MATTHEW 27:46 & 50
(Reading: John 10:1-21; Matthew 27:45-50)

The Loud Voice

Congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ...

	There is an expression which goes something like this, “The way a man dies tells us a lot about the way he lived.”
		I have found that to be very true.
			A life lived in the worship and service of the Lord will end with that person knowing he or she is very much in the safe hands of their Master.
				A life lived in bitterness and hate, however, will end in much regret and sorrow.

	So we turn to consider the death of the perfect man.
		We reflect here on what God’s own Son did when He physically died.
			And that tells us heaps about the way He lived!

	Actually, the way Christ died is itself one of His miracles.
		Instead of pointing to the will of the Father through what He did to someone or something else, Jesus showed through Himself the miracle.
			
	Now, if the way a believer dies can be a tremendous witness to their Christian faith, imagine how much more a witness to the Lord it is when the way they die is a miracle?
		For we know a miracle itself can bring someone to faith.
			A biblical miracle is nothing less than being confronted with what God is doing through Jesus Christ.
				And, man, don’t we see that in all its colour now!

	How do we see it?
		Well, dear friend, in the words of the first part to our text... THE VOICE OF JESUS IS LOUD.

	Here we need to realise what time it was for Jesus.
		He has been on the cross for over six hours.
			He has been terribly humiliated, that piercing crown of thorns was placed on his head.

	But that was nothing compared with the way those nails pierced his hands.
		And let’s understand that detail correctly.
			Those nails didn’t go through his palms, as  is so often pictured.
				In fact, those programs on television showing the alleged ‘miracle’ of the stigmata - the signs of the suffering of our Lord - are actually in the completely wrong place.

	Those nails actually were driven through the carpels.
		That’s where the lower arm connects with the hand.
			It’s also where there’s a major nerve.

	This is the nerve which serve the movement of the thumb.
		As a result, there is a tremendous cramp situation, and also a horrible pain in the whole hand.

	Then Jesus who’s nailed now on the cross beam was lifted with that cross beam on top of the vertical pole where it was fixed.
		Then a nail is driven through both feet.

	Even before Jesus is put up there to hang, He’s suffered terribly.
		But when He’s hanging there it becomes much worse.
			There gravity shows its force.
	The muscles of the upper body are under a terrible tension.
		The ribs are pulled up and so it becomes extremely difficult to breathe.
			Within ten minutes the crucified man is in terrible agony.
	The muscles of the upper body are seized with awful spasms.
		Great quantities of lactic acid are produced by these muscles and make the whole body quite acidic.
			Because breathing is impeded the body cannot get rid of the carbonic acid via breathing, which in turn makes the body even more acidic.
	
	All the muscles of the body are now experiencing the most terrible spasms.
		The victim then starts to perspire, and will finally suffocate, sometimes within half an hour.

	Terrible isn’t it?
		But not terrible enough for those Romans.
			They intended to get the most out of this most open and public display of their justice.

	That’s why the feet had been nailed down.
		That made it possible for the crucified person to push his body up a little.
			It was relief, he could draw breath.
	But relief from what?
		For then the full body-weight was on the foot-nail, which now added to the terrible pain.
			So the body would slump again, hanging on the upper nails, and the suffering goes on all over again.

	Congregation, it is after six hours of this, exacerbated by three of those hours being in the separating darkness from God’s presence, that the text says “Jesus cried out with a loud voice.”
		That’s a miracle.
			It has to be supernatural because there was no way it could naturally be done after that amount of time on the cross.
				Even the most angry man, raging against the worst possible injustice, would be just a shadow on the cross at that time.

	THE VOICE OF JESUS IS LOUD because He’s in complete control.
		Here authority shows itself in the most commanding way!
			He would decide when to go!
			
	The prophecy of Isaiah 53:12 has come true.
		Jesus is pouring out His life unto death.
			As He Himself foretold in John 10 verse 11, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”	

	And this time is itself significant.
		Matthew Henry highlights how this hour between three and four in the afternoon was the time of the evening sacrifice.
			This was the time when the paschal lamb was killed.
				This was the time Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.

	To those Jewish readers of Matthew’s Gospel this is a significance that wasn’t lost.
		They who so carefully looked for the fulfilment to be true knew this.
			Here was the victim prophesied of old.

	Now, we hear a lot of talk nowadays about victims.
		It seems that society has become full of these victims - people who because of alleged circumstances beyond their control aren’t to be held responsible for the actions they do.
			Even if those actions end up taking the lives of others!

	That’s a lot of nonsense of course.
		While people may have had difficult upbringings it’s still the choice of each one of us what we do with our lives.
			And each one of us does know which choice to make.
				There’s no excuse.

	And here we have the one man who always made the right choice - who was the only true victim - taking on the responsibility for us all.
		THE VOICE OF JESUS IS LOUD because He has given His life as a ransom for many.
			It was our Lord who declared in John 19:30, “It is finished”.

	So when He said at this same moment the seventh and final saying from the cross in Luke 23:46, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit,” He proved He had come back into His Father’s care.
		It was done.
			He had won!
				THE VOICE OF JESUS IS LOUD because it’s the victor’s song!

	Now, you never thought of it that way - did you?
		But no man ever died like this man.
			That’s why, in the second place... THE SOUL OF CHRIST IS BOWED.
		
	Congregation, when a believer dies what is it we can be very anxious about.
		In fact, what is it Christians can be very concerned about if they don’t think a believer dying has this?

	It’s something I don’t think our boys and girls will know about.
		And now I know I’ve got your attention!
			You have to know now!
	
	You see, you have to know how to die, too.
		You young people, and especially you young adults, can sometimes live like you’re going to live forever. 
			But how does it hit you when one of your friends or family dies as yet another of New Zealand’s devastating road toll?
				Life’s pretty fragile then, isn’t it?

	But generally when you’re young death is far away.
		It happens to someone else.
			But when it’s your own friends who are dying, when it’s your brothers and sisters who are passing away, you think about it a lot.

	When Christians talk about being ready for death it’s about realising that this is also a part of life.
		But they mean more, too.
			Because if we cannot let it go there’s a special comfort from God that’s missed.
	While many believers die with this incredible peace - the peace that passes all understanding - there can be those who don’t have it.
		And that means at that point they’re not right with God.

	That’s why older Christians are concerned to get their hearts and lives right with God.
		While they know that they are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, they don’t want to be caught out when the Lord calls them home.
			They can let this world go.
	Can you young person?
		Would God calling you home right now find you ready and willing?
			Or would you have so many other things you’ve still got to do - that game you’ve just got to play, the program you just have to watch, the trip you’ve just got to make.
	All those things aren’t what life’s about.
		You don’t really know life until you’ve met death!

	Death is the great divider.
		It really sorts us out.
			And it catches us out!
	Whether you’ve been lying next to the bed of that loved one with cancer for months.
		Or it’s the most unexpected accident to the most healthiest and good looking one of them all.
			Who are living for?
				Is that worth dying for?

	The One who could let it go best of all shows us this.
		THE SOUL OF CHRIST IS BOWED.
			Our Lord’s loud voice shows He is the eternal life.		
	He really knows life because He perfectly met death.
		In the words of Hebrews 5 verse 7, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”
	
	Because, congregation, what is happening now on the cross?
		In fact, what’s happening across the land as the paschal lamb is being sacrificed at this time and on this special day in the year?
			The Light shines!
				The darkness is gone!	

	In the moment of greatest humility there is the greatest victory.
		Then it’s most appropriate that the word for “loud” here comes from the Greek word for “great”!
			It’s the word ‘mega’.

	So over the land where the darkness has lifted, and the sacrifices are being made, Christ’s cry brings the trumpet’s sound.
		This is not the end - it’s the most glorious beginning!
			
	The words of Hebrews 9 bring out the meaning of that scene.
		In the verses 13 and 14, it says, “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of the heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
			“How much more, then,  will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

	The voice heard over the dying at Calvary is now going out among the living throughout the world - and for all eternity!
		There’s no stopping this sound.
			It’s the sound of victory.
	You hear it from the Son of God’s love.
		And you keep hearing its echoes from the sons and daughters whom through God’s love have been adopted into His family of faith.
			This the witness of the Church all over the world. 

	Someone once commented about what the modern philosophers said about God and then what God Himself said.
		He wrote, “Satre speaks of the silence of God, Heidegger of the absence of God, Jaspers of the concealment of God, Bultmann of the hiddenness of God, Buber of the eclipse of God, Tillich of the non-being of God, Altizer of the death of God.
			“And the New Testament?
				“It speaks of the love of God.”

	But it’s not only the New Testament.
		The whole of Scripture declares God’s love in Jesus Christ.
			And at the height of this love’s expression we hear His voice clearest of all.
 	Because it is God Himself who’s hanging there.
		And it’s the saving God we have to believe in our hearts sacrificed Himself for you and I there.
			As Elaine Kilgore put it so well, “Life doesn’t begin at forty, or at twenty, but at Calvary.”		

	Our voices and our lives now must be loud.
		And our souls must also be bowed.
			In the face of such a sacrifice we cannot come away the same anymore.
	Because this sacrifice is the ultimate miracle.
		And a miracle tells us one thing: God has come to visit.

	You’re not out - are you?	
		Amen.

PRAYER:
	Let’s pray...
		O Father God,
			where can we begin to thank You for all that You planned in Your Son?
	Lord Jesus - how can we praise You enough for giving completely of Yourself?
		Please send Your Holy Spirit so that we may know again a little of what it meant for You, but especially the difference we must now make for You!
			For the sake of the gospel we pray, Amen.