The Crucifixion Of Jesus

"The Crucifixion Of Jesus" – Amos 8:9 “I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.” Amos announced judgment on an Israel living in injustice, corruption, abuse of the poor and outward religion without obedience; and the sun darkening at midday stands for deep sorrow, divine judgment and a dramatic change brought by God. The Gospels record that at the crucifixion darkness covered the whole earth from the sixth hour to the ninth, and that the veil of the temple was torn: the law ended and grace came. It was not merely a human death: it was a cosmic event, for the whole universe went dark when the Son of God was killed. And all of it was for us, for the curse He bore in His body.

I. The clear day went dark.

A. You know God according to how you seek Him, and it shows.

1. God does not sleep; He rises to look upon us and knows what is in our life.

2. For there to be transformation and pardon, the clear day had to go dark.

3. Life is warfare: the valiant is a warrior with treasure in heaven; the lukewarm settles nothing.

B. Not Jerusalem only: the whole world, the cosmos, went dark.

1. The Creator is taken to the most shameful death, the one given to evildoers.

2. He healed the leper and the lame, and still we think church is a place to quarrel.

3. He already had us: that is called predestination and election.

C. The whole Godhead works for humanity.

1. God creates, the Holy Spirit keeps us, and Jesus paid on the cross the curse of your life.

2. Hatred, strife, envy and jealousy are a curse; He took it on His body, being thrice holy.

3. One of His own handed Him over: being wicked came easily, for wickedness deranges everything.

II. What Amos announced.

A. Judgment on Israel for injustice, corruption and abuse of the poor.

1. An outward religion without true obedience; the very thing lived today.

2. The sun darkening at noon stands for heaven's deep sorrow.

3. Where there is deep sorrow comes divine judgment and a dramatic change brought by God.

B. Pride comes in very easily.

1. It sits in the middle of the chest, hidden, where no one sees it.

2. It shows in how we answer, in how we despise the one beside us, in thinking ourselves absolute.

3. “That one is old now”: we forget his history and that he gave us his hand.

III. Who put Him on the cross?

A. Thirty pieces of silver: that is what He was worth to Judas.

1. Judas ate with Him, saw His miracles and knew He withdrew to speak with the Father.

2. His conscience could not bear what he did: wickedness, selfishness and vanity burst out.

B. We must learn to suffer, not to seek revenge.

1. Jesus was crucified, mocked and stoned.

2. Seeking revenge is a lack of integrity and a lack of courage.

3. We live in exclusivity, not in service; Jesus washed His disciples' feet.

C. The Holy Spirit moves through all the earth and searches out everything.

1. God on His throne, the Son at His right hand interceding, and the Spirit who never ceases to move.

2. The angels record everything and carry it to heaven; you come to church, but you hide.

IV. The three hours of darkness (Matthew 27:45; Luke 23:44-45; Mark 15:33).

A. From the sixth hour to the ninth: from noon to three in the afternoon.

1. A divine sign of judgment and sorrow while Jesus hung on the cross.

2. Today the earth also passes through judgment and sorrow: storms, plagues, the pandemic.

3. Some things ought to frighten us, because fear drives us to pray; arrogance wants everything light.

B. The veil of the temple was torn in the midst.

1. What the veil guarded was laid bare: the law ended and grace came.

2. Those who rejected the Master rejected the time of grace to stay in the time of the law.

3. Luke, not a disciple but the converted physician, gathered all this for our knowledge.

C. Darkness symbolizes judgment.

1. If you do not leave your old life you live in darkness; and after darkness come sorrow and mourning.

V. A cosmic impact.

A. It was not merely a human death: it was a universal event.

1. The universe went dark because it knows that the sovereign God made it all.

2. And still we are able to deny Him and walk about as absolutes.

3. Review your day and examine yourself: ninety-five percent is done for oneself.

VI. A man of sorrows (Isaiah 53).

A. Innocent suffering, rejection, silence before accusers, sacrificial death, and then exaltation.

1. Believers bow the back; we do not serve the haughty or the quarrelsome.

2. “A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief”: He bore your sorrows and your grief.

3. We do not know how to thank Him: we neither lift a hand nor bring forth praise.

B. “He shall see of the travail of his soul… and he shall bear their iniquities.”

1. Are you the fruit of His travail? The iniquities He bore are yours and mine.

2. Let us drop the mask of being good people: neither good nor bad settles nothing.

3. To win eternity one must live in service, in the present.