In Matthew 27:44, the robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.

It is amazing to see how far the news of Jesus reached. Even the criminals who were being crucified with Jesus heard His claims that He was the Son of God. Now we have the religious leaders, the government, the Gentiles, and the criminals against God. It doesn’t seem much different from today. All of God’s enemies had the opportunity to unleash their wrath on Him. It is easy to see why God is against religion. In fact, God is against man-made institutions that try to replace Him with their traditions. Some preachers claim that God instituted government. However, it seems ever since man continued to separate himself from God, man established his own form of government. In response to that, God instituted the only form of religion by giving the law to Moses. The Jewish religion instituted by God wasn’t to teach us how to get into right relation with God. Instead, it showed us how much further religion, whether man-made or God-made, separates us from God. The failure of the Jewish people to keep the Law and practice the religion God gave them emphasized how much we truly need God’s love, mercy, and grace to unite us to Him. Without it, we end up in our most miserable state as we can clearly see now. People will always be religious. However now, it is easier to make laws to support whatever it is their new religion desires to promote.

In Matthew 27:44, the chief priest, scribes, and Pharisees continued to say, “He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

A big misconception the world has (as well as many believers) is since God does not rescue us from a certain situation, He does not delight in us. A couple of words the human mind and heart passionately hates is submission and surrender. We hate to wave the white flag. What does it mean to call Jesus our Lord? Well, it means we give all that we have to Him; we give ourselves away to Him. We  hate to give Him our entire life. If Jesus Christ is the Lord of our lives, our concern, our anticipation, and our prayer should be for God to use us. We shouldn’t be worried or waste time wondering how God will rescue us out of our situations. Once we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, our lives no longer belong to us. It is under new ownership and management. Sometimes God may be put us in the worst situation just to save one person. Who knows? However, are we able to sing praises to God at midnight in our darkest hours? Are we able to sleep while being chained to two guards or lying in the lion’s den? Are we able to stand firm in the fire? Or do we rather complain? We always enjoy the great stories of how God has worked in other people’s lives. However, we probably wouldn’t be welcoming to the idea of being in the enemy’s prison in our own lives. We then ask why God doesn’t use us? It might just be that God delights in those who surrender and submit their life to Him and are willing to be placed in those “tough” and “hot” situations.

In Matthew 27:42, the chief priest and the elders were mocking Jesus by saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him.”

Many people want to believe in the God on their own terms. However, when we sign a contract for a loan, a credit card, or any other agreement, it is usually on terms of the person providing service.  God says salvation is on HIS terms. Salvation comes through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. People like to ridicule God for the good things that He has done. It doesn’t make much sense. They accuse Him for what they consider to be bad things, and ridicule Him for what they consider to be good things. By Jesus not saving Himself  in the means of coming down from the cross, He did the biggest work of saving others. In other words, Jesus is telling them they would believe in Him but not by Him coming down from the cross; they would believe in Him by Him coming up from the grave. I thank God that He doesn’t work on our terms because we are impossible people to please. We are never satisfied. We hear people (and even ourselves sometimes) talk so bad about slavery but we turn around and enslave ourselves to sinful pleasures and then demand God to enslave in Himself  to us. We demand Him to approve and fund our disgusting and degrading lifestyle. Praise the Lord that He wrote up His contract of grace and truth in His own terms and He gives us the privilege (and the option) to sign it. We can kick and scream and argue about the contract if we decide to but at the end of the day, we have to sign it on God’s terms.

In Matthew 27:41, in the same way soldiers and gentiles were mocking Jesus, the chief priests along with the scribes and elders were mocking Him too.

It is one thing when the world who wants to rid itself of God mocks and insults Him. However, when the religious people who claim to know God act worse than the world, we end up with the worse possible scenario. It’s not a big problem when the world speaks lies about God. It does make our stomach turn but what can we really expect from lost people? They don’t know any better. It gets really bad when the church starts to agree with the world. People try to claim the Bible promotes slavery and genocide and things of that nature. We can twist any book to say what will benefit us. The human heart is just that selfish. However, we never hear an attack on what the Bible truly promotes. The Bible simply promotes the grace of God through Jesus Christ. That has been the missing element of the church for a while now. People love talk about the bloody history of the church. We can make excuses but that’s a direct result from leaving out the grace of God. Now, the world is trying to manufacturer its own version of grace since we’ve done such a poor job of offering it. For too long now we have been taking our Bibles and swiping at the head of non-believers but like Peter we end up only cutting off their ears from listening to us. We need to open our hearts to them first, and then will they allow us to open up our Bibles to them. We have to make sure to always give God’s grace. Grace comes from God’s heart to our heart; from our heart to theirs!

Matthew 27:40, those who were passing by hurling abuse as Jesus were saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

In our darkest nights, temptation is working at it’s best. In Luke 4:13, after the devil tried to tempt Jesus, it says the devil left Jesus until an opportune time. This seems to be the opportune time that  Luke was referring to. After healing all their people, raising them from the dead, teaching them the ways of God, and even leaving His place in heaven to come and help little sinful man who was formed from dust being brought to life by the breath of God into His nostrils, they have the audacity to challenge who He claimed to be. Everyday we should praise God for how much He loves us. We truly don’t deserve it. Jesus could have easily came off the cross to prove them wrong but it was not about His pride or reputation. He surrendered that on the cross. John 15:13 says “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus committed Himself to go to the cross before He even came down from Heaven. We have seen Him as our enemy for way to long. How much easier for people would it have been if Jesus gave up on the cross. Although we would still be in the miserable state we once where in and many people still are in, we would have an excuse for it. We would be completely hopeless. However, the reason people hate Jesus is because they know they have no excuse and they will be held accountable for denying Him. Let us make sure we always have on the full armor of God so when temptation tries to show it’s ugly face, we are ready to strike it down with the Word of God.

In Matthew 27:39, those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads.

If you go on any major news reporting website and click on any given article that allows commenting, you will find comments hurling abuse at God. While it may be a funny sight for God to see in ant-sized figure in the enormous universe He created wagging his head at Him, God is not laughing. In actuality, His heart is breaking for our rejection of Him. It is unimaginable how tough God’s job is. One of the most foolish statements people say today is, “If I were God…” To be a loving God and having to render judgment against disobedient man has to be the toughest job inside and outside of this universe. Many people think God is the type to just sit and watch, waiting and searching for people who are doing the wrong thing to just smack them across the head. However, according to the Word of God, that is the exact opposite of God. God is patient, slow to anger, gracious and compassionate, abundant in loving kindness, and He relents concerning calamity. Where do people get the idea of God being so mean. The primary answering is saddening. We who claim to be called by His name are the biggest problem because we portray God as being a mean and judgmental God. Secondly, believing that God is a mean bully justifies and allows people to do whatever they feel is right in their own eyes. People feel there are enough “physical” tyrants here on earth so why even bother believing in the God they see as a tyrant. It makes it easier for them to deny Him. However, God is not like that at all. He actually gives us an option to vote and gives us the choice to make a decision of how our lives will turn out. We can vote to trust and believe in Him or we can vote to take our chances without Him. Only remember, as churches like to proclaim how important our vote in worldly government is, God says our vote for His spiritual governing is the greatest.

In Matthew 27:38, at the time of the crucifixion, two robbers were crucified with Jesus, one on the right and one on the left.

The respect there was for God back then was little to none. God in the flesh is being crucified with the common criminals. We hear commonly today if you believe in Jesus, then you are religious. That couldn’t be more wrong. Religion crucified Jesus. The more religious people become, the further they push God out of their lives and eventually out of society. Religion makes us dependent upon our abilities to fast, pray, tithe, attend church, and any other type of routine work we can get trapped in. We end up taking away having faith in God and putting it into our religious works. That is the reason these acts are not promoted in the New Testament. Prayer is a great spiritual tool but if we put our faith in our prayers, then it becomes another religious routine. People have often said, “Prayer changes things,” or “Pray and fast that God may do this.” In actually, “With prayer, God changes us.” In John 11:42, Jesus said out loud the purpose of His prayer before raising Lazarus. The purpose wasn’t for God to raise Lazarus but that by the work of raising Lazarus from the dead, the people would believe that He was sent by God. Is that the purpose of our prayers today? Are our prayers asking God to help strengthen our belief in Jesus? Do we pray that our lives would be a reflection of the miracle performed by Jesus so people can believe in Him? We really need to be careful not to replace God with religion on the almighty throne. If not, we end up in the same position as everyone else giving God the death penalty with the worse of criminals.

In Matthew 27:37, above Jesus’ head they put up the charge against Him which read, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

Many people have a long list of reasons they hate God. God is constantly being tried in courtrooms and on news programs all over the world. The creation is trying to take the power from the Creator. The creation goes as far as to say, “We have no Creator.” If a child said this, we would say they are being foolish but when an adult says a statement like “nothing is really something,” it is classified as science and reasoning. It is crazy how far back people have been trying to remove God from society. Jesus is charged as the King of the Jews. It is a shame how they could so quickly turn on the person who saved them from famine, delivered them out of slavery in Egypt, and handed them a land flowing with milk and honey. Maybe people are smarter today but the justice of God was never questioned back then as it is today. Throughout the Old Testament, there were a few chapters that described God’s judgment on the heathen nations but primarily the Old Testament portrays God’s love for Israel and His judgment for their disobedience. God standards for Israel were a lot higher than He had for other nations and He judged Israel’s failure more harshly for their failures. The charge raised against Jesus was true. It seems to be the only accurate charged raised against Him. Jesus confessed He was the King of the Jews. Due to His love for His people, He proved that He was the King staying on the cross as a true King should.

In Matthew 27:36, the soldiers and guards sat down and began to keep watch over Jesus there.

The soldiers, the guards and the people are watching Jesus on the cross waiting for something to happen. We put ourselves in a dangerous position time and time again. After we completely disrespect God, spit on Jesus Christ, and take His name in vain, we then sit around waiting to see what God will do. It reminds me of when I was a child and I did something wrong. I would not be able to concentrate because I knew at any moment my parents would come to punish me. I was already planning the lie, the lie for the lie, and a lie for the lie for the lie. I even practiced how I would tell that lie. We do the same thing with God. We openly and blatantly disobey Him and then we watch to see how God will respond. We can also spend our entire life preparing our excuse or defense when we stand before God. Our parents may punish us immediately and sometimes God’s punishment may be immediate too but usually it takes a while. During that time, He does give us the opportunity to ask forgiveness and repent. I believe while here on Earth, we punish ourselves way more harshly then God intended to do.One of the last statements Jesus made on the cross asked God to forgive us. While God is extending His hand of forgiveness for EVERYTHING we have done, many don’t accept it and would rather stay in their miserable state until it is time for God’s judgment. We hear many people, especially in churches, glorifying God’s judgment. However, according to Isaiah 28:21, God doesn’t glorify His judgment. In fact, He doesn’t like it as much as we do on earth. God calls judgment a “strange thing.” I think we truly fail on letting people know this. We allow people to watch God waiting for him to strike at them but we need to tell them that He has already done the greatest work of forgiving us and is extending His loving hand to us.

In Matthew 27:35, when they (the Roman soldiers) had crucified Jesus, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots.

The pictures we have that portray the crucifixion are nothing like it really was. They give the idea of a strong clean man who was simply nailed to the cross. Many people argue whether Jesus was a white man, black man, or an Arab looking man like it would really make a difference. The truth is, when it mattered most, He was a red man covered in His own blood. His face and body was a total disaster. He was stripped completely naked and was nailed hanging on the cross. However, the Roman soldiers had to add insult to injury to this innocent man. With the clothes that Jesus wore, they stripped it off of Him, ripped them apart and gambled over the pieces. Imagine if they had eBay or the casinos in Las Vegas back then. They could have raffled it off for a lot of money. However, throughout the past 2,000 years, people have been raffling and gambling on what they consider to be holy artifacts. People want to have rare collector’s items. They end up paying tons of money for certain things that are meaningless. We consistently miss the big picture. We continue to crucify Jesus Christ when we turn back to focus on the material things and not on the person of Jesus Christ! Jesus is the one who willingly went to the cross and was crucified for our sins so we would be reunited with God. Let us never forget this fact!