What do I know with Isaac Carroll
What do I know with Isaac Carroll
Walking Through Matthew 27: Jesus' Final Hours
Have you ever considered the magnitude of suffering Jesus endured before His crucifixion? When Matthew mentions a "Roman cohort" gathered to mock Jesus, he's referring to approximately 480 soldiers—an entire battalion—participating in the torment. This staggering detail transforms our understanding of Christ's pre-crucifixion experience.
Our deep dive into Matthew 27 reveals numerous overlooked aspects of the crucifixion narrative. The "wine mixed with gall" offered to Jesus wasn't just another cruelty—it was actually intended to dull pain. Jesus' refusal becomes profoundly meaningful: He deliberately chose to bear the full weight of suffering without seeking relief. Similarly, the darkness that fell at noon and lasted until 3 PM defies natural explanation, as solar eclipses typically last minutes, not hours.
Matthew's account emphasizes the fulfillment of prophecy throughout the crucifixion. From the casting of lots for Jesus' garments to the mockery of onlookers challenging Him to save Himself—these details were foretold in Psalm 22 centuries earlier. Perhaps most mysterious is the reference to saints rising from their tombs after Jesus' resurrection, entering Jerusalem and appearing to many. This extraordinary event, mentioned only in Matthew's gospel, further validates Christ's victory over death.
The narrative concludes with Jesus being laid in a borrowed tomb, which religious leaders then sealed and guarded. Ironically, their concern about Jesus' prediction to rise on the third day led them to take measures that would ultimately provide stronger evidence for the resurrection. Their actions reveal an unconscious anxiety that Jesus might actually do exactly what He promised.
Subscribe to continue this journey through Scripture as we unpack Matthew 28 in our next episode, examining the empty tomb and the risen Christ who changed human history forever. Share your insights or questions in the comments—we'd love to hear how these details affect your understanding of the crucifixion narrative.
May God bless you and lead you always.
Welcome to the podcast. I'm Isaac Carroll, and this is what Do I Know? All right, in today's Bible study we're going to be back in Matthew 27. Last time we left off, we stopped at verse 26. So let's pick up at verse 27.
Speaker 1:Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium and they gathered the whole Roman cohort to him and they stripped him and put a red cloak on him and, after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and they knelt down before him and they mocked him, saying Hail, king of the Jews. And they spit on him and they took the reed and they beat him on the head. And after they had mocked him, they took the cloak off of him and put his own garments back on him and led him away to crucify him. As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they compelled to carry his cross. And when they had came to a place called Golgotha, which means the place of a skull, they gave him wine mixed with bile to drink, and after tasting it, he was unwilling to drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among themselves by casting lots and sitting down. They began to keep watch over him there, and above his head they put up the charges against him, which read this is Jesus, the King of the Jews.
Speaker 1:At that time, two rebels were being crucified with him, the king of the Jews. At that time, two rebels were being crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left, and those passing by were speaking abusively to him, shaking their heads, saying you 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 priest also, along with the scribes and the elders, were mocking him, saying he saved others, but he cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel. Let him come down from the cross and we will believe in him. He has trusted in God. Let God rescue him now if he takes pleasure in him, for he has said I am the son of God. And the rebels who were being crucified with him also insulted him in the same way. All right, let's stop here at verse 44. When Matthew says that they gathered the whole Roman cohort to him, I didn't really understand the number.
Speaker 1:I figured it would be around 15 or 20 men, but once I looked it up I come to find out it was 480 men, about the same number as the battalion. That really changes your view when considering the interactions that happened with Jesus. That's a lot of men, a lot of men mocking, a lot of men beating and spitting and tormenting Jesus at this time. It's staggering actually. And the next thing I had to look up was gall. I didn't know what gall was and especially when it was translated as bile, it made me think of the acids that's in your stomach made by your gallbladder, and I'm like why would they ever mix this with wine to give him the drink? That's beyond cruel. But I didn't understand. So I had to look it up. And when I looked it up, come to understand that gall was a bitter substance used to dull the pain. Now this made it all the more significant when Jesus wouldn't drink it. Jesus chose to take the full measure and weight of God's punishment upon himself and he refused to dull that pain for us.
Speaker 1:Now, matthew doesn't go into great detail on the physical sufferings of Jesus. Seems that each writer of the gospels chose to focus their attention on different things, different aspects of what was going on. And Matthew, he was more interested in the fulfillment of Scripture, psalms 22,. If you read it, basically the crucifixion of Jesus wrote down, before it ever happened, how they had cast lots for his garments, how they had mocked him and said he was the son of God. If he's the son of God, let God save him. Then we'll believe in him. All these were fulfillment of scriptures, all the way to the last words of Jesus. Now let's continue at verse 45.
Speaker 1:Now, from the sixth hour, darkness fell upon the land until the ninth hour, and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying Eli, eli lima sapakatani. That is my God. My God, why have you forsaken me? And some of those who were standing there, when they had heard it, said this man is calling for Elijah. And immediately one of them ran, taking his sponge, he filled it with sour wine, put it on a reed and he gave him a drink. But the rest of them said Let us see if Elijah comes to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook and the rocks were split. Also, the tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs. After his resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Now, as for the centurions and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquakes and the other things that were happening, they became extremely frightened and they said Truly this man was the Son of God. And many women were watching from a distance who had followed Jesus from Galilee while caring for him.
Speaker 1:All right, let's stop here at verse 56. Now, how the Jewish people kept time in those days was from the sun coming up and the sun going down. So when the sun comes up they would count the hours. So the sixth hour from the sun coming up would be the sixth hour. So in general terms, if the sun rose at six o'clock in the morning, six hours later would be noon. For us Figure, the sixth hour was six hours from sunrise, and then the ninth hour was obviously three hours later. In this passage it says that darkness fell upon the land at the sixth hour.
Speaker 1:Now I've heard a lot of people say that they think this to be a total eclipse, and that would make sense, but for three hours? Who's ever heard of an eclipse lasting three hours? I mean, the longest eclipse ever recorded was, I think, four minutes. I say that the sun actually refused to shine, personally in reverence to the sun, but that's just my opinion, all right. It says something else here that I want to focus on a little bit. Opinion, all right.
Speaker 1:It says something else here that I want to focus on a little bit, and it talks about the bodies of the saints, how they come up out of the grave. Now, it's important to remember that. It goes on to say that they came out of the grave after the resurrection, not before the resurrection. Now, why is this important? All right, for one, it's fulfillment of Scripture. In Ephesians 4 and 8, paul talks about this a little bit. He says Now, to each of us, grace has been given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. This is why it says when he has ascended on high, he led captives away and gave gifts to men. Now Paul's actually reciting Psalms 68, 18. So if these saints had come out before Christ had come out, then it wouldn't have been fulfillment of scripture.
Speaker 1:All right, the next thing I'd like to talk about is what Jesus cries out right before he dies Eli, eli, lima, sabachthani, which is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Now, this is Aramaic and it's translated Eli as my God, lima, which is why and sabachthani is translated you have left me or forsaken me, turned your back on me. It can be translated in any of these ways, and it's crucial because Jesus is fulfilling scripture and he's taken upon the sin upon himself, and he cries this out because he was stricken for our sake. All right, let's continue at verse 57. Now, when it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea came, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. All right, let's continue at verse 57. Own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock, and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and he went away. And Mary Magdalene was there and the other Mary sitting opposite of the tomb.
Speaker 1:Now, on the next day that is the day which is after the preparation, the chief priest and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate and they said Sir, we remember that when that deceiver was still alive, he said to them you have a guard, go make it as secure as you know how. And they went and they made the tomb secure with a guard sealing the stone. We've come to the end of chapter 27. All right, we have Jesus crucified, his body wrapped in linen and laid in a borrowed tomb.
Speaker 1:Now it struck me that these men went to Pilate because they remembered that Jesus said after the third day he would rise. I wonder when that hit them, were they thinking about it the whole time? Or then went to Pilate because they remembered that Jesus said after the third day he would rise. I wonder when that hit them, whether they're thinking about it the whole time or they just suddenly realized this after the fact. So they go to Pilate and say, hey, can you make this tomb secure? Because what if his disciples remembered he said he's going to rise at the third day? And they go and steal the body away. But I wonder, at the back of their minds, did they ever wonder? This man done so many miracles and he actually told us that he was going to be raised up, that we would believe him when he was raised up. Well, after three days. I guess we're fixing to find out. All right, I'm going to end this one here. We'll pick up in Matthew 28 in our next Bible study, until.