Day of Death and Darkness

“And it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend My spirit.’ And having said this, He breathed His last” (Luke 24:44-46, NKJV).

Good Friday. Do you ever wonder why we call it good? It was the day of Jesus’ death. Sad event of the ages, the Son of God dead. In utter mourning, creation itself reacted adversely. For three hours darkness covered the earth. Death and darkness reigned. And we call it Good Friday?

Why did the world go dark? Why did the sun hide and gross blackness fill the earth? By way of trying to explain how death and darkness reigned on that fateful day, I see these lessons in the darkness. God had for that time period to look on complete depravity, utter sinfulness. Jesus, the one who was absolutely seamless in character was clothed in the sins of every person past, present and future. The spectacle of what His Son bore was too abhorrent for Holy God to see. Even His face and the light He created hid from the burden of that sin-bearing Person on the cross. There was nothing to indicate the depth of the sacrifice except death and darkness. God was in Jesus, reconciling the world unto Himself. Jesus had taught, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I am the Light of the world.” On the cross, the Light of the world was snuffed out. Nothing remained in those hours but darkness. With the agony and penalty over, the natural light was restored. There would be a little time of waiting yet to fulfill the prophecy of destroying the Temple of God and raising it up again in three days. Jesus was that Living Temple, the resurrection, its restoration.

And it would be a New Temple, one with no separating veil beyond which some were forbidden to go. This was indicated by the ripping of the veil in the temple at Jerusalem from top to bottom. All who sought Jesus after His sacrificial death could go to Him personally and individually. Good Friday? Yes! Good! It was a time of a death that had to be, a darkness that defied light. But we in the age A. D. (Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord), have seen beyond the real Day of Death and Darkness. We know on that day God received adequate atonement, making a path for things to be right between Himself and sinful man. And Jesus was that atonement: Bringing us from Death to Life, Darkness to Light.
What better day than Good Friday to think on these things?

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Friday, April 2, 2010