Jesus was the cause of a miraculus earthquake

JESUS WAS THE CAUSE OF A MIRACULUS EARTHQUAKE
Edited by Glenn Pease
Matthew 27:51-54 51At that moment the curtainof the
temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth
shook, the rocks split 52andthe tombs broke open.
The bodies of many holy people who had died were
raisedto life. 53They came out of the tombs after
Jesus' resurrectionand went into the holy city and
appearedto many people. 54Whenthe centurionand
those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the
earthquakeand all that had happened, they were
terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of
God!"
Matthew 27:51 51At that moment the curtain of the
shook, the rocks split.
At what moment? The moment in verse 50.
27:50, "Matthew 27:50 50And when Jesus had cried
out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
ForsakenBy God
Matthew 27:46
W.F. Adeney
We cannotfathom the depths of the dark and mysterious experience of our
Lord's lastmortal agony. We must walk reverently, for here we stand on holy
ground. It is only just to acknowledgethat the great Sufferer must have had
thoughts and feelings which pass beyond our comprehension, and which are
too sacredand private for our inspection. Yet what is recordedis written for
our instruction. Let us, then, in all reverence, endeavourto see what it means.
I. CHRIST AS A TRUE MAN SHARED IN THE FLUCTUATIONS OF
HUMAN EMOTION. He quoted the language ofa psalmist who had passed
through the deep waters, and he felt them to be most tree in his own
experience. Jesus was notalways calm; certainly he was not impassive. He
could be rousedto indignation; he could be melted to tears. He knew the
rapture of Divine joy; he knew also the torment of heart-breaking grief. There
are sorrows whichdepend upon the inner consciousness more than on any
external events. These sorrows Jesus knew and felt. We cannotcommand our
phases of feeling. It is well to know that Jesus also, in his earthly life, was
visited by very various moods. Dark hours were not unknown to him. Having
experiencedthem, he can understand them in us, and sympathize with our
depressionof spirit.
II. CHRIST AS THE ATONEMENTFOR SIN FELT THE DARK HORROR
OF ITS GUILT. He could not own himself to be guilty when he knew he was
innocent. But he was so one with man that he felt the shame and burden of

man's sin as though it had been his own. As the greatRepresentative ofthe
race, he took up the load of the world's sin, i.e. he made it his own by deeply
concerning himself with it, by entering into its dreadful consequences, by
submitting to its curse. Such feelings might blot out the vision of God for a
season.
III. CHRIST AS THE HOLY SON OF GOD WAS UNUTTERABLY
GRIEVED AT LOSING THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF HIS FATHER'S
PRESENCE.There are men who live without any thought of God, and yet this
is no trouble to them. On the contrary, they dread to see God, and it is fearful
for them to think that he sees them. These are men who love sin, and therefore
they do not love God. But Jesus lived in the love of his Father. To lose one
whom we love with all our heart is a cause for heart-breaking anguish. Jesus
seemedto have lost God. To all who have the love of God in their hearts any
similar feeling of desertion must be an agonyof soul.
IV. CHRIST AS THE BELOVED SON IN WHOM GOD WAS WELL
PLEASED COULD NOT BE REALLY DESERTED BYGOD. Not only is
God physically near to all men, because he is omnipresent, but he is spiritually
near to his own people to sustain and save them, even when they are not
conscious ofhis presence. The vision of God is one thing, and his presence is
another. We may miss the first without losing the second. Our real state
before God does not rest on the shifting sands of our moods of feeling. In the
hour of darkness Jesus prayed. This is enough to show that he knew that he
was not really and utterly abandoned by his Father. In spiritual deadness,
when it is hard to pray at all, the one remedy is in prayer. Our cry can reach
God through the darkness, and the darkness will not last forever; often it is
the gate to a glorious light. - W.F.A.

Biblical Illustrator
Jesus, whenHe had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the Ghost.
Matthew 27:50-53
Sevenwonders
C. H. Spurgeon.
There were seven wonders which made the death of Christ exceedingly
remarkable.
I. Over His head was written an inscription in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin,
"Jesus ofNazareth, the King of the Jews." Thatthere should be a distinct
recognitionof His kingship over the Jewishpeople has ever been regardedas
one of the most remarkable splendours of the Saviour's death. Typicalof His
sovereigntyover the entire Church, which is but the prelude to His
sovereigntyover all worlds. Is He King in your heart?
II. The conversionof the thief (Luke 23.). See here the majesty of Christ as a
Saviour, even in His misery as an atonement. What the thief saw about Christ
let us all endeavour to see — His almighty powerto save. God hath laid help
upon One that is mighty. Trust Him only and fully.
III. The total darkness atnoon-day made a fitting cavern into which Christ
might retire. A picture of Christ's tremendous power. Your darkness is never
so black as His.

IV. The rending of the veil. An eminent type of the departure of God from the
symbolical dispensation. It was all over now. Now there was no veil between
man and God. The dying Saviour rends away for ever every impediment
which shuts us out from the MostHigh.
V. The earthquake. Here we see Christ's lordship over the world. The Lord of
Providence.
VI. The resurrectionof certain of the saints. How I should like to know
something about them l They were representative men; they arose as
specimens of the way in which all the saints shall in their due time arise.
VII. The confessionofthe centurion. A picture of Christ's convincing power. I
hope we have felt this convincing power — it lies in the doctrine of the cross.
The unrecorded wonder connectedwith the cross ofChrist is that when we
hear of it our hearts do not break, and that our dead souls do not rise.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Prodigies attending the Crucifixion
A. Weston.
I. THE GREAT EVENT OF THE SAVIOUR'S DEATH
1. That this great event did take place we have abundant testimony —
(1)Profane testimony.
(2)The testimony of the early Christians.
(3)The testimony of the inspired writers.
2. The design of His death.
(1)To atone for the world (2 Corinthians 5:18, 19;Hebrews 10:12;John 1:29-
36; Hebrews 7:27).

(2)To procure for the guilty, pardon of sin (Hebrews 9:22; Matthew 26:28;
Romans 3:25). Withheld from the unforgiving, the unbelieving, the impenitent
(Matthew 11:26; John 7:21, 24;Luke 13:2-5).
(3)To procure the Holy Ghostto quicken dead sinners, etc.
(4)To exhibit to the world the amazing love of God.
II. THE EMBLEMATICALAND AWFUL PRODIGIES THAT ATTENDED
THAT EVENT. Christ had been chargedas an imposter; how important that
this testimony should be borne just at this time!
1. The darkness. Dionysius, a heathen, who observedthe darkness, declared
that it portended something extraordinary, and exclaimed, "Eithernature is
deploring, or the God of nature suffers."
2. "The veil of the temple was rent." Signifies:The abolition of the Jewish
economy;that the mysteries of that dispensation were now explained; that the
way of accessto God was opento all believers.
3. "The earth did quake." The shaking of the moral world then, since, now,
etc.
4. "The rocks rent." Emblems of the hard hearts that should be broken by
Christ's death.
5. "Graves were opened," &c, Signifying that the dead in sin should be raised
to a life of righteousness;that Christ had won a victory over death; that the
saints of the early ages had an interest in the work of Christ; that there shall
be a generalresurrectionof the dead.
III. THE CLAMS IT HAS UPON US.
1. It claims our attention.
2. Our faith.
3. Our affections.
4. Our zeal.

(A. Weston.)
Effects of the death of Christ
Dr. Cope., J. Parsons.
I. The CIRCUMSTANCESattendant on the Saviour's death claim our
attention and they attestHis Divine character. "The earth did quake." The
death of Christ shook the moral world and shakes it still. "The rocks rent."
Emblems of the hard flinty hearts that should be subdued by the powerof
Christ's death. "Graves were opened," as if to denote that the hidden things of
darkness should be revealed.
II. THE MANNER IN WHICH THESE STRIKING EVENTS SHOULD
INFLUENCE US.
1. They should confirm us in the dignity of His character.
2. We should reflectupon the power of His death.
3. We should searchfor these effects upon ourselves.
(Dr. Cope.)
I. THE FACT OF THE SAVIOUR'S DEATH.
1. Christ died according to the appointment of the Divine counsels.
2. This designof God was announced in prophecy.
3. The particular manner of our Lord's death.
II. THE SIGNIFICATION OF THOSE AWFUL PRODIGIES BYWHICH
HIS DEATH WAS ATTENDED.
1. Of the whole of them. So many testimonies to the Messiahshipof Jesus, and
approbations of His work.
1. "The veil of the temple was rent" —

(1)That the ceremonialarrangements of the Jewisheconomywere about to be
abolished;
(2)That the way of accessis opened to all believers in God;
(3)That the mysteries peculiar to the Mosaic economywere now displayed and
explained.
2. "The earth did quake."
(1)Another emblem of the destructionof the Jewishsystem.
(2)How God expressedHis wrath at the scenes now transacting.
3. "The graves were opened."
(1)It showedthat Christ achieveda victory over death.
(2)That the saints of the early ages hadan interest in the work of the
Redeemer.
(3)That there should be a generalresurrectionof the dead.
III. THE INFLUENCE WHICH THE DEATH OF CHRIST AND ITS
PRODIGIES OUGHT TO POSSESS, OVER THE HUMAN MIND.
1. Frequent contemplation on His death.
2. Pungent sorrow for the cause whichproduced His death.
3. Cordial faith in His merits.
4. Grateful thanksgiving to God for the scenes whichhave been unfolded.
(J. Parsons.)
Miracles ofCalvary
John Ely.

I. Miracle evinceditself in the greatvictim of Calvary. In the voluntary
surrender of His life. Christ had powerover His own life; and, not depending
on the operationof nature's laws, He could dismiss the spirit, or retain it at
His pleasure.
II. Miracle as it evinced itself in the circumstances attending the
crucifixion.(1) The miraculous facts, darkness, earthquake, rentveil, graves
burst open.(2) The designof this miraculous interposition.(a) These miracles
constituted a Divine attestationto the Messiah, evenin the hour of forsaking
and death.(b) The prodigies of Calvary servedto betokenthe more dread
conflict and terrifying darkness ofthe Saviour's soul in the hour of
atonement.(c)In the rending of the veil we are taught that the Mosaic
institutions were henceforth to be superseded, the objects which they
symbolized being now accomplished.(d)We see in these miracles the trophies
and the earnestof the Redeemer's triumphs.
(John Ely.)
Yielding up the Ghost
John Ely.
It does not appearthat the specialagonies whichthe Saviour's mental
sufferings createdproduced death prematurely; for there does not seemto
have been a paroxysm producing convulsion, nor does death appearto have
been the effectof mere exhaustion: the calm which succeededthe sufferer's
exclamationunder Divine forsakings forbids are former conclusion;the
vigour of His dying shout forbids the latter.
(John Ely.)
Reasonsfor these miracles
Thos. Adams.
In respectof —

1. The Sufferer dying.
2. The creatures obeying.
3. The Jews persecuting.
4. The women beholding.
5. The disciples forsaking.
(Thos. Adams.)
Divine testimonials to Jesus
N. Lardner.
I. The dream of Pilate's wife.
II. The darkness ofthe sky.
III. The rending of the veil of the temple.
IV. The earthquake at Calvary.
V. The rising of the dead.
(N. Lardner.)
The mysterious resurrections
N. Lardner.
I. The place where this resurrectionhappened.
II. Who were raised.
III. The time when they were raised.
IV. To whom they appeared.
V. Whether they soonafter ascendedup to heaven, or died again.

VI. The truth of this history.
VII. The use of this extraordinary event. Reflections:
1. We may perceive a greatagreementbetweenthe life and the death of Jesus.
2. It cannotbut be pleasing to observe the mildness of all the wonderful works
performed by Christ and done in His favour.
3. The testimonials given to Jesus should induce us to show Him all honour
and reverence.
4. Let these meditations inspire us with courage and resolution in the
professionof His name,
(N. Lardner.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(50) When he had cried again with a loud voice.—Itis well that we should
remember what the words were which immediately preceded the last death
cry; the “It is finished” of John 19:30, the “Father, into Thy hands I commend
My spirit” of Luke 23:46, expressing as they did, the fulness of peace and
trust, the sense of a completedwork.
It was seldom that crucifixion, as a punishment, ended so rapidly as it did
here, and those who have discussed, what is hardly perhaps a fit subjectfor
discussion, the physical causes ofour Lord’s death, have ascribedit
accordingly, especiallyin connectionwith the factrecorded in John 19:34, and
with the “loud cry,” indicating the pangs of an intolerable anguish, to a
rupture of the vessels ofthe heart. Simple exhaustionas the consequence of
the long vigil, the agonyin the garden, the mocking and the scourging, would
be, perhaps, almostas natural an explanation.

Yielded up the ghost.—Better, yielded up His spirit. All four Evangelists agree
in using this or some like expression, insteadof the simpler form, “He died.” It
is as though they dwelt on the act as, in some sense, voluntary, and connected
it with the words in which He had commended His spirit to the Father(Luke
23:46).
BensonCommentary
Matthew 27:50. And Jesus, whenhe had cried again with a loud voice —
According to John 19:30, when Jesus had receivedthe vinegar, he said, It is
finished, meaning that the predictions of the prophets, respecting his
sufferings and ministry on earth, were all fulfilled, and that the redemption of
the world was on the point of being accomplished;and probably these were
the words which he uttered with a loud voice, showing thereby, that his
strength was not exhausted, but that he was about to give up his life of his own
accord. And when he had thus cried, he said, Father, into thy hands I
commend my spirit. Luke 23:46. And yielded up the ghost — Or rather,
dismissedhis spirit, as the original words, αφηκε το πνευμα, properly signify:
an expressionadmirably suited to our Lord’s own words, John 10:18, No man
taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. He died by a voluntary act
of his own, and in a way peculiar to himself. He alone, of all men that ever
were, could have continued alive, even in the greatesttortures, as long as he
pleased, or have retired from the body whenever he thought fit. And how does
it illustrate that love which he manifested in his death! Inasmuch as he did not
use his power to quit the body, as soonas it was fastenedto the cross, leaving
only an insensible corpse to the cruelty of his murderers: but continued his
abode in it, with a steady resolution, as long as it was proper. He then retired
from it with a majesty and dignity never known, or to be known in any other
death: dying, if one may so express it, like the Prince of life.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
27:45-50 During the three hours which the darkness continued, Jesus was in
agony, wrestling with the powers of darkness, and suffering his Father's
displeasure againstthe sin of man, for which he was now making his soul an

offering. Neverwere there three such hours since the day God createdman
upon the earth, never such a dark and awful scene;it was the turning point of
that greataffair, man's redemption and salvation. Jesus uttered a complaint
from Ps 22:1. Hereby he teaches ofwhat use the word of God is to direct us in
prayer, and recommends the use of Scripture expressions in prayer. The
believer may have tastedsome drops of bitterness, but he can only form a very
feeble idea of the greatness ofChrist's sufferings. Yet, hence he learns
something of the Saviour's love to sinners; hence he gets deeper conviction of
the vileness and evil of sin, and of what he owes to Christ, who delivers him
from the wrath to come. His enemies wickedlyridiculed his complaint. Many
of the reproaches castupon the word of Godand the people of God, arise, as
here, from gross mistakes. Christ, just before he expired, spake in his full
strength, to show that his life was not forced from him, but was freely
delivered into his Father's hands. He had strength to bid defiance to the
powers of death: and to show that by the eternal Spirit he offeredhimself,
being the Priestas well as the Sacrifice, he cried with a loud voice. Then he
yielded up the ghost. The Son of God upon the cross, did die by the violence of
the pain he was put to. His soul was separatedfrom his body, and so his body
was left really and truly dead. It was certain that Christ did die, for it was
needful that he should die. He had undertaken to make himself an offering for
sin, and he did it when he willingly gave up his life.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Cried again with a loud voice - He cried, "It is finished," John 19:30. It was in
the height of his agony, probably attended with deep groaning, and uttered
amid sorrows whichwere never else experiencedin our world. It finished the
work of atonement, made the wayof salvationpossible, rolled awaythe curse
from guilty people, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all true believers.
Yielded up the ghost - This, though a literal translation, is unhappy. It means
resignedhis spirit, or "expired." The same phrase is used by the Septuagintin
describing the death of Rachel. Genesis35:18.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary

Mt 27:34-50. Crucifixionand Deathof the Lord Jesus. ( = Mr 15:25-37;Lu
23:33-46;Joh 19:18-30).
For the exposition, see on[1375]Joh19:18-30.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Ver. 45-50. Mark hath the same, Mark 15:33-38. Luke saith, Luke 23:44, that
it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness overall the earth until
the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent
in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into
thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
John saith no more, John 19:30, but that—he bowed his head, and gave up the
ghost. It is said, John 19:14, it was about the sixth hour when Pilate brought
forth Christ to the Jews;how then could he be crucified at the third hour, and
the darkness beginat the sixth? The different ways the Jews and the Romans
had of counting hours, make us to be at a loss sometimes as to circumstances
of time to reconcile some scriptures. But as to the present difficulty, it is said
that the Jews, as they divided the night into four watches, so theyalso divided
the day into four parts, eachpart having its denomination from the
succeeding part, by which name all the intermediate time was called. Thus
when the third hour (which with us is nine of the clock)was past, they called
all the sixth hour till pasttwelve. Thus Pilate condemned Christ in the
beginning of the sixth hour, and the darkness beganat the end of it, that is,
after twelve, for dividing the day into quadrants, the hours had their
denomination from them. John also saith no more than about the sixth hour,
which is true if it were some small time after.
There was darkness overall the land unto the ninth hour. That this darkness
was causedby the eclipse of the sun at that time of the day is plain enough,
but that this was no eclipse in the ordinary course of nature is evident; for;
1. Whereas alleclipses use to be in the time of the new moon, this was when
the moon was at the full, the fifteenth day of the month Nisan.

2. This eclipse was not seenin one part or in another, but over all the earth
that was under the same hemisphere.
3. No eclipse in a natural course canlast three hours.
So that plainly this was a miraculous eclipse, not causedby the interposition
of the moon, (as other eclipses), but by the mighty and extraordinary powerof
God, which made a heathen philosopher at a greatdistance cry out, Either the
Divine Being now suffereth, or sympathizes with one that suffereth: he is said
to have seenthis eclipse in Egypt.
And about the ninth hour (that is, about three of the clock, as we reckonthe
hours) Jesus criedwith a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, or Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani? The words are Hebrew, though Mark reports them according to
the Syriac corruption of the dialect. They are David’s words, Psalm22:1.
David was a type of Christ. He that was the Son of David useth David’s words,
possibly spokenby David in the person of Christ. God’s forsaking any person
or place, must be understood with reference not to his essentialpresence,for
so he filleth all places, and is present with all persons; but with reference to
the manifestations of his providence for our good: thus when God withholds
his goodprovidence to us, either with respectto our outward or inward man,
he is said to forsake us. A total forsaking either of our bodies, or of our souls,
is not consistentwith the being of our outward man, or the spiritual being or
life of our inward man. All forsakings therefore in this life are gradual and
partial. The forsaking which Christ therefore here complains of, was not the
total withdrawing of Divine favour and assistancefrom him; that was
impossible, and incompetent with the first words testifying his relation to God,
and assistance in him; but it must be understood with respectto God’s
consolatorymanifestations, andthat is testified by his other words, related by
Luke, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Which words having said,

he gave up the ghost, say Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John addeth, that he
bowed his head, and gave up the ghost:words added, to confirm what he
elsewhere said, that he laid down his life, none took it from him. His crying
twice at this instant with a loud voice, arguedhis spirits not so spent, but he
might have lived a few minutes longer, but he freely laid down his life. The
people saying, He calleth for Elias, when he said Eli, Eli, spake them to be
Jews, who to this day dream of an Elias to come and restore all things. That
they no better distinguished betweenEli and Elias, must be attributed either
to the corruption of their dialect, he saying Eloi, Eloi, (according to the Syriac
corruption of the term), or their too great distance from him. Their mocking
him upon it was but consonantto their former behaviour towardhim, while
he was upon the cross. Theirgiving him the spunge with vinegar and hyssop
we before gave an accountof.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Jesus, whenhe had cried again,.... "Asecondtime", as the Persic version;for
he had cried once before, and expressedthe words he did, as in Matthew
27:46, what he now delivered were, "Father, into thy hands I commend my
Spirit", Luke 23:46, and "it is finished", John 19:30, which he said
with a loud voice;which showedthe vehemency of his affection, his strong
confidence in God, and his being fearless ofdeath; as also he thus spoke, that
he might be heard, and his words attended to, since they containedthings of
the greatestimportance and consequence:moreover, being able to express
himself in such a manner, this declaredhim to be more than a mere man; for
after such agonies in the garden, and so much fatigue in being hurried from
place to place, and such loss of blood by being buffeted, scourged, crowned
with thorns, and nailed to the accursedtree, where, being stretched, he had
hung for some hours; to speak with so loud a voice was more than human, and
was a convictionto the centurion, that he was a divine person: for when he
saw that he so cried out, and "gave up the ghost", he said, "truly this man was
the Sonof God",
Mark 15:39, and likewise it shows, that he died freely and voluntarily, and not
through force and necessity:it was not all that men had done, or could do to

him, that could have forcedhis life from him: he died willingly, and when
nature was in its full strength; and which is signified in the next phrase,
yielded up the ghost, or "dismissedthe Spirit", as the Syriac version truly
renders it; he sentit away. It was not takenfrom him, he laid down his life of
himself, as the Lord of it, and gave himself freely to be an offering and
sacrifice in the room of his people; which is a proof of his greatlove, and
amazing grace unto them.
Geneva Study Bible
{13} Jesus, whenhe had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
(13) Christ, after he had overcome other enemies, at length provokes and
attacks deathitself.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Matthew 27:50 Πάλιν] refers to Matthew 27:46. What did Jesus cry in this
instance? See John19:30, from which Luke 23:46 diverges somewhat,
containing, in fact, an explanatory addition to the accountof the greatclosing
scene, that is evidently borrowed from Psalm31:6.
ἀφῆκε τὸ πνεῦμα] i.e. He died. See Herod, iv. 190;Eur. Hec. 571:ἀφῆκε
πνεῦμα θανασίμῳ σφαγῇ;Kypke, I. p. 140;Genesis 35:18;Sir 38:23;Wis
16:14. There is no question here of a separating of the πνεῦμα from the ψυχή.
See in answerto Ströbel, Delitzsch, Psych. p. 400 f. The theory of a merely
apparent death (Bahrdt, Venturini Paulus) is so decidedly at variance with the
predictions of Jesus Himself regarding His end, as well as with the whole
testimony of the Gospel, is so utterly destructive of the fundamental idea of
the resurrection, undermines so completely the whole groundwork of the
redemption brought about by Christ, is so inconsistentwith the accumulated
testimony of centuries as furnished by the very existence ofthe church itself,
which is basedupon the facts of the death and the resurrectionof Jesus, and
requires such a remarkable series of other theories and assumptions of an

extraordinary and supernatural characterin order to explain duly
authenticated facts regarding Christ’s appearance and actings after His
resurrection,—that, with friends and foes alike testifying to the actualdeath of
Jesus, we are bound at once to dismiss it as an utterly abortive attempt to get
rid of the physiologicalmystery (but see on Luke, Remarks after Matthew
24:51)of the resurrection. It is true that though those modern critics (Strauss,
Weisse, Ewald, Schweizer, Schenkel, Volkmar, Scholten, Keim) who deny the
literal resurrection of Christ’s body, and who suggestvarious ways of
accounting for His allegedreappearing againon severaloccasions, do not
dispute the reality of His death, their view is nevertheless as much at variance
with the whole of the New Testamentevidence in favour of the resurrectionas
is the one just adverted to. Comp. Matthew 28:10, Rem., and Luke 24:51,
Rem.
Expositor's Greek Testament
Matthew 27:50-56. Deathand its accompaniments (Mark 15:37-41, Luke
23:46-49).
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
50. when he had cried again with a loud voice]Perhaps an inarticulate cry is
meant, or perhaps the sixth word from the cross, “Itis finished.” John 19:30.
yielded up the ghost]St Luke preserves the exactwords, “Father, into thy
hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46).
Bengel's Gnomen
Matthew 27:50. Κράξας, κ.τ.λ., having cried, etc.)A free laying down of life.
He was not deprived of life by the powerof the cross employed by men; see
Mark 15:44; but yet they are rightly said to have killed Him, because they did
so, as far as lay in their power.—ἀφῆκε τὸ πνεῦμα, He gave up the ghost) The
Divine history records the death of Jesus Christ in few words;the homilies
and epistles of the Apostles preach the fruit of that death in many: thus the
Gospelfurnishes the wool, the Apostle makes the dress;which similitude is

used by Macarius in his Treatise, de Elevatione mentis, cap. 19. The word
κοιμᾶσθαι,to sleep, is never employed concerning the death of the Saviour (cf.
Matthew 27:52), but ἀποθνήσκειν, to die, which verb expressesthe truth, the
gravity, the brevity, and the virtue of Christ’s death.[1211]
[1211]By it God was reconciled. Truly, a most precious moment!—V. g.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 50. - When he had cried again. He had cried aloud once before (ver. 46).
But he does not repeatthe former words; the horror of great darkness was
past. Probably the cry here resolveditself into the words recordedby St.
Luke, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." With a loud voice. This
loud cry at the moment of death proved that he laid down his life voluntarily;
no man could take it from him (John 10:17, 18);he himself willed to die; and
this preternatural voice proceededfrom one who died not altogetherfrom
physical exhaustion, but from determined purpose. Yielded up the ghost(a)fh
= ke to pneu = ma); literally, dismissed his spirit; emisit spiritum). The
phrase has been interpreted to signify that Christ exerted his powerto
anticipate the actual moment of dissolution; but there is no necessityof
importing this idea into the expression. It is used ordinarily to denote the act
of dying, as we say, "He expired." Perhaps the exertion of uttering this great
cry ruptured some organof the body. We know from the effect of the piercing
of his side that his sacredheart was previously broken; and thus he verily and
really died upon the cross. He, being in the form of God, and equal with God,
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, suffereddeath
forevery man. It is to be noted that the death of Christ occurredat 3 p.m., the
very time when the Paschallambs beganto be slain in the temple courts. Thus
the long prepared type was at lastfulfilled, when "Christ our Passoverwas
sacrificedfor us."
Vincent's Word Studies
Yielded up the ghost (ἀφῆκε τὸ πνεῦμα)

Lit., dismissedhis spirit. Rev., yielded up his spirit. The fact that the
evangelists, in describing our Lord's death, do not use the neuter verb, ἔθανεν,
he died, but he breathed out his life (ἐξέπνευσε, Mark 15:37), he gave us his
spirit (παρέδωκε τὸ πνεῦμα, John 19:30), seems to imply a voluntary yielding
up of his life. Compare John 10:18. Augustine says, "He gave up his life
because he willed it, when he willed it, and as he willed it."
Matthew 27:51 51At that moment the curtain of the
shook, the rocks split
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
ForsakenBy God
Matthew 27:46
W.F. Adeney
We cannotfathom the depths of the dark and mysterious experience of our
Lord's lastmortal agony. We must walk reverently, for here we stand on holy
ground. It is only just to acknowledgethat the great Sufferer must have had
thoughts and feelings which pass beyond our comprehension, and which are
too sacredand private for our inspection. Yet what is recordedis written for
our instruction. Let us, then, in all reverence, endeavourto see what it means.

I. CHRIST AS A TRUE MAN SHARED IN THE FLUCTUATIONS OF
HUMAN EMOTION. He quoted the language ofa psalmist who had passed
through the deep waters, and he felt them to be most tree in his own
experience. Jesus was notalways calm; certainly he was not impassive. He
could be rousedto indignation; he could be melted to tears. He knew the
rapture of Divine joy; he knew also the torment of heart-breaking grief. There
are sorrows whichdepend upon the inner consciousness more than on any
external events. These sorrows Jesus knew and felt. We cannotcommand our
phases of feeling. It is well to know that Jesus also, in his earthly life, was
visited by very various moods. Dark hours were not unknown to him. Having
experiencedthem, he can understand them in us, and sympathize with our
depressionof spirit.
II. CHRIST AS THE ATONEMENTFOR SIN FELT THE DARK HORROR
OF ITS GUILT. He could not own himself to be guilty when he knew he was
innocent. But he was so one with man that he felt the shame and burden of
man's sin as though it had been his own. As the greatRepresentative ofthe
race, he took up the load of the world's sin, i.e. he made it his own by deeply
concerning himself with it, by entering into its dreadful consequences, by
submitting to its curse. Such feelings might blot out the vision of God for a
season.
III. CHRIST AS THE HOLY SON OF GOD WAS UNUTTERABLY
GRIEVED AT LOSING THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF HIS FATHER'S
PRESENCE.There are men who live without any thought of God, and yet this
is no trouble to them. On the contrary, they dread to see God, and it is fearful
for them to think that he sees them. These are men who love sin, and therefore
they do not love God. But Jesus lived in the love of his Father. To lose one
whom we love with all our heart is a cause for heart-breaking anguish. Jesus
seemedto have lost God. To all who have the love of God in their hearts any
similar feeling of desertion must be an agonyof soul.
IV. CHRIST AS THE BELOVED SON IN WHOM GOD WAS WELL
PLEASED COULD NOT BE REALLY DESERTED BYGOD. Not only is
God physically near to all men, because he is omnipresent, but he is spiritually
near to his own people to sustain and save them, even when they are not

conscious ofhis presence. The vision of God is one thing, and his presence is
another. We may miss the first without losing the second. Our real state
before God does not rest on the shifting sands of our moods of feeling. In the
hour of darkness Jesus prayed. This is enough to show that he knew that he
was not really and utterly abandoned by his Father. In spiritual deadness,
when it is hard to pray at all, the one remedy is in prayer. Our cry can reach
God through the darkness, and the darkness will not last forever; often it is
the gate to a glorious light. - W.F.A.
Biblical Illustrator
And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain.
Matthew 27:51
The rent veil
J. Burns, D. D.
I. The event as literally recorded.

II. The event in its spiritual significancy. What did the veil represent? The
human nature of Christ, which was now suffering for sin. The veil of sin
which separatedbetweenGod and us. The abolition of Jewishordinances. The
removal of all distinctions betweenthe Jewish and Gentile nations.
III. The effects it should produce upon us. Reverence forthe person and work
of Christ. Confidence in His offering. How to present all our services to God.
The necessityofthe veil of sin being removed from our hearts. That the veil of
our mortal flesh must be rent before we canenter the holiestof all.
(J. Burns, D. D.)
The rent veil
Pulpit Outlines.
I. The INTIMATIONS CONVEYED thereby.
1. That the ceremonialdispensationwas now abolished. Into the holy place
none were permitted to enter but the high priest alone, and he but once a year,
and only then with the blood of the annual atonement. But now it is exposedto
public view. The designof its institution having been accomplished, God
Himself has thrown it open, thereby intimating that it is of no further use, but
that another way of propitiating Him is established.
2. That the barrier betweenJew and Gentile is thrown down. The offerings
presentedin the holy place were for the Jewishpeople only. But now an
atonement has been made for the whole world.
3. That the way to the holiestof all is opened. The way into the holy place was
with the blood and incense;the way to heaven is through the blood and
intercessionofChrist, who has not only abolishedseparation, but brought life
and immortality to light. The mists which hung over the future have been
dissipated by the rising of the sun of righteousness,who has shed life, fertility,
and beauty over the entire prospect.

II. The ENCOURAGEMENTAFFORDED thereby. In the rending of the veil
we have exhibited —
1. The gracious designs of God concerning us. He would have us no longer to
be on the outside of the temple, ,' far off" from Him. He would have us freed
from all the evils of separation;He would have us enjoy all the pleasures that
are at His right hand for evermore. This event ought to teachus —
2. Frequently to approachwithin the veil. There is nothing to hinder our
approach; we are not confined to statedperiods; the more frequently we come
the more welcome we shallbe.
3. Let us place all our confidence within the veil. Let us have the anchorof our
hope there, sure and steadfast;thither the Forerunner has entered.
(Pulpit Outlines.)
The rending of the veil
S. Coley.
I. As A MIRACLE ATTESTING THE DIVINITY OF THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST.
II. As A SYMBOL OF THE PUTTING AWAY OF THE LEVITICAL
DISPENSATION.
1. There were many things about this veil which made it a very exquisite and
beautiful type of the religion then existing. It was beautiful for appearance.
Was there ever a system of worship that was more beautiful, more awe-
inspiring, or more touching? On the outside of the veil there were pictured the
things which really existed inside.
2. While the veil was very suggestive it was yet very obscure — it was one
through which the glory streamed, and which, by and by, was to be broken
down. This rending of the veil was, on the part of God, the glorious "AMEN"
which the Father gave to the life of Christ.

III. As SETTING FORTHSOME OF THE GREAT OBJECTSAND
RESULTS OF THE ATONEMENT.
1. It setforth the body of Christ, as the Apostle Paul tells us.
2. It gave men the truth about the old Levitical dispensation. It finished it, but
did not abrogate it.
3. It is through the rent veil that a way was openedinto the holy of holies. You
can only getto the mercy-seatthrough the rent veil. It is through the rent veil
that the Holy Spirit descends. The wayis open to everybody. In the old
dispensationonly the high priest could go into the holiest once a year, and in a
particular manner. Blessedbe God, it is not so now! There is no veil now —
nothing to keepyou away. If there is a veil, you weave it with your own hands;
it is in your own hearts.
(S. Coley.)
Christ the only way to the Father
S. Coley.
Theodore Parker, in one of his books, so flashingly bright with genius, but so
awfully dark with infidelity, daringly asks why we cannot go ourselves before
the All-Father, and speak to Him for ourselves, without talking by attorney,
and whining about our Brother's name! Ah, he has made a greatmistake. No,
no; you can never get into that holiest place but through the rent veil, and you
will be shut out for ever if you try to go in any other way. It is through Christ,
and through Christ alone, that we can get accessto the Father. I am glad to
leave my case withJesus. I am glad to go to the Father through my Saviour,
and to use His name, which is ever fragrant with merit; but if any man shall
go without that name, and should choose to stand OH the ground of bare
justice, he will .getjustice, and he will not get any mercy.
(S. Coley.)

The Divinity of Judaism
S. Coley.
I should like you to notice that the very way in which God put away
Hebraism, at the same time marked its Divinity. Supposing an Act of
Parliament were passedin this year of the reign of QueenVictoria to repeal a
law that was made in the time of Charles I. — do you not see that the very Act
which would repealthe law would acknowledge thatit was a law? for
Parliament never repeals that which is not law, but the very form of repealis
itself an endorsement. So when God by a miracle repealedHebraism, it was as
if He had said that up to that moment it had been Divine. Thus, you see, in
this way Christianity linksion with Judaism, and you are not to think that the
New Testamentthrows any slur or slight upon the old dispensation. In fact, I
should think that the Jews would have been quite right in keeping on their
services if it had not been that God, by miracles, had put them away;for it
was by miracle that He had instituted them, and it wanted the same authority
to repeal as it did to enact.
(S. Coley.)
The veil rent in twain
J. B. Brown, B. A.
I. THE EVENT RECORDED.It meant broadly the end of the age ofshadows:
the end of the childhood's stage in man's education.
II. THE SPECIAL RELATION OF THE RENDING OF THE WIT, TO THE
EVENT WHICH IT ILLUSTRATED. The deep meaning is that it was rent at
the crucifixion: it fixes our thoughts upon that death as the end of the
incarnate life.
III. THE LIGHT WHICH THIS SIGN FORECASTSON THE
EXPERIENCE, THE HISTORY, AND THE DESTINYOF MANKIND
1. It proclaims that man as man has access to the heavenly temple.

2. That the powers of the world to come have enteredinto and possessedman
and his world. The human is not an outer dependency but an inner province
of the heavenly kingdom.
3. The final overthrow and abolition of death. The angelof death advances
through the veil to meet us, to repay our tears with glories.
(J. B. Brown, B. A.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(51) The veil of the temple was rent in twain.—Better, the veil of the
sanctuary, or, if we do not alter the word, we must remember that it is the veil
that divided the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies that is here meant. The
fact, which the high priests would naturally have wishedto conceal,and which
in the nature of the case couldnot have been seenby any but the sons of
Aaron, may have been reported by the “greatmultitude of the priests” who
“became obedientto the faith” (Acts 6:7). The Evangelist’s recordof it is all
the more significant, as he does not notice, and apparently, therefore, did not
apprehend, the symbolic import of the fact. That import we learn indirectly
from the Epistle to the Hebrews. The priests had, as far as they had power,
destroyedthe true Temple (comp. John 2:19); but in doing so they had robbed
their own sanctuaryof all that made it holy. The true veil, as that which
shrouded the Divine Glory from the eyes of men, was His ownflesh, and
through that He had passed, as the Forerunner of all who trusted in Him, into
the sanctuarynot made with hands, eternal in the heavens (Hebrews 10:20-
21). All who fulfilled that condition might enter into that holiestplace, but the
visible sanctuarywas now made common and unclean, and there too all might
enter without profanation.

The earth did quake, and the rocks rent.—Jerusalemwas, it will be
remembered, situated in the zone of earthquakes, and one very memorable
convulsion is recordedor alluded to in the Old Testament(Isaiah24:19; Amos
1:1; Zechariah14:5). Here, though the shock startledmen at the time, there
was no widespreadruin such as would lead to its being chronicled by
contemporary historians.
MacLaren's Expositions
Matthew
THE VEIL RENT
Matthew 27:51.
As I suppose we are all aware, the JewishTemple was divided into three
parts: the Outer Court, open to all; the Holy Place, to which the ministering
priests had daily accessto burn incense and trim the lamps; and the Holy of
Holies, where only the High Priestwas permitted to go, and that but once a
year, on the greatDay of Atonement. For the other three hundred and sixty-
four days the shrine lay silent, untrodden, dark. Betweenit and the less sacred
Holy Place hung the veil, whose heavy folds only one man was permitted to lift
or to pass. To all others it was death to peer into the mysteries, and even to
him, had he gone at another time, and without the blood of the sacrifice, death
would have ensued.
If we remember all this and try to castourselves back in imagination to the
mental attitude of the ordinary Jew, the incident of my text receives its true
interpretation. At the moment when the loud cry of the dying Christ rung
over the heads of the awestruck multitude, that veil was, as it were, laid hold

of by a pair of giant hands and torn asunder, as the Evangelistsays, ‘from the
top to the bottom.’ The incident was a symbol. In one aspectit proclaimedthe
end of the long years of Israel’s prerogative. In another it ushered in an epoch
of new relations betweenman and God. If Jesus Christwas what He said He
was, if His death was what He declaredit to be, it was fitting that it should be
attended by a train of subordinate and interpreting wonders. These were,
besides that of my text, the darkened sun, the trembling earth, the shivered
rocks, the open graves, the rising saints-allof them, in their severalways,
illuminating the significance ofthat death on Calvary.
Not less significantis this symbol of my text, and I desire now to draw your
attention to its meanings.
I. The rent veil proclaims the desecratedtemple.
There is a striking old legend, preserved by the somewhatmendacious
historian of the Jewishpeople, that, before Jerusalemfell, the anxious
watchers heard from within the sanctuarya greatvoice saying, ‘Let us depart
hence!’ and through the night were conscious ofthe winnowing of the mighty
wings of the withdrawing cherubim. And soona Romansoldier tosseda brand
into the most Holy Place, and the ‘beautiful house where their fathers praised
was burned with fire.’ The legendis pathetic and significant. But that
‘departing’ had takenplace forty years before; and at the moment when Jesus
‘gave up the ghost,’purged eyes might have seenthe long trail of brightness as
the wingedservitors of the MostHigh withdrew from the desecratedshrine.
The veil rent declaredthat the sacredsoilwithin it was now common as any
foot of earth in Galilee;and its rending, so to speak, made way for a departing
God.

That conception, that the death of Christ Jesus was the de-consecration-ifI
may coin a word-of the Temple, and the end of all its specialsanctity, and that
thenceforwardthe Presence haddeparted from it, is distinctly enough taught
us by Himself in words which move in the same circle of ideas as that in which
the symbol resides. . .. You remember, no doubt, that, if we acceptthe
testimony of John’s Gospel, at the very beginning of our Lord’s ministry He
vindicated His authority to cleanse the sanctuary againstthe cavils of the
sticklers for propriety by the enigmaticalwords, ‘Destroythis Temple, and in
three days I will build it up,’ to which the Evangelistappends the comment,
‘He spake ofthe Temple of His body,’ that body in which ‘all the fulness of the
Godhead’ dwelt, and which was, and is to-day, all that the Temple shadowed
and foretold, the dwelling-place of God in humanity, the place of sacrifice, the
meeting-place betweenGod and man. But just because our Lord in these dark
words predicted His death and His resurrection, He also hinted the
destruction of the literal stone and lime building, and its rearing againin
nobler and more spiritual form. When He said, ‘Destroythis Temple,’He
implied, secondarily, the destruction of the house in which He stood, and laid
that destruction, whensoeverit should come to pass, attheir doors. And,
inasmuch as the saying in its deepestdepth meant His death by their violence
and craft, therefore, in that early saying of His, was wrapped up the very
same truth which was symbolisedby the rent veil, and was bitterly fulfilled at
last. When they slew Christ they killed the systemunder which they lived, and
for which they would have been glad to die, in a zeal without knowledge;and
destroyedthe very Temple on the distorted charge of being the destroyerof
which, they handed Him over to the Roman power.
The death of Christ is, then, the desecrationand the destruction of that
Temple. Of course it is; because whena nation that had had millenniums of
education, of forbearance, ofrevelation, turned at last upon the very climax
and brightest central light of all the Revelation, standing there amongstthem
in a bodily form, there was nothing more to be done. God had shot His last
arrow; His quiver was empty. ‘Last of all He sent unto them His Son, saying,’
with a wistful kind of half-confidence, ‘They will reverence My Son,’and the
divine expectationwas disappointed, and exhaustless Love was empty-handed,

and all was over. He could turn to themselves and say, ‘Judge betweenMe
and My vineyard. What more could have been done that I have not done to
it?’ Therefore, there was nothing left but to let the angels of destruction loose,
and to call for the Roman eagleswith their broad-spreadwings, and their
bloody beaks, andtheir strong talons, to gather togetherround the carcase.
When He gave up the Ghost, ‘the veil of the Temple was rent in twain from
the top to the bottom.’
A time of repentance was given. It was possible for the most guilty
participator in that judicial murder to have his gory hands washedand made
white in the very blood that he had shed; but, failing repentance, that death
was the death of Israel, and the destruction of Israel’s Temple. Let us take the
lesson, dearbrethren. If we turn away from that Saviour, and refuse the
offered gifts of His love, there is no other appealleft in the powerof Heaven;
and there is nothing for it after that except judgment and destruction. We can
‘crucify the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame.’And the hearts
that are insensitive, as are some of our hearts, to that greatlove and grace, are
capable of nothing except to be pulverised by means of a judgment.
Repentance is possible for us all, but, failing that, the continuance of rejection
of Christ is the pulling down, on our own heads, of the ruins of the Temple,
like the Israelitish hero in his blindness and despair.
II. Now, secondly, the rent veil means, in another way of looking at the
incident, light streaming in on the mystery of God.
Let me recallto your imaginations what lay behind that heavy veil. In the
Temple, in our Lord’s time, there was no presence ofthe Shekinah, the light
that symbolised the divine presence. There was the mercy-seat, with the
outstretchedwings of the cherubim; there were the dimly pictured forms on
the tapestry hangings;there was silence deep as death; there was darkness
absolute and utter, whilst the Syrian sun was blazing down outside. Surely

that is the symbol of the imperfect knowledge or illumination as to the divine
nature which is over all the world. ‘The veil is spreadover all nations, and the
covering over all people.’ And surely that sudden, sharp tearing asunder of
the obscuring medium, and letting the bright sunlight stream into every
corner of the dark chamber, is for us a symbol of the greatfact that in the life,
and especiallyin the death, of Jesus Christ our Lord, we have light thrown in
to the depths of God.
What does that Cross tell us about God that the world did not know? And
how does it tell us? and why does it tell us? It tells us of absolute
righteousness, ofthat in the divine nature which cannottolerate sin; of the
stern law of retribution which must be wrought out, and by which the wages
of every sin is death. It tells us not only of a divine righteousnesswhich sees
guilt and administers punishment, but it tells us of a divine love, perfect,
infinite, utter, perennial, which shrinks from no sacrifice, whichstoops to the
lowestconditions, which itself takes upon it all the miseries of humanity, and
which dies because it loves and will save men from death. And as we look
upon that dying Man hanging on the cross, the very embodiment and
consummation of weaknessandof shame, we have to say, ‘Lo! this is our God!
We have waitedfor Him’-through all the weary centuries-’and He will save
us.’ How does it tell us all this? Notby eloquent and gracious thoughts, not by
sweetand musical words, but by a deed. The only way by which we canknow
men is by what they do. The only way by which we know Godis by what He
does. And so we point to that Cross and say, ‘There! not in words, not in
thoughts, not in speculations, notin hopes and fears and peradventures and
dim intuitions, but in a solid fact; there is the Revelationwhich lays bare the
heart of God, and shows us its very throbbing of love to every human soul.’
‘The veil was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.’
The Cross will revealGod to you only if you believe that Jesus Christ was the
Incarnate Word. Brethren, if that death was but the death of even the very
holiest, noblest, sweetest, perfectestsoulthat ever lived on earth and breathed

human breath, there is no revelationof God in it for us. It tells us what Jesus
was, and by a very roundabout inference may suggestsomething ofwhat the
divine nature is, but unless you cansay, as the New Testamentsays, ‘In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. . .. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only Begottenof the Father, full of grace and
truth,’ I fail to see how the death of Christ canbe a revelationof the love of
God.
I need not occupytime in dilating upon the contrastbetweenthis solid
certitude, and all that the world, apart from Jesus Christ, has to lay hold of
about God. We want something else than mist on which to build, and on
which to lay hold. And there is a substantial, warm, flesh-and-blood hand, if I
may so say, put out to us through the mist when we believe in Christ the Son
of God, who died on the cross forus all. Then, amidst whirling mists and
tossing seas, there is a fixed point to which we canmoor; then our confidence
is built, not on peradventures or speculations orwishes or dreams or hopes,
but on a historicalfact, and grasping that firm we may stand unmoved.
Dearfriends, I may be very old-fashionedand very narrow-I suppose I am;
but I am bound to declare my conviction, which I think every day’s
experience of the tendency of thought only makes more certain, that,
practically for this generation, the choice lies betweenaccepting the life and
death of Jesus Christas the historicalRevelationof God, or having no
knowledge ofHim-knowledge, I say,-ofHim at all; you must choosebetween
the barred sanctuary, within which lies coucheda hidden Something-with a
capital S-or perhaps a hidden Someone whom you never can know and never
will; or the rent veil, rent by Christ’s death, through which you can pass, and
behold the mercy-seatand, above the outstretched wings of the adoring
cherubim, the Fatherwhose name is Love.

III. Lastly, the rent veil permits any and every man to draw near to God.
You remember what I have alreadysaid as to the jealous guarding of the
privacy of that inner shrine, and how not only the common herd of the laity,
but the whole of the priesthood, with the solitary exception of its titular head,
were shut out from ever entering it. In the old times of Israel there was only
one man alive at once who had everbeen beyond the veil. And now that it is
rent, what does that show but this, that by the death of Jesus Christ any one,
every one, is welcome to pass in to the very innermost sanctuary, and to dwell,
nestling as close as he will, to the very heart of the throned God? There is a
double veil, if I may so say, betweenman and God: the side turned outward is
woven by our ownsins; and the other turned inwards is made out of the
necessaryantagonismof the divine nature to man’s sin. There hangs the veil,
and when the Psalmistasked, ‘Who shall ascendinto the hill of the Lord; or
who shall stand in His holy place?’he was putting a question which echoes
despairingly in the very heart of all religions. And he answeredit as
conscienceeveranswers it when it gets fair play: ‘He that hath cleanhands
and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity.’ And where or
who is he? Nowhere;nobody. Access is barred, because it is impossible that a
holy and righteous God should communicate the selectestgifts of His love,
even the sense ofHis favour, and of harmony and fellowship with Him, to
sinful men, and barred, because it is impossible that men, with the
consciousnessofevil and the burden of guilt sometimes chafing their
shoulders, and always bowing down their backs, shoulddesire to possess, or
be capable of possessing, that fellowshipand union with God. A black,
frowning wall, if I may change the metaphor of my text, rises betweenus and
God. But One comes with the sacrificialvesselin His hand, and pours His
blood on the barrier, and that melts the black blocks that rise betweenus and
God, and the path is patent and permeable for every foot. ‘The veil of the
Temple was rent in twain’ when Christ died. That death, because it is a
sacrifice, makes itpossible that the whole fulness of the divine love should be
poured upon man. That death moves our hearts, takes awayour sense of guilt,
draws us nearerto Him; and so both by its operation-not on the love of God-

but on the government of God, and by its operationon the consciousnessof
men, throws open the path into His very presence.
If I might use abstractwords, I would saythat Christ’s death potentially
opens the path for every man, which being put into plain English-whichis
better-is just that by the death of Christ every man can, if he will, go to God,
and live beside Him. And our faith is our personallaying hold of that great
sacrifice and treading on that path. It turns the ‘potentiality’ into an actuality,
the possibility into a fact. If we believe on Him who died on the cross forus all,
then by that way we come to God, than which there is none other given under
heaven among men.
So all believers are priests, or none of them are. The absolute right of direct
access to God, without the intervention of any man who has an officially
greaternearness to Him than others, and through whom as through a channel
the grace ofsacramentcomes, is containedin the greatsymbol of my text.
And it is a truth that this day needs. On the one hand there is agnostic
unbelief, which needs to see in the rent veil the illumination streaming
through it on to the depths of God; and on the other hand there is the
complementary error-and the two always breed eachother-the superstition
which drags back by an anachronismthe old Jewishnotions of priesthood into
the Christian Church. It needs to see in the rent veil the charterof universal
priesthood for all believers, and to hearkento the words which declare, ‘Ye
are a chosengeneration, a spiritual house, a royal priesthood, that ye should
offer up spiritual sacrificesacceptable unto Godby Jesus Christ.’That is the
lessonthat this day wants. ‘Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into
the holiestof all, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He has
consecratedfor us through the veil, that is His flesh, let us draw near with
true hearts in full assurance offaith.’
BensonCommentary

Matthew 27:51. And behold — Immediately upon his death, while the sun was
still darkened;the veil of the temple — The inner veil which divided the holy
from the most holy place;though made of the richestand strongesttapestry;
was rent in two from the top to the bottom: so while the priest was ministering
at the goldenaltar, (it being the time of the evening sacrifice,)the sacred
oracle, by an invisible power, was laid open to full view: God thereby
signifying the speedy removal of the Jewishceremonies, the abolition of the
Mosaic dispensation, the breaking down the partition- wall betweenJews and
Gentiles, who were both to be now admitted to equal privileges, and the
opening a way, through the veil of Christ’s flesh, for all believers into the most
holy place. And the earth did quake — There was a generalearthquake,
probably through the whole globe, though chiefly at and near Jerusalem:God
testifying thereby his wrath againstthe Jewishnation, for the horrid impiety
they were committing. And the rocks rent — Mr. Fleming (Christology, vol. 2.
pp. 97, 98) informs us, that a Deist, lately travelling through Palestine, was
convertedby viewing one of these rocks. Forwhen he came to examine the
clefts of it narrowly and critically, he was convincedthat the rent had been
made in a supernatural manner, as he acknowledgedto his fellow-travellers,
saying, I have long been a student of nature and the mathematics, and I am
sure these rents in this rock were not made by a natural, or ordinary
earthquake;for by such a concussionthe rock must have split according to
the veins, and where it was weakestin the adhesionof its parts; for this I have
observedto have been done in other rocks, whenseparatedor broken by an
earthquake, and reasontells me, it must always be so. But it is quite otherwise
here, for the rock is split athwart and cross the veins in a most strange and
preternatural manner. This, therefore, I plainly see to be the effectof a real
miracle, which neither nature nor art could have effected. Sandys (Trav., p.
264)has given an accurate descriptionand delineation of this fissure; and Mr.
Maundrell (in his Journey from Aleppo, p. 73, 74) tells us, that it is about a
span wide at the upper part, and two spans deep; after which it closes, but
opens again below, and runs down to an unknown depth in the earth.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
27:51-56 The rending of the veil signified that Christ, by his death, opened a
way to God. We have an open way through Christ to the throne of grace, or

mercy-seatnow, and to the throne of glory hereafter. When we duly consider
Christ's death, our hard and rocky hearts should be rent; the heart, and not
the garments. That heart is harder than a rock that will not yield, that will not
melt, where Jesus Christ is plainly setforth crucified. The graves were
opened, and many bodies of saints which slept, arose. To whomthey
appeared, in what manner, and how they disappeared, we are not told; and
we must not desire to be wise above what is written. The dreadful
appearances ofGodin his providence, sometimes work strangelyfor the
conviction and awakening ofsinners. This was expressedin the terror that fell
upon the centurion and the Romansoldiers. We may reflect with comfort on
the abundant testimonies given to the characterof Jesus;and, seeking to give
no just cause of offence, we may leave it to the Lord to clearour characters, if
we live to Him. Let us, with an eye of faith, behold Christ and him crucified,
and be affectedwith that greatlove wherewithhe loved us. But his friends
could give no more than a look;they beheld him, but could not help him.
Neverwere the horrid nature and effects of sin so tremendously displayed, as
on that day when the beloved Sonof the Father hung upon the cross, suffering
for sin, the Just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Let us yield
ourselves willingly to his service.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
The vail of the temple - This was doubtless the veil, curiously performed,
which separatedthe holy from the most holy place, dividing the temple into
two apartments, Exodus 26:31-33.
In twain - In two pieces orparts. This was the time of day when the priest was
burning incense in the holy place, and it is probable that he witnessedit. The
most holy place has been usually consideredas a type of heaven, and the
tearing of the veil to signify that the way to heaven was now open to all - the
greatHigh Priest, the Lord Jesus, being about to enter in as the forerunner of
his people. However, about the designof the tearing of the veil, the Scriptures
are silent, and conjecture is useless.
And the earth did quake - Or shook. Earthquakes are violent convulsions of
the ground, causedcommonly by confined and rarefied air. This was

probably, however, a miraculous convulsionof the earth, in attestationof the
truth that the suffererwas the Messiah, the Son of God, and as an exhibition
of wrath at the crimes of those who put him to death. It was not confined to
Judea, but was felt in other countries. It is mentioned by Roman writers.
The rocks rent - That is, were torn asunder. Rocks are still seenat Mount
Calvary thus rent asunder, which are said to be the ones that were convulsed
when the Saviour died.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
Mt 27:51-66. Signs andCircumstances Following the Death of the Lord
Jesus—He Is TakenDownfrom the Cross, and Buried—The Sepulchre Is
Guarded. ( = Mr 15:38-47;Lu 23:47-56;Joh 19:31-42).
The Veil Rent (Mt 27:51).
51. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the
bottom—This was the thick and gorgeouslywroughtveil which was hung
betweenthe "holy place" and the "holiestof all," shutting out all accessto the
presence ofGod as manifested"from above the mercy seatand from between
the cherubim"—"the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest
of all was not yet made manifest" (Heb 9:8). Into this holiest of all none might
enter, not even the high priest, save once a year, on the greatday of
atonement, and then only with the blood of atonement in his hands, which he
sprinkled "upon and before the mercy seatseventimes" (Le 16:14)—to
signify that accessforsinners to a holy God is only through atoning blood. But
as they had only the blood of bulls and of goats, whichcould not take away
sins (Heb 10:4), during all the long ages that precededthe death of Christ the
thick veil remained; the blood of bulls and of goats continuedto be shed and
sprinkled; and once a year accessto God through an atoning sacrifice was
vouchsafed—ina picture, or rather, was dramatically represented, in those
symbolical actions—nothing more. But now, the one atoning Sacrifice being
provided in the precious blood of Christ, access to this holy God could no
longerbe denied; and so the moment the Victim expired on the altar, that
thick veil which for so many ages had been the dread symbol of separation
betweenGod and guilty men was, without a hand touching it, mysteriously

"rent in twain from top to bottom"—"the Holy Ghostthis signifying, that the
way into the holiest of all was NOW made manifest!" How emphatic the
statement, from top to bottom; as if to say, Come boldly now to the Throne of
Grace;the veil is cleangone;the mercy seatstands open to the gaze of sinners,
and the way to it is sprinkled with the blood of Him—"who through the
eternal Spirit hath offered Himself without spot to God!" Before, it was death
to go in, now it is death to stay out. See more on this glorious subject on
[1376]Heb10. 19-22.
An Earthquake—The RocksRent—The Graves Opened, that the Saints
Which Slept in Them Might Come Forth after Their Lord's Resurrection(Mt
27:51-53).
51. and the earth did quake—Fromwhat follows it would seemthat this
earthquake was local, having for its objectthe rending of the rocks and the
opening of the graves.
and the rocks rent—"were rent"—the physical creationthus sublimely
proclaiming, at the bidding of its Maker, the concussionwhichat that moment
was taking place in the moral world at the most criticalmoment of its history.
Extraordinary rents and fissures have been observedin the rocks nearthis
spot.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
See Poole on"Matthew 27:53".
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And behold, the vail of the temple was rent in twain,.... Justat the time that
Christ spake with so loud a voice, and expired, and which was at the time of
the offering up of the evening incense;and so must be seenby the priest that
was then offering, and those that assistedhim, for the incense altarwas near
the vail; and which must be a very astonishing sight unto them: the vail was of
a very greatthickness;it was made of fine twined linen,

Exodus 26:31, and it is a rule with the Jews (t), that "where ever mention is
made in the law of fine linen, or fine twined linen, it means a thread six times
doubled:
and whereas this was made of blue, and purple, and scarlet, Jarchi's note on
the place is, that "every kind was doubled with eachthread of six threads.
His sense is more clearly expressedin his note on Exodus 26:1,
"lo! here are four sorts to every thread; one of linen, and three of wool, and
every thread is six times doubled; behold four sorts when they are twisted
together, make twenty four doubles to a thread.
Yea, some of them make it to be forty eight doubles (u). What a thick piece of
tapestry must this be! and this makes the rending of it the more amazing; for
no doubt but that the vail of the second temple was made after the manner of
the first; and this was rent
from top to bottom; and which was no less than forty cubits in length, which
was the height of the holy of holies in the secondtemple; and which made the
rent the more astonishing. The accountthe Jews give of the vail, is this (w):
"R. Simeon ben Gamalielsaid, on accountof R. Simeon, the son of the Sagan,
the thickness ofthe vail is an hand's breadth, and it is woven of seventy two
threads, and every thread has twenty four threads in it: it is forty cubits long,
and twenty broad, and is made of eighty two myriads; (which is either the
number of the threads in it, or the sum of the golden pence it cost. Some
copies read, is made by eighty two virgins (x);) two are made every year; and
three hundred priests washit.
The Syriac version renders it, "the face of the gate of the temple"; by which
may be meant, perhaps, the vail of the gate of Ulam, or of the porch (y). The
Jews have a tradition (z) that "forty years before the destruction of the
temple, the gates ofit opened of themselves. R. Jochananben Zaccaireproved
them, saying, O temple! temple! wherefore dostthou fright thyself? I know
thy end is to be destroyed; for so prophesiedof thee Zechariah, the son of,
Iddo, "openthy gates, O Lebanon", &c. Zechariah 11:1.

But whether this may be referred to in the above version, or has any reference
to the evangelic history, I will not say. Other writers, as Josephus (a), and
Egesippus (b), speak ofthe easterngate of the city, which was of brass, and as
much as twenty men could shut, opening of its own accord, before the
destruction of the temple; which perhaps the Jewishtradition rather regards.
This rending of the vail was done, as some think, in token of mourning for,
and testifying abhorrence at the crucifixion of Christ; the temple rending its
garments, the vail, at the death of its Lord, proprietor, and type, as the high
priest did his at supposedblasphemy; or to show that the Lord, who had
takenup his residence in the most holy place betweenthe cherubim, over the
mercy seat, in thick darkness, was now about to remove, and leave the house
desolate;or it signified the rending of Christ's flesh, the breaking of his body
for us, which was typified by the vail; see Hebrews 10:20, and may also denote
both the fulfilment and abrogationof the ceremoniallaw, which had its end in
the death of Christ; and likewise the more cleardiscoveries ofthe mysteries of
grace under the Gospel, in which they are laid to open view, and are beheld
with open face:to which may be added, that this pointed out, that the way to
the holiestof all, to heaven, of which this was a figure, was now made
manifest; and was plain and accessible,as it was, first to Christ, who entered
by his own blood, as the forerunner; and also to his people, who likewise have
boldness to enter by the same,
And the earth did quake: whether this earthquake reachedonly to the spot of
ground where Christ was crucified, and on which the city and temple of
Jerusalemstood;or whether it extended to other parts of the earth; since, in
the reign of Tiberius Caesar, as Pliny (c) relates, there was an earthquake, in
which twelve cities in Asia fell, is not certain. However, it was an indication of
the divine angerand resentment, and in detestationof the sin of crucifying
Christ; see Psalm18:7, and was an emblem of the shaking and removing of
the Jewishchurch state and ordinances, Hebrews 12:26.
And the rocks rent; which were near Mount Calvary, and about Jerusalem;
and, as we are told, the clefts are to be seento this day, and which appearto
be supernatural. This was also a tokenof divine wrath and fury, Nahum 1:5,
and a rebuke of the stupidity and hardness of the Jews, who were unmoved
when rocks were rent asunder, being harder than they; and an emblem of the

future conversionof many through the powerful ministry of the word, and in
consequence ofChrist's death; when hearts, as hard as rocks, were broke in
pieces, stonyhearts takenaway, and hearts of flesh given; of which the three
thousand being pricked to the heart under Peter's sermon, were an instance,
(t) Maimon. Cele Hamikdash, c. 8. sect. 14. Kimchi in SepherShorashrad. (u)
T. Hieros. Shekalim, fol. 51. (w) Misn. Shekalim, c. 8. sect. 5. Shernot Rabba,
sect. 50. fol. 144. 2. Bernidbar Rabba, sect. 4. fol. 183. 2.((x) Vid. Bartenora &
Yom. Tob. in ib. (y) Vid. Bartenora in ib. (z) T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 39. 2. Jarchi
& Kimchi in Zech. xi. i. Ganz TzemachDavid, par. 1. fol. 25. 2.((a) L. 8. c. 12.
(b) L. 5. c. 44. (c) L. 2. c. 84.
Geneva Study Bible
{14} And, behold, the {q} veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to
the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
(14) Christ, when he is dead, shows himself to be God Almighty, and even his
enemies confess the same.
(q) Which separatedthe holiest of all.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Matthew 27:51 f. Not an ordinary earthquake, but a supernatural
phenomenon, as was that of the darkness in Matthew 27:45.
καὶ ἰδού] “Hie wendetsich’s und wird garein neues Wesen” [atthis point the
history enters upon a fresh stage, and something entirely new appears],
Luther. The style of the narrative here is characterizedby a simple solemnity,
among other indications of which we have the frequent recurrence of καί.
τὸ καταπέτασμα] ‫ה‬ַ‫רָּפ‬ֹ‫כ‬ ֶ‫,ת‬ the veil suspended before the holy of holies, Exodus
26:31;Leviticus 21:23;1Ma 1:22; Sir 30:5; Hebrews 6:19; Hebrews 9:3;

Hebrews 10:20. The rending in two (for εἰς δύο, comp. Lucian, Tox. 54;
Lapith. 44), of which mention is also made by Mark and Luke, was not the
effectof the convulsion in nature (which was a subsequent occurrence), but a
divine σημεῖον, accompanying the moment of decease, forthe purpose of
indicating that in this atoning death of Jesus the old dispensationof sacrifices
was being done away, and free accessto the gracious presenceofGod at the
same time restored. Comp. Hebrews 6:19 f., Matthew 9:6 ff., Matthew 10:19 f.
To treat what is thus a matter of divine symbolism as though it were
symbolical legend(Schleiermacher, Strauss, Scholten, Keim) is all the more
unwarrantable that neither in Old Testamentprophecy nor in the popular
beliefs of the Jews do we find anything calculatedto suggestthe formation of
any such legend. The influence of legend has operated rather in the way of
transforming the rending of the veil into an incident of a more imposing and
startling nature: “superliminare (the lintel) templi infinitae magnitudinis
fractum esse atque divisum,” Evang. sec. Hebr. quoted by Jerome. See
Hilgenfeld, N. T. extr. can. IV. p. 17. The idea underlying this legendwas that
of the destruction of the temple.
What follows is peculiar to Matthew. The rocks in question were those in the
immediate neighbourhood, and so also with regard to τὰ μνημεῖα. The
opening of the graves is in like manner to be regardedas divine symbolism,
according to which the death of Jesus is to be understood as preparing the
way for the future resurrection of believers to the eternallife of the Messianic
kingdom (John 3:14 f., John 6:54). The thing thus signified by the divine
sign—a sign sufficiently intelligible, and possessing allthe characteristicsofa
genuine symbol (in opposition to Steinmeyer, p. 226)—wasso moulded and
amplified in the course of tradition that it became ultimately transformed into
an historical incident: πολλὰ σώματα τῶν κεκοιμ. ἁγίωνἠγέρθη, κ.τ.λ. Fora
specimenof still further and more extravagantamplification of the material in
question—materialto which Ignatius likewise briefly alludes, ad Magnes. 9,
and which he expresslymentions, ad Trall, interpol. 9—see Evang. Nicod. 17
ff. This legendrespecting the rising of the Old Testamentsaints (ἁγίων) is
basedupon the assumption of the descensus Christiad inferos, in the course
of which Jesus was understoodnot only to have visitsd them, but also to have

securedtheir resurrection(comp. Ev. Nicod.; Ignatius, ad Trall. l.c.). But it is
quite arbitrary to assume that in those who are thus allegedto have risen
from their graves we have mere “apparitions assuring us of the continued
existence ofthe departed” (Michaelis, Paulus, Kuinoel, Hug, Krabbe, p. 505;
Steudel, Glaubensl. p. 455;Bleek). Besides,the legendregarding the rising of
the saints on this occasionis, in itself considered, no more incompatible with
the idea of Christ being the ἀπαρχὴ τῶν κεκοιμ. (1 Corinthians 15:20;
Colossians 1:18)than the raising of Lazarus and certain others. See on 1
Corinthians 15:20. It is true that, according to Epiphanius, Origen, Ambrose,
Luther, Calovius (comp. also Delitzsch, Psych, p. 414), the dead now in
question came forth in spiritual bodies and ascendedto heavenalong with
Christ; but with Jerome it is at the same time assumed, in opposition to the
terms of our passage, that: “Nonantea resurrexerunt, quam Dominus
resurgeret, ut essetprimogenitus resurrectionis ex mortuis;” comp. also
Calvin, and Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 1, p. 492. In the Acta Pilati as found in
Thilo, p. 810, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, and Noah, are
expresslymentioned as being among the number of those who rose from the
dead. The names are given somewhatdifferently in the Evang. Nicod.
Expositor's Greek Testament
Matthew 27:51. καὶ ἰδοὺ, introducing solemnly a series ofpreternatural
accompaniments, all but the first peculiar to Mt.—τὸ καταπέτασμα, the veil
betweenthe holy place and the most holy.—ἐσχίσθη: this fact, the rending of
the veil, is mentioned by all the Synoptists, though Lk. introduces it at an
early point in the narrative. It might have happened, as a natural event, an
accidentalcoincidence, thoughit is not so viewed by the evangelist. A symbolic
fiction, according to Brandt. The legendary spirit took hold of this event,
magnifying the miracle. In the Hebrew Gospelthe rending of the veil is
transformed into the fracture of the lintel of the temple: “Superliminare
templi in finitae magnitudinis fractum esse atque divisum” (Jerome, Com.).—
καὶ ἡ γῆ, etc.: an earthquake, preceding and conditioning the greatestmarvel
of all, the opening of the graves and the resurrection of many saints (Matthew
27:52-53). We seemhere to be in the region of Christian legend. Certainly the
legendary spirit laid hold of this feature with greateagerness, expanding and
going into details, giving, e.g., the names of those who rose:Abraham, Isaac,

Jacob, etc. (vide Evang. Nicod., c. 17, and The Acts of Pilate in Thilo’s Codex
Apocryphus, N. T., p. 810).
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
51. the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom] St
Luke has “rent in the midst.” The veil meant is that which separatedthe holy
of holies from the holy place. The rending of the veil signifies that henceforth
there is free access forman to God the Fatherthrough Jesus Christ. Cp.
“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiestby the blood of
Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecratedfor us, through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh” (Hebrews 10:19-20). The incident would be
observedand made known to the Church by the priests, of whom afterwards
“a greatcompany were obedient unto the faith” (Acts 6:7).
51–56.Events that followed the Crucifixion. (1) The Veil of the Temple rent;
(2) the Earthquake;(3) the Saints arise;(4) the Centurion at the Cross;(5) the
Watching of the Women
Of these, (2) and (3) are peculiar to St Matthew.
Mark 15:38-41;Luke 23:45;Luke 23:47-49, where the grief of the spectators
is an additional fact. St John omits these incidents, but records the breaking of
the malefactors’legs andthe piercing of Jesus’side.
Bengel's Gnomen
Matthew 27:51. Ἐσχίσθη, κ.τ.λ., was rent, etc.) Therefore the approachto the
Holy Places was now free.[1212]—ἡ γῆ, the earth) i.e. the globe (see Matthew
27:45), but especiallythe Land of Israel and the vicinity of Jerusalem.[1213]—
αἱ πέτραι, κ.τ.λ., the rocks, etc.)Travellers relate that rents in the rocks, the
opposite sides of which correspondto eachother, are still to be seen.

[1212]Matthew and Mark place this rending of the veil after the death of
Christ. Luke places it before the words, Father, into thy hands I commend my
spirit. Both events occurred at this same incomparable moment. Luke,
inasmuch as combining the darkness of the three hours with the rending of
the veil, indicates, (1) that after the darkness was ended, all the remaining
events, up to the death of the Saviour, mutually succeededone anotherin most
rapid succession;and (2) that the rending of the veil, which occurredat the
very moment of His death, has no less close connectionwith the supernatural
darkness than with the subsequent miracles. To be left by God was the same
to the soul of Jesus, as to die was to His body: the former was signified by the
darkness, the latter by the rending of the veil. His quickening the Spirit
followedimmediately after He had drunk the cup of death the uttermost (1
Peter3:18), and that quickening produced the greatesteffects upon things
visible and invisible alike.—Harm., p. 576
[1213]Those greatcommotions in createdthings went on, in continuous
succession, fromthe moment of Christ’s death to His resurrection, exerting
their influence especiallyin the kingdom of things invisible.—Harm., l. c.
Pulpit Commentary
Verses 51-56. -Signs following the death of Christ. (Mark 15:38-41;Luke
23:47-49.)Verse 51. - And, behold. St. Matthew thus introduces his accountof
the portents which attended the death of the Son of God. The rending of the
veil is mentioned by the synoptists as consequenton, and occurring
simultaneously with, the completion of the ineffable sacrifice. The veil of the
temple (τοῦ ναοῦ). There were two principal veils in the presenttemple - one
betweenthe vestibule and the holy place, and one other which is that here
referred to, a constituent part of the edifce. This was the veil betweenthe holy
place and the holy of holies, which was moved aside only once a year to admit
the high priest to the shrine on the greatDay of Atonement (Exodus 26:33). It
was large and costly, some sixty feethigh, and made of rich materials.
Josephus ('Bell. Jud.,' 5:05. 4) tells us of one of the veils in the temple, that it
was a Babylonian curtain, embroidered with linen in various colours, woven

togetherwith wonderful art, such as the eye loved to restupon. Was rent in
twain from the top to the bottom. An apocryphal Gospel('The Gospelof the
Hebrews'), quoted by St. Jerome, in loc., asserts thatthe exquisitely carved
lintel to which the veil was fastenedwas at this moment shatteredto pieces,
and in its fall tore the curtain asunder. The direction of the rent would show
that no human hands had torn it apart, and the rending seems to have
precededthe earthquake. The violent actwas supernatural, and of a typical
nature, as we are taught by Hebrews 9:6-12. The sanctuaryenshrined the
presence ofGod, from which the veil excluded every one but the high priest on
one specialoccasion, thus denoting the imperfect reconciliationbetweenGod
and his people, and that the way to the holiest was not yet made manifest. The
rending of this veil betokenedthe opening of the accessto heaven through the
wounded body of Christ: as we read in Hebrews 10:19, 20, "Having boldness
to enter into the holiestby the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which
he hath consecratedfor us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh." "When
thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of
heaven to all believers." The distinction betweenJew and Gentile was
abolished, the mysteries of the old Law were opened and manifested, all rites
and ceremonies were made of sacramentalefficacy, and ministered grace.
How soonthis ominous occurrence was discovered, we know not. The priest
who offered incense at the evening sacrifice aboutthis same hour must have
seenit, and spread abroad among his comrades the news, to which many
would attach a meaning fatal to the security of their religion. But this was
comparatively a private sign; the next one was of a more comprehensive and
public character. The earth did quake, and the rocks rent. The last verb is the
same as was used just before in the case ofthe veil. There was a local
earthquake at this awful moment, as if the very land shuddered at the terrible
crime that had been committed. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre at
Jerusalemis supposedto cover the Golgotha of the Crucifixion (see on ver.
33). "An opening, facedwith silver, shows the spot where the cross is said to
have been sunk in the rock, and less than five feetfrom it is a long brass open
work slide, over a cleft in the rock, which is about six inches deep, but is
supposedby the pilgrims to reachto the centre of the earth. This is said to
mark the rending of the rocks atthe Crucifixion" (Geikie, 'Holy Land and
Bible,' p. 447). The fact of the earthquake is testified by Phlegon, whose words

were quoted by Julius Africanus, in his 'Chronographia' (fragments of which
work have been published by Routh and others), and by Eusebius, in his
'Chronicon' (the passage, no longerextant in the original, being preserved by
Jerome, and in an Armenian version; see Morison, on ver. 45). The rending of
the rocks is attestedby St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem('Cateches.,'13:33), who
speaks ofthe remarkable fissure in Golgotha, which he had often noticed.
Vincent's Word Studies
The veil of the temple
According to the Rabbis this was a handbreadth in thickness, and woven of
seventy-two twisted plaits, eachplait consisting oftwenty-four threads. It was
sixty feet long and thirty wide. Two of them were made every year, and
according to the exaggeratedlanguage ofthe time it needed three hundred
priests to manipulate it. This veil was the one which coveredthe entrance to
the holy of holies, and not, as has been asserted, the veil which hung before the
main entrance to the sanctuary. The holy of holies containedonly a large
stone, on which the high-priest sprinkled the blood on the day of atonement,
occupying the place where the ark with the mercy-seathad stood.
END OF BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Matthew 27:51
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;
THE VEIL RENT
Matthew 27:51.
As I suppose we are all aware, the JewishTemple was divided into three
parts: the Outer Court, open to all; the Holy Place, to which the ministering

priests had daily accessto burn incense and trim the lamps; and the Holy of
Holies, where only the High Priestwas permitted to go, and that but once a
year, on the greatDay of Atonement. For the other three hundred and sixty-
four days the shrine lay silent, untrodden, dark. Betweenit and the less sacred
Holy Place hung the veil, whose heavy folds only one man was permitted to lift
or to pass. To all others it was death to peer into the mysteries, and even to
him, had he gone at another time, and without the blood of the sacrifice, death
would have ensued.
If we remember all this and try to castourselves back in imagination to the
mental attitude of the ordinary Jew, the incident of my text receives its true
interpretation. At the moment when the loud cry of the dying Christ rung
over the heads of the awestruck multitude, that veil was, as it were, laid hold
of by a pair of giant hands and torn asunder, as the Evangelistsays, ‘from the
top to the bottom.’ The incident was a symbol. In one aspectit proclaimedthe
end of the long years of Israel’s prerogative. In another it ushered in an epoch
of new relations betweenman and God. If Jesus Christwas what He said He
was, if His death was what He declaredit to be, it was fitting that it should be
attended by a train of subordinate and interpreting wonders. These were,
besides that of my text, the darkened sun, the trembling earth, the shivered
rocks, the open graves, the rising saints-allof them, in their severalways,
illuminating the significance ofthat death on Calvary.
Not less significant is this symbol of my text, and I desire now to draw your
attention to its meanings.
I. The rent veil proclaims the desecratedtemple.
There is a striking old legend, preserved by the somewhatmendacious
historian of the Jewishpeople, that, before Jerusalemfell, the anxious

watchers heard from within the sanctuarya greatvoice saying, ‘Let us depart
hence!’ and through the night were conscious ofthe winnowing of the mighty
wings of the withdrawing cherubim. And soona Romansoldier tosseda brand
into the most Holy Place, and the ‘beautiful house where their fathers praised
was burned with fire.’ The legendis pathetic and significant. But that
‘departing’ had takenplace forty years before; and at the moment when Jesus
‘gave up the ghost,’purged eyes might have seenthe long trail of brightness as
the wingedservitors of the MostHigh withdrew from the desecratedshrine.
The veil rent declaredthat the sacredsoilwithin it was now common as any
foot of earth in Galilee;and its rending, so to speak, made way for a departing
God.
That conception, that the death of Christ Jesus was the de-consecration-ifI
may coin a word-of the Temple, and the end of all its specialsanctity, and that
thenceforwardthe Presence haddeparted from it, is distinctly enough taught
us by Himself in words which move in the same circle of ideas as that in which
the symbol resides. . .. You remember, no doubt, that, if we acceptthe
testimony of John’s Gospel, at the very beginning of our Lord’s ministry He
vindicated His authority to cleanse the sanctuary againstthe cavils of the
sticklers for propriety by the enigmaticalwords, ‘Destroythis Temple, and in
three days I will build it up,’ to which the Evangelistappends the comment,
‘He spake ofthe Temple of His body,’ that body in which ‘all the fulness of the
Godhead’ dwelt, and which was, and is to-day, all that the Temple shadowed
and foretold, the dwelling-place of God in humanity, the place of sacrifice, the
meeting-place betweenGod and man. But just because our Lord in these dark
words predicted His death and His resurrection, He also hinted the
destruction of the literal stone and lime building, and its rearing againin
nobler and more spiritual form. When He said, ‘Destroythis Temple,’He
implied, secondarily, the destruction of the house in which He stood, and laid
that destruction, whensoeverit should come to pass, attheir doors. And,
inasmuch as the saying in its deepestdepth meant His death by their violence
and craft, therefore, in that early saying of His, was wrapped up the very
same truth which was symbolisedby the rent veil, and was bitterly fulfilled at
last. When they slew Christ they killed the systemunder which they lived, and

for which they would have been glad to die, in a zeal without knowledge;and
destroyedthe very Temple on the distorted charge of being the destroyerof
which, they handed Him over to the Roman power.
The death of Christ is, then, the desecrationand the destruction of that
Temple. Of course it is; because whena nation that had had millenniums of
education, of forbearance, ofrevelation, turned at last upon the very climax
and brightest central light of all the Revelation, standing there amongstthem
in a bodily form, there was nothing more to be done. God had shot His last
arrow; His quiver was empty. ‘Last of all He sent unto them His Son, saying,’
with a wistful kind of half-confidence, ‘They will reverence My Son,’and the
divine expectationwas disappointed, and exhaustless Love was empty-handed,
and all was over. He could turn to themselves and say, ‘Judge betweenMe
and My vineyard. What more could have been done that I have not done to
it?’ Therefore, there was nothing left but to let the angels of destruction loose,
and to call for the Roman eagleswith their broad-spreadwings, and their
bloody beaks, andtheir strong talons, to gather togetherround the carcase.
When He gave up the Ghost, ‘the veil of the Temple was rent in twain from
the top to the bottom.’
A time of repentance was given. It was possible for the most guilty
participator in that judicial murder to have his gory hands washedand made
white in the very blood that he had shed; but, failing repentance, that death
was the death of Israel, and the destruction of Israel’s Temple. Let us take the
lesson, dearbrethren. If we turn away from that Saviour, and refuse the
offered gifts of His love, there is no other appealleft in the powerof Heaven;
and there is nothing for it after that except judgment and destruction. We can
‘crucify the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame.’And the hearts
that are insensitive, as are some of our hearts, to that greatlove and grace, are
capable of nothing except to be pulverised by means of a judgment.
Repentance is possible for us all, but, failing that, the continuance of rejection

of Christ is the pulling down, on our own heads, of the ruins of the Temple,
like the Israelitish hero in his blindness and despair.
II. Now, secondly, the rent veil means, in another way of looking at the
incident, light streaming in on the mystery of God.
Let me recallto your imaginations what lay behind that heavy veil. In the
Temple, in our Lord’s time, there was no presence ofthe Shekinah, the light
that symbolised the divine presence. There was the mercy-seat, with the
outstretchedwings of the cherubim; there were the dimly pictured forms on
the tapestry hangings;there was silence deep as death; there was darkness
absolute and utter, whilst the Syrian sun was blazing down outside. Surely
that is the symbol of the imperfect knowledge or illumination as to the divine
nature which is over all the world. ‘The veil is spreadover all nations, and the
covering over all people.’ And surely that sudden, sharp tearing asunder of
the obscuring medium, and letting the bright sunlight stream into every
corner of the dark chamber, is for us a symbol of the greatfact that in the life,
and especiallyin the death, of Jesus Christ our Lord, we have light thrown in
to the depths of God.
What does that Cross tell us about God that the world did not know? And
how does it tell us? and why does it tell us? It tells us of absolute
righteousness, ofthat in the divine nature which cannottolerate sin; of the
stern law of retribution which must be wrought out, and by which the wages
of every sin is death. It tells us not only of a divine righteousnesswhich sees
guilt and administers punishment, but it tells us of a divine love, perfect,
infinite, utter, perennial, which shrinks from no sacrifice, whichstoops to the
lowestconditions, which itself takes upon it all the miseries of humanity, and
which dies because it loves and will save men from death. And as we look
upon that dying Man hanging on the cross, the very embodiment and
consummation of weaknessandof shame, we have to say, ‘Lo! this is our God!

We have waitedfor Him’-through all the weary centuries-’and He will save
us.’ How does it tell us all this? Notby eloquent and gracious thoughts, not by
sweetand musical words, but by a deed. The only way by which we canknow
men is by what they do. The only way by which we know Godis by what He
does. And so we point to that Cross and say, ‘There! not in words, not in
thoughts, not in speculations, notin hopes and fears and peradventures and
dim intuitions, but in a solid fact; there is the Revelationwhich lays bare the
heart of God, and shows us its very throbbing of love to every human soul.’
‘The veil was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.’
The Cross will revealGod to you only if you believe that Jesus Christ was the
Incarnate Word. Brethren, if that death was but the death of even the very
holiest, noblest, sweetest, perfectestsoulthat ever lived on earth and breathed
human breath, there is no revelationof God in it for us. It tells us what Jesus
was, and by a very roundabout inference may suggestsomething ofwhat the
divine nature is, but unless you cansay, as the New Testamentsays, ‘In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. . .. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only Begottenof the Father, full of grace and
truth,’ I fail to see how the death of Christ canbe a revelationof the love of
God.
I need not occupytime in dilating upon the contrastbetweenthis solid
certitude, and all that the world, apart from Jesus Christ, has to lay hold of
about God. We want something else than mist on which to build, and on
which to lay hold. And there is a substantial, warm, flesh-and-blood hand, if I
may so say, put out to us through the mist when we believe in Christ the Son
of God, who died on the cross forus all. Then, amidst whirling mists and
tossing seas, there is a fixed point to which we canmoor; then our confidence
is built, not on peradventures or speculations orwishes or dreams or hopes,
but on a historicalfact, and grasping that firm we may stand unmoved.

Dearfriends, I may be very old-fashionedand very narrow-I suppose I am;
but I am bound to declare my conviction, which I think every day’s
experience of the tendency of thought only makes more certain, that,
practically for this generation, the choice lies betweenaccepting the life and
death of Jesus Christas the historicalRevelationof God, or having no
knowledge ofHim-knowledge, I say,-ofHim at all; you must choosebetween
the barred sanctuary, within which lies coucheda hidden Something-with a
capital S-or perhaps a hidden Someone whom you never can know and never
will; or the rent veil, rent by Christ’s death, through which you can pass, and
behold the mercy-seatand, above the outstretched wings of the adoring
cherubim, the Fatherwhose name is Love.
III. Lastly, the rent veil permits any and every man to draw near to God.
You remember what I have alreadysaid as to the jealous guarding of the
privacy of that inner shrine, and how not only the common herd of the laity,
but the whole of the priesthood, with the solitary exception of its titular head,
were shut out from ever entering it. In the old times of Israel there was only
one man alive at once who had everbeen beyond the veil. And now that it is
rent, what does that show but this, that by the death of Jesus Christ any one,
every one, is welcome to pass in to the very innermost sanctuary, and to dwell,
nestling as close as he will, to the very heart of the throned God? There is a
double veil, if I may so say, betweenman and God: the side turned outward is
woven by our ownsins; and the other turned inwards is made out of the
necessaryantagonismof the divine nature to man’s sin. There hangs the veil,
and when the Psalmistasked, ‘Who shall ascendinto the hill of the Lord; or
who shall stand in His holy place?’he was putting a question which echoes
despairingly in the very heart of all religions. And he answeredit as
conscienceeveranswers it when it gets fair play: ‘He that hath cleanhands
and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity.’ And where or
who is he? Nowhere;nobody. Access is barred, because it is impossible that a
holy and righteous God should communicate the selectestgifts of His love,

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