TOPIC:“The Cry From the Cross” (Good Friday Message)
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:Matthew 27:45-50
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying...My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)
Have you ever considered what you would do if Jesus Christ were to appear before us this afternoon? If He were to come to this church and walk down this aisle at this very moment. Well, to help you answer that question, Charles Lamb, famous English author of the past, once stated: “If Shakespeare were to enter this room, I should rise up to do him honor; but if Jesus Christ were to enter, I should fall down and give Him worship.”
But I ask you, why such worship? What has Christ ever done to deserve such adoration? The answer is not found primarily in His virtuous life but in His vicarious death. Christ's death was His greatest work. His humiliation on the cross will never be forgotten. Never did the Son of God work as hard as He did that day on Calvary over nineteen hundred years ago. When He threw the universe in space, He spoke and it was done. But here at Calvary it took five bleeding wounds to do the work of God. Such demands from us, I say, both worship and praise.
Let us now know something of the background which led up to this anguish cry of Jesus from the cross. The soldiers had already made sport of Him by mocking Him as a make believe King. Later they led Him outside of the city to be crucified between two thieves. The Jews pleaded for Him to come down from the cross if He was indeed the Son of God. For three hours, from nine o'clock in the morning until noon Jesus was exposed to the heat and glaze of the sun.
And now we come to the setting of our text. At mid-day a supernatural darkness fell over the whole earth lasting until three o'clock. Now the silence is shattered and a loud cry is heart amidst the darkness. Jesus cries out: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” This is the fourth cry of Jesus from the cross and it is the only one recorded by Matthew and Mark.
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