Darkness 11.11.07

Mark 15:33 Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land, until the ninth hour.

Perhaps like me you have wondered not only about the significance of the darkness, (occurring between noon and 3pm – (the sixth to the ninth hour,)) but also marveled at the performance of it. Who but God could make the whole land dark at noon? The ‘why’ is clear:

A demonstration of the action playing out on earth from God’s perspective. The action? Jesus, the Only Begotten Son of God, hangs shamefully and brutally on the rugged cross by nails which pierce His flesh. To catch a breath He must writhe in agony, bearing down on the nail driven through His feet to push His entire body weight upward in order to breathe. (It is thought - though not with absolute certainty – that crucifixion kills by suffocation.) Because of the angle of His outstretched arms and how that affects the diaphragm, Jesus probably had to raise Himself on the nail piercing His feet just to take a single breath. This would have to be repeated over and over again for the duration of His time on the cross. Absolutely horrific. Jesus is suffering immeasurably. Mel Gibson’s movie doesn’t begin to touch the agony Jesus experienced. All while His Father looks on…

A demonstration of God’s reaction to the ‘blindness’ of The Jews. (Romans 11:7.) How is it that those who were supposed to be steeped in God’s Word did not recognize their Messiah in their presence – when so many hundreds of prophecies had spoken not only of Jesus – but also of this exact moment. (Psalm 22, Isaiah 53.) How could they not see – except by intentional spiritual blindness? God rewards their intentional spiritual blindness with its representation: darkness. (Why I think this darkness probably was the darkest of all darkness – without any form of light.) How would they not see this darkness over the whole land as being a supernaturally powerful indicator they must be wrong about Jesus?

A demonstration of the black period Jerusalem was about to enter. From this point in history, Israel and Jerusalem descend into the inky blackness of death and destruction and dispersion at the hand of the Romans.

A demonstration of how God regarded the sin of all mankind past, present, and future, being placed upon Jesus in these moments. This is intentional. Isaiah 53:10 says “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; to put Him to grief. When you make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.”

Now we know why our God who could make it dark did not take Him down…He was pleased to look forward to His “seed”. (Me and you.) - Pastor Bill