4. Died:  9th hour of the fifth day, at 3:00 p.m. (15:00) 
 

Matthew 27:46-50; Mark 15:34-37; Luke 23:44-46; John 19:28-30

The day of preparation was nearing its end. Soon Passover would begin. The New Covenant had to be ratified by then so as to be in force that night. For Yeshua had said, “Henceforth do this in memory of Me,” the night before Passover. He did not say, “Next year,” or “in the future, when you feel like it, do this in memory of Me.”  No, henceforth was the command. It began with nightfall of the next day, which would be the Passover.

Yeshua knew that all had been fulfilled as required by G-d and foretold by Moses, the prophets, and in the Psalms. While He willingly submitted Himself to the Father’s will, Scripture after Scripture was being fulfilled in precise accord with G-d’s time-table, without Yeshua doing anything to bring it about artificially. He even drank from that terrible wine mixed with gall He had refused earlier. One of them who had thought that He was calling upon Elijah for help had filled a sponge with that nasty wine and, placing it on a branch of hyssop, put it to His mouth in response to His “I am thirsty.” ¹¹¹  As He surrendered His power, His body, blood and life, the religious leaders, Pilate, the disciples, the Roman soldiers and many others did to Yeshua exactly what was written that would be done to Messiah, the suffering Servant. The time had come for Him, as Son of Man, to surrender His life to death, whose rightful claim had to be met, before Yeshua, the Son of G-d, could divest death of its authority and power. 

It was 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon - all the Passover lambs had been slain - when Yeshua cried out again: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” ¹¹²  And with a final, loud cry proclaimed for all of heaven and hell to hear: “IT IS FINISHED!” ¹¹³  Then He bowed His head and surrendered His spirit.

His death shook heaven and earth --- literally. Rocks split, tombs opened and released the first of the saints whose captivity to death had been broken by the death of the Son of Man. And the veil in the Temple which separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place was torn in two from top to bottom¹¹⁴. That which had stood as an insurmountable divide; an unconquerable chasm separating man from G-d - sin and death  - was conquered. 

“O Death, where is your sting?”  Henceforth, by the atoning power of Messiah’s blood, the way to G-d is open!
 

 

111 Matthew 27:47-48; Mark 15:35-36; John 19:28-29

112 Luke 23:46

113 John 19:30

114 Matthew 27:51-52, 54; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45

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