A crowd chooses a murderer over the Son of God, a governor washes his hands in front of a whole city and condemns an innocent man anyway, and by mid-afternoon the sun itself refuses to shine on what is happening at a hill called Golgotha — and when it is finished, a Roman soldier who had never met Him until that day is the one who says out loud what the priests standing right beside him could not bring themselves to admit.
A study in Matthew 27 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 32 min read
I Have Betrayed The Innocent Blood
This site’s own study of Matthew 26 ended with Peter weeping outside the high priest’s palace. Morning breaks on a formal death sentence, and on a betrayer who has just watched what his bargain actually bought.
“When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.”
Matthew 27:1-5
“The history of Judas presents the sad ending of a life that might have been honored of God. … Judas had naturally a strong love for money; but he had not always been corrupt enough to do such a deed as this. He had fostered the evil spirit of avarice until it had become the ruling motive of his life. The love of mammon overbalanced his love for Christ.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 716
Judas’s confession is real remorse, but not the repentance that could have saved him — he wanted the guilt undone, not forgiven, and the only place he took it was back to the very men who had bought him.
“And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.”
Matthew 27:6-10
“‘I have sinned,’ again cried Judas, ‘in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.’ But the high priest, regaining his self-possession, answered with scorn, ‘What is that to us? see thou to that.’ … The priests had been willing to make Judas their tool; but they despised his baseness. When he turned to them with confession, they spurned him.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 722
The priests were scrupulous enough to refuse blood money for the temple treasury and reckless enough to have paid it in the first place — a contradiction Matthew records without comment, because none is needed.
Whom Will Ye That I Release Unto You
“And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.”
Matthew 27:11-14
Pilate has no personal quarrel with Jesus and every reason to avoid this case; before he can even settle on a strategy, a warning arrives from an unexpected source.
“A message from God warned him from the deed he was about to commit. In answer to Christ’s prayer, the wife of Pilate had been visited by an angel from heaven, and in a dream she had beheld the Saviour and conversed with Him. Pilate’s wife was not a Jew, but as she looked upon Jesus in her dream, she had no doubt of His character or mission.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 732
Pilate tries a release custom next, offering the crowd a straightforward choice between the innocent and the openly guilty.
“Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.”
Matthew 27:15-18
“So, turning to the crowd, he said with great earnestness, ‘Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?’ Like the bellowing of wild beasts came the answer of the mob, ‘Release unto us Barabbas!’ Louder and louder swelled the cry, Barabbas! Barabbas!”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 733
Pilate’s own plan backfires completely, and the crowd he hoped would side with justice instead chooses the murderer.
“When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.”
Matthew 27:19-23
Pilate’s final gesture settles nothing, though it was never going to.
“When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.”
Matthew 27:24-26
“Looking upon the smitten Lamb of God, the Jews had cried, ‘His blood be on us, and on our children.’ That awful cry ascended to the throne of God. That sentence, pronounced upon themselves, was written in heaven. That prayer was heard. The blood of the Son of God was upon their children and their children’s children, a perpetual curse.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 739
Water on Pilate’s hands changes nothing about what his own signature authorizes; a governor’s ceremony of innocence and a crowd’s oath of guilt both prove, in the end, equally unable to undo the thing about to happen.
Hail, King Of The Jews
“Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon 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! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.”
Matthew 27:27-31
“One stain upon His human life, one failure of His humanity to endure the terrible test, and the Lamb of God would have been an imperfect offering, and the redemption of man a failure. But He who by a command could bring the heavenly host to His aid—He who could have driven that mob in terror from His sight by the flashing forth of His divine majesty—submitted with perfect calmness to the coarsest insult and outrage.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 734
Every soldier in that room believed he was mocking a pretender; none of them realized he was standing in front of the one Being in the universe who could have ended the joke with a single word, and chose not to.
They Crucified Him
“And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched him there; And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
Matthew 27:32-37
“While the soldiers were doing their fearful work, Jesus prayed for His enemies, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’ … Christ pitied them in their ignorance and guilt. He breathed only a plea for their forgiveness,—‘for they know not what they do.’”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 744
The mockery that follows is almost word for word an echo of a much older conversation.
“Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.”
Matthew 27:38-44
“In the wilderness of temptation Satan had declared, ‘If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.’ ‘If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down’ from the pinnacle of the temple.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 746
This site’s own study of Matthew 4 already recorded that exact temptation once, in a quiet wilderness with no audience at all; here it returns dressed as a crowd’s taunt, at the one moment coming down would have meant abandoning everyone it was for.
My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me
“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Matthew 27:45-46
“Inanimate nature expressed sympathy with its insulted and dying Author. The sun refused to look upon the awful scene. Its full, bright rays were illuminating the earth at midday, when suddenly it seemed to be blotted out. Complete darkness, like a funeral pall, enveloped the cross. ‘There was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.’”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 753
The cry that follows is not despair inventing a new fear; it is a real question, asked by the only person who had ever, up to that moment, known unbroken union with the Father.
“Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.”
Matthew 27:47-50
“Suddenly the gloom lifted from the cross, and in clear, trumpetlike tones, that seemed to resound throughout creation, Jesus cried, ‘It is finished.’ ‘Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.’ A light encircled the cross, and the face of the Saviour shone with a glory like the sun. He then bowed His head upon His breast, and died.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 756
Every account of a great man’s death records his last words as a fading whisper; this one records a shout loud enough to be heard over an earthquake, because what died on that cross died as a conqueror, not a casualty.
“And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”
Matthew 27:51-54
“It was the centurion, the Roman soldier. The divine patience of the Saviour, and His sudden death, with the cry of victory upon His lips, had impressed this heathen. In the bruised, broken body hanging upon the cross, the centurion recognized the form of the Son of God. He could not refrain from confessing his faith.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 770
“And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him: Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.”
Matthew 27:55-56
A pagan officer of the very empire that built the cross is the first person on record, in this Gospel, to say plainly what the disciples themselves had confessed only in calmer weather — and he says it while everything visible still argues the opposite.
He Rolled A Great Stone Unto The Door Of The Sepulchre
“When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathæa, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.”
Matthew 27:57-61
“In this emergency, Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus came to the help of the disciples. Both these men were members of the Sanhedrin, and were acquainted with Pilate. Both were men of wealth and influence. They were determined that the body of Jesus should have an honorable burial. Joseph went boldly to Pilate, and begged from him the body of Jesus.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 773
Two secret disciples who had never dared speak for Jesus while He lived find, in His death, the courage neither had shown while there was still something to lose. The chapter’s final scene belongs to His enemies, not His friends.
“Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.”
Matthew 27:62-66
“The priests gave directions for securing the sepulcher. A great stone had been placed before the opening. Across this stone they placed cords, securing the ends to the solid rock, and sealing them with the Roman seal. The stone could not be moved without breaking the seal. A guard of one hundred soldiers was then stationed around the sepulcher to prevent it from being tampered with. … The very efforts made to prevent Christ’s resurrection are the most convincing arguments in its proof. The greater the number of soldiers placed around the tomb, the stronger would be the testimony that He had risen.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 778
The very people most determined that this story end at a sealed tomb are, without realizing it, building the case that will make its true ending impossible to dismiss. This site’s own next study picks up exactly there — at a guarded, sealed, sure grave, on the last quiet night before everything changes.
