Sermon Tone Analysis

The Miracles of the Cross

Matt.

27:45-53

I.                     Intro

a.

Many may be hesitant to come to Good Friday Service

                                                               i.

It is like going to see a sad or tragic movie

1.

What was the point?

Those who like to cry, like to go through the trauma- a little masachistic

                                                              ii.

When we hear sermons of Jesus’ crucifixion- it’s like we heard that

1.       Yeas Jesus died for our sins- He who knew so sin become sin for us

2.       He did not revile in return

3.

He was an innocent man

a.        Then reflect upon the personal meaning of all that

                                                                                                                                       i.

I think that experience can be fully experienced in the viewing of the Passion of the Christ

1.

It is a movie, it tells of the innocence of Christ, it reveals the brutality of the crucifixion , but also the scourging of Christ by the Roman soldiers, it was personal

2.       So why not just watch the movie each Good Friday?

b.       Something is missing-

                                                               i.

It is a powerful story in itself- but incomplete

                                                              ii.      the divine working of the crucifixion, the miracles of God

1.       the entire life of Jesus was filled with miracles, his birth, his ministry, why not His death?

iii.

Roman persecution

1.

During the time of Jesus, 30,000 crucifixions

a.

Last Sunday evening, we were in discussion of capital punishment, one brother said he is thinking against capital punishment for the innocence of those who might be killed

                                                                                                                                       i.

That is an issue of the imperfect judicial process, not the philosophy of capital punishment

2.       I am sure Jesus was not the only innocent person hung on a cross

a.

Even Apostle Peter was hung upside down, innocent

b.

Why Jesus?

                                                            iv.

Opening pages of Scripture- the original sin of Adam and Eve- the corruption of all of creation

1.        Planet Earth- “we are not conservationists”

2.       Al Gore “Inconvenient Truth”

a.        Paul writes in Romans 1, all of creation speaks of the evidence of the God, but it also speaks of the corruption of sin in creation

b.

This is all of what Paul says,

For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

Rom.

8:19-22

                                                              v.

As the pains of childbirth intensifies and the time between contractions decrease, so we can also hopefully witness the coming of Christ to restore all things

                                                            vi.

After the fall, God gave the first veiled promise of deliverance

1.

And I will put enmity \\          Between you and the woman, \\          And between your seed and her seed; \\          He shall bruise you on the head, \\          And you shall bruise him on the heel."

Gen.

3:15

2.       Because men carry the seed of procreation, the seed of Eve is the prediction of the virgin birth of Christ

a.        Christ will deliver a fatal blow upon Satan but Satan will bruise His heel- His death on the cross

                                                           vii.

When God provided the ram substitute for Isaac

1.

He provide the beautiful picture of the sacrificial offering of His own Son

2.       And it was through animal sacrifices- God taught His people blood was necessary for the forgiveness of sins

a.

But all those animals slaughtered could not do away with one singular sin

b.

Nor could the death of any other man that was crucified on the cross.

i.

What makes his death extraordinary?

What is god’s commentary on the death of His own Son?

Reading the Passage

Opening Prayer

II.

Supernatural Darkness, v. 45

a.

The Light of God

                                                               i.

“glory of the Lord shone” @ birth

                                                              ii.

Jesus as “the  Light of men”  Apostle John, John 1

                                                            iii.

He spoke of Himself as “the Light of the world”   John 8, 12

b.

The first miraculous sign of the crucifixion was darkness

                                                               i.

“from the sixth hour”

1.

This was noon, sun was to be at it’s highest peak

2.       And supernatural darkness covered the land until His death on the ninth hour, 3pm

c.

The extent

                                                               i.

Greek word ge, meaning earth, not just the local area or land

                                                              ii.

Some early church fathers said this darkness fell upon the entire world, not just Israel

1.       Pilate reports to Emperor Tiberius, they were aware of a darkness that was experienced from noon til 3pm

a.        Regardless of extent, it was a divine intervention by God

                                                            iii.

As for the reasoning

1.

Some theologians said that it was God casting a veil over the sufferings of His Son

2.       Fatherly sympathy given to cover the nakedness and dishonoring of His Son

a.

To remind us of the darkness of the world w~/o Christ

                                                                                                                                       i.

The light shone in the darkness but the darkness did not comprehend it