Rent for Calvary
Luke 23:33
Matthew 27:27-49
Robert
Boyd wrote this about Crucifixion: “Victims condemned to the cross first
underwent the hideous torture of the scourge, and this was immediately
inflicted on Jesus. He was now seized by some soldiers nearby and, after being
stripped to the waist, was bound in a stooping posture, His hands being tied
behind His back to a post or a block of wood near the tribunal. The Jews had a
law that no person should be given more than forty stripes save one when
flogged, but the Romans had no such law, so they often scourged their victims
until they bled to death. Jesus was beaten at the pleasure of the soldiers with
knots of rope or plaited leather thongs which were armed at the ends with
acorn-shaped drops of lead or small pointed bones. In many cases, not only was
the back of the person being scourged cut open in all directions, but even the
eyes, the face and the breast were torn open, and the teeth seldom knocked out.
Under the fury of the countless stripes, the victims sometimes shrieked amid
screams, conclusive leaps and distortions into a senseless heap; sometimes died
on the spot; sometimes were taken away, and unrecognizable mass of bleeding
flesh, to find deliverance in death from the inflammation and fever, sickness
and shame.”
I)
The
rent garments speaks of the Animosity of Calvary.
Matthew 27:27-28 Then
the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto
him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a
scarlet robe.
A) Rent
garments of Sorrow. Job 1:20-21
Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and
shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked
came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD
gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
B) Rent
garments of Sin. 1 Kings
21:23-27 And of Jezebel also spake the LORD,
saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of
Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the
fowls of the air eat. But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself
to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things
as did the Amorites, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. And
it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put
sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
C) Rent
garments of Shame. Esther
4:1-2 When Mordecai perceived all that was
done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out
into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; And came
even before the king's gate: for none might enter into the king's gate
clothed with sackcloth.
II)
The
rent flesh speaks of the Agony of Calvary. Matthew 27:29-30 And when
they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a
reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him,
saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and
smote him on the head.
A) The
agony of Persecution. Isaiah
53:7-9 He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his
mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his
generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the
transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence,
neither was any deceit in his mouth.
B) The
agony of Punishment. Isaiah
53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him;
he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for
sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the
pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
C) The
agony of Payment. Isaiah
53:4-5 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and
carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him;
and with his stripes we are healed.
D) The
agony of Peace. Colossians
1:20 And, having made peace through the
blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I
say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
III)
The
rent veil speaks of the Access of Calvary. Matthew 27:50-53 Jesus, when he had cried again with
a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was
rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the
rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which
slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into
the holy city, and appeared unto many.
A) Access
to the Light. John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of
the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life.
B) Access
to the Living. Luke 20:38 For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all
live unto him. John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection,
and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Romans 6:8 Now if
we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Philippians 1:21 For to me
to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
C) Access
to the Lord. Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Hebrews 10:19 Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
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