Jesus Christ – God’s monument
by Mark S. Camp
Matthew 27:45-50
Introduction: I would like to speak to you this morning on the subject of “Jesus Christ – God’s Monument.” Those of us here today who are true followers of Jesus Christ, have the ability to comprehend and enjoy the resurrection of our Lord from the grave. It is because he lives that we too shall live. Because he has conquered death and its sting, we who trust in him shall also overcome the final enemy of man. Because he now lives interceding at the right hand of the Father for us, we can persevere in the pursuit of holiness and godliness. Where he is now, we too shall one day be. The resurrection of Jesus from the tomb was the first-fruits of a promised harvest. The resurrection offers us hope.
However, I do not believe that we can fully appreciate the resurrection of Jesus, unless we first have a good understanding of the intensity and depth of Christ’s suffering on Calvary’s cross. If you are outside of Christ, you may not understand why we who are Christians place so much stock in the resurrection. The reason you cannot understand it is because you do not comprehend and realize just what took place on Gologtha’s hill.
The best way I know of to describe Christ’s work on Calvary, is to say that Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, suffered in a finite period of time what men were obligated to suffer for an infinite period of time. It is on the cross, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, that we see “finite suffering for infinite sin.” More than that, as we gaze upon the cross where hangs our Lord, we behold God’s Monument.
Jesus Christ on the cross is not only a sacrifice, not only a propitiation for the sins of his people, not only a redeemer, but also a monument. There, suspended between heaven and earth, Jesus becomes:
I. A Monument to God’s Holiness
II. A Monument to God’s Wrath
III. A Monument to God’s Mercy
In order to set a background for the text we read earlier, I would ask you to turn to a lengthy passage in the Old Testament with me.
READ EXODUS 10:21 – 12:30
Now, I would like to give just a few gleanings, implications, and interpretative points on this passage.
- The plagues are typological. That is, they are foreshadowings of future events or circumstances, and as all types are, the plagues are redemptive in nature.
- Humanly speaking, the 9th plague, the plague of darkness, could have been the final plague. Ex. 10:24-29 give us the impression that Pharoah will finally allow the Israelites to leave the bondage of Egypt. But, God had not providentially designed this to be so.
- In the plagues, Egypt represented the totality of mankind in a state of rebellion against the laws and will of God. Because of sin, Egypt becomes an object of wrath and becomes a curse.
- Darkness (the 9th plague), totally covered and surrounded the Egyptians. The darkness which God brought upon the land left the Egyptians in a state of terror. Light was removed and in the darkness there must have certainly been an overwhelming feeling of alienation. In the beginning, God created light. Man was to live in the light of the sun and in the light of the moon. The light brought order out of chaos. When the light is removed, chaos reigns again.
- The darkness in Egypt lasted three (3) days.
- The darkness served as a warning to a rebellious people. It signified that the Creator was angry and that his wrath was about to be poured forth. As a warning, it showed that the heavy stroke of Jehovah’s rod was about to fall.
- The darkness, severe as it was, was not sufficient a vent for God’s wrath. Wicked men had rebelled and sinned against God’s sovereignty and against his righteousness. An atonement of some type would be necessary.
- The death of the firstborn of the Egyptians became the penalty for high treason. Only the death penalty can adequately be both punishment and atonement. Death would prove to be punishment for the wicked, yet it would signify release and redemption for the covenant people, the elect whom God had chosen.
- Egypt then, in the period of darkness, is a picture of Christ as he hung upon the cross bearing God’s wrath and punishment for the sin prior to the release of the covenant people.
MacKintosh has said, “All God’s purposes from everlasting had reference to Christ.” How well we can see that pictured here in this Old Testament passage.
Now, let us focus again upon the New Testament passage which we read earlier. And as we do, I ask, “What do we glean from the text?”
- From the time Christ was nailed to the cross until noon (the 6th hour), he hangs on the cross as a MONUMENT TO GOD’S HOLINESS.
During this time, the state of man’s sinful heart was shown by the mocking and cursing of the crowd. Men and women paraded past the cross, shaking their heads and spitting upon the Lord Jesus. Here was Jesus, the perfect servant of the law, the only sinless person to have ever lived since the fall, full of purity, truth, and grace. Here is God himself, the lawgiver, the creator and sustainer of the universe, hanging before his creation. He is the ultimate form of holiness.
It is a picture of the way men and women, because of the total depravity of their natures, have always scoffed at the holiness of God and his law. People who are not holy hate holiness.
And so, here on the cross, in the hours before the darkness comes, God displays the perfection of his holiness for all to see. By the sovereign working of predestination, God has ordained that before he expends his wrath against sin, he will first erect a monument to his holiness.
2. At noon, the sun begins to fade. The light of day receeds behind a veil of utter darkness. The darkness is heavy and intense. The rabbis had often taught their people that darkness could be expected as a bad sign, upon occasions of great crimes or misfortune.
Soon, all light is gone and for three hours the Creator withdraws his light from his creation. And, it is in this three hour period that Christ hangs upon the cross as a
MONUMENT TO GOD’S WRATH.
The unblemished Lamb, now becomes the object or God’s wrath and anger. Make no mistake my friends, Christ is actually and purposely put under the indignant wrath of a God who must react against sin, for “The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and maintains wrath against his enemies.”
You see, Christ is now becoming the sin substitute, the sin sacrifice. The darkness signifies the intensity of Christ’s suffering. The light of God has been removed. Jesus, who knew no sin, now became sin in order that God might pour out upon his Son, what had been reserved for the wicked and ungodly people that God had chosen to save.
The just one was now taking the place of the unjust. The sins of every believer were thrust upon him. He was bearing our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “O sacred head, now wounded, With Grief and shame weighed down; Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, Thine only crown.”
The darkness signifies the legal aspect of Christ’s suffering. He becomes the scapegoat. The sins of the people have been transferred to him, and he is taken out into the wilderness, away from the camp, separated from the Holy of Holies.
A monument to God’s wrath is not a pretty sight to behold. Schilder has well said, “Human beings can make a cross; but this is mere child’s play when compared with the materials which God now applies.”
Hell is described as the place of outer darkness. It is a place of separation and alienation from God. When Christ cries out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”, he is experiencing hell itself.
It is in this hell, in the darkness, as a monument to God’s wrath, that Jesus Christ receives in a finite period of time, the punishment for an infinity of sins.
BUT! There is something to bear in mind. The darkness only warns that the heavy stroke of Jehovah’s rod is still to be felt. An atonement is still necessary. The death of the firstborn must still take place.
3. At three o’clock, the darkness begins to give way to light. The Creator restores the natural order of things. Christ cries out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
A.T. Robertson has stated, “Nothing from Jesus so well illustrates the depth of his suffering of soul as he felt himself regarded as sin though sinless.”
Shortly thereafter, Jesus cries out again, and then gives up his spirit and dies.
The sacrifice is complete. The atonement has been made. The light has been restored. Jesus now hangs on Calvary’s cruel cross, dead. He is now a MONUMENT TO GOD’S MERCY.
You say, how is this? How is he a monument to God’s mercy?
The answer is this. Full atonement for sin has been made.
Redemption has been accomplished and applied. The covenant people are now set free from their bondage. They have been bought with a price. Someone else has paid the debt that you and I owe. That is mercy!
The elect of God have been sitting in their homes awaiting the coming of the death angel. Will it strike their house? No! The Savior has died and his blood has been spilled over their doorposts, and they are delivered from death.
Oh my friends, there ought to be shouts of praise and loud hallelujahs coming from the homes of the covenant people. The truths of this passage is why the elect of God will one day surround his throne and sing:
Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom
and strength and honor and glory and
praise.
Are you numbered among the covenant people this day? Have your sins been paid for by the Savior? Do you stand here today looking on ready to mock and jeer and spit upon the monument to God’s holiness? If so, then be prepared to suffer the awful wrath of God which awaits you. But, my friend, remember, there is also a monument to God’s mercy which available for you to behold and receive as your own.
Christian, rejoice! Lift your hearts and hands to God in praise, and in thanksgiving to the Lord Jesus Christ who has redeemed you. Sing in your heart with the redeemed of all the ages:
When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
save in the death of Christ my God:
all the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.
See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down:
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.