785. MAT 27:50. THE EXPIRING SAVIOUR

Mat_27:50. The Expiring Saviour

"Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost."’97Mat_27:50.

Death, under any circumstance, is indeed a solemn and affecting thing. To be removed out of the present world;’97to be. severed from all our friends and associates;’97to leave all the scenes of sense, and go into another state of existence,’97a world unknown; beyond our sight and hearing, and from whence no traveller ever returned. Then there is the agony of the separation, in the dissolving of the connection between matter and spirit, body and soul. What more truly serious than a mortal being struggling with the king of terrors, until, at length, the terrific enemy conquers, and nothing remains to the view but the cold and inanimate corpse? But there are cases where all these things become more striking from the dignity of the sufferer, or the peculiar manner of his death. Thus Socrates, whose life and talents had blessed the Grecian empire, received the cup, not of the people’s gratitude, but of poison, and died the death of a criminal. But a greater than Socrates is here. We meet to meditate upon the death of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world. Consider,

I. The person to whom the text refers.

Let us view Jesus,

1. In his transcendent greatness.

There are grades and classifications among men; but Jesus was the greatest man, most dignified of any of the human race. Greater than Solomon; higher than the princes of the earth; higher than the angels; the beloved and only begotten Son of God. Isaiah thus describes him, "Unto us a child is born," &c. Zechariah represents him as the "fellow of Jehovah." He himself claimed equality with God.

2. In his supreme and unrivalled excellences.

In him concentrated righteousness and truth. Every virtue, every grace and goodness embodied. Love,’97living, speaking, acting, and dying. Without spot. Angels chargeable with folly before him,’97the heavens unclean in his sight. The fountain of all blessedness.

3. In his substitutionary character.

Wherefore does such purity suffer?’97such excellency die? How is it that men should persecute him to death? How that God left him to be torn by the bulls of Bashan? To allow the sea of sorrow to dash its terrific waves over his head? How that his feelings should be so lacerated,’97his heart so torn,’97his soul so heavy,’97his spirit so overwhelmed,’97his body so mangled? The substitutionary character of Christ is the key to the whole. He was acting as the representative of a guilty world. He was now sustaining a public character. He was now filling up the distance between God and the sinner. He suffered and died for the ungodly. He poured out his soul an offering for sin. "By the grace of God, he was tasting death for every man," Isa_53:5-11. Notice,

II. Some circumstances connected with his death.

We cannot now dwell on the sufferings which preceded it; on the ignominy associated with the manner of it; on all the aggravations connected with it. Let us look at what the text involves.

1. Observe what he had previously uttered, while enduring the agonies of the cross.

Mark! Not one word of reprehension,’97not one accusation against his enemies,’97not one word of regret for aught he had committed. He had commended his mother to the care of the beloved John. He had given the thief a passport to glory. He had expressed his horror at the withdrawal of the divine presence. "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me!" He had uttered the pain he felt from the scorching heat which affected his body. "I thirst." He now commended his soul into his Father’s hand. The moment of death had now arrived, and he surrenders his spirit up to God.

2. What his last expression involved. (1.) That he had still strength to retain his life. In ordinary cases such suffering produced extreme and scorching fever, delirium, exhaustion, and gradually death. Not so with Christ. All his pains and agonies had not subdued the power which he possessed. He had power to retain his life.

(2.) That his death was voluntary. He gave himself. He came freely to suffer and die. He was to be a willing sacrifice. He redeemed us by the blood of his own heart, which he freely shed for our salvation. He had long anticipated this event. He had predicted it. He had longed for it. "I have a baptism," &c. And now having finished all his work, he cried with a loud voice, &c.

Application

1. Meditate on the design of Christ’s death; especially as an amazing display both of justice and grace.

2. See that you realize the benefits it obtained for us’97pardon, holiness, and eternal life.

3. Interested in this, and influenced by it, we shall both living and dying glorify Jesus with our body and spirit, which are his.

Autor: JABEZ BURNS