At noon there was a darkness over all the land till three pm. About this time, 3 pm, Jesus cried out with a loud, agonizing voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” Which means, ‘My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?’ Which fulfills the prophecy of Psalm 22. Forsaken means to turn away from, this had to be done to fulfill prophecy and it shows how strong Gods love is for humanity to do this, how strong Gods love is for us. He had to in that moment turn away from His son, imagine having to do that to your own child for the sake of others. Its true love and true selflessness.

            Immediately one of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine and put it on a reed to give Jesus a drink. By this point, Jesus had endured everything with a sound mind, fully aware of the pain and the situation without having his senses dulled. By this point, it was almost finished and wetting His lips with the soured wine wouldn’t have caused Him to falter in His mission or numb his senses like it would have had He drank it earlier when they offered it to Him. Meanwhile, others continued to mock Him with further fulfills the prophecy shared by King David in Psalm 22.

            Jesus cried out again with a long, agonizing voice and gave up His Spirit voluntarily in submission to His Father’s plan. Reference John 10:18. At once, the veil of the Holy of Holies of the temple was torn in two, the earth shook and rocks were split apart. Tombs were opened and many of saints bodies who were put to death, rose to life. After His resurrection the saints appeared to many people in Jerusalem. Could you imagine this? Jesus being crucified and defeating death and after He rises back up, loved ones who had passed join in the rising? It doesn’t even sound real, it sounds like a Hollywood movie, but it happened and there are many theologians and historians who can show many accounts of this.

            Before Jesus was taken to the tomb, the centurions looked in awe as the ground shook and the temple fell and they knew that He was the Son of God. When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea, Joseph, who was a disciple of Jesus, asked Pilate if he could have the body. Pilate ordered that the body by given to him. Joseph took Jesus’ body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb which he had cut into the rock. He rolled a large stone over the entryway thus closing it off. Both Marys were there and they were sitting opposite of the tomb.

            The next day, the day of preparation for the sabbath, the chief priests and pharisees gathered before Pilate and told PIlate that Jesus had declared when He was alive that He would arise after three days. They wanted to make sure His disciples wouldn’t steal the body after three days to try to convince everyone He rose again, they wanted no fowl play so they asked that a watch would be placed at the tomb to ensure no-one steals the body. What they didn’t realize, is that it wasn’t the stealing of the body they would be waiting for, but the real rising of the Messiah.