Matthew 27-28

We spend our lives looking for signs of God's existence. We pass over the miraculous in our pursuit. Open your eyes and look around you, He is there in His creation and order, everywhere you pause to look. We need to let others know who we put our trust in. Jesus suffered humiliation and torture to show us God's great love for us. Can we do any less than spread the word of this gift of God to all who will accept it? Jesus is the only way, the only hope, the only road to the Father. God is the consummate gentleman, He gave you free will. He gave you His only begotten Son to die for your sins and give you eternal life, He will not force you to accept His free gift to you. Open
your eyes to see Him, your ears to hear Him, your mind to perceive Him and your Heart to receive
Him!

The Great Commission

 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him. 28 And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.

29 When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" 30 Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.

32 Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross. 33 And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.

35 Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet:

"They divided My garments among them,

And for My clothing they cast lots."

36 Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there. 37 And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him:

THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

38 Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left.

39 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, "You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross."

41 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, 42 "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. 43 He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.' "

44 Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.

45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

47 Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "This Man is calling for Elijah!" 48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink.

49 The rest said, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him."

50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.

51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying,  "Truly this was the Son of God!"

62 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, 63 saying, "Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise.' 64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead.' So the last deception will be worse than the first."

65 Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how." 66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

28 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

5 But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you."

8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

The NKJV Study Bible says this: The soldiers mocked Jesus for claiming to be a king. Crucifixion, a practice probably adopted from Persia, was considered by the Romans to be the cruelest form of execution. This punishment was reserved for the worst criminals; Roman citizens were not crucified. The victim usually died after two or three days of agonizing suffering, enduring thirst, exhaustion, and exposure. The victim's arms were nailed to a beam, which was hoisted up and fixed to a post, to which the feet of the victim would be nailed. The body weight was supported by a peg on which the victim sat. Psalm 22:7 predicted the insults that would be directed at the Messiah. In three days, Jesus rose from the dead, thereby fulfilling this prophecy. He was obediently following God's plan for Him; His obedience would lead to His exaltation as King over all. The darkness was not due to an eclipse of the sun, since the Passover occurred at full moon. This was a supernatural occurrence. The physical darkness was a demonstration of the agony of the Lord's human soul. My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me: The duplication of "My God, My God" indicates Jesus' deep sorrow. The fact that Jesus spoke in Aramaic, the tongue of His birth, may be another sign of the extreme stress He was encountering. No human can understand the theological significance of this cry. The purpose for which Jesus came was fulfilled. Redemption for the sins of the world had been accomplished. Satan's judgment was a fact. The verb translated yielded means "dismissed." Even in dying the Lord demonstrated His royal authority. The temple had two veils or curtains—one in front of the Holy Place and the other separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. It was the second of these that was torn, demonstrating that God had opened up access to Himself through His Son. Only God could have torn the veil from the top. The fact that the people who were raised appeared to many in the holy city implies that they had been contemporaries of the people who saw them. The centurion and those with him may have heard the exchanges between Pilate and Jesus they certainly witnessed the taunts recorded. The supernatural signs convinced them that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. Significantly, this confession of faith came from a Gentile. Jesus Himself appeared to many of His disciples, providing even more witnesses to His resurrection from the dead Matthew presents the evidence for Jesus' resurrection with precision because the doctrine is essential to the Christian faith. The Resurrection is a sign that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Resurrection validates the Lord's own prophecies of it. The Great Commission rests on the authority of Christ. Because He has authority over all, everyone needs to hear His gospel.