CENTURION : THE CRUCIFIED ONE IS THE SON OF GOD MATT 27:..

He may have presided over a thousand executions, but never one like this.

He heard the Saviour groan from the nails driven into His hands and feet – but heard only gracious words. Not a curse! He contrasted the religious mob with their fanatical envy, and despised callous, unholy men.

‘They passed by, blaspheming Him, wagging their heads, saying ‘You who destroy the temple in three days, save yourself. If You are the Son of God , come down from the cross’’. The centurion must have thought, ’What a claim’. Son of God.

The chief priests also mocked with the scribes and elders, ‘He saved others ( a beautiful testimony); He cannot save Himself. Someone said, ’Because He saved others, He could not save Himself. ‘If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will see and believe." Is He a King?

They continued their assault on the dear Saviour. ‘He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, "I AM the Son of God.’ (V23)

Why this sustained pressure on this extraordinary Person, he must have thought?

The centurion turned his attention to the two robbers, ‘who were crucified with Him, one on the right hand and another on the left. (v38) ‘Even the robbers who were crucified with Him, reviled Him in the same way’ as the satan-driven religious men.

A change came over the scene, when one of the thieves turned to the Lord Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ To which the dear Lord responded, ‘Today you shall be with Me in Paradise’. Is eternity in His hands?

The captain of the guard heard the seven sayings of our Lord, knowing the effort for every breath and syllable spoken, as He pressed down on the wooden bar.

He addressed His mother, ’Woman, Behold your son’, indicating John the beloved. ‘Son, behold your mother’, and John took her from that hour to his own home. To the dying thief He promised that he would share eternity with Him that day.

‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do’. A royal pardon !

‘I thirst’, but only when the Lord ‘knew that He had accomplished all things’.

The centurion noted how the sun faded quickly and total, mysterious darkness covered the earth. Then he heard the remaining cries: ‘My God, My God, Why have you forsaken Me? Our Lord quoted directly from Psalm 22, which the religious officials should have recognised, except for their envy.

God the Father broken-heartedly turned from His cherished Son as He bore our sin (with its shame, guilt and condemnation ) in His own body on the tree. No Roman guard or other person could look on the ‘visage more marred than any man’ (Isaiah52)

Summoning all His remaining strength, our Lord cried with a strong voice,‘It is finished’. My salvation is accomplished. Redemption is complete. The whole debt has been cleared. The gospel shall now be preached to the ends of the earth.

Never man spoke as this Man.. The centurion heard every word spoken during those six hours of intense suffering. Faith comes by hearing; hearing by the Word of God. What can God do with the Captain of the Guard, captivated by the Suffering One.?

The centurion and those with him ( that is 100 soldiers ) , who were guarding Jesus, ( strange term ) saw the earthquake and the things that happened. (v54 )

The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom’, its beautiful colours of gold, blue, scarlet, purple and white exposed the Holy of Holies in the temple. The whole religious mob would have scurried to repair the unbelievable tear. Too late, however, for Christ had forged a way into Heaven itself with His dying.

‘The earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves wee opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised’. (v53 ) The captain saw and felt the earth tremor as God recorded this seismic witness to the greatest tragedy and most glorious triumph of the cross. ‘The whole creation groans and travails together’.

Little wonder that the rocks ( of all sizes ) were split open. God had done this in the desert to provide living water for His pilgrim people. Why not at the cross! Christ as living water will now flow to every nation on God’s planet earth. .

Golgotha was a graveyard following limitless crucifixions, but now the graves were opened, and after the resurrection of God’s dear One, the saints appeared to many in the holy city. (v53) They must wait the cue from the ‘first-begotten from the dead’.

The centurion and those with him feared greatly’ for they had experimental evidence of the Person Who had hung on the cross. He forthrightly declared,‘Truly this was the Son of God’.

Governor Pilate mockingly presented the Saviour with’ Behold the Man’ and Later taunted ‘Behold your King’, while defiantly posting the superscription on the cross ‘Jesus of Nazareth. The King of the Jews. ‘ Religious leaders shamefully teased Him for His Sonship and Kingship. 2000 years later, the record tells that the Roman captain, after six hours’ exposure to the Eternal One, shouted to the world. The Sonship of Christ.

You may have had a lifetime of exposure to the grace and mercy of your Lord.

Will you bow and firmly stand on Jesus your Saviour as the Son of God?.