Paul writes to the Corinthians, “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). This is the pinnacle of the gospel, of Paul’s preaching, and of our faith. Therefore, if we grasp anything, it would seem that the most important thing that we could dedicate ourselves to understanding would be the crucifixion of Christ and what happened there.
With that said, however, I also say that the atonement of Christ is quite misunderstood by many. Therefore, tonight as we study through these final three chapters of Matthew’s gospel, I want to highlight some fundamental aspects of the death of Christ that Matthew teaches us.
Now this point does not cause stumbling for most of us because this (at least in my experience) has been taught in the church. However, as we dive into understanding what happened on the cross, we can be tempted to misunderstand this reality, so I want to ground us in it tonight.
Matthew makes clear that Jesus’ death was voluntary. First of all, Jesus shows us that he knows he is going to die. He says to his disciples in 26:1-2, “You know that after two days, the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” Again, as Mary is anointing his body with an expensive bottle of perfume, Jesus says, “When she poured this perfume upon my body, she did it to prepare me for burial” (26:12). And finally, as we read of the last supper account with his disciples, Jesus tells them that he is going to be betrayed and that he will die” (26:20-35).
Therefore, he had knowledge that his death was going to happen. But this doesn’t guarantee by itself that his death was voluntary, for he could have known the inevitable was going to happen and not be able to stop it. But such was not the case. Jesus makes clear that he could have stopped it any time he wanted. For as he is getting arrested and Peter pulls the sword to defend him, Jesus says, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (26:52-53).
So, yes, Christ knew of his death and had the power to stop it if he wanted to, but he chose to lay down his life. Jesus’ death was voluntary. Thus, Jesus says in John 10:17-18, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.”
Now yes, there is much that Jesus physically endured that Matthew shows us. He was betrayed by one of his own disciples (26:14-19, 47-56), he was abandoned by all his disciples at his arrest (26:56), at his trial they kept trying to bring false testimony against him (26:57-68), Peter denied him three times (26:69-75), he was beaten and mocked (which went beyond the normal procedures – 27:27-32), and he was crucified, suffocating to death (27:33-50).
This is a lot of physical and emotional agony, and Christ went through it. But I don’t think any of this compared to what brought him the most pain in his agonizing prayer in the garden and on the cross – for this was the reality of receiving the wrath of his Father as judgment for the sins of his people.
That is what Christ is agonizing about in the garden. That is what drives his soul to the point of being “very sorrowful, even to death” (26:38). Which surely meant that “his sorrow was so deep that it was almost killing him.”1 And this is what he was praying about when he prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not as I will, but as you will” (27:39). It doesn’t take much reading through the Bible to realize that the cup is symbolic of God’s wrath (e.g. Ps. 75:7-8; Isa. 51:22; Jer. 25:15-16; Ezek. 23:31-34). Therefore, Christ is praying that if there be any other way than him receiving God’s wrath for man’s sin, then he longed for it; nonetheless, the Father’s will be done.
And therefore, on the cross as he drinks down every drop of God’s wrath so that there is none left to spill over toward his children, Jesus cries out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (27:46). Therefore, the heart of what happened on the cross is that Jesus took God’s wrath for us so that God might be able to look on us as his friends, not as his enemies against whom his wrath burns. This is what it means when it is written that he is the propitiation for our sins (e.g. 1 John 4:10). So Christ’s death was one of great agony, mainly from drinking down God’s wrath for us.
It does this in a number of ways. First the scene in 26:57-68 reminds us that God’s wisdom often appears as foolishness to men. As the high priest sits to judge Jesus while Jesus stands to be judged, he accuses him of blasphemy, accused of being under the judgment and contempt of God, and the high priest is seen as God’s instrument to judge Jesus. However, as Jesus responds, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven” (26:64), Jesus reverses everything for him. For he reminds him that one day Jesus will be sitting and the high priest will be standing to be judged, one day the high priest will realize the blasphemy he has committed, one day the high priest will realize the judgment of God that rests on him and the place of honor Jesus holds, and one day the high priest will realize that Jesus is the very one who will come to judge this man for his action. Therefore, God’s wisdom in sending his Son to die appears so foolish, but it is the wisdom of God.
Also, in the taunts, we see the wisdom of God appearing foolish to men. They taunted, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” (27:39-40). “They thought they were so clever; but the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom. Precisely by voluntarily going to the cross, Jesus was destroying ‘this temple’ – the temple of His body – and in three days it would be ‘rebuilt.’ And precisely because He was the Son of God, He would not come down from the cross!”2 They taunted, “He saved others … but he can’t save himself!” (27:42). “The taunt was largely right. If the lord Jesus was to save others, He had to sacrifice Himself, and He could not save himself.”3 Therefore, God’s wisdom was again seen as foolishness to man.
But the greatest way his wisdom was displayed in Christ’s death is that this alone was the way in which God might justify his people and remain just. In fact, it could be said that Christ had to die because man had been allowed to live. For God can forgive only if he does it in keeping with his holy character. He must remain righteous. But in the past he had passed over man’s sins, giving the appearance that he was an unrighteous judge. Therefore, Romans 3:25-26 tells us, “God displayed him [Jesus] publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
In the cross God clearly displayed his wisdom.
Matthew 27:51-28:20 reminds us that Christ’s death was victorious. Satan did not cheer or want this to happen as we sometimes show; his temptations were to try to get Jesus to avoid the cross. For the ultimate irony is that the death of Christ was the death of death. Christ’s death was victorious. The blood he shed sealed the new covenant which promised forgiveness of sins to God’s people.
And as he raised from the dead, there was a new dawn. Whereas the promise of the Messiah had been given to the Jews, Christ commands his people to share this gospel with all people, saying in Matthew 28:19-20, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Therefore, let us proclaim the glories of the cross, the burial, and the resurrection. For it is good news; it is the gospel. And as we do, we know that the commission we are following was given by the authority of God and that Christ has promised to be with us.
So let us go and preach Christ crucified. Amen.