Matthew 27:42, commentary and pictures

Mockers at the cross, led by the chief priests with scribes and elders and joined by passersby, soldiers, the mob and a fellow sufferer, turned his life of rescuing others into a jeer that he was powerless to rescue himself. They challenged him to prove he was King of Israel and Son of God by stepping off the cross, making a visible escape from death the price of their belief. He had full power to come down at any moment, with angels waiting for one word of permission, but he willingly stayed to bear the curse and penalty of transgression as substitute and ransom for sinners. In uttering that taunt they were voicing Satan, who controlled them and echoed his wilderness challenge, yet in their blindness they repeated words foretold about the suffering Messiah and tore away Satan's disguise to all heaven. Because he would not save himself, pardon and eternal life remain open to the world, his resurrection broke the claim of helplessness, and at his glorious return and final judgment the same mockers will recall their words in terror and confess him King of Glory.

Speakers and Scene at Calvary

The taunt was spoken while Christ hung on the cross by the chief priests mocking together with the scribes and elders, who turned His having saved others into the charge that He could not save Himself and challenged Him as King of Israel to come down now with the promise that they would then believe Him. The same mockery is recorded as spoken amid His suffering and unjust affliction as an insult demanding proof of His claim, which He could have answered by coming down but did not. In that hour He hung made the object of scorn and derision in supreme anguish, feeling with piercing sorrow the withdrawal of the Father's reconciling face like the anguish of the impenitent when mercy no longer pleads, yet though apparently forsaken He was never more beloved, and by knowing the Father's justice, mercy and great love and resting by faith on past evidence of acceptance and in submission committing Himself to God whom it was His joy to obey, the sense of loss was withdrawn and by faith He was victor.

The leaders did not revile alone, for those passing by wagging their heads joined them, with the mockery of the soldiers and the railing of one of the criminals hanged with Him, and with the rabble and mob and His murderers uniting priests, rulers and scribes in jeering the dying Son of God as soon as He was lifted up. The challenge was pressed from many mouths at once, demanding that He prove Himself Son of God and King of Israel by coming down from the cross. In speaking thus they unknowingly fulfilled prophecy concerning His rejection.

Those who so reviled Him were not heathen who knew not God and not the abandoned class, but professedly religious people and religious leaders, professed expounders of prophecy who professed to know God's will. They forgot the dignity of their sacred offices to join the rabble, and in blindness did not perceive that in repeating the very words inspiration had foretold they fulfilled prophecy. Their outward sanctity as whited sepulchers who deceived the people by profession of piety and love for God and claim to know the Scriptures did not make them sons of God nor lead them to represent His character, but yoked them with Satan, and to spectators who had true religion their triumphant blasphemous shouting against the Commander of all heaven made clear that Satan was linked with men. Absorbed in forms and symbols and walking in ways of their own choosing, they refused to be reformed by messages from heaven or to heed counsel and admonitions, though the One they crucified and taunted was the Lord of glory, the Light the Father gave to the world, who had led the armies of Israel into Canaan and guided them by cloud by day for shelter and by shining cloud by night from His presence, yet when He came to His own they received Him not and darkness comprehended not the light shining amid darkness.

He was crucified between two thieves as if He were the chief of sinners, with nails driven through His hands and feet and His hands stretched out, dying in human agony while opposers mocked and derided Him. He hung there for three hours looked upon by thousands, and thousands heard and saw this mockery, hearing both the taunt about saving others yet being unable to save Himself and the challenge to come down as the condition for belief. That scene followed Gethsemane where He agonized in conflict with Satanic agencies, betrayal and the forsaking and flight of disciples, being dragged from tribunal to tribunal to Annas then Caiaphas then Pilate then Herod then again to Pilate, passing from insult to insult and mockery to mockery, twice tortured by the scourge, spit upon and mocked, bearing Himself with firmness and dignity and speaking no word but to glorify God, taking neither food nor drink since the Passover supper, faint and weary and falling fainting beneath the cross prepared for Barabbas when it was laid on His bruised and bleeding shoulders, lifted up while soldiers quarreled over His garments, wearing the crown of thorns and suffering the curse of the cross as the Prince of Life, Son of the infinite God, Majesty of Heaven and King of Glory. The vast multitude of all classes from Jerusalem following from the judgment hall saw His weak and staggering steps and showed no compassion but taunted and reviled Him because He could not carry the heavy cross, while His persecutors saw He could go no farther and the Jews themselves would not bear it lest defilement prevent keeping the Passover and none of the mob would stoop to bear it. Heaven did not keep silent but answered with unnatural midday darkness over the cross, rending of rocks, rolling thunder, flashing lightning, shaking of the earth beneath the tread of the heavenly army beholding their loved Commander, with rent rocks and opened graves.

His mother and His disciples hoped He would manifest His mighty power and silence His revilers by coming down from the shameful cross, and they were pained by the unfeeling taunts of spiritually ignorant revilers demanding belief on that condition. They had expected Him after the triumphant entry into Jerusalem to reign on David's throne and deliver Israel, so seeing their Master suffer and die brought bitter disappointment and mourning, and their hopes of His taking the kingdom died with Him, leaving deep discouragement, failing faith and lost hope. Amid that discouragement they remembered the priests' and rulers' scornful challenge pointing to His saving others and demanding He come down to prove He was King of Israel. They feared the taunt was true and wondered whether He had been mistaken about His mission and future glory, though they wondered how that could be after the evidence He had shown them, yet He remained true to His promises.

Sense of Mocking Words

The rulers turned His life of saving others into a taunt against Him, claiming that He who had saved others could not save Himself, challenging Him as King of Israel to save Himself by coming down from the cross, and promising that if He did they would believe Him. Their words were scorn and insult spoken while He hung suffering unjustly in reproach and dying agony, a demand for a visible sign and for proof of His claim amid His abuse. He answered them with no words but prayed for His murderers, and His refusal to come down was not defeat but the giving of His life for sinners so the world should not perish but receive everlasting life, making the cross the means of hope and salvation.

The demand made escape from crucifixion the proof of kingship and sonship, denying that He is the King of Israel and the Son of God unless rescued from death, and making a miracle and sight-evidence the price of faith. If He were the Son of God, they asked, why did He not free Himself from His bonds, triumph over His accusers, and deliver Himself from His enemies by power. That taunt treats lack of deliverance as disproof of power and kingship, hangs doubt on refusal of a sign, and closes the eyes to light already sent while rejecting the most evident truth. To repeat the demand today by saying show us a miracle and heal the sick if the messengers have truth is to speak the same words as His murderers, from an ignorant Satan-led spirit and not from God, with evil angels exulting to deceive, leaving doubters to be confirmed in deception by Satan's answering miracles.

Their challenge echoed Satan's wilderness challenge to prove He was the Son of God. His apparent defeat did not mean He lacked power, and their unbelief did not make His saving work untrue. Even in dying agony He asserted His right and power to forgive sin and to save to the uttermost all who receive Him, retaining His divine power as a sin-pardoning Saviour while not using kingly power to come down. The very people He had pitied and tried to save condemned and misrepresented Him, using the good He had done for others as a taunt and demanding He save Himself as proof of identity, yet He in death exercised life-giving power.

At the very time the opposers mocked with nails through His hands and feet and hands stretched out in human agony, the thief crucified close beside Him stopped mocking, rebuked his fellow thief by declaring their own guilt and Christ's innocence, turned to Him in faith, confessed Him as Lord and King, and received on the cross itself the promise to be with Him in Paradise. That forgiveness showed He could save even while suffering on the cross, disproving the claim that inability to save Himself disproved His power to save others and His kingship.

Reason He Remained

He could have saved Himself and come down from the cross at any moment, yet He remained and would not use that power. Hovering angels longed to rescue Him and heard the taunt of the priests, rulers, scribes and elders, and would have answered at once with one word of permission, but they were not permitted and no command or sign was given them to act. His mission was almost but not yet accomplished, and only by staying and dying could sinners be saved.

He willingly refused to save Himself and endured reproach, shame, mockery, derision and dying agony as substitute, bearing in His body on the tree the curse of the law, the penalty of transgression, the guilt of sin and human sorrows. He gave His life for sinners and His blood as ransom to purchase the church and redeem the world from Satan's claim and authority. By patiently enduring without complaint He vindicated the right to pardon and obtained the right to give eternal righteousness and life to all who believe in Him and lay hold of Him by living faith and become children of God.

Because He would not save Himself, the sinner has hope of pardon and favor with God, that the world should not perish but receive everlasting life. His entire life was self-denial and self-sacrifice, bowing His righteous soul to that sacrifice to prove His love beyond question, and His cross became the means of hope and salvation and did not make His work untrue despite rejection and scorn. Had He failed or become discouraged or refused to die, the last hope of every son and daughter of Adam would have ended and the world would have been given over to the control of the great apostate.

His refusal to come down or abandon the bitter cup and His acceptance of suffering and death needed to save others secured salvation and was part of His victory over Satan. His death paid the just claims of God's holy law and ransomed His people with His own blood, bringing the defeat of sin and Satan.

Prophecy and Future Vindication

In their blindness the priests and rulers with scribes, soldiers, a criminal and the crowd repeated on the cross the very taunt about saving others yet not saving self and coming down as King of Israel to earn belief, and in uttering what inspiration had foretold they would say they unknowingly fulfilled prophecy concerning the Messiah's rejection and suffering. Though they professed to expound prophecy they did not perceive they were fulfilling it, forgetting the dignity of their sacred office to join the rabble in jeering the dying Son of God. He whom they mocked bore human griefs and sorrows and was wounded for transgressions and bruised for iniquities.

At his appearing in glory as King of kings the same priests and rulers who wagged their heads in satanic exultation recall those words with awful distinctness and shuddering horror. The memory convicts them of sin and just doom, filling them with terror, remorse and mortal agony as they face the love and compassion they rejected, their choice of Barabbas in his place, and the suffering they caused him and his disciples. With a wail louder than their shout to crucify him they reverse their mockery to confess he is the Son of God and the true Messiah, while vainly seeking to flee and hide from his presence in the rent caverns of the earth. The impenitent then realize what they might have become had they accepted Christ, yet remain under the doom they face for refusing his offer to remove their guilt.

The taunt over his powerlessness is met by his resurrection, for the same Jesus who hung nailed and lacerated by scourging and thorns and was laid in Joseph's new tomb came forth glorified. Heaven's decree loosed the captive, and no obstacle and no mountains piled upon mountains over his sepulcher could keep him from coming forth. His vindication in resurrection glory was beheld with eyes riveted upon him by the Roman guard.

That demand made to the veiled King at his first coming, when his glory was hidden in humanity with no outward manifestation through denial, trial before Pilate, scourging and three hours on the cross with nails in hands and feet, stands in marked contrast to his second coming. He will not come again as a babe in Bethlehem or as he rode into Jerusalem or to be tried and crucified, for he refused to come down because he was dying to bear the sins of every sinner so they might be saved. He returns in his own and his Father's glory as equal with God, the beloved Son and Prince of heaven and earth, wearing a crown of glory instead of thorns and royal clothing instead of humility, still bearing the nail and spear marks. Then his divine nature is plainly revealed, the question of his divinity is settled forever, every mouth is closed, no arm is lifted against him, no proof is asked, his enemies see their mistake, and all acknowledge him as King of Glory and Lord of heaven and earth to the glory of God the Father while angels bow in worship and the mockers turn speechless with terror and remorse from his piercing gaze and seek to flee his overpowering presence.

Doctrinal Significance and Conflict

The taunt was hurled at One in whom divinity was enthroned in humanity and could not be separated from it. He was the Creator of man who had proclaimed the eternal law on Mount Sinai, and in dying agony on the cross He vindicated His right to pardon transgression and sin. Even in humiliation and apparent defeat He asserted His right and power to forgive sins and to save to the uttermost all who receive Him. He would not come down because salvation required Him to bear the penalty of transgression as humanity's substitute, and by that steadfastness He established the unchangeable character of God's law.

The challenge was inspired by Satan and voiced by priests and rulers who had given themselves over to his control. The chief priests mocking together with scribes and elders were the boldest revilers about the cross, acting out the inspiration of the devil, and angels heard the demand for a sign but were given no permission to answer. All heaven saw the sacrifice and heard the taunts heaped in satanic hate upon the innocent and sinless Son of God who bore the sin of the world, though Pilate had declared no fault in Him. That cruel work tore away Satan's disguise and fastened back upon himself the evil character he had tried to fasten on Christ, acting out his own attributes in a second fall from heaven. After the crucifixion he saw he had overreached himself, for the charges made against Christ were charges made against God Himself. The same evil power that prompted the demand for proof then still stirs hatred against those who reprove wrong to the face.

The verse stands within the suffering of Deity at Calvary, where mercy and truth meet and righteousness and peace kiss, and where He gave His life to ransom the world and purchase the church. Bearing guilt and carrying human sorrows, in supreme anguish He felt the withdrawal of the Father's reconciling face with piercing sorrow like the anguish of the impenitent when mercy no longer pleads. Yet though apparently forsaken He was never more beloved of the Father. By knowing the Father's justice, mercy and great love, and by resting by faith on past evidence of acceptance and in submission committing Himself to God whom it was His joy to obey, the sense of loss was withdrawn and by faith He was victor.

In that cruelty God showed the heavenly universe the spirit of those unwilling to obey His law and laid open the once-hidden principles of Satan's power. The sympathy of angels was drawn to Christ, and Satan was uprooted, his power as accuser of the brethren proved powerful but false. He was revealed as accuser, thief and murderer who moved men to kill not only innocent humans but the incarnate God, who would have kept Christ locked in the tomb, and who with full control would murder the innocent and save the wicked, as seen in Barabbas. So the taunt proves the principle of rebellion incurable, and Satan will be judged by his own plea that every sin must meet its punishment with no remission.

Application to Believers Today

The same taunt hurled at the dying King of Israel will be hurled again at His people in the time of trouble, when to human sight they must soon seal their testimony with blood as the martyrs before them did. Then the wicked will exult and demand where their faith is now and why God does not deliver them out of their hands if they are indeed His people, while the waiting ones fear the Lord has left them to fall by their enemies and cry day and night for deliverance in fearful agony with pale faces yet ceasing not earnest intercession. Remembering how Jesus endured that mockery on Calvary's cross without coming down steadies them to wrestle with God like Jacob, for delay and apparent abandonment do not prove God has forsaken them but exercise faith, hope and patience. His suffering under human power and policy in support of evil stands as the example of faith when priests and rulers press their will and apparent power seems to triumph.

To demand healing or visible wonders from God's messengers today, saying show us a miracle and heal the sick if they have the truth, is to speak the same taunting words as the murderers of the Lord who made a miracle the price of faith. That demand comes not from God but from an ignorant, Satan-led spirit, with evil angels exulting to deceive, and it is an excuse for rejecting the light of heaven, a peg on which to hang doubts. It closes the eyes to the light God sends and rejects the most evident truth to believe foolish errors, and rejecting clear light while demanding signs leaves doubters to be confirmed in deception by Satan's answering miracles.

His refusal to save Himself is what gives the sinner hope of pardon and favor with God, for had He failed or become discouraged the last hope of every son and daughter of Adam would have ended, and His entire life of self-denial and self-sacrifice puts every demand for self-denial in perspective. The royal Saviour at the lowest point of humiliation, hanging mocked on the cross despite suffering for others, willingly gave up all to bring salvation, which proves the narrow way is not too strait and shows there are so few stalwart Christians because of self-indulgence and self-pleasing in place of self-denial and self-sacrifice. His agony and humiliation, led away pale and fainting with nails through tender hands and feet while angels veiled their faces and the sun hid its light, demand all from followers, undivided affections, entire and solemn consecration, separation from the world and from dead heartless professors instead of conformity to them, imitation of His character, patience under affliction, and refusal to stop work to listen to reports. He endured every phase of temptation and suffering for humanity's sake to know how to pity and to bring the divine help needed to overcome and gain eternal life, and Calvary's great sacrifice is the measure against which the church's missionary labor must be weighed.

Realizing the greatness of that sacrifice, bearing human sins in His body upon the tree by the very leaders and rulers who ought to have received Him, gives the joy of pardoned transgression and forgiven sin. That joy moves to continual praise of God with open lips, not a sorrowful tone. Unlike ordinary human death amid sympathizing friends, His reviled death and passage through the tomb brightened it with hope, so those who die in Him can be laid to rest expecting joy and reunion after death.

The challenge to come down and prove kingship did not reflect lack of evidence, for Christ had already given convincing proof of divinity by raising Lazarus, yet the leaders rejected the evidence, sought false witnesses, tried to turn the people against the truth, and even plotted Lazarus' death also. Coming down would have made no difference to the blasphemers, showing further signs will not persuade those who have chosen to refuse light, but only reveal continued resistance to evidence upon evidence and fighting against the impressions of the Holy Spirit until eternal night. Though professing great righteousness, knowledge of God's will and love for God, absorbed in forms and symbols and walking in ways of their own choosing, their hearts were hard by hatred, envy, jealousy and pride, refusing reform by messages from heaven and proving profession of piety and claim to know the Scriptures do not make men sons of God but yoke them with Satan as boldest revilers acting out the devil's inspiration. That history warns that anyone cherishing unbelief, jealousy and pride and rejecting light is capable of the same work of hindering God's work, turning souls from truth and despising God's message, and it proves imperfect followers of His household cannot expect to be safe from reproach, suffering and trial when Christ in innocency and goodness was not. Yet the One they crucified and taunted is the Lord of glory, the Light the Father gave to the world who led Israel into Canaan and guided them by cloud by day and shining cloud by night, and even those who mocked and chose Barabbas could have repented and received forgiveness rather than meeting darkness that did not comprehend the light shining amid darkness.