Facing the Darkness
And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over
the whole land
until the ninth hour. (St. Mark 15:33)
Are
you excited about having more sunlight through the day now that it’s spring?
Most of us are.
You
and I love light. I heard once that radio announcers, when giving the weather
report, are discouraged from using the word “cloudy” if at all possible.
Instead of “partly cloudy,” they are encouraged to say it will be “partly
sunny” – because clouds make you and me depressed, and depressed drivers don’t
always concentrate on the road.
Today
is a gloriously sunny day in Leakesville, so to speak of darkness seems almost
futile. Sun is our delight, and it’s on our minds.
But
if you don’t spend some time facing the darkness this Good Friday, you won’t
understand the light and joy of Easter.
The
inhabitants of Jerusalem should have understood what was happening from noon
until 3 p.m. on Good Friday. Surely the phenomenon of darkness during midday
would have shaken folks to their core, but those who had grown up hearing the
Word of God should have put the pieces together. After all, the prophets –
particularly Joel and Amos – foretold the darkness of those hours when the
Messiah suffered at Calvary.
Joel
spoke of the coming Day of the Lord, when the Lord God would execute judgment
on His unfaithful people Israel. The Israelites had turned to the false gods of
the nations instead of delighting in Him, and they steadfastly refused His
continual calls to repent and to return to Him. And so the Lord promised a Day
of total judgment on Israel for her sins – a Day filled with darkness and with
gloom.
It is
no wonder, then, that the City of God was shrouded in darkness as Jesus
suffered on the cross. You see, as intense as was his physical pain, his
spiritual and mental anguish was beyond measure. He came to redeem all those
before and after him who put their trust in him as their Savior; he came to
take their – your? – place. And to take your place the Father required not only
Christ’s death but also, before his death, that he endure the wrath of God due
to you and me for our sins. This is why Jesus cried out in anguish, “My God, my
God, why have You forsaken me?”
The
skies became dark, because the Father was judging sin: not Jesus’, of course,
but yours and mine laid upon him.
Darkness
comes to you one way or another. No, I am not speaking of the dark days of
illness and of mourning you might endure in this lifetime.
I’m
speaking of the darkness that you must face when you stand before the Lord and
face His perfect, righteous judgment. You see, the Lord not only judged His Old
Testament people Israel; He also judges you and me and every human who has ever
lived on His earth. It is appointed to you once to die and after your death, judgment
from God.
Yet
that day doesn’t have to be dark for you – it actually can be a day of
vindication.
But
only if you face the darkness today.
If
God’s people were to avoid the darkness of His wrath, Joel says in chapter 2 of
his prophecy, they needed to repent totally and earnestly of their
rebelliousness to Him. They didn’t need to worry about Easter bonnets and
showing up to church in their fineries; they needed to be heartbroken before
God for their sin.
If
you would avoid the unbearable darkness of God’s judgment for your sin, spend
some time this day, this hour, contemplating the darkness of Good Friday. As
the great hymn “Stricken, Smitten and Afflicted” phrases it, you and I tend to
think of our sin lightly. We think of ourselves awfully well.
You
and I, remember, love sunlight and happiness.
But
light and joy come only from God, and only after you understand that the
darkness and gloom of Good Friday came about as Jesus bore your guilt and went
to hell for you.
Darkness
usually isn’t conducive to seeing anything. This Good Friday, though, spend
some time in the darkness of Jesus’ suffering for you.
Then,
and only then, will you see the light of his salvation.
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