Sunday, August 25, 2024

PT-2 "Supernatural Darkness" (Matt. 27:45)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/25/2024 7:58 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  PT-2 “Supernatural Darkness”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matthew 27:45

 

            Message of the verse:  45 Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.”

 

            “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” (Luke 23:44-45). Luke uses the word ekleipo which is translated from our word obscured, and from this word we get the word eclipse.  Now you know that there was an eclipse earlier this year and where I live in Ohio it went completely dark, and this is what happened for three hours in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified.  The problem is that this was not an eclipse during the time when Jesus was crucified, for the sun and the moon were far apart on that day. 

 

            MacArthur writes that “The purpose of the darkness is not explained in the gospels or elsewhere in Scripture, but according to the Babylonian Talmud many rabbis had long taught that darkening of the sun was a judgment of God on the world for an unusually heinous sin. If, indeed, that was God’s intention at the crucifixion, He presented a gigantic object lesson to the world regarding the greatest sin ever committed by fallen mankind.”  Now I am not sure where I learned what I learned about why the earth went dark at that time, but what I learned was that God did not want the world to see when He took the punishment for all sins out on His Son, as He was actually separated from the Son and made Him sin in order to pay for your sin and my sin so that those who would come to the Lord and confess that you are a sinner, and sin because you were born a sinner and then accept this gracious salvation that Christ offered to you through His death on the cross, and not only His death but three days later arose from the dead as it was prophesied He would do showing that God was satisfied for His work on the cross.  Now if you have never done that you can do it right now.  Pray something like this, “Lord Jesus I realize that I am a sinner that I sin because I was born a sinner.  I confess to you that I am a sinner and ask You to forgive me and that You would come into my heart to live there in my heart so that I can serve you all the rest of my life.”  This is one prayer that the Lord will always answer yes to sincere people who pray it knowing that they need the salvation that Jesus offers to them through His death, burial, and resurrection from the dead.

 

            It seems that MacArthur agrees with the me for the reason that the earth went into darkness as he writes “Some interpreters have suggested the darkness was a means of God’s casting a great veil over the sufferings of Christ, and others that it was an act of divine fatherly sympathy given to cover the nakedness and dishonoring of His Son.

 

            “But in light of many scriptural teachings and events, it would seem that the crucifixion darkness was indeed a mark of diving judgment.  In speaking of Assyria’s being used by God to punish Israel, Isaiah spoke of ‘darkness and distress’ that would cover the land, when ‘even the light is darkened by its clouds’ (Isa. 5:30).  In describing the day of the Lord, the same prophet declared that ‘the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light’ and that ‘the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shed its light.  Thus I will punish the world for its evil’ God said, ‘and the wicked for their iniquity’ (13:10-11).”

 

            I will list some other OT verses that speak of darkness and leave it up to you to look them up.  Joel 2:2; Amos 5:20; Zephaniah 1:14-15.

 

            MacArthur adds that “In those Old Testament passages and many others the judgment of God is directly associated with darkness, and similar association is found in the New Testament.  Peter declares that God cast the rebellious angels ‘into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment’ (2 Pet. 2:4). In much the same words, Jude speaks of those angels being ‘ekpt in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day’ (Jude 6).  Jesus Himself frequently spoke of divine judgment in the terms of ‘outer darkness,’ where ‘there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth’ (Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30).

 

            “The cross was a place of immense divine judgment, where the sins of the world were poured out vicariously on the sinless, perfect Son. It was therefore appropriate that the great supernatural darkness express God’s reaction to sin in that act of judgment.”

 

            With that we end this discussion of darkness from Matthew 27:45 and Lord willing will begin looking at “Sovereign Departure” covering verses 46-49 in the next SD.

 

            It does seem kind of strange that as I write these words about God’s judgment taking place in the darkness that even though it is morning now and the sun is out it is hiding behind come thick clouds as a thunderstorm is now going on.

 

8/25/2024 8:35 AM

 

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