His Vindication (Wednesday)

Mark 15:37-39

"And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, 'Truly this man was the Son of God!'"

In Christ, God died.

It’s a statement so full of wonder, mystery, and even shock that we might shrink back—if Scripture didn’t declare it so plainly. The Maker of all things was unmade on the cross. The One who holds all things together released His final breath. Jesus didn’t merely taste from the cup of human suffering; He drank it to the dregs.

The Second Person of the Trinity took on flesh, became like His creatures, and died the physical death that awaits all mankind. Ever since the curse was pronounced in Eden—“from dust you are, and to dust you shall return”—humans have known what it is to die. And Jesus, the Second Adam, willingly became the curse that the first Adam earned. Yet unlike every other death before His, Jesus’s death would not be the end of the story.

This brings us to an even deeper mystery of Christ’s death: not simply that He died, but that His death was not futile. It accomplished what no other death could. When the curtain of the temple was torn in two, it wasn’t just fabric that was ripped—it was the barrier between God and man. Jesus’s blood, offered as the perfect sacrifice, was accepted by the Father. The Holy Lamb for sin atoned.

And as the curtain was torn away, so too was the veil over the Roman soldier’s heart. Standing face to face with crucified divinity, the centurion saw what many had failed to see in Jesus’s life—but what was now revealed in His death: “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

The crucifixion was not Christ’s defeat—it was the beginning of His vindication. And death would not have the final word. In three days, the tomb would be empty, and the One who was unmade would rise in resurrection power. The Son of God, humbled in death, would be exalted in life… and is exalted now, seated at the Father’s right hand. The curse is undone. The dust lives again. Death is swallowed up by life.

What does it mean to you that Christ's death was not the end, but the beginning of our hope?

How might the centurion's confession challenge or inspire your own response to the cross today?


Father, thank You for sending Your Son to suffer and die in our place. Thank You that His death was not in vain, but accomplished everything needed for our salvation. You tore the veil, broke the curse, and brought life where there was death. Open my eyes, like the centurion’s, to see clearly the truth of who Jesus is. Help me live in the freedom and hope His sacrifice secured. Amen.