Luke 23:32-46
The Day Jesus Died
The day I want to consider this evening is the hinge upon which man’s
history turns. Everything before this day only has significance as it
pointed forward to this day. Everything after this day only has
significance as it points backwards to this day. It is the day that
Jesus died.
As important as this day is, do we understand what really happened
that day? Yes, we who are believers know that Jesus, our sin-Bearer,
died that day. That we know because it bears directly on our
eternity. But much more happened. On that day, even the infinite,
unseen beings watched with interest and concerned what happened. So
what did happen on the day when Jesus died?
I. God put another mark of sadness on the earth.
Luke 23:44 And it was about the sixth hour, and
there was a darkness over all the earth until the
ninth hour.
45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the
temple was rent in the midst.
A. \\#45\\ Notice that the sun was darkened.
B. From the 6th hour (noon) to 9th hour (3 PM).
C. Although the darkness is recorded in both Matthew and Mark
too, none of the Bible references tell us WHY the sun went
dark.
D. My guess is that the crime being committed by mankind was too
evil for the sun to shine upon it.
1. Creation refused to glorify the act by lighting it.
2. Now I know that creation is not a living thing, but the
Bible does speak of nature in a personified sense.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until
now.
3. Every time we speak of Mother Nature, we personify
creation.
4. Creation and nature are not living beings so when the
Bible says that all of creation groans, it is saying that
God put into creation a groan, a groan of sadness because
sin had entered into.
5. I believe the earth has groaned with sadness since man
introduced sin to it.
6. The 3 hours of darkness was another of God’s marks of
sadness on this earth.
7. God would not dignify what man was doing by putting the
light He had created upon it.
E. I think there may be a third mark of sadness that God left on
creation after sin contaminated it.
1. Sometime back, I read where a writer said all of creation
sings and speaks in the minor keys.
a. I don’t know whether that is true or not. I have no
ear for notes.
b. But he said when the wind whistles through the trees,
it will always be in a minor key.
c. When the bird sings his songs, it will be in a minor
key.
d. When you hold a sea shell to your ear, the roar that
you hear will be in a minor key.
e. When the thunder sounds, the roaster crows, the dog
barks, the cat meows, the cow lowers, the horse
neighs, or the crickets chirp, they will always do
so in a minor key.
2. This was another of God’s ways of marking creation with a
sadness from sin.
II. Satan presumed victory.
A. I do not think it is much of a leap to speculate that once
Jesus died on the cross, Satan presumed that he had won!
B. From the beginning, Satan had wanted Jesus dead.
1. \\#Matt 2:16\\ The babies at Nazareth
2. The many attempts to kill Jesus before the cross.
a. \\#Matt 4:6\\ Tempt Jesus to jump off the temple
b. \\#Luke 4.29\\ Nazareth, cast Jesus headfirst off a
cliff
c. \\#John 8:59, 10:31\\ Two attempts to stone Jesus
3. Each attempt failed.
C. But when Judas came to betray Jesus \\#John 13:2\\, Satan must
have thought that he finally had the upper hand!
1. It was that Satan-filled Judas who rallied the scribes and
Pharisees, brought them to one of Jesus’ quiet prayer
spots, marked Jesus with a kiss.
2. Satan did all of these things, thinking that if Jesus
died, he would win the victory!
D. Yet, everything was moving according to God’s plan too!
1. It was not JUST the devil who wanted Jesus to die on the
cross.
a. God did too.
Isa 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.
b. It pleased God to hurt Jesus.
c. Not in some maniacal way, but so that Jesus could
be our "offering for sin."
d. The Bible goes further to say that this had been
God’s plan since before the world was created!
1Co 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God
ordained before the world unto our glory:
2. So both God wanted and Satan wanted the crucifixion but
for two totally different reasons and to two totally
different ends.
a. God wanted it for man’s salvation.
b. Satan wanted it, thinking it would somehow stop
man’s salvation.
3. How could Satan, knowing the prophecies of Jesus, be
so blind to the cross?
a. I don’t know.
b. The prophecies were difficult to understand
BEFORE they happened. (Just ask the Jews!)
c. Some how, I think God blinded the eyes of Satan
and the powers of this world for they did not
completely understand who Jesus was or what He
had come to do.
1Cor 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God
ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew:
for had they known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory.
d. And God did appear to be working against Satan’s
plan—maybe that confused Satan!
(1) God sent messages to many of the key people
in the crucifixion, warning them of their
involvement.
(a) God sent word to Peter.
(b) God used Pilate’s wife to sent word to
him.
(c) God used the ungodly High Priest to
warn all of the Sanhedrin.
(d) And Jesus constantly warned the disciples.
(2) Perhaps this should serve as a warning to
sinners every where. "When you think you
are winning, you really are losing!"
III. God abandoned God.
Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried
with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
A. The word "forsake" means to desert, to leave, to abandon.
B. God the Father and the Holy Spirit abandoned Jesus while
He died on the cross.
1. I have know that truth for many years now, but I have
never understood it.
2. I understand WHY God abandoned God. It was because Jesus
had become sin—our sin—and the Holy God could no longer
have fellowship with sin.
3. What I don’t understand relates to the nature of God for
God is a triune Being, all three Persons being unique but
all three Persons being one.
Deut 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is
one LORD:
C. How does God abandon Himself? I do not know the answer to
that truth, but on the day that Jesus died, it happened.
IV. The angels looked on while mankind mocked.
A The angels have always been curious about salvation.
1Peter 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not
unto themselves, but unto us they did minister
the things, which are now reported unto you by
them that have preached the gospel unto you with
the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which
things the angels desire to look into.
B. Without doubt, they were at the crucifixion, armed and
ready to obliterate the Lord’s enemy.
Matthew 26:53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now
pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me
more than twelve legions of angels?
C. While the angels curiously, diligently, earnestly looked on,
mankind paid little attention to Jesus at all.
1. The majority of mankind knew nothing more or less about
Jesus or the cross.
2. Jesus’ disciples had fled, with only two following from a
distance.
3. Peter, their spokesman, denied knowing Jesus—three times.
4. The Jewish religious of the day had arranged and approved
the cross. On the day of Jesus’ death, they stood and
daunted their Victim.
5. Roman soldiers knelt off to the side, gambling for Jesus’
clothing.
6. Pilate had vainly scrubbed his hands, trying to wash them
clean of the innocent Man’s blood.
7. A thief on one side prayed for forgiveness while another
on the other side used his last hours to laugh at Jesus.
D. I worked on a message to preach tonight but it would not come
together entitled, "Too Late."
1. You are too late, Judas, you could have believed on Him.
2. You are too late, Peter, you could have stood with Him.
3. You are too late, Pilate, you have accepted Him.
4. You are too late, Joseph of Arimathaea, you could have
stood for Him.
5. You are too late, disciples, you could have prayed for
Him.
6. I noticed, it was all the men in Jesus’ life that let Him
down, but the women continued to stand with Him.
a. It was the women who wept for Jesus on the road to
Calvary.
b. It was the women who stood at the cross.
c. It was the women who followed to see where he was
laid.
d. It was the women who arrived at daybreak on Sunday
morning.
E. What a sad day in human history when the unsaveable angels are
more concerned about man’s Savior than man is!
1. It demonstrates how amazing ignorant and cruel mankind can
be!
2. But at the same time, it gives me some hope. If man could
be that wicked and survive, there is some hope that God
may yet effect a revival in our world today.
V. Abraham’s Bosom was closed; Hell was expanded.
Luke 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say
unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in
paradise.
A. Notice, Jesus did not say "Abraham’s Bosom" but "paradise."
1. I have always assumed those two places were the same, then
I looked it up.
2. Paradise is mentioned here, \\#2Cor 12:4, Re 2:7\\.
3. It is also called "the third heaven" \\#2Cor 12:2\\.
4. It is the reward for the saved.
5. I believe paradise is somewhere in heaven or another name
for heaven.
B. Hell is and always has been a very real place.
1. We do not know WHEN hell was created, but probably before
man for the Bible says it hosts some every evil demons.
2Pe 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that
sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered
them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto
judgment;
2. We know that it was created for the demons who disobeyed
God.
Mt 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the
left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels:
3. The Old Testament tells us that God expanded hell’s size
due to the increasing number of PEOPLE that have gone
there.
Isaiah 5:14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself,
and opened her mouth without measure:
a. Notice the verb tenses in that verse - past.
b. Hell was originally created only for the demons.
c. Although God knew mankind was going to go there too,
he had not made his choice yet. God did not expand
hell until he did.
d. When Adam sinned, God expanded (past tense) hell.
C. Abraham’s Bosom was the place where the Old Testament saints
went when they died.
1. What we know about Abraham’s Bosom, we learn from
\\#Luke 16:19-31\\
a. And we know that at one time, hell and Abraham’s Bosom
were close together.
b. From hell, the beggar could see "Abraham afar off"
\\#Luke 16:23\\.
c. Luke referred to the place where Abraham was as
"Abraham’s bosom" \\#Luke 16:22\\.
d. \\#Luke 16:26\\ Of course, there was an impassable
gulf between the place of the wicked and the
righteous.
2. So there were apparently two chambers, side-by-side;
one where the wicked went (hell) and the other where
the redeemed went (Abraham’s Bosom).
D. Paul wrote, quoting \\#Ps 68:18\\ that Jesus descended before
He ascended, leading captivity captive’
Eph 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up
on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts
unto men.
9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he
also descended first into the lower parts of the
earth?
1. To lead "captivity captive" means he lead those who were
prisons somewhere else. Typically, it means someone was
lead to freedom. In this case, I believe it means that
Jesus lead them to heaven.
2. So what happened to the compartment that was called
Abraham’s Bosom. My belief is that hell expanded to make
room for the many who would reject Jesus Christ during
the church age.
VI. The Holiest of All was opened.
A. \\#Luke 23:45\\ Veil was rent into two pieces.
B. Over the years, we have noted many times that the earthly
tabernacle is but a replica of the heavenly temple.
1. \\#Ex 25:9\\ Build it "after the pattern that I shew
thee."
a. The word "after" is italicized indicating that it was
added for our understanding.
b. It makes the verse read that what Moses saw was a
pattern to follow but \\#Heb 8:5\\ makes it clear
that the earthly was a pattern of the heavenly.
2. \\#He 8:5\\ The writer said the earthly was a "shadow of
heavenly things."
C. The renting of the earthly veil meant that the wall which had
kept man out of the God’s presence was being torn down.
1. The wall was sin.
2. What removes sin? BLOOD.
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law
purged with blood; and without shedding of blood
is no remission.
3. The heavenly temple had been in existence since the days
of Moses (or before) but it had never been used. Why?
a. There was no High Priest who was worthy to enter.
b. There was no blood that could actually remove sin.
4. But once Jesus died, He became our High Priest and
gathered His own blood, taking it to the heavenly temple.
Heb 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and
calves, but by his own blood he entered in once
into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us.
13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and
the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from
dead works to serve the living God?
Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20 By a new and living way, which he hath
consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to
say, his flesh;
D. We have cause for celebration!
1. On the day of Jesus’ death, the heavenly temple was opened
and the eternal blood of Jesus Christ was applied for our
sins.
2. Paradise was shut down and all the saved from all the ages
were gathered to God’s presence and the wall of sin that
had kept us locked out for so many years was torn down!
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