As the day dawned in Jerusalem the temple servants busied themselves in preparation for another day of sacrifices. Some sincerely. Some just going through the motions.
They did what they had always done and what they believed they would always do.
Across the city, in the palace and courts, before Pilate, Herod, and the Sanhedrin, a man was being judged. Now condemned. Now carrying the implement of His death to the place of death, the place of a skull, Golgotha. There his suffering would intensify and then his life would end.
At 9 am
(Mark 15:21-25)
“And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not. And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take. And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.”
Despite the uproar in the city, at 9 am, the third hour, the Priest fulfilled his task. A trumpet sounded, a knife flashed across the throat of a lamb, the blood was shed, and the sins of the nation were covered a little longer.
Across the city, outside the gate, at the place where criminals were crucified, at the place of the skull, at that very moment, as the trumpet sounded to announce the sacrifice, the Lamb of God was raised up and crucified.
At 3 pm
(Matthew 27:45-51; Luke 23:46)
“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent…”
The day proceeded as normal for many, but then unusual darkness fell across the land. Despite the uproar in the city, at 3 pm, the ninth hour, the Priest fulfilled his task once more. A trumpet sounded, a knife flashed across the throat of a lamb, the blood was shed, and the sins of the nation were covered a little longer. This time, he would read Psalm 31:5 – “Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.”
Across the city, outside the gate, at the place where criminals were crucified, at the place of the skull, at that very moment, as the trumpet sounded to announce the sacrifice, the Lamb of God, the man on the middle cross cried out in victorious agony.
He too cried out Psalm 31:5. But His words were not an echo of the priests, He spoke them as they were always intended to be said.
The Lamb of God raised up and crucified at 9 am lowered His head and died at 3 pm.
Praise God, we do not linger at an empty cross. We do not wait three days in fear and uncertainty.
Today we celebrate the empty tomb.
“Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.”
E. Hall
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