We return to Mark chapter 15 and the crucifixion
of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to read again the passage that we're
looking at today, starting in verse 22 and reading all the way to verse 41...Mark 15
verse 22. "Then they brought Him to the place Golgotha
which is translated "Place of a Skull." They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh
but He did not take it. And they crucified Him and divided up His
garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. It was the third hour when they crucified
Him. "The inscription of the charge against Him,
read, 'The King of the Jews.' They crucified two robbers with Him, one on
His right and one on His left. And the Scripture was fulfilled which says,
'And He was numbered with transgressors.' Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him,
wagging their heads and saying, 'Ha, You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild
it in three days. Save yourself and come down from the cross.' In the same way, the chief priests also along
with the scribes were mocking Him among themselves and saying, 'He saved others, He cannot save
Himself. Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come
down from the cross so that we may see and believe' Those who were crucified with Him
were also insulting Him. "When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over
the whole land until the ninth hour. At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a
loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani?' which is translated, 'My God, My God, why
have You forsaken Me? When some of the bystanders heard it, they
began saying, 'Behold, He is calling for Elijah. Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour
wine, put it on a reed and gave Him a drink saying, 'Let us see whether Elijah will come
to take Him down.' And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed
His last. And the veil of the temple was torn in two
from top to bottom. "When the centurion who was standing right
in front of Him saw the way He breathed His last, he said, 'Truly this man was the Son
of God.' There were also some women looking on from
a distance. Among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the
mother of James the Less and Joses and Salome. And when He was in Galilee, they used to follow
Him and minister to Him. And there were many other women who came up
with Him to Jerusalem." This morning, we rehearsed again the horror
of the blasphemy that is going on here. All that is being said to Jesus is disingenuous. It is all, as we read in verse 31, mockery. It is all insult as we read in verse 32. Everything about this is intended to show
Jesus scorn and disdain and ridicule and mock the notion that He is any kind of King at
all. The blasphemy is so great, unparalleled and
unequalled in history that we ask the question this morning, "Where is God? Shouldn't He have consumed the blasphemers
and stopped the ridicule of His beloved Son? Shouldn't He have come down immediately and
obliterated these blasphemers and protected His Son?" And we found that the answer to that is no,
God doesn't come down to destroy the blasphemers, and He doesn't come down to protect His Son. And that is because of what it says in Isaiah
53:10, that, "It pleased the Lord to crush Him, to put Him to grief." It was the will of God that He be treated
in this manner and that He be killed. We know why, that He might be a sacrifice
for sin, that He might die in the place of sinners, that He might bear the curse for
us, that He might bear the punishment for our sins. So God did not come down, either to destroy
the blasphemers or to protect His Son. And you might think, if you were listening
when I read the section that we're going to look at tonight, that God never came down
because Jesus said, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Is that an indication that God was not there? That God was not there to punish the blasphemers? He was not there to protect His Son? He was not there at all?" Well the answer to that question is He was
there. In the moment that Jesus said that, He was
feeling the absence of God. But God was there. And God was there in a way that you would
not suspect. As long as I have taught on this and looked
at this, I have never really heard explained what I am going to explain to you. Yes, God was there. And He was there not to punish the blasphemers,
and not to protect His Son but to punish His Son. Let's look at the passage. Three features come out of this account, three
separate features. First, we look at the Savior and the consummation
of His sacrifice. Then we look at the centurion and the confession
of his faith. And then we look at the women and the confusion
in their minds. First of all, the Savior and the consummation
of His death in verses 33 through 38, here's the highpoint of salvation history. This is the death of Christ. This is the long-awaited Lamb of God dying
for the sins of the world. We understand the theology of the cross, and
tonight I want you to look at some of the details of the cross that inform that theology
at its very initial point. Words are inadequate to capture the supernatural
reality of what is happening on the cross. And again, what I read you is so matter of
fact, and so simple, a statement, for example, in verse 33, "When the sixth hour came, darkness
fell over the whole land until the ninth hour," is so loaded with truth as to be almost more
than we can ever bear. When the sixth hour came, it would be noon,
according to the Jewish day which began at 6 A.M., or about that time, at sunrise. An hour in the ancient world without clocks
and watches varied in length in a world without seconds and minutes and in differing seasons. But the sixth hour was always considered to
be mid-day when the sun was at its zenith. And so it was the sixth hour. The Lord by this time had already spoken three
times. He had already said, "Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do," which informed thief on the cross that forgiveness was available
if he asked for it, which he did and received it. And then He said to John, the Apostle, "Behold
your mother," indicating that John was going to have to care for Mary since He no longer
could do that and since His brothers were unbelievers in Him. John was given the responsibility to care
for Mary and then from the cross He said to His mother, "Behold your son," meaning John. He put them in the care of each other. The third thing He said was to the penitent
thief when He said, "Today you will be with Me in paradise." And then it was midday. The blazing sun in the sky at about this time
of year indicates the brightest light that day experiences and it is precisely at that
moment that darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. What is this? Some have suggested that this is a natural
eclipse. Hardly. Others have suggested that this is satanic
darkness. But the truth of the matter is, this is God
coming on the scene. Maybe you've never heard that. I'm going to show you that in Scripture. If you read the Old Testament, as the Jews
read the Old Testament, you would know what they knew, that God is often spoken of as
light...often spoken of as light. Psalm 27:1, "The Lord is my light and my salvation." But that's not the only place. Psalm 18, Psalm 26, Isaiah 2, Isaiah 60, many
places God is spoken of as light and that in the sense of truth and wisdom and holiness
and righteousness. His presence is light. His presence is the Shekinah . When God manifested Himself to Moses on the
mountain, He manifested Himself as blazing light. However, any reader of the Old Testament also
knows that there were times when God is spoken of as darkness...as darkness. And it goes all the way back to Genesis 15
verses 12 to 15, and Exodus 10, verses 21 and 22, and Exodus 19 at Mount Sinai, verses
16 to 18 when God appears in darkness and Exodus 20 verses 18 to 21, and Isaiah 5, and
Isaiah 8, and other places, God also was associated with darkness. The presence of God could be manifest light
and the presence of God could be manifest darkness. In particular, there is a theme in the Old
Testament that needs to be understood by every reader of Scripture, and that theme has to
do with the day of the Lord...the day of the Lord, a technical expression for judgment...a
technical expression for divine judgment. And if we go to Old Testament passages that
speak of divine judgment, we read things like this, "Alas for that day," Joel 1:15, "for
the day of the Lord is near and it will come as destruction from the almighty." What will it be like? Chapter 2 verse 10, "The earth will quake,
the heavens will tremble, the sun and the moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness. Verse 11, "The Lord utters His voice from
His army, surely His camp is very great, for strong is he who carries out His word. The day of the Lord is indeed great and very
awesome and who can endure it?" Same chapter, Joel 2 and verse 30, "I will
display wonders in the sky and on the earth. Blood, fire, columns of smoke, the sun will
be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of
the Lord comes." All of that is referring to the final day
of the Lord, the eschatological day of the Lord that is the final judgment on this world. And it is a time when God is revealed in darkness
and not in light. Amos chapter 5, verse 20, "Will not the day
of the Lord be darkness instead of light? Even gloom with no brightness in it." Amos again, the prophet, chapter 8 verse 9,
"It will come about in that day, declares the Lord God, that I will make the sun go
down at noon and make the earth dark in broad daylight." In what day does the Lord do that? "In the day of divine judgment." In Zephaniah chapter 1, "Near is the great
day of the Lord," verse 14, 'Near and coming very quickly. Listen, the day of the Lord, the day of wrath
is that day, a day of trouble, and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day
of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness." And thus do the prophets speak of cataclysmic
events of divine judgment being times of darkness." Darkness symbolizes divine fury. Darkness symbolizes righteous wrath, final
fury being unleashed. Darkness then is the ultimate form of God's
presence in judgment. That is why hell, which is everlasting subjection
to divine judgment, is a place that Jesus said in Matthew three times, is outer darkness,
where there's weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth in eternal unrelieved blackness. And it is the darkness of God's presence. He is the one who is present in judgment in
hell from noon to three o'clock. With that understanding in verse 33, hell
came to Israel. From noon to three o'clock, hell came to Jerusalem. For three hours, hell came to Golgotha as
God unleashed the full extent of everlasting punishment on His Son. Wrath, in the words of Isaiah, with fierce
anger, Isaiah 13:9. As God is the true power behind hell's punishing
experience, God is the true power behind the darkness of Calvary, for here He unleashes
hell on His Son. This was the cup that Jesus anticipated in
the Garden, the cup of wrath. This is why it was such a revolting anticipation
that made Him sweat drops of blood, because in those three hours, think of it, Jesus suffered
the eternal hell of all the people through human history who would be saved. He bore all their eternal punishments together
and did it in three hours. You say, "If the sinner in an eternity of
punishment can never pay the price and thus it's eternal, how could Jesus in three hours
receive the full eternal wrath for all the sinners who believe? And the answer is, He could receive an infinite
and eternal amount of wrath because He is an infinite and eternal person. His capacity for everything is limitless and
eternal. The darkness then, listen, is not the absence
of God and it's not the presence of Satan. The darkness is not the absence of God, it
is the presence of God. It is God in full judgment vengeance, God
in full judgment fury. It is infinite wrath moved by infinite justice,
releasing infinite punishment on the infinite Son who could absorb all the tortures of eternities
of hell and do it in three hours. It is in those three hours that He bore in
His body our sins. It is in those three hours that He was made
sin for us. It is in those three hours that He took the
curse. And at the ninth hour, it ended. Three o'clock, it ended. And Mark records the fourth statement of our
Lord, " Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani? which is translated, "My God, My God, Why have You
forsaken Me?" The first thing He said after the darkness
ended. How are we to understand that? What does that mean? Didn't we just say God was there? This is very difficult for us to understand,
obviously, talking about a divine person. I'm convinced that what our Lord is saying
there is expressing the sense that the judgment has ended and He's wanting the comfort. After the wrath is exhausted, when God in
full presence and full vengeance has poured it out, the whole cup has been consumed and
the darkness is gone, so is God. Perhaps for that moment, He knew God was there
in the punishment, but when the punishment ended, where was God? He seems to be experiencing the separation
from God immediately after He has born all the fury of His presence. He knew who was exploding judgment on Him. And maybe for just that moment, when He might
have expected comfort and compassion and sweet fellowship in the unimaginable incomprehensible
exhaustion of just having suffered eternities of hell, in that moment He says, "Where is
God?" And His words were prophesied from Psalm 22:1,
Psalm 22 begins, "My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?" It isn't that God isn't there in the punishment,
it's that He's saying, "Where are You in the comfort?" This is a very, very important reminder to
us, that hell is the full fury of God's personal punishment, listen, but He will never be there
to comfort. Has our Lord given here a preview of hell? Punishment without comfort? Punishment without compassion? Punishment without sympathy? Punishment without relief? That's what hell is. So even this is for Jesus to suffer all that
hell is, all the wrath, all the presence of divine wrath and all the absence of divine
comfort. When Jesus said, "My God, My God," this is
the only time in the New Testament that He ever referred to God in any other way than
Father. Every other time He spoke to God, He called
Him Father. But He is felling His absence. There's more than that. A double expression like that is a way to
say what you want to say to identify the person you're addressing with affection. For example, the angel says, "Abraham, Abraham..." Genesis 22. In Exodus God says in chapter 3, "Moses, Moses..." David in 2 Samuel 18 and 19 says, "Absalom,
Absalom..." Jesus in Luke 10:41 says, "Martha, Martha..." And Jesus in Luke 22:31 says, "Simon, Simon..." And Jesus says in Acts 9, "Saul, Saul..." And in Luke 13 He looks at the city and says,
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem..." And here, "My God, My God..." Divine affection. I want you to notice that He cried out with
a loud voice. After the massive amount of physical pain
and the difficulty in breathing had been inflicted upon Him, after the horrendous, mental abuse
in the relentless blasphemy and then after God has exhausted infinite hells of punishment
on Him, He is still strong and He cried out with a loud voice. And asked where the Father was in that moment
when He needed comfort. His cry, amazingly, still the darkness just
vanishing, seems to raise no question with the people, or change anything, because in
verse 35 when some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, "Behold, He's calling
for Elijah." And the comedy is reignited. Here's a reprise of the sarcasm. When they heard it, and they did, because
He spoke loudly. "Oh," they said, "He's calling for Elijah." Listen, they heard what He said in their language,
in Aramaic, "Eloi, Eloi," "My God, My God." They knew that. But in mockery they said, "Oh, He's calling
for Elijah." Why would they say that? Because the Old Testament taught, Malachi
4 verses 5 and 6, that when the Messiah came, Elijah would be present. He's calling for Elijah. More ridicule. And by the way, tradition, Jewish tradition
always taught because of the prophecy that Elijah would come in the end, and that Elijah
would be there when the Messiah arrived, tradition taught that Elijah returned often. Remember, he didn't die. He went to heaven in a chariot. So tradition said that Elijah returns in times
of crisis to protect and rescue the righteous. So, this was more fuel for their scorn, their
sarcasm. " Oh, He's calling for the Elijah to come
and rescue Him because He's righteous. He's calling for Elijah, the one who is to
accompany the arriving Messiah." So they take up more mockery and the darkness
has just ended and they're right back mocking. You would think that darkness for three hours
would shut down the mocking. But how deep is this blasphemy? How deep is this blasphemy? It gets worse. Verse 36, "Someone ran and filled a sponge
with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave Him a drink, saying, 'Let us see whether Elijah
will come to take Him down.'" I don't know what you've thought about that
in the past, but that's just more of the same ridicule. That's just more of the same abuse, more of
the same scorn and blasphemy. This is a cheap wine vinegar consumed by soldiers,
usually mixed with water. Oh let's give Him something to drink. That will prolong His life a little bit. And if we prolong His life a little bit, maybe
Elijah will show up and rescue Him. He did say, "I thirst," as Psalm 69:21 says
He would. And He was offered this drink, but only in
mockery. "Let's see if we can extend His life a little
longer and maybe Elijah will show up." They've seen it all. They've seen His miracles. They've...they've seen His casting out of
demons. They've seen His raising of the dead. They all know Lazarus was raised from the
dead because that's a family very close to the city, well-known by the people in the
city, the rulers of the city and the leaders went to Bethany to see Lazarus after he came
back from the dead. They've heard Jesus teaching. In fact, they heard it during this very week. It had no effect on them. They've seen His compassion and His kindness. They now have seen how He dies. It does not move them. And they carry on the comedy. Then in verse 37 we have these very simple
words, "And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed His last." Why a loud cry? Because He has said, as the gospels record,
"No one takes My life from Me. I lay it down of Myself." He didn't die because He couldn't breathe. He didn't die because He was out of strength. He cried out, He screamed with a loud voice. In John 19:28 after Jesus was given the sour
wine, it says in verse 30, John 19:30, "Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He
said," and here's what He screamed, "It is finished," tetelosti(?), one word. It has been accomplished. "And He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit." A loud cry, remarkable if He was dying of
asphyxiation. Remarkable if He had no breath, no strength,
barely able to whisper. But He is strong...He is strong. In John's gospel it is in chapter 10 where
our Lord states this. Verse 18 of chapter 10, "No one has taken
My life from Me, I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, I have authority
to take it up again. This commandment I receive from the Father." And then there's one final statement. Luke 23:46 records it, and this is it, "Into
Your hands I commit My Spirit." He said three things before the darkness,
nothing during the darkness, four statements after the darkness, "And breathed His last." Now back to Mark. "Breathed His last." What happened is stunning. And Mark tells us of two immediate events. The first one is in verse 38, "The veil of
the temple was torn in two from top to bottom." There were about a dozen curtains in the temple. But this was the most important curtain because
it separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. The Holy of Holies into which no one could
go but the High Priest once a year, to sprinkle blood on the Mercy Seat, on the Ark of the
Covenant, to make atonement for the nation on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This symbolized the sinners separation from
God. No access to God. The High Priest only allowed once in order
to sprinkle the blood, in quickly and back out. But the New Covenant of salvation at the moment
Jesus died was ratified. He had paid in full the punishment, the penalty
justly for all who would ever believe. And officially at three o'clock in the afternoon
on that Friday in April in the year A.D. 30, the Old Covenant was abolished. The temple was nullified. The priesthood was voided. And all sacrifices became pointless because
the only true and saving sacrifice had been offered. And when the veil was split from top to bottom,
it couldn't have been done by man, it had to be done by God. It was God's exclamation point on the death
of His Son. And what it said was, "The way into the presence
of God is wide open for anyone." What does the death of the Lord Jesus accomplish? It opens the way. It obliterates the symbols and the ceremonies
and brings the reality of salvation to everyone who chooses to enter. God's holy, glorious presence is available,
the way has been opened by the death of Christ. It's the end of the High Priesthood, it's
the end of the Levitical Priesthood. It's the end of the sacrificial system. It's the end of the temple. It's the end of the Holy of Holies. It's the end of the Holy Place. The whole system is at that moment null and
void. And everything basically was layered around
that sacred Holy of Holies which was isolated and hidden, where God dwelt and no one had
access to Him...no one. And all the layers beyond that protected that
inner area. And now it was thrown all the way open. At precisely the moment...at precisely the
moment, three o'clock in the afternoon, when the priests began to slaughter tens of thousands
of Passover lambs so that people could eat the Passover meal that evening. At that very hour, the Passover Lamb Himself
had been slain by God and all other sacrifices were pointless...pointless. Mark doesn't tell us, but Matthew does, that
there was another miracle that happened at the time the veil was torn. Matthew 27:51 says, "The earth quaked, and
the rocks were split." This is an earthquake, powerful enough to
split rocks, a frightening experience. And by the way, earthquakes in Scripture are
very often like the darkness. I read it to you earlier, that the Day of
the Lord is associated with not only the darkness but with great earthquakes. When Moses met with God at Sinai to receive
the Law, the whole mountain quaked greatly, Exodus 19:18. Psalm 18:7 says, "The earth shook and trembled." The foundations of the hills quaked and were
shaken because God was angry. Psalm 68:8, "The earth shook at the presence
of God." Sinai itself was moved at the presence of
God, the God of Israel. The prophet Nahum writes, Nahum 1:5, "The
mountains quaked before Him. The hills melt. The earth heaves at His presence. Yes, the world and all who dwell in it." The Jews knew if they knew their Scripture,
the darkness meant judgment and the earthquake meant judgment. That is why when you get into the book of
Revelation and you get to the final Day of the Lord, the eschatological Day of the Lord,
there is much description concerning massive global earthquakes and an earthquake that
will be beyond anything the world has ever, ever experienced. Another miracle happened, according to Matthew
27:52 and 53, "The graves were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep
were raised and coming out of the graves after His resurrection they went into the holy city
and appeared to many." The veil is torn. The earth begins to shake. Earthquakes take place. Graves are opened. Dead people come back to life and proclaim
the truth after the resurrection of our Lord. Matthew 27:53 says, "Those that came out of
the graves appeared to many...many." This is a pre-figuring of the resurrection. So did God show up at Calvary? Yes He did. He showed up at Calvary. He showed up in the darkness. He showed up in the earthquake. He showed up in the ripping of the veil and
He showed up in opening the graves and giving life to dead saints. He made His presence known. Verse 39 takes us to the second scene here,
the centurion's confession...the centurion's confession. When the centurion who was standing right
in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son
of God." The centurion, he's involved in the execution,
he has to be, he's a commander of a hundred men. That's why he's called a centurion. He's a career soldiers. He's a good soldier, he's a trustworthy soldier,
he's a battled hardened soldier. He's a boots on the ground kind of soldier,
familiar with death, familiar with killing and surviving. He's been guarding Jesus. He's overseeing the execution squad. Probably played a key role in the arrest and
everything else that went on, the scourging. He is an eyewitness of everything, most likely
from the arrest of Jesus in the early hours of Friday in the Garden, all the way to this
final moment. He saw it all, the mock trials, the abuse,
the spitting, the punching, the slapping, the sneering, the mocking, the ridicule. He saw Jesus take it. He saw no retaliation. He heard what Jesus said. Perhaps he heard Him say, "Father, forgive
them for they know not what they do." Perhaps he heard because he was near the cross,
"Today you'll be with in Paradise." He heard everything. He heard Pilate repeatedly declare that Jesus
was innocent. And he concluded, "This is no ordinary man." And he now comes to the right conclusion,
that He is the Son of God. You say, "How did he come to that conclusion?" Well we're helped a little bit by Matthew
27. Jesus cried out in verse 50 again, with a
loud voice, yielded up His Spirit. That's what we just read, along with this,
"Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook,
and the rocks were split." Now that would convince him that something
special was going on. The tombs were opened, many bodies of the
saints who had fallen asleep were raised, coming out of the tombs after His resurrection,
they entered the holy city and appeared to many." "Now, the centurion and those who were with
him, keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening,
became very frightened and said, 'Truly, this was the Son of God.'" They were frightened by the darkness...frightened
by the earthquake. In Luke 23, Luke gives us his account. Verse 47, "When the centurion saw what had
happened, he began praising God and saying, 'Certainly this man was dikaios , the Greek
word for righteous. So he praises God. He declares Jesus righteous and affirms that
he is the Son of God. I don't know what else he knew. But he really didn't have to know much else
and I don't know how he got all of this information, but Paul on the road to Damascus was, by the
sovereign and divine intervention of God, regenerated and converted in a moment of time. And the thief on the cross was given life
by a sovereign spirit in the midst of his ridicule. And here is this Gentile soldier, the first
convert to Christ after His crucifixion. And he's not alone. The other soldiers with him had the same response. Some wonderful things happened at Calvary,
a Jew, a Jewish blasphemer was saved, the thief, a Gentile, a few Gentiles, the blaspheming
soldiers were forgiven and saved and the message is that the grace of God in forgiveness and
salvation is extended to the worst blasphemers...the worst blasphemers are not beyond the possibility
of salvation. On the other hand, Luke 23:48 says, "The crowds,
when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts." Hum...not so funny anymore. It wasn't so funny after the darkness and
the horrific earthquakes that scared them. Not so funny when they found out the veil
had been rent from top to bottom. They left. It doesn't say anything about them believing,
but I think some of them did. In Acts chapter 2, some of them must have
been there on the Day of Pentecost and three thousand repented believed and were saved,
and within a few weeks thousands, thousands more. So what you have illustrated at the very moment
of the death of Christ is the purpose of His death, to save penitent sinners, the Jew first
and then the Gentile. So we see the consummation regarding Christ,
the confession regarding the centurion, and third point is the confusion of the women,
verses 40 and 41. This is an interesting footnote. "There were also some women looking on." Here we see a small group of faithful women. These are women who started to follow Him
when He was in Galilee, according to verse 41, they used to follow Him and minister to
Him, or serve Him. And there were many other women who came up
with Him to Jerusalem. We know all about the men, don't we? We know about the Apostles and we're familiar
with them, but there was a group of women who had been with Him since His days in Galilee. Way back at the beginning of the Galilean
ministry, at the start of His second year of ministry, now we're at the end of the third
year, so there were women who had followed Him for two years. They're true disciples. They're lovers of Christ. They're believers in the Savior. And they are, frankly, now baffled. They are discouraged. They are devastated. They are lost for an explanation. John actually says that when Jesus was crucified,
they were standing near the cross, John 19, they were standing near the cross. They were standing there, for sure, when Jesus
said, "Behold your mother, behold your son," and put Mary in the care of John and John
in the care of Mary. They were right there standing near, John
says. But by the time we get to the end, after the
darkness, we read here, "They were looking on from a distance...a distance." The "looking on from a distance" in that phrase
there's a Greek verb used four times by Mark and every time he uses it, it expresses a
kind of detached observation. The centurion is looking and he's near the
cross. And he sees clearly who this is. He is not confused. He comes to make this great confession by
the power of the Spirit over his life. On the other hand, these women who have never
been confused about who Jesus is are now all of a sudden way back at the fringe of the
crowd, detached, expressing a kind of indifferent, almost what we would say deer in the headlights
blind stare. They're confused. Mark even identifies the names of a few of
these women, there were many. Mary Magdalene who later becomes the first
eyewitness of Jesus after His resurrection. Mary, the mother of James the Less and Joses. Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses,
that would be two sons, James the Less is also called James, the son of Alphaeus in
Matthew 10:3 and he was one of the Twelve. So this lady named Mary, and there are lots
of Marys, was the mother of one of the Apostles, James the son of Alphaeus, not James the brother
of John, sons of Zebedee, different James. There's another lady there by the name of
Salome. She is, however, the other of James and John,
the wife of Zebedee, according to Matthew 27:56. Why are they there? Well let me tell you something. For all that can be said about the greatness
of the Apostles, they were gone and these ladies were there. So much for male courage. Something precious about that, even in their
confusion they were there. Slowly they started out at the foot of the
cross, maybe hoping for some miracle, something to happen that would make sense out of all
of it, and then he died. And they're way at the fringe. They had been with Him, verse 41 says, when
He was in Galilee, and they used to follow Him. That means they did it all the time, regularly,
and serve Him, minister to Him. They were eyewitnesses of His entire ministry
in Galilee and subsequently in Judea for the last year of His life. They would be the eyewitnesses, first of all,
of His resurrection. And they're unique because they're not Apostles. They're not the chosen Twelve. They're not men. They're women believers who used to follow
Him, imperfect verb meaning in a continual fashion, and used to minister to Him, another
imperfect verb, continually. And by the way, in the gospel of Mark, only
two persons are ever said to have ministered to Christ. One, these women and the other in chapter
1 verse 13, the holy angels. So they function as kind of earthly angels. They're not leaders. They're not empowered like the Apostles, to
do miracles. They're not called to be preachers. But they are the truly, precious faithful
who while the Apostles have forsaken Him, have not, they're still there. And they will be rewarded because they will
be the first to see Him on Sunday morning and the sorrow of those ladies will turn to
great joy. I want to close by taking you back to verse
39 for a moment. When Mark began this gospel in chapter 1 verse
1, he said it's the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It's the beginning of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. It's only a beginning, it's only a beginning,
the story has much more to be told, but this is the beginning. But it is about the Son of God. It's the story of the Son of God. Finally, here in verse 39, a human being says,
"Truly this man was the Son of God." And would you like to know that is the first
time in the entire gospel of Mark that any human being has said that? It's almost like Mark waits until the cross
to have someone say, "This is the Son of God." Oh the Father said it. The Father said it in chapter 1 verse 11 at
His baptism, "This is My beloved Son." The Father said it at His transfiguration
in chapter 9. The Father said it from heaven, "This is My
beloved Son." And by the way, the demons said it, chapter
1 verse 24, 3 verse 11, 5 verse 9, the demons called Him the Son of God so heaven has said
it and hell has said it. And finally, a man says it. And what a man, a Gentile, a Roman soldier,
the head of the execution squad, and we all say it too, don't we? The story of Mark is written for the very
purpose that John gives. These have been written so that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you might have life in His
name." For all who believe that He is the Son of
God, from the centurion on, the promise is, "You have life in His name." Father, we have no words to express the depth
of our gratitude to You, for awakening our dead hearts and giving us life, opening our
blind eyes, letting us see, unstopping our deaf ears so we could hear and believe, that
this is the Son of God, the only Savior. Thank You that You gave us eyes to see pass
the ridicule and the scorn and the joke to the truth. We who once before we were saved were also
blasphemers. For anyone who does not love the Son and confess
the Son as Lord has committed high crime against You, has blasphemed You because You're the
one who said, "This is My beloved Son, listen to Him, believe in Him, acknowledge Him." We confess our own treason and our own blasphemy
until that day when You awakened us. We thank You, Lord, for the gift of salvation. It is a gift, it can't be earned, it can only
be received by faith. Thank You for the testimony of that centurion
finally after fifteen chapters and 39 verses, a person says what the whole story is intended
to prove, this truly is the Son of God who came to die in our place, to rise again for
our justification.
