"And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. (45) And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. (46) 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. (47) Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man. (48) And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned. (49) And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things."
I have no power to conceive, and much less to describe, the awful prodigies which attended the cross of Christ. The cries of Jews; the darkness which at mid-day covered the land; the rending of the vail of the temple in twain from the top to the bottom; the yawning of the graves; the dead bodies of saints which had mouldered to dust arising, going into the holy city, and appearing unto many; the Centurion himself compelled to acknowledge Christ for the Son of God; and the rabble which came to the sight of Christ crucified, smitten at what they saw and heard, returning under horrors; these are events soon recorded, but never to be fully contemplated. For my own part, I would pray for continual grace to take my stand by faith at the foot of the cross, and with the Evangelists in my hand, go over again and again the marvellous subject, according to the plain, simple, and unvarnished manner in which those holy and inspired men have related it. And I would above all contemplate Him, who by that death procured my life; until, like Paul, I found grace to say as Paul said, and to feel as Paul felt; to know nothing among men save Jesus Christ, and him crucified; and from the same heartfelt conviction as his, knowing it is the power of God, and the wisdom of God, for salvation to everyone that believeth. 1 Corinthians 1:24; 1 Corinthians 1:24
But, Reader! with all these high objects before us, let us take one view more of the Lord Jesus on the cross, and look over the heads of men and devils to behold what is the highest and most momentous object to contemplate in the whole, I mean the hand of God the Father in this wonderful transaction. The Scriptures of God teach us, that it pleased Jehovah to bruise him: it was He that put him to grief. Isaiah 53:10. Here then was the grand part which put a finishing wound to the soul agonies and bodily pains of Christ. It was the hand of God which pierced most deeply in the Redeemer's heart. This clenched the work. This drove the nail of bitterness home to the head. The iron entered into his soul. Psalms 105:18
Angels are incompetent to explain the mysterious subject; and surely it never can be the province, of man. But, it appears from the whole tenor of revelation on those deep things of God, that the whole burden of sin, and the curse due to sin, meeting together, and with the whole wrath of Jehovah against sin, like a mighty cataract in the sluices of divine displeasure, were poured forth on the person of Christ. The darkness at mid-day intimated somewhat of it, For this darkness, which was altogether supernatural, could not be, as hath been said by some, as if to shew the Father's anger against those who crucified Christ; for Christ himself, by his cry on the cross, most fully proved the contrary. My God! My God! (said the Holy Sufferer), why hast thou forsaken me! But this part is abundantly plain, that Christ was now expiating sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as such, the whole weight of sin, and the punishment due to sin, fell upon him. And as the damned in hell have eternal darkness, unvisited by the light of God's countenance, the Son of God in our nature while sustaining the judgment due to his Church for sin, shall be in darkness and unvisited by that light whose absence he had never known before, He is now sustaining what is his Church's due. He shall therefore feel the effect. But wherefore not go into hell then to endure this? No, there was no necessity. It is not the place, but the extremity, which constitutes the fulness of misery. When, therefore Christ was lifted up upon the cross, he was suspended between heaven and earth, as one unworthy of either. Indeed Christ might be said to be then in the territories of Satan, for he is called the prince of the power of the air, when hanging on the tree, and according to the law cursed. Ephesians 2:9; Galatians 3:13. And it is worthy remark, that Christ called his sufferings by this name. The sorrows of death (said Jesus) compassed me; the pains of hell gat hold upon me. Psalms 116:3. And elsewhere by the same spirit of prophecy the Lord said, All thy waves and billows have gone over me. Psalms 42:7.