The road out of Jerusalem is long and hard. Jesus has been beaten, and the soldiers make a man named Simon of Cyrene carry the heavy wooden cross the rest of the way to a place called Golgotha — which means 'Place of the Skull.'
At Golgotha, the soldiers nail Jesus to the cross. This is called the crucifixion — a terrible death that Rome uses for the worst criminals. But Jesus is not a criminal. He is the holy Son of God. Above His head, a sign reads: 'THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.'
Two robbers hang on crosses beside Him. People walk past and shake their heads. The chief priests and scribes mock Him. 'He saved others,' they sneer, 'but He cannot save Himself!' They do not understand that Jesus *could* save Himself — but He does not, because He is saving *them*. He is saving *us*.
At noon, something extraordinary happens. Darkness covers the whole land for three hours, even though it is the middle of the day. God is doing something the whole creation must stop and notice. At three o'clock, Jesus cries out loudly, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' These are words from Psalm 22, written a thousand years before this day. God the Father is turning away from His Son — not because Jesus sinned, but because Jesus is carrying the sin of His people. Every wrong thing anyone who trusts in Him has ever done is being placed on Jesus right now.
This is the great sacrifice. Since the very beginning, God's people brought animal sacrifices to show that sin brings death and that something innocent must die in the sinner's place. But those sacrifices could never truly take sin away. They were all pointing forward to *this* moment — to Jesus, the Lamb of God, making real atonement for real sin once and for all.
Jesus cries out one final time in a loud voice, and He gives up His spirit. He is gone.
At that exact moment, something astonishing happens in the temple in Jerusalem. The thick, heavy curtain that separates the Holy of Holies — the most sacred place where God's presence dwells — tears in two, from top to bottom. No human hand could do that. God Himself tears it open. The way to God is now open.
The earth shakes. Rocks split. A Roman soldier standing guard stares at all that has happened and says with wonder, 'Truly this was the Son of God!'
This is the day everything changes. The covenant God promised — the new covenant sealed in blood — is now complete. Jesus has said it Himself, with His last breath: 'It is finished.'
Christ in This Story
Every animal sacrifice in the Old Testament was a shadow pointing to Jesus, the one true and final sacrifice who takes away sin completely. When Jesus cries out 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,' He bears the full weight of God's righteous judgment against sin so that His people never have to. The torn curtain announces that Jesus has made atonement — the way to God is no longer blocked — because He fulfilled every requirement of the covenant perfectly in our place. His death is not a defeat; it is the greatest victory in all of history.
Historical Context
Crucifixion was the Roman Empire's most brutal form of execution, typically reserved for slaves, rebels, and those considered enemies of the state. It was designed not only to kill but to humiliate publicly. Jewish law also associated being hung on a tree with being cursed (Deuteronomy 21:23), which Paul later quotes in Galatians 3:13 — making it all the more striking that Jesus willingly bore that curse for His people. Golgotha was located outside the city walls, consistent with the Old Testament practice of the sin offering being burned 'outside the camp' (Leviticus 4:12), a detail the author of Hebrews draws out explicitly in Hebrews 13:12.
The temple curtain referenced in Matthew 27:51 was, according to ancient Jewish sources, an enormous and extraordinarily thick woven barrier — some traditions describe it as being several inches thick and requiring many priests to handle. Whether or not those measurements are precise, the point Matthew makes is covenantal and theological: the tearing is from top to bottom, indicating God is the one acting. In the Old Testament, only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and only once a year on the Day of Atonement. The torn curtain signals that Jesus, as our Great High Priest, has made the final and complete atonement, giving all His people direct access to God.
✦ This story also appears in the Quran
For parents: This biblical account has a parallel in the Quran (Islam's holy book), but the two versions differ in important ways. The Quran retells many Old and New Testament stories — sometimes similarly, sometimes with significant changes in detail, meaning, or theology.
This is a great opportunity to help your children know the biblical account well, so they can recognize differences if they ever encounter them. The Bible is our authoritative source; where the Quran diverges, we hold to what God's Word says.
Let's Pray
Father, thank You for sending Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sins — the one the whole Bible was pointing to all along. Thank You that the way to You is now open because of what Jesus finished on the cross. Help us never forget how much it cost, and how deeply You love us. Amen.