Sunday, January 14, 2018

The Hours Of Darkness

“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour” (Matthew 27:45).

Three hours of darkness — in the middle of the day. From noon until 3 p.m. God shut out the view of the cross. No one could see the suffering that Jesus went through on account of sin. No eye penetrated the darkness that shrouded Golgotha while Jesus atoned for sin. There was no more mocking, no jeering, no scornful looks. Absolutely alone, forsaken by man and God, Jesus was punished for our sins.

Here is how the hymn writer Isaac Watts (1674-1748), expressed it:

Well might the sun in darkness hide,

And shut his glories in,

When the Incarnate Maker died

For man His creature’s sin.

We will never know the depth of all His intense suffering. We will never need to know, because Jesus suffered in our place. Let’s praise and thank Him very specially today as we remember His death on the cross.