Gary Eugene Howell uses the Berean Standard Bible. The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. The Text of the Berean Standard Bible was dedicated to the public domain as of April 30, 2023.

Verses 1-2

When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people conspired against Jesus to put Him to death. They bound Him, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate the governor.

Commentary

You shall not murder. (Exodus 20:13)

And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them? (Numbers 14:11)

Salvation is by faith. But what exactly is faith? Sometimes it’s easier to understand what something is not in order to understand what it is. A lack of faith simply means that you are in opposition to Jesus Christ. It means you do not believe Jesus, or you do not trust him, or both.

Remember when Jesus was sleeping in the boat and the disciples came to him and said “Lord, save us! We are perishing”? Jesus had previously made statements to the disciples about himself, that if they had believed him, they would have understood that the Messiah was not destined to die by drowning in the Sea of Galilee.

Thus, from in the boat, he said to his disciples, “You of little faith”. By not believing what Jesus had said earlier, they were in opposition to Jesus. Put another way, by not believing what Jesus had said, they were attempting to work out a plan contrary to His own. Thus, they were in opposition.

Verses 3-5

When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was filled with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said.

“What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.” So Judas threw the silver into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

Commentary

Recall that Satan entered Judas. So Judas was demon possessed and acting accordingly. I am guessing also that after Jesus’s arrest, Satan no longer had any use for Judas and so left him. Once gone, Judas, seeing that Jesus was going to be executed because of what he (Judas) had done, realized the gravity of his error prompting him to return the silver.

Does this mean that Judas repented? No. We already know that Jesus declared him condemned.

The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed. It would be better for him if he had not been born. (Matthew 26:24)

Instead of repenting, Judas went out and hanged himself. So Judas was already dead and in hell, even before Jesus had been crucified.

Verse 6

The chief priests picked up the pieces of silver and said, “It is unlawful to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.”

Commentary

“since it is blood money” was an admission of guilt on their part. They are the ones who hired Judas and paid him the silver which they are now calling blood money. So amongst themselves they are freely admitting that their plan to kill Jesus was unlawful (i.e. they are fully aware that what they are doing is wrong).

Verses 7-10

After conferring together, they used the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

“They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on Him by the people of Israel, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord had commanded me.”

Commentary

31.7683° N, 35.2333° E

Verses 11-14

Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, who questioned Him: “Are You the King of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

And when He was accused by the chief priests and elders, He gave no answer.

Then Pilate asked Him, “Do You not hear how many charges they are bringing against You?” But Jesus gave no answer, not even to a single charge, much to the governor’s amazement.

Commentary

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)

It was God’s will that Jesus should die for the sins of mankind so that salvation could be granted to all those who believe. This then, is neither the time nor the place for Jesus to try to defend himself. Had he done so, he probably would have been released. Instead, he said nothing.

Verses 15-18

Now it was the governor’s custom at the feast to release to the crowd a prisoner of their choosing. At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. So when the crowd had assembled, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.

Commentary

“For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over”.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, personal introspection and self-analysis is an important skill. Why am I feeling the way that I’m feeling? Why am I behaving the way that I’m behaving? Why do I want to do what I’m about to do? Asking these questions in prayer to God can reveal motives that we might otherwise fail to recognize.

This author can recall two instances in which envy appeared to influence the actions of professing Christians.

The first involved a church that hired an assistant pastor. Over the course of about a year, it became apparent that many in the congregation preferred the assistant pastor’s preaching. He was more engaging, able to explain Scripture more deeply, more animated and could often make the congregation laugh. As his popularity grew, the head pastor became envious of him and fired him.

Several years later, at a different church, a lead pastor announced that the church would be starting home Bible studies for the congregation to attend. He emphasized the importance of studying God’s Word more deeply and having fellowship with other believers. For a few weeks, during his Sunday morning announcements, he asked for volunteers to lead these studies. After recruiting five or six leaders, the home Bible studies began.

Within about seven months, however, one of the Bible studies had grown significantly while attendance at the others steadily declined because people were gravitating to the larger group. The other Bible study leaders became envious, and the resulting division prompted the pastor to disband all of the home Bible studies.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness. (James 3:13-18)

Verses 19

While Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him this message: “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered terribly in a dream today because of Him.”

Commentary

God sometimes speaks to us in our dreams, but we must interpret those dreams according to the Word of God. 90% of the time that you have a strange dream, it’s probably because you watched something strange on television. But if you think the Lord spoke to you in a dream, first pray and ask the Lord what it meant, then seek wise council from someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit.

Verses 20-26

But the chief priests and elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus put to death.

“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they replied.

“What then should I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify Him!”

“Why?” asked Pilate. “What evil has He done?”

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify Him!”

When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “You bear the responsibility.”

All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”

So Pilate released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified.

Commentary

Pilate washed his hands, meaning the responsibility for Jesus’s execution was put entirely on the Jewish people. Pilate said “You bear the responsibility.” To which they replied “His blood be on us and on our children!”

Can you imagine placing a curse upon your own children? Just 30 years later, one million Jewish people would die and 97,000 put into slavery during the siege of Jerusalem. One can point to this moment when the Jewish people yelled, “His blood be on us and on our children” and wonder if the siege of Jerusalem was an effect of this curse placed upon their own children. This event also led to the Jewish Diaspora, prophesied numerous times in the Old Testament.

Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and multiply, so also it will please Him to annihilate you and destroy you. And you will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul. (Deuteronomy 28:63-65)

But the Lord also promised to bring them back again.

I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore you from captivity and gather you from all the nations and places to which I have banished you, declares the LORD. I will restore you to the place from which I sent you into exile. (Jeremiah 29:14)

Therefore declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the countries to which you have been scattered, and I will give back to you the land of Israel.’ (Ezekiel 11:17)

This, of course, took place on May 14th, 1948. I always find this amazing that events spoken of thousands of years ago, are taking place in our modern times. This author’s father was born in the late 1930’s, which means that in 1948, the Bible was taking place in my own father’s lifetime. And even today in yours and my lifetime, the Bible is still taking place in that tens of thousands of Jewish people immigrate to Israel every year. God is gathering them from all the nations right now as I’m writing this. The Bible is taking place right now!

Don’t view the Bible as an ancient, outdated document, because the Bible is taking place at this very moment.

[While this author sees the gathering of the Jewish people from around the world as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy taking place before our eyes, he rejects the practice of those who seek to force current events into Scripture, as though every news headline were prophesied in the Bible. This author recommends ignoring websites and video channels that focus entirely on “prophecy in the news today”. They often twist scripture and are only serving to distract you from your calling.]

Verse 27

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company around Him.

Commentary

This gathering of the whole company around Jesus represents what will happen in the future when all the nations of the earth will gather around Jerusalem with the intent to destroy it.

On that day, when all the nations of the earth gather against her, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who would heave it away will be severely injured. (Zechariah 12:3)

The entire chapter of Zechariah 12 is an end time prophecy about the world seeking to wipe out the Jewish people and how God will save them. If you are at this point in this commentary, I recommend reading now the whole of Zechariah chapter twelve.

Verse 28

They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.

Commentary

They put on Jesus a scarlet robe. This represents Jesus taking all of our sins upon himself.

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool. (Isaiah 1:18)

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6)

Again, our iniquity was laid upon Jesus, and is represented by the scarlet robe being laid upon Him.

Verses 29-31

And they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand, knelt down before Him, and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” Then they spit on Him and took the staff and struck Him on the head repeatedly. After they had mocked Him, they removed the robe and put His own clothes back on Him. Then they led Him away to crucify Him.

Commentary

The crown of thorns represents the curse that was put upon Adam.

And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:17-19)

Thus, Jesus took upon himself mankind’s curse and sin. This is the reason why He is the only path to heaven and salvation, because He is the only one who took this upon himself.

Also, this author has grown Acacia trees, when pricked, their thorns have a tendency to produce a stinging sensation that lasts for nearly an hour.

Verse 32

Along the way they found a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross of Jesus.

Commentary

Just like when Mary the sister of Lazarus put expensive perfume on Jesus’s head, preparing him for burial, Jesus said “Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached in all the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her” (see Matthew 26), this author believes that Simon of Cyrene being specifically mentioned by name in the Bible, is Jesus’s way of saying thank you.

Despite the fact that his actions were involuntary, never the less, after Jesus had been beaten and whipped, this man stepped in and carried for Jesus, the heavy weight of the cross. The same thing said about Mary of Bethany can be said about Simon of Cyrene; wherever the gospel is preached in all the world, what he did for Jesus will be remembered. He, Simon, will be remembered forever.

Consider the fact that 200 roman soldiers gathered to watch Jesus be beaten. They, all 200 of them, are totally forgotten. We don’t know their names, where they were from, who they were, what became of them. We know nothing about these individuals. Their identities are essentially erased from history, as is the case with almost all human beings. Three or four generations after a person passes away, most people are totally forgotten to the point that it may as well have been like they never existed. But Simon of Cyrene has been remembered for 2,000 years and will continue to be remembered forever.

Cyrene was a city located in what is today northeastern Libya in North Africa. So we know that Simon was a foreigner.

Verses 33-34

And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means The Place of the Skull, they offered Him wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, He refused to drink it.

Commentary

They poisoned my food with gall and gave me vinegar to quench my thirst (Psalm 69:21).

Matthew is showing readers that the crucifixion was the fulfilling of prophecy. Why is that important? Psalm 69 was written 1,000 years before Jesus was born. Matthew is showing his readers (and us) that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

Adding gall to the wine was yet another act of cruelty by the Romans. Those being crucified think they’re being offered something to drink. Something to refresh them. Then they find out it tastes horrible. Gall comes from the gall bladder of an animal. Disgusting.

Verse 35

When they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments by casting lots.

Commentary

They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. (Psalm 22:18)

Again, Matthew shows his readers that what was spoken of the Messiah long long ago, is now coming to fruition. Prophecy is fulfilled. Jesus is the Messiah. Why does this matter to us today? Jesus being the Jewish Messiah shows us God’s plan of salvation. It is through Christ that we are able to attain eternal life. Not by works, not by merit, not by being a good person. Not by any other religion’s leader. Jesus is the one who paid your price for eternal life.

If your Dad takes you out to dinner and pays for your meal, do you thank your uncle? Do you thank your neighbor? Do you thank the random guy that jogs down your street? No! You thank your Dad for paying for your meal. Likewise, Jesus is the only one who paid for your salvation. He is the one who deserves our thanks and praise.

Verses 36-37

And sitting down, they kept watch over Him there. Above His head they posted the written charge against Him:

THIS IS JESUS,
THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Commentary

The wording of the sign, written by Pilate, continues his insistence that Jesus had done nothing wrong. It doesn’t say “robber,” “thief,” “murderer,” or anything else that would identify Jesus as a criminal. Pilate intentionally worded the sign this way to make clear that Jesus was innocent.

Recall that from the time of the first Passover when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, God instructed them to sacrifice a perfect lamb without blemish (See Exodus 12). The unblemished lamb represented Jesus. This is another reason why Jesus is the only path to eternal life. He is the only perfect person who ever lived. He received the death penalty for your sins. There is no crime for which the punishment can exceed the death penalty. Therefore, when Christ died, he paid for all your sins.

Verse 38

Two robbers were crucified with Him, one on His right and the other on His left.

Commentary

…because He has poured out His life unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12b)

Notice that Jesus was in the middle. Scripture says; For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all (1 Timothy 2:5-6a)

So, Jesus was numbered among the transgressors and now stands between the sinners (us) and God.

On a different note, also recall that in Matthew 20, the mother of James and John asked “In Your kingdom, let one of these two sons of mine sit at Your right hand, and the other at Your left.” If Jesus had granted her request, James and John would have been on these two crosses instead of the robbers. This is why Jesus said to their mother, “You do not know what you are asking,” (Matthew 20:22a)

As stated previously, God had a mission for the disciples and it was to start Christianity. Therefore, God needed to keep the 11 apostles alive until that task was accomplished.

Verse 39a

And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him,

Commentary

Notice that the world hates Jesus. Why? Imagine a scenario in which a firefighter saved a family from a burning home. He saved them from death. Imagine if afterward, that family hated him. The newspapers published condescending information about him. The community reviled him and the fire station fired him. If something like that happened in real life, all of us would be outraged at that community. To the rest of us, it would make no sense. Why do those people hate the man who saved their lives?

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what has happened to Jesus. He went to the cross to save yours and my life’s, and the world heaps abuse on him. The only religion the world mocks is Christianity. And when a Christian gets assassinated live on television, the world celebrates his murder and claims he deserved to die.

Why does the world hate Jesus so much? Jesus said, “the world hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil.” (See John 7:7)

And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. (John 3:19-20)

Humanity is not basically good. Humanity is fundamentally evil. Christ calls us to repent and to turn from our evil ways. But when a person loves their evil ways, they intuitively then hate Jesus.

Verses 39b-44

shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”

In the same way, the chief priests, scribes, and elders mocked Him, saying, “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God. Let God deliver Him now if He wants Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

In the same way, even the robbers who were crucified with Him berated Him.

Commentary

“Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him.” This is a bald-faced lie because in just three days, Roman soldiers will come to these very people and inform them that Angels came down from heaven and rolled the stone away and Jesus walked out of the tomb alive. These chief priests will then pay those soldiers to lie.

The statement “Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him” is being said under the self-confident assumption that such a thing can not happen. It is the same as those who say “Prove to me that there is a God”. They are not requesting verification, rather they are making that demand under the assumption that such proof can not be provided. But if you or I drew from our pocket the proof they so adamantly demand, they would immediately deny the proof’s validity.

This author has witnessed this first hand when an atheist said “There’s no where in the Bible that says……..” and I pulled out my bible and opened to the verse and showed him that the Bible says exactly what he just claimed it did not, and without hesitation he immediately barked “That’s not what that means!”

The world hates Jesus and no amount of evidence is going to change their mind. The only thing that can save them now is Jesus. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44)

This is why you should make the habit of praying for the salvation of every person you lay eyes on. God placed you in your community for a reason. When you walk through the grocery store, sit at a red light, fill up at a gas station, or drop your kids off at school, look at the people around you. Take a good look at their faces and pray “Lord, I pray for that person’s salvation”. You might be the only person, ever, in their whole life, who has prayed for them to be saved.

Verses 45-46

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,h lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Commentary

This is not a cry of despair. Jesus is not asking a question. Rather He is quoting scripture. If those around him knew scripture well, they would recognize that he is referring to Psalm 22. Jesus is telling the onlookers that He is fulfilling scripture and that Psalm 22 is taking place before their very eyes. Jesus is telling them that He is the Messiah.

Psalm 22

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from saving me,
so far from my words of groaning?

cry out by day, O my God,
but You do not answer,
and by night,
but I have no rest.

Yet You are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In You our fathers trusted;
they trusted and You delivered them.
They cried out to You and were set free;
they trusted in You and were not disappointed.

But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they sneer and shake their heads:
“He trusts in the LORD,
let the LORD deliver him;
let the LORD rescue him,
since He delights in him.” (This is happening at this very moment in Matthew 27 as Jesus is on the cross).

Yet You brought me forth from the womb;
You made me secure at my mother’s breast.
From birth I was cast upon You;
from my mother’s womb You have been my God.

Be not far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.

Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
They open their jaws against me
like lions that roar and maul.
I am poured out like water, (This is what’s happening at this very moment in Matthew 27.)
and all my bones are disjointed.
My heart is like wax;
it melts away within me.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You lay me in the dust of death.

For dogs surround me;
a band of evil men encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet. (This is what’s happening right now in Matthew 27.)

I can count all my bones;
they stare and gloat over me.
They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing. (This is what just took place a few moments earlier in Matthew 27.)

But You, O LORD, be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of wild dogs.

Save me from the mouth of the lion;
at the horns of the wild oxen You have answered me!
I will proclaim Your name to my brothers;

I will praise You in the assembly.
You who fear the LORD, praise Him!
All descendants of Jacob, honor Him!
All offspring of Israel, revere Him!
For He has not despised or detested
the torment of the afflicted.
He has not hidden His face from him,
but has attended to his cry for help.

My praise for You resounds in the great assembly;
I will fulfill my vows before those who fear You.
The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the LORD will praise Him.
May your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD.
All the families of the nations
will bow down before Him.

For dominion belongs to the LORD
and He rules over the nations.
All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before Him—
even those unable to preserve their lives.

Posterity will serve Him;
they will declare the Lord to a new generation.
They will come and proclaim His righteousness
to a people yet unborn—all that He has done. (Psalm 22:1-31)

Returning now to Matthew 27

Verses 47-50

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He is calling Elijah.” One of them quickly ran and brought a sponge. He filled it with sour wine, put it on a reed, and held it up for Jesus to drink.

But the others said, “Leave Him alone. Let us see if Elijah comes to save Him.” When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He yielded up His spirit.

Commentary

“He yielded up His spirit”, this means that Jesus died. Jesus took death upon himself so that you and I can have eternal life.

God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

Verse 51

At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, and the rocks were split.

Commentary

This was obviously an act of God. But why tear the curtain in the temple? Because God was no longer going to reside in the temple. In just 53 days the Holy Spirit was going to be given to those who believed. Thus, God no longer had any reason to dwell in the temple, because he now dwells in each of us who believe.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Today when the Jewish people, and visitors to Jerusalem, go to the Western Wall, and there write down a prayer to God on paper and stick the paper into cracks and spaces within the Western Wall, they do so because the Western Wall is the closest place they can physically approach the site of the Holy of Holies, the place where God’s presence dwelt in the Temple. They believe that the sacred location provides a unique avenue of access to God.

But this is an error, because God is no longer in the temple (not to mention that the temple itself is no longer there). If those individuals want their prayer to reach God or to be close to God, all they need to do is put their faith in Christ, ask for the blessed Holy Spirit and then they themselves will become the temple of God in which his spirit dwells. (If you ever visit Jerusalem, feel free to visit the Western Wall, but do not write down your prayer and stick it in the wall. Such an act is a complete contradiction to the entire foundation of the Christian faith. This is why the curtain was torn!)

Verses 52-53

The tombs broke open, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After Jesus’ resurrection, when they had come out of the tombs, they entered the holy city and appeared to many people.

Commentary

Let’s zoom out a little and examine what’s happening. The veil was torn, rocks were split and dead people came back to life.

Again, the tearing of the veil means God’s spirit will no longer dwell in the temple. Instead, He is going to dwell in us.

The rocks splitting is meant for us to recall what happened with Moses in the desert (see Exodus 17 and Psalm 78). God brought water out of the rock so that the Israelites could live. Later in John Chapter 4, Jesus tells the woman at the well,

Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God [eternal life] and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” [The Holy Spirit].

“Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?”

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him [The Holy Spirit] will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:10-14)

So the splitting of rocks is to remind us of Moses bringing forth water from the rock that rescued the Israelites from dying in the desert. This life saving water is then supposed to remind us of the living water, which is the Holy Spirit.

[By the way, the rock that God split when Moses struck it, is located at the following coordinates: 28.726706, 35.236154. The Bible is a historical account of events that actually happened.]

And lastly, the bodies of many saints were raised to life. This of course represents eternal life through Christ.

Thus, when we put our faith in Christ, believing that He died for our sins, God fills us with the Holy Spirit and we are then given eternal life.

Verse 54

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified and said, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

Commentary

This is foreshadowing that salvation will be given to the gentiles.

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)

Verses 55-56

And many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to minister to Him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

Commentary

The verse says many women were there at Jesus’s crucifixion. Women that had followed him all the way from Galilee and had ministered to Jesus. The verse then names Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus had cast out seven demons and healed her. Mary the mother of James and Joseph as well as the mother of Zebedee’s sons. These two Mary’s are the same ones who will find the tomb empty in 3 days’ time.

Verses 57-61

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut into the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

Commentary

God is our provider. God has access to every resource that exists on earth. God can steer the hearts of Kings like a river.

The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; He directs it where He pleases. (Proverbs 21:1)

God the Father knew, and it was His will, that Jesus should be poor, owning nothing and having nowhere even to lay his head. But God also knew the Jesus would need a tomb to be laid in after His death, so that all of what we are about to read in the next chapter, could be fulfilled: the stone rolled away, the tomb found empty, etc…

So God, made a man rich, called his heart to become a disciple of Christ, then moved his heart to ask for the body of Jesus and to bury Him in a tomb. All of which fulfilled what was written hundreds of years earlier:

He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. (Isaiah 53:9)

Isaiah wrote these words 700 years before these events took place, demonstrating that God had worked out the provisions for Jesus’s burial, hundreds of years before they were needed. And further still, we can conclude that it was God who caused Joseph of Arimathea to become rich for this very purpose. (If you have abundant financial resources, pray to the Lord and ask Him why he gave you that financial abundance and what exactly he wants you to do with it).

“With the wicked” is not referring to Joseph of Arimathea, rather to the way that Jesus was treated as a criminal when he was crucified. “With the rich”, however, is referring to Joseph of Arimathea. Jesus was buried in a rich man’s tomb.

Verses 62-65

The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and Pharisees assembled before Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while He was alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order that the tomb be secured until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come and steal Him away and tell the people He has risen from the dead. And this last deception would be worse than the first.”

“You have a guard,” Pilate said. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and secured the tomb by sealing the stone and posting the guard.

Commentary

Notice that they called Jesus “that deceiver”. Satan is the great deceiver, (see Revelation 12:9).

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter. (Isaiah 5:20)

Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lie like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.

He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come! None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken. Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are strung. (Isaiah 5:24-28)

And thus, the Lord, in 70 AD, used a foreign nation to destroy Jerusalem.