Mark 15:34
“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
“καὶ τῇ ὥρᾳ τῇ ἐνάτῃ ἐβόησεν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς φωνῇ μεγάλῃ λέγων· ᾿Ελωΐ, ᾿Ελωΐ λαμὰ σαβαχθανί; ὃ ἐστι μεθερμηνευόμενον, ὁ Θεός μου ὁ Θεός μου, εἰς τί με ἐγκατέλιπές;”
“kai he hora oiketes hora ennatos boao ho Iesous phone megas lego eloi eloi lamma sabachthani ho eimi methermeneuo ho theos ego ho theos ego eis tis ego egkataleipo”
As we all know it is almost the Passover celebration, so obviously we just have to look at a Scripture that has something to do with the cross…
This is a very interesting Scripture, showing us that Jesus felt and experienced the same pain and heartache we do today. Jesus knows what it feels like to be rejected, mocked and forgotten. Therefore Jesus really understands what we are going through when we pray and tell Him about the things in our lives that trouble us.
“And at the ninth hour…”
There is great significance in the date and time that Jesus was sacrificed and it is sad to see how few people understand this, even though they have heard the story many times over!
It all started in Egypt, just before the Israelites left the land. God commanded every household to take a lamb without blemish and in its first year. (Signifying purity). They were then to sacrifice it on the fourteenth day at twilight. The exact time of “twilight” or “evening” is unknown. The Sadducees disagreed with the Pharisees and we still have a divide in the Jewish religion as to what time was actually meant. However, at the time of Jesus the custom was to sacrifice the Passover sacrificial lamb at the ninth hour of the day. Today we would call this 3pm.
Take note of this “ninth hour”. Jesus gave His life in the ninth hour of the day, at the very moment when the priest sacrificed the sacrificial Passover lamb in the temple. Jesus became the final sacrificial lamb, taking our sins upon Himself.
At that moment the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom.
The veil was a symbol that indicated man’s separation from the Holy of Holies (Heaven) in the temple. The tearing of the veil is the sign in the physical realm to indicate what happened in the spiritual realm. Where people were once separated from God’s abode, they now, through Christ, had access to Heaven! Also note that the veil was torn from the top down… Any human would have torn it from the bottom up. Therefore the veil was not torn by man (or by any effort man could muster) but by God. We cannot enter God’s presence by anything we do or achieve on earth; only through faith in Jesus is this possible.
“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani”
These words are not Hebrew, but Aramaic.
When the Israelites were in the desert, their official language was Hebrew. This continued to be their common spoken language for a few centuries. Around 600BC Aramaic became popular amongst the people of Israel.
Aramaic is very close to Hebrew, however, it is slightly easier to speak and write. Aramaic soon became the common language spoken by the Jewish people; however, Hebrew remained their sacred language. In the temples they would preach in Hebrew and read from Hebrew texts, but outside the people would speak Aramaic. This is why the Old Testament is mostly written in Hebrew. The New Testament was written in Greek, where the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, however, there are a few places where some words, verses or paragraphs are Aramaic (parts of Ezra, parts of Daniel, parts of Jeremiah and a few more places).
As we can see, Jesus spoke Aramaic. He also taught from and read the Scriptures, which means that He could also speak Hebrew. We must also take note that Greek was the official trading language, much like English is today. Therefore, it is highly possible that Jesus understood Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek.
“My God, my God, why hast though forsaken me?”
The price God paid for us is by no means cheap. These words echo the extreme torment through which Jesus willingly went to save us!
Jesus was in absolute agony. He experienced pain of which none of us could ever imagine.
Jesus endured physical pain: His body was beaten, ripped to pieces and broken. Thorns pierced His head and nails tore through His flesh. He struggled to breath and in agony tried to hold Himself upright in order to grasp His next breath…
Jesus endured emotional pain: He was abandoned by His friends and family. The very people He was dying for mocked and blasphemed against Him. They spat at and rejected their King. Those closest to Him did not even stand up for Him from amongst the crowd. His one disciple sold Him for 30 pieces of silver (the equivalent of 4 months’ salary for a skilled laborer). Another disciple denied that he ever knew Him…three times! Jesus endured this pain alone…
Jesus endured spiritual pain: Jesus never sinned. He did not know what it was like to even tell a lie. Because of this lifestyle He has never been separated from His Father. He has known God’s presence every second of every day throughout His entire life… But now Jesus took upon Himself all of our sins. For the first time Jesus was guilty of sin, however, not just one sin, but every sin ever committed and ever to be committed. Every murder, every theft, every blasphemed action, every lie, every evil thought…Every sin we commit drives the nail a little deeper… All the sins of humanity fell upon Him in one single moment… Then God turned His face from His Son and Jesus felt, for the first time in His life, separation from God. He was broken and alone drowning in the darkness of the sins of humanity...
All of this pain and suffering Jesus took upon Himself willingly. Why would He do this?
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
The reality behind this is so immense that it is actually impossible to conceive the entirety of it in our mortal minds!
Just imagine the scene at the time:
Jesus is going through all of this, but only God knew what was actually happening here. The angels and the demons did not even understand what was going on. The sun, an inanimate object with no will of its own refused to shine upon the earth that day. The sun refused to witness what atrocity humanity was committing that day!
The angels must have been in such shock, watching as the creator of the universe allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross. They must have been ready for Jesus to say the word and they would wipe the humans from the face of the earth! But no word came…
The demons must have been standing around the cross, unable to believe how close they were to victory…Absolutely sure that the fight of their very existence would start the moment Jesus gave the word for the Heavenly forces to come. But no word came…
Then Jesus willingly offered His life…
Perhaps it took a few seconds, although we do not understand how time works in eternity, so we really can’t say. But there came a moment when the spiritual realm became aware of what REALLY happened…
Now imagine what heaven must have looked like the moment they realized what God’s real plan was!
Imagine what must have been going on in hell when the demons realized what actually happened! The demons, believing that they were within moments of their greatest victory, suddenly realized that they played right into God’s hands and that they were, at that very moment, completely and utterly defeated and put to shame before the entire universe.
Jesus died for the sins of humanity, the very creatures that nailed Him to the cross. But the best is yet to come! Not only did He make a way for us to enter into God’s presence, He defeated death itself! Three days later Jesus returned completely victorious!
Jesus handed us the victory freely, all we need to do to accept it is to follow Him!
He fought the battle so that we do not have to, knowing that we would not be able to anyway. That is how much God loves us. The Passover is a time when Christians come together to celebrate this, however, we must actually celebrate this every day of our lives!
Jesus paid the ultimate price to have you spend eternity with Him… That is how much He loves you.
Jesus died for you and all He asks is that you live for Him… Perhaps you have never really thought about what Jesus did for you. Perhaps you have never accepted Him as your Lord and Savior or perhaps you have slipped away and you need to rededicate your life to the King of kings. Well, there is no time like the present! If you haven’t yet, now would be a good time to dedicate your life to the Lord.
Give Him your everything, because He gave His everything for you!
