THE MAJESTY OF THE CROSS “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.” Matthew 27:50-53
When Christ hung on the cross He was in the depth of His humility. Voluntarily He was subjected to the utmost cruelties of men, and eventually utterly forsaken of God and executed with the full brunt of eternal wrath. Yet in the depth of this misery there was the manifestation of the Majesty of His being in the four miracles that took place simultaneously when He cried His last words, “It is finished.” The great signs were the renting of the veil in the temple, the earthquake, the rocks breaking, and the resurrection of the Old Testament saints. All of these were a token of the power of the accomplished work of redemption. Each was an echo of the great triumphant cry; “It is finished.” The torn veil answered to the finished work of the ceremonial law. There would be no more sacrifices, for “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. After this Man offered Himself once for sin He ‘sat down’ at the right hand of Majesty on high.” The tearing of the veil signified that the way into the Holy Place (Heaven) has been opened once for all. The earthquake, or renting of the earth, was an answer to the same sign that took place at Mt. Sinai when Jehovah gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. This manifested that the ministration of righteousness in the Gospel might not be less glorious than the ministration of death under the law. The tearing of the rocks spoke of the power and efficacy of the new dispensation of the Gospel. As the death and passion of Christ broke in pieces the very foundations of the old dispensation, so the preaching of His death and passion would break in pieces the stony hearts of sinners and sweep them into His Kingdom. The resurrection of many of the Old Testament saints was a token of the vanquishing power of the ‘death’ of deaths. It was a pledge of the future operation of the Holy Ghost in the regeneration of sinners under the preaching of the Gospel yet to follow. The Divine Majesty manifested in the four signs at the death of Christ was, I believe, a demonstration of the awesome power to be effected during the dispensation of the Gospel. Three days later those signs would be capped by the most wonderful miracle of all, namely, the resurrection of our Blessed Redeemer. That same power would be enveloped in the preaching of the Gospel and begin a revolution which would know no end. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6-7).
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