Good Friday 2021: Christ died for our sins - Mark 15:33-37

 

THE DEATH OF THE PASSOVER-KING

(or, “Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures…”)

Mark 15:33-37

Introduction: James Kennedy told the story from the days of the Great Depression, when a Missouri man named John Griffith, was the controller of a great drawbridge across the Mississippi river. One day in the summer of 1937 he decided to take his eight-year-old son, Greg, with him to work…

…At noon, John Griffith put the bridge up to allow ships to pass and sat on the observation deck with his son to eat lunch. Time passed quickly… Suddenly he was startled to hear the shrieking of a train whistle in the distance. He quickly looked at his watch, and noticed that it was 1:07—the Memphis express, with four hundred passengers on board was roaring toward the raised bridge! He leapt from the observation deck and ran back to the control tower. Just before throwing the lever he glanced down for any ships below. There a sight caught his eye that caused his pounding heart to leap into his throat. [His son] Greg had slipped from the observation deck and had fallen into the massive gears that operate the bridge! His left leg was caught between the two main gears. Desperately his mind whirled to devise a rescue plan. But as soon as he thought of a possibility he knew there was no way it could be done—there was not time!

     Again, and with alarming closeness, the train whistle shrieked in the air. He could [already] hear the clicking of the locomotive wheels over the tracks. That was his son down there—yet there were four hundred passengers on the train. John knew what he had to do, so he buried his head in his left arm and pushed the master switch forward. That great massive bridge lowered into place just as the Memphis Express began to roar across the river…

Any analogy of the redemptive work of Christ falls short, but as Paul said, “…He spared not the Son, but delivered Him up for us all…” We were on a train heading toward death and hell, but God intervened, He sacrificed the Son, so that we could have life. Today we are going to look at the King on the Cross, in Mark 15:33-37. God’s plan to save us reached its climax in these verses… The disciples had been scattered, Peter has denied him, the leaders had violated their own traditions with a mock trial at night, Pilate gave in to their requests and ordered him flogged in the morning, and then after releasing Barabbas at their insistence, he sends the Son to be crucified. In all of this Jesus has been silent, except in affirming that yes, He is in fact the King of the Jews. Their rejection of Him, and His cruel treatment at the hands of the Romans, actually fulfills Scripture, particularly Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, ironically proving Him to the promised Messiah. The brings us to...

The BIG Idea:  The Cross was the place of divine judgement against sin, and the death of the Son, as our substitute, is the only way to forgiveness and life.

I. Darkness: Jesus endured the darkness of judgment, so that we could see the light of life (33).

“And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.” 

       The first direct word of God recorded in the Bible is spoken in the context of creation: “Let there be light!” God spoke, light shined light over the universe, and it was good. Throughout the Bible light and darkness are used to describe life and blessing and the presence of God on the one hand, and separation, judgement, and death on the other. This imagery is so ingrained in Scripture that John could describe the coming of Jesus into the world as the coming of light:

“The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.  ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him…” (Jn 1:9-10).

Later John describes believing in Jesus as “coming to the light” and unbelief in terms of loving the darkness (3:18-21). But remember that the context is the Passover.  And remember that this is Passover week. The people are hearing and reciting the story of the Exodus from Egypt, including the ten plagues which culminated in the Passover, and the death of the firstborn in the homes of the Egyptians. Before that final plague there were nine others. The ninth is described in Exodus 10:21-23,   

…the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt."  ²² So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.  ²³ They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived.

Pharaoh’s unbelief and refusal to obey the Lord had brought a series of devastating plagues on Egypt, but until the final plague, this was perhaps the most terrifying. Pitch dark, a darkness to be felt. And it occurred in all the land except where the Jews were! That darkness continued for three days, and Mark tells us that darkness came upon the whole land for three hours, from noon to 3.

      The prophets also spoke of the coming judgement in terms of “darkness.” Joel chapter 2 begins and ends with a reference to the coming Day of the Lord…

Joel 2:1-2, “…for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near,  ² a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again...”

Then in a passage, quoted in part by Peter on the day of Pentecost, we read in Joel 2:31, “The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” Darkness and judgment together! In fact, hell is described as “outer darkness,” as in the parable of the wicked servant.

       Joel also describes the coming “Day of the Lord” as darkness in 5:18-20, and then we read an intriguing statement in Amos 8:9, "And on that day," declares the Lord GOD, "I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.” That is pretty specific! And here in Mark 15, at the height of day, the 6^th hour—noon—until the ninth hour (3 PM) there is darkness. The Light of the World was plunged into darkness,  the complete absence of light! John Calvin said, “Our Lord Jesus… was denied the light of the sun, when He was in His sufferings, to signify the withdrawing of the light of God’s countenance…” Derek Thomas alluded to this when he called this moment the opposite of the Aaronic benediction that we have in Numbers 6:24-26. In that blessing it says,

“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

Instead of the described blessing, Christ, though holy, became a curse for us… It is as though God said, “May the Lord curse you and reject you, and hide His face from you, and give you His wrath!” Darkness came on the whole land as the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all, He bore our sins, He was made a curse for us! He drank the Cup of divine wrath, so that we could drink the cup of blessing. Love so amazing!

      The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts…” He endured the darkness that we deserved, so that we could receive the light of life. The Cross was the place of divine judgement against sin, and the death of the Son, as our substitute, is the only way to forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Through His death the way is opened to life! Jesus endured the darkness of judgment, so that we could see the light of life… He also experienced…

II. Desertion: He was forsaken, so that we never would be (34-36).

³⁴ And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  ³⁵ And some of the bystanders hearing it said, "Behold, he is calling Elijah."  ³⁶ And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down." 

      Mark tells us that Jesus cried out, citing Psalm 22:1 in its Aramaic form, and then Mark gives us the translation, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We need to preface our struggle to understand how this could be and what it means, by acknowledging that there is mystery in the Godhead, one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Spirit. There is also mystery in the incarnation, the Eternal Son taking on a human nature, so that He now has two natures, human and divine, without mixture, but also without division, in the One Person, the God-Man, Jesus Christ. Theologians call this the hypostatic union. Somehow, during this time on the Cross, after three hours of darkness, Jesus cries out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” R.C. Sproul says that,

“At the climax of that period of darkness, Jesus cried in agony—not the agony of the scourging or the agony of the thorns and nails, but the agony of forsakenness.”

The giving of some sour wine on a sponge itself fulfills Scripture – “They gave me vinegar [sour wine] for my drink…” (Psalm 69:21). But, why did the bystanders not understand Jesus’ words? It could be that though they are still thinking in Messianic categories, so that even in their rejection of Jesus’ messianic claim, what they hear is different than what Jesus said. They spoke Aramaic and would have understood biblical Hebrew, at least the Jews who were present surely would have. And most would have known the Psalms well, especially the first verse of the psalms would have been recognizable. But it seems they catch part of what Jesus said, and “fill in” what made sense to them. Elijah was to come and usher in the Messianic kingdom after all, so if Jesus is expecting the kingdom to start, “let’s see what happens.” That fit their messianic understanding better than reading Psalm 22 as referring to the Messiah. Their minds just wouldn’t go there, that picture didn’t make sense, it didn’t fit. A suffering Messiah? A Messiah was a Rescuer, a Savior, not someone who would suffer such an disgraceful death!

       So, they may have misunderstood, or misheard what was said. But some, like John MacArthur, think that they understood perfectly well what Jesus said, and they intentionally twist His words to be a reference to “Elijah.” It was a way of further mocking His messianic claim. “My God? No, he’s calling Elijah! Ha!” It could be there was mixture, some who heard wrongly, and some who continued to mock Him.  They didn’t understand that this was God’s plan, and that Jesus, the Son, experienced separation from the Father, so that we would not have to. Tim Keller said that when Jesus asked, “Why have you forsaken me?” that

“…It wasn’t a rhetorical question. [Why?] ...the answer is: For you, for me, for us. Jesus was forsaken by God so that we would never have to be. The judgment that should have fallen on us fell instead on Jesus.”

And so, because of what He did for us, after the resurrection He would say “…I will never leave you or forsake you…” (Heb 13:5) and “..Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age…” (Mt 28:20).  We will never be forsaken because of Him!

      The Cross was the place of divine judgement, wrath against sin, and the death of the Son as our substitute is the only way to forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Jesus endured the darkness of God’s wrath against sin so that we could see the light of life, He was deserted, forsaken, so that we never would be, and finally came…

III. Death: He laid down His life, so that we could live eternally (37-38). When the Apostle Paul summarized the Gospel message, he said, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures…” This scene expresses that moment.

       Notice how Mark tells the story: “And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.”  To “cry out in a loud voice” [we get the word megaphone from this phrase] would have been physically impossible after scourging and six hours on the cross, yet here we see Him do it twice.  The only word of Christ from the Cross that Mark gives us is that in v.34, the quotation of Psalm 22:1. But now, a second time, in a “great voice” he cries out before He breathes his last.  We know from the other Gospels that among His last words on the Cross He said, “It is finished” and “Into your hands I commit my spirit…” Whichever Mark refers to, His work was done (N.B. v.38, the veil is rent!), and the implication is, that He willfully and willingly laid down His life. The suffering He endured, as horrific as it must have been, was not enough. He had to die. The wages of sin is death... (Rom 6:23a). And so, “Christ died for our sins, according the Scriptures…”

       All of human history, since the time of the Fall, awaited this moment. Since Adam disobeyed and brought the curse on humanity and all creation, creation was “groaning,” waiting for the Redeemer, the only one who, by his obedience, could make it possible for sinners to be reconciled to a holy God. Listen to the “before and after” as Paul describes it in Ephesians 2:1-7…

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins  ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-  ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind [We were all deserving of wrath, without hope and without God].  ⁴ But God, [Thank God for that contrast!] being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved - ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe! It happened here, in this scene, on the Cross.

What is God saying to me in this passage? Do you see that the Cross was the place of divine judgement against sin, and that the death of the Son, as our substitute, is the only way to forgiveness and reconciliation with God? 1) Jesus endured the darkness of God’s wrath against sin so that we could see the light of life, 2) He was deserted, forsaken, so that we never would be, and finally 3) He died, He laid down His life, so that we could live eternally.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? The cross helps us to know God better, it displays both His holiness and justice on the one hand; and His love, expressed in the amazing grace He extended toward us, on the other. Holiness, and love. Justice, and mercy. No conflict, it is His nature. We’ve spent a few minutes looking at the passion of Christ. Remember, it was the plan of God to accomplish the redemption of all who would believe—this is how God could be just, and still justify sinners.  If you know Him, if you have entrusted yourself to Him, you can be assured of forgiveness, because Christ bore your sins in His body on the tree. He took your sin, so that you could receive His righteousness. He died, so that you could live. That is how He showed us His love. Has that truth touched your heart? Are you still astonished by the Cross? For God so loved you, that He gave His only Son… How then, should we live?

      After John Griffith threw the lever to lower the bridge, knowing that he had just sacrificed his son, Kennedy tells us the bridge closed, just as the train reached the span.

When John Griffith lifted his head with his face smeared with tears, he looked into the passing windows of the train. There were businessmen casually reading their afternoon papers, finely dressed ladies in the dining car sipping coffee, and children pushing long spoons into their dishes of ice cream. No one looked at the control house, and no one looked at the great gear box. With wrenching agony, John Griffith cried out at the passing train: “I sacrificed my son for you people! Don’t you care?” The train rushed by, but nobody heard the father’s words…

They were oblivious to the sacrifice… The Father gave the Son, but think of this: Jesus willingly gave himself for us. In light of what He has done for you, will you follow Him?   Let’s remember the Son, the sacrifice that saved us, as we share the Lord’s Table together.  AMEN.