Chapter XLIII.—JESUS DIES.
Three hours of agony beyond what we can imagine passed slowly away; and then, "at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"—the very words which stand, at the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, wherein David foretells many things that would happen at this time. "Some of them that stood by," not understanding Hebrew, "when they heard the words spoken by Jesus, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished," and that His release was at hand, "that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and straightway one" of the by-standers, more humane than the others, "ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it on a reed," with which he raised it high enough "to put it to his mouth, and (so) gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down."
The common drink of the Roman soldiers was "posea," a poor kind of wine, often called vinegar, but not like what we mean by vinegar. This "posea" was now offered to Jesus. "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished." All was now accomplished; every prediction uttered by the Prophets concerning the Messiah, had been fulfilled; the Redemption of man was completed. Let the cost of that Redemption make us give ourselves to our Redeemer, to be His faithful followers and servants.
"Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost,"—he yielded up his life, according to his own words, "I lay down my life for the sheep. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself." The sacrifice was voluntary, otherwise it could have availed us nothing. Jesus died: His spirit departed from the body; and His last words prove that the mysterious suffering had passed away, that He again felt the comfort of His Father's love, and that He was no longer forsaken.
The Almighty God now again bore testimony to the Divine nature of Him who had just yielded up his human life: heaven and earth alike testified that this was indeed the Son of God. During the time of His deepest agony, "the sun was darkened"; now that He had given up the ghost, "the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened. And behold the veil of the temple was rent in twain, in the midst, from the top to the bottom."
The veil which divided the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple, was a thick curtain, something like a worked carpet. The tearing of this down the middle was a very significant action, showing that the death of Jesus had done away with all the ceremonial observances established by the Law of Moses. A new Covenant, the Covenant of Grace, was now to replace the old Covenant of Works.
The Holy of Holies was looked upon by the Jews as a type of heaven; and only the High Priest was allowed to enter into it. Christ died to open the way into heaven to all mankind, whether Jews or Gentiles; thus the veil was rent, to show that through the mediation of Jesus, all might have access to God the Father.
"Now when the centurion which stood over against him, watching Jesus, and they that were with him, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, and that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God."