Mark 15:33-41 33  And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35  And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36  And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37  And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39  And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” 40  There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41  When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.  

How easy it is to understand what is written in the Bible?  For many people they think it is just an interesting collection of history, poems, and statements about the Jewish and Christian God.  They simply take it as an old book of folklore and never once consider its claims to be the inspired Word of God.  But this is the wisdom of wicked man who intentionally tries to deny the Truth for if it is indeed the inspired Word of God then there is a requirement to submit to its authority of which the unbeliever has no desire to do.  There is a bias in their minds preventing them from accepting the Word of God for what it really is:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 16  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17  that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  

Then there are others who claim to believe in the authority of Scripture but who misinterpret it.  The Jews not only recognized the blessings of having the oracles of God given to them directly by God but they also knew the Scriptures very well.  The Old Testament Scriptures were continually studied and taught before all the Jewish people in the days that Jesus walked upon this earth over 2,000 years ago.  And yet in the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus there is an interesting contrast between the bystanders who thought Jesus was crying out for Elijah as He was dying upon the cross as compared to the response of the Roman centurion who had no knowledge or respect for the Scriptures and who was at the crucifixion because it was his job.  
First, why did the Jewish bystanders think Jesus was calling for Elijah in verse 35?  Because as Jesus said, “Eloi,” meaning “My God” as He was crying out to His Father, they thought he said “Eli” which is short for Elias or Elijah.  There are only two people in all of history who never died.  Enoch and Elijah.  There is little describing the events surrounding Enoch going up into heaven:
Genesis 5:24  Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.  
But with Elijah there was a great scene as described in 2 Kings 2.  Elijah was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire led by horses of fire!  But it is the prophecy associated with Elijah that led to the Jewish bystanders thinking that Jesus was calling out Elijah’s name.  Because Elijah did not die and because of this prophecy it came to be that it was a common belief among the Jews that the Christ would not be revealed until Elijah had returned to Israel in the flesh:
Malachi 4:5  “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.  

But he had already come.  Jesus earlier made known to Peter, James, and John that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of Elijah’s coming:
Mark 9:11-13 11  And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 12  And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? 13  But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

It is hard to comprehend how blind anyone can become in believing a misinterpretation of Scripture.  Any of us are capable of falling into this same trap of claiming that the Scriptures must say something that they do not.  In spite of all the miracles that Jesus performed, in spite of the amazing manner in which He preached and revealed the Word of God, in spite of all the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, in spite of the many many times that he absolutely made it clear that He is the Son of God in the flesh, these Jews would not believe that He was the Christ unless Elijah came before Him.  But it is the events surrounding the crucifixion that make their misinterpretation of Scripture even more condemning.  As Jesus died upon the cross, darkness covered the land from noon until three becoming darker and darker until Jesus breathed His last and then suddenly light of the sun was restored.  As Jesus breathed His last there was also an earthquake, the curtain in the Temple was torn in two, and many tombs among the Jews were opened.  (These were Old Testament believers who were raised from the dead following Jesus’ resurrection on the Lord’s day as a witness of Jesus’ resurrection beyond the grave (Matthew 27:51-52)).  None of these miracles or events would convince these Jewish bystanders who had hardened their hearts into believing that Elijah had to come first and yet the Scripture had been fulfilled exactly as God intended.  
What a contrast with the Roman centurion who did not believe in the authority of the Word of God at all.  He was just there doing his job making sure that this person condemned to death did not somehow escape or that a riot did not occur among the people.  But in the events surrounding the crucifixion God had removed his spiritual blindness.  The hardness within his heart to believe the Word of God as given to this little nation that had been conquered by the great Roman empire had been removed.  There was no stumbling block with him to believe that Elijah had to come first.  He knew nothing about Elijah.  The Roman centurion had been drawn to Jesus Christ.  He looked at Jesus with astonishment as He died.  He was able to see that the Christ could suffer and die.  There is no doubt that the centurion did not yet fully understand what he had witnessed and yet he believed.  He did not yet understand about the resurrection and yet he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”  
Is there any misinterpretations of Scripture that are preventing you from seeing Jesus for who He really is?  Are you still waiting for Elijah or can you say in your heart, “Jesus is the Christ?”  

Pastor Murray Hack

Mark 15:33-41 33  And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35  And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36  And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37  And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39  And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” 40  There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41  When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.  

The moment that Jesus died upon the cross there was a strange miracle.  A curtain was torn in two in the Temple in Jerusalem.  This miracle coincided with the last breath of Jesus as He cried out, “It is finished.”  (John 19:30).  Why was this so significant?  The Temple and the Tabernacle before it (the Tent of Meeting that Moses was commanded to build in the wilderness when the Law was first given on Mount Sinai) had three main divisions.  There was the Outer Court, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place.  No person entered into the Most Holy Place except the high priest and this only once a year with the blood of atonement and the smoke of incense.  As Bishop William Rufus Nicholson writes: 
“In the outer Court, in the sight of the people, stood the brazen altar and the brazen basin- symbols of what is needed in order to draw near to God.  There can be no approach to Him without passing the place of blood sacrifice, and in that blood being cleansed as in a basin.  In the Holy Place, in the sight of the priests who had just come from the bloody altar and the cleansed basin, were the table of showbread, the golden candlestick, and the golden altar of incense- symbols of union and fellowship with God.  In the Most Holy Place, for the eyes of the high priest alone, were the Ark of the Covenant, its golden cover- the mercy seat, the cherubim, and the Shekinah- the cloud of glory, symbols of the throne of God's presence and power and grace.  Thus, in the structure of the Tabernacle we have God's own symbolism of such truths as are involved in a sinner's acceptable worship of Him.  Also it was symbolized that there were obstructions to such worship.”  
Most people today, if they actually believe in God, don’t seem to think that there is anything interfering with their worship of God.  But God made it absolutely clear to the Jews who were given the very oracles of God that there was something separating them from direct access and worship of God.  Even though the Jews could and should worship God in the manner that God had declared to them through Moses, there were curtains involved.  Not one but two.  The ordinary Jew could not enter into the Holy Place.  Only the priests were allowed in past the first curtain but they were allowed to go no further.  Only the high priest was allowed in past the second curtain and this only once a year.  I can just imagine how curious the people must have been wondering what it was like past the first curtain and for the priests there must have been the same curiosity and desire to even get a glimpse past the second curtain.  How special was the high priest to have the honor to be the only person in the entire nation to enter into the Most Holy Place.  
The two curtains reveal the privilege and intimacy that could be known with God that only a few special and chosen men within the nation of Israel could realize.  Again, how cheap and trivial and insignificant do many people today view their relationship with God.  There are many people who believe that they can live as sinful a life as they want and still have a relationship with God.  The two curtains, the high priest, and the sacrificial system makes it clear that this is not true.  The Jews knew that holiness was required to enter into the presence of God and to be among the chosen to go beyond the curtain and for the high priest himself to go even closer.
But when Jesus Christ died upon the cross the inner curtain was torn in two.  As Nicholson also writes:” It was "torn from the top to the bottom"- in a straight line downwards, and completely through.  It was not jerked apart by some intruder from below, but cleanly cut by an invisible hand from above.”  This was a miracle but it was also meant to be witnessed.  Jesus died at 3 pm.  This was the very time of the beginning of the evening sacrifice so there were priests in the Holy Place in the witness of the second curtain.  Can you imagine how shocked they must have been?  I suspect they were afraid for their very lives.  How could this be?  What had just happened?  In all likelihood they would have been confused by the darkness that began at noon until three but now they witnessed this miracle inside the Temple.  All of a sudden the inner curtain was torn.  They could now see everything inside the Most Holy Place.  But now what could they do as priests?  With the inner curtain being destroyed the outer curtain held no purpose and in turn the entire sacrificial system also served no purpose.  What had happened in Jesus’ death to bring this about?  The priests would have been astonished and confused.
When Jesus died upon the cross He paid the penalty for sin.  Our ransom was paid in full.  The curtains revealed that although a Jew could have fellowship with God and worship God and intimacy could be known with God, there was still a veil, a curtain that needed to be removed.  The penalty for sin had not yet been fully paid.  The animal sacrificial system was a type that God accepted when a person acted in faith in the Christ who was to come.  But no animal could die for your sins: only the Son of God could; only the God-man born in our likeness could.  Only the perfect man could be sacrificed in our place.  Intimacy with God can be known because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ no matter who you are.  You do not need to be a high priest or a priest.  You do not even need to be a Jew.  Anyone can know intimacy with God and have a direct relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  The curtain had been removed not only for the common people in Israel but also for all the nations.
How intimate is your relationship with God?  Is it precious to you?  Is God special to you?  Are you eternally thankful that the curtain has been torn?  Or do you act like this miracle never happened?  Does the blood of Jesus Christ mean nothing to you?  Jesus Christ alone is our Lord and our Savior.  The curtain that was torn in the Temple proves this.

Pastor Murray Hack

​Mark 15:33-41 33  And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35  And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36  And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37  And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39  And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” 40  There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41  When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.  

Jesus was crucified at 9 a.m. on the Friday (based upon the Jewish clock from sunrise this was the third hour).  Mark 15:25  And it was the third hour when they crucified him. 
At noon (the sixth hour), something unusual happened.  There was darkness over the whole land for three hours (until 3 p.m.).  What could this mean?  No eclipse of the sun lasts for three hours?  It is obvious that this darkness was in direct relation to Jesus’ crucifixion.
In the events leading up to the crucifixion, absolutely everyone involved came against Jesus revealing the wickedness of all of mankind.  The end result of the attacks of the devil and the actions of Judas Iscariot, of the religious leaders, of the crowds, of the Roman governor and soldiers, was that Jesus of Nazareth was pinned to a wooden cross and left hanging until He would breathe His last breath and no longer be among the living.  But this would only be temporary.  In spite of all this He was in complete control.  Jesus became the sin bearer of all of mankind unbeknownst to all who witnessed His crucifixion.  
For the first three hours of His crucifixion, it did not appear any different than the agonizing deaths of any other person who had been crucified by the Romans in their punishment of evildoers within the Roman Empire.  But there was a fundamental difference.  Not only was Jesus innocent but He was also perfect.  He was righteous in every way.  He obeyed God perfectly at every moment of His 33 years upon this earth.  Many innocent people have been abused and convicted criminally and even killed unjustly but there was none before and none since who actually died in a state of complete guiltlessness.  All of us are guilty in the sight of God.  All of us were born in sin and inherited the sin nature of our first father Adam.  The curse that fell upon him for eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil with Eve has fallen upon us.  And this wickedness from within will lead us to even be willing to kill the very one who came to save us- Jesus Christ.  We would rather kill the King of Glory than to turn away from our evil desires.  Yet in spite of this, Jesus still died for our sins.  He would bear our sins.  His state of guiltlessness was a prerequisite.  Without being a spotless lamb, without being a perfect sacrifice, our sins could not be forgiven.  He needed to be a descendant from Adam and to fulfill the original covenant with God that Adam had failed in keeping.  No one, no matter what injustices they have faced in their life, can claim to have died in a state of guiltlessness.  Only Jesus Christ has done so.
The perfect sacrifice was on the altar.  But it wasn’t until noon, three hours after He was first hung on the cross to die, that this became no ordinary death.  From nine until noon there was much ridicule of Jesus but after there was none.  Why?  Because of the darkness.  Bishop William Rufus Nicholson writes in the Six Miracles Calvary:
“The great Sufferer is silent, as if underneath that darkness some huge horror hung over His own soul.  And all else is silent.  No taunt or insult is flung at Him now.  The crowds are transfixed with amazement.  The blood is heard dropping.  The suspense is frightful.  As all hearts drink in the darkness, they are trembling at a certain mysterious fearfulness of the crucifixion.”
With the coming of the darkness at noon, the sin bearer was suffering the wrath of God as our sins were punished within Him.  The darkness could represent our sins being placed upon Him but it could also represent the darkness of what was transpiring as our sins were punished in the Son of God as the wrath of God the Father was being poured out in full measure on the perfect sacrifice.  In all likelihood the darkness increased from noon until three as Nicholson argues: “because we hear the cry of the Sufferer at about the close of these hours.  It would appear that the silence of His endurance could no longer be maintained, for more and more intense had grown His sufferings.”
Jesus Christ suffered the infinite wrath of God as all sin is an infinite evil the sight of God.  Only God in the flesh could endure the full measure of suffering required to pay the penalty for our sins.  The suffering that Jesus endured upon the cross is inconceivable.  The wrath of man that He endured before the cross and before noon was nothing compared to the wrath of God:
Isaiah 53:4-6 4  Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5  But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

At 3 pm Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  He was completely alone.  By becoming the sin bearer He had been separated from God the Father.  He had become sin who knew no sin.  By this point the darkness had grown such that no man could even witness His suffering.  His face was hidden from all to see.  This is the darkness that fell on Calvary’s tree.  But then He declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30) and breathed His last and immediately the darkness was lifted.  The sun shone in its full brightness.  Our sins had been paid for!  Jesus had died and would soon rise again on the Lord’s Day!  Do you see how amazing the death of Jesus Christ is?  Over 2,000 years later it is still the most significant event in relation to your own life and your very soul.  If you repent and believe in Him as your Lord and Savior you are forgiven of all of your sins!  Praise Him who died for you and for me!

Pastor Murray Hack

Mark 15:21-27, 29-32 21  And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22  And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23  And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24  And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25  And it was the third hour when they crucified him. 26  And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27  And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.  29  And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30  save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31  So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32  Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.  
 
The book of Mark clearly shows the depravity of mankind in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. At the last supper, as the disciples celebrated the Passover meal together with Jesus, He made it known that one of them would betray Him (Mark 14:18).  This did not stop Judas Iscariot who that very night betrayed Jesus to the chief priests and the scribes in the garden of Gethsemane.  After the arrest of Jesus, the chief priests and scribes then looked for any possible way to legally have Jesus of Nazareth put to death.  Jesus gives them what they desire as He publicly and directly admits to them that He is no ordinary man but is equal with God as the Christ- the promised Savior of Israel and of all of mankind.  They use His Words as a justification to kill Jesus as the punishment of claiming to be equal with God is death (Leviticus 24:16).  But in Jesus’ case it was true and all of Jesus’ actions proved that this was a true statement.  They took Jesus to the Roman governor Pilate and tried to persuade him.  Pilate could see through the wrong motives of the chief priests and the scribes and tried to gain the favor of the people.  Pilate assumed that the people, when given the choice between letting a convicted murderer or Jesus free, would choose Jesus but they did not.  They chose the murderer and Pilate did not stand against the evil but gave them what they wanted in order to protect himself.  The soldiers then mocked and beat and abused Jesus and placed a crown of thorns upon His head.  But this was not enough.  More was to come as Jesus died upon the cross.  
As Jesus went to the cross He was too weak from the beating that He had received at the hand of the Roman soldiers to carry the cross.  A man named Simon was forced to carry it.  If there is any doubt of the humility of the Son of God who entered into creation and lived as a man this scene shouts it loud and clear.  Jesus, who created the heavens and the earth, humbled Himself to be like us and was willing to die in apparent weakness.  He was willing to bear the shame that sin brings and He was willing to bear all of the evil of mankind.  He was willing to become nothing.  In spite of the power of God that had been seen in Jesus Christ as the Kingdom of God was manifest in Him and around Him as He had performed many miracles and preached with great authority for over three years, now Jesus is weak; now He is silent; now He appears powerless.  The man who walked on water could not even carry a cross.  He was defeated.
2 Corinthians 13:4  For he was crucified in weakness...

How sick and evil is man to get pleasure out of such a scene but this is exactly what happened.  Jesus was taken to Golgotha which means Place of a Skull- a place of pure evil.  What would happen to this great man?  The people were curious.  Jesus was offered a drug to drink to numb His sense about what was about to happen to Him but He refused.  Jesus would not run from or try to hide from the evil of sin.  He was fully committed to be our sin bearer.  The soldiers had no shame in dividing the spoils of His garments.  The Son of God who owned all things as the Creator of the universe was left with no possessions.  They were not afraid to take what little He had in His very presence.  After all, Jesus was utterly pathetic.  
How mankind loves to abuse the person who is weak and is vulnerable.  Especially a man who was declared to be great and then has been brought low.  There is something about a fall from greatness that the wickedness in man especially gets pleasure from.  There is something about someone great who is now below us that makes us have satisfaction in our wickedness.  Jesus was crucified between two robbers.  The chief priests and the scribes acknowledged that Jesus had demonstrated power and He had saved others but now He was completely weak and unable to save Himself.  Everyone did all that they could to display their power over Jesus while He died in the most cruel form of torture created by mankind.  How evil is mankind?  Even the robbers who were dying condemned Jesus.  But Jesus had not been overcome.  Not for a moment.  He had willingly submitted Himself to be crucified in weakness for our sake.  He was in complete control as He was led to the slaughter.  He was dying for you and for me.
Those who passed by Him mocked Jesus and told Him to save Himself.  It was easy to tell Jesus to come down from the cross.  But if He did come down from the cross no one could be saved.  All of mankind is evil at the core.  The cross of Jesus Christ proves this.  Every single person alive today has exactly the same absolutely wicked and profusely evil nature as all these people who were alive upon this earth when Jesus of Nazareth was crucified.  It is absolutely insane that any of us, or that any of them who mocked Jesus at His death, could claim to be good enough that we can save ourselves.  But that is exactly what most people will try to get away with.  Any person who will not recognize their own sinfulness and look to the Lamb who was slain as providing for their personal salvation is someone who tries to save themselves.  The sinner who does not recognize their own sin and their absolute need of a Savior will be found guilty at the final judgment.  And it will be none other than the One who died in weakness that will tell them that they cannot save themselves no matter how they may plead their case.  Jesus Christ will condemn them for although He was crucified in weakness He rose from the dead in power.  He lives for all eternity in the glory that was hidden as He humbled Himself in death:
2 Corinthians 13:4  For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. 

Do you see yourself deserving such a death as Jesus suffered?  It is what we all deserve and much worse in our treatment of God.  No one can argue that eternal suffering is unjust in light of how we are all willing to treat the Son of God.  And yet in spite of all this, anyone can be saved if they only repent and believe in Jesus Christ.  Are you still trying to save yourself or can you see what Jesus did for you upon the cross?  Do you understand why He was crucified in weakness?

Pastor Murray Hack