 were also accomplished, as those who were watching gave the Son of God gall and bitter wine. Isaiah 53 was accomplished as Jesus was crucified with the wicked, as well as another detail from Psalm 22 in the dividing of His garments, as the soldiers casts lots for them. But especially it was the fact of crucifixion, detailed amazingly in Psalm 22, that captivates our attention, as our Lord faces what was written so long ago. All three of these substantial passages contain two other important truths in a very prominent way. First, this was happening not only through the hands of wicked men, but according to the decree and action of God. It was God's plan that was fulfilled here, for God's good purposes. Second, this death was not to be the end of the story, either for Jesus or for us. He would be set on high, and would give hope to those trusting in Him (Psalm 69); He would be a victorious warrior, dividing the spoils of war with His comrades (Isaiah 53); He would be heard by God and would live, and He would bring our worship as His resurrected brothers before His Father in heaven, even the worship of those who had lived long before Him, and the worship of a people that had not yet been born (Psalm 22), all to the eternal glory of God.

For any of this to be accomplished it was necessary for Him to stay on the cross. It was necessary for the One who could have commanded legions of angels in His defense, to die, so that the penalty that stood against us would be fully paid, and so that heaven above, and the coming age of resurrection, would be filled with redeemed worshippers of God, worshippers whose sins were atoned for by the Lamb of God. This is what He did. He yielded up His spirit. He died, and He was buried in a rich man's tomb, fulfilling Isaiah 53 yet again.

Because He did this, death could not have the final say over the dead. Graves would be opened. Because of Him and His cross, we have bold access into the heavenly sanctuary of Almighty God. The curtain of separation between God and His people was torn from top to bottom. Because of Jesus and the good news of His life, death, and resurrection, millions have been able to confess that this Man truly was, and is, the Son of God. No guard of soldiers would ever be able to keep Him in the tomb. His Spirit was in Paradise, in the place of His own Almighty power. In a matter of a few short days, He would be the firstfruits of the Age of Resurrection.