Scripture: Matthew 27:45-54 & Matthew 28:1-10

I. On Good Friday Jesus died as your substitute to bring you forgiveness.

A. We read in Mathew. 27:45 that on Good Friday there was darkness over the land for 3 hours.  This darkness was a sign of God’s judgment. This darkness was the fulfillment of the prophecy in Amos 8:9-10: “And on that day,” declares the Lord God, ‘I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.”

B. God’s judgment not only fell on Israel. It also fell on Jesus. We hear Jesus cry out with a loud voice from the cross in vs. 46: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus felt completely abandoned by God on the cross. The Father had abandoned His Son because on the cross Jesus had all the world’s sins poured upon Him. Jesus would be our substitute who would take the punishment of death our sins deserved. If we believe that Jesus died as our substitute, then God can be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Romans 3:26).

II. On Easter Sunday Jesus rose so that you might rise.

A. We see the familiar story of Jesus rising in Matthew 28:1-10. But in the story of Good Friday in Matthew 27 we see three signs that Jesus would not stay dead. The first sign is found in vs. 51, “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.” The tearing of the curtain shows that Jesus’ death brings us open access to God. The tearing of the temple veil is also a sign that the days of the temple and it animal sacrifices were coming to an end. John 2:19, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The temple of Jesus’ body would be raised after 3 days. The risen Jesus would now be the place for people to meet God.

B. The second sign of coming resurrection is found in vs. 52-53: “The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection.” It was a sign that resurrection from the dead is coming to all who believe that Jesus died on the cross for their sins. The third sign was the pronouncement of the centurion and the soldiers in vs. 54, “Truly, this was the Son of God.” Because Jesus was fully man He could die for our sins. But because Jesus was fully God, he could not stay dead. God is the source and sustainer of life.

Application:
Worship Jesus for forgiving your sin and rising from the dead so that you might rise.

Sources:
The Bible
Commentaries by D.A. Carson, J.C. Ryle, and Charles Quarles. 

Sermon Discussion Questions

1) Why was Jesus forsaken by God the Father when He was on the cross? Why did Jesus have to die on the cross as far as we were concerned?
2) How does the cross show that God is both just and the justifier (Romans 3:26)? Would Good Friday be good without Easter Sunday?
3) What is the significance of the temple curtain being torn when Jesus died? What was God showing to the world when dead saints were raised from the dead after Jesus was raised?