Matthew 27:45-50 Mark 15:33-37 Luke 23:44-46 John 19:28-30
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45 Now
from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth
hour. 46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried
out with a loud voice, saying, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD,
MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” 47 And
some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying,
“This man is calling for Elijah.” 48 Immediately
one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it
on a reed, and gave Him a drink. 49 But
the rest of them said, “Let us see whether Elijah will come
to save Him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a
loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
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33 When
the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth
hour. 34 At the ninth hour Jesus cried
out with a loud voice, “ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” which is
translated, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” 35 When
some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, “Behold,
He is calling for Elijah.” 36 Someone ran and filled a sponge
with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, “Let us see
whether Elijah will come to take Him down.” 37 And
Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last.
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44 It
was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the
ninth hour, 45 because the sun was obscured;
and the veil of the temple was torn in two. 46 And
Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY
SPIRIT.” Having said this, He breathed His last.
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28 After
this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to
fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A
jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the
sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it
up to His mouth. 30 Therefore when Jesus had
received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and
gave up His spirit.
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The death of Jesus was marked by several characteristics in
both heaven and earth. It was a unique
day in the history of the world and the day in which the price for our sin was
paid. There is much we can observe in
the words of Jesus and in the response of nature to the horrific death of Jesus. We are called to live in light of this day
and make the effect of this even known to every nation.
THE DARKNESS OF THE SUN: For a period of three hours the land
was filled with darkness. A solar
eclipse lasts for about three hours from the time the sun starts to be covered
by the moon until it is free of the moon.
Luke says that the darkness was because the sun was obscured. If this was an eclipse, the divine
orchestration of all these events is no less miraculous. However, darkness has been used as judgment in
the past as one of the plagues in Egypt, and it will be used again during the
Tribulation spoken of in Revelation. The
total darkening of the sun only lasts for a couple of minutes during an eclipse. I believe that the Father darkened the face
of the earth during those hours in a supernatural way as it was the time during
which our sin was placed on Jesus and the Father turned from the Son. No matter how this darkness happened, it certainly
must have created a strange sensation around the cross and the people must have
been amazed at this reality.
THE WRATH OF THE FATHER: Without a doubt, the most agonizing
moment on the cross was when Jesus cried out “my God my God why have you
forsaken me?” As the sin of man was placed
on Jesus, the wrath of the Father was poured out upon Him. The Father turns away from the Son and that
break in the eternal fellowship within the Trinity is how our sin was redeemed. We can’t truly imagine what all is involved in
this exchange. What we do know that
Jesus had suffered greatly at the hands of men.
He was beaten, spat upon, ridiculed, humiliated and nailed to a
cross. Through all of this, He did not
say a word or cry out in pain. However,
when the Father’s wrath for sin was inflicted on Jesus; He cried out in
agony. We cannot pretend to know what
this was like. All we can do is worship
and be thankful for this undeserved gift and live to make His love and grace
know so that He can be worshiped in all nations.
THE CONFUSION OF MEN: When Jesus finally cried out, the
people surrounding the cross thought He was calling out for Elijah to come and
save Him. Their confusion demonstrates
that they were still thinking that He would perform some sort of miracle to
avoid His death. He could have done what
they were expecting Him to do, but He willingly stayed on the cross just as He
willingly went to the cross in order to pay the price of our sin. He loved us so much that He suffered so
greatly so we could spend eternity with Him.
There is a danger that we face today when we approach Jesus. Too many people come near to Jesus out of
curiosity or expecting some sort of miraculous demonstration. The real reason we should seek Jesus is to be
set free from our sin. We must recognize
Him as the Son of God who came to take away the sin of the world. He may do many things in our lives, but His
purpose for coming and offering His life was to liberate us from sin and reconcile
us to God.
APPLICATION: Worship the Lord Jesus because of His amazing gift
of salvation that has been poured out on us from the cross. The darkness surrounding the cross lights the
path to the Father in heaven. Since
Jesus suffered the wrath of the Father, we no are set free from this
wrath. We must share this glorious news
with all men everywhere. Don’t come to
Jesus for some miraculous sign, but come to Him to be free from your sin.
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