Tag: crucifixion

  • Darkness in Scripture: From Egypt to the Cross

    Hope in the darkness

    dark morning just before sunrise, a sliver of light visible

    It’s almost 7:00 AM, and it’s still dark outside my window. I know that’s normal for this time of year, but I miss the summer days when it’s already full daylight, and the birds have been singing for hours. I’m grateful I no longer live farther north, where the days are even shorter. Oh, well, in just over two months, the days will start getting longer by a small margin.

    Yesterday, I wrote about the crucifixion, particularly the hyssop branch used to offer Jesus a drink as He thirsted. As I read the various accounts of the crucifixion in the gospels, I was struck by the period of darkness that preceded Jesus’ death.

    And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Luke 23:44 ESV

    It’s just one short sentence in Luke, but the event is also included in Matthew and Mark.  Why a period of darkness in the Scripture? In the Old Testament, darkness was associated with the Lord’s judgment.

    “And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.” Amos 8:9-10 ESV

    The plague of darkness was the final plague on Egypt before the Passover.

    Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived. Exodus 10:21-23 ESV

    Darkness is also a sign of the coming day of the Lord.

    Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.Joel 2:1-2 ESV

    The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. Joel 2:31 ESV

    If times seem dark or you’re going through a period of personal darkness, don’t despair. God didn’t abandon His people then, and He won’t abandon you now. His timing is perfect.

    Hold fast, my friends. The Light is nearby.

    Be blessed.

    SUMMARY

    Throughout Scripture, darkness signaled the Lord’s judgment. God didn’t abandon His people then, and He won’t abandon you in your darkness now.

    TAKEAWAY

    Luke gives the darkness at the cross a single sentence, but Matthew and Mark record it as well.

    In the Old Testament, darkness marked the Lord’s judgment, from the final plague on Egypt before the Passover to the prophets’ warnings about the day of the Lord.

    If you’re going through a period of personal darkness, don’t despair. God didn’t abandon His people then, and He won’t abandon you now.

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  • Seven Sayings of Christ on the Cross

    Part 1 of a devotional series

    Crucifixion by Rembrant - classic Chrsitian art

    Today’s classic Christian art piece is Rembrandt’s depiction of the crucifixion. Today, we begin looking at the so-called “Seven Sayings on the Cross,” or, as it is sometimes called, the “Seven Words of Jesus on the Cross.”

    Seven words, or sayings, were recorded as being said by Jesus while on the cross. Each of them is profound, although we typically skip over them. They have occupied the minds of many theologians and pastors, and numerous books have been written on them.

    There have been more deaths than could be counted since the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden, but there has only been one like this. Jesus’ death is unique. Hundreds of thousands (or more) of people died by crucifixion, but Jesus’ death stands alone. Untold people have been innocent of the crimes they were killed for, but only Jesus was sinless and totally innocent.

    Mankind and the powers of darkness did their worst to keep the light from shining because they love the dark. The very act they used for the vilest of purposes was orchestrated by God to work the opposite. They chose to silence Jesus. His death glorifies God and proclaims the saving truth of the gospel for all who seek the light.

    In their mocking, Jew and Gentile alike called him “King of the Jews,” all the while missing that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords was in their presence.

    Jesus was raised from the dead, but the Scriptures also record that truth for others. The difference is that Jesus did not stay dead.

    Indeed, humankind’s wisdom and ways are not God’s wisdom and ways. A peasant boy, born in a subjugated country not much more than a tiny Roman colony, was killed horrifically… not the way the world would script the origins of the Savior of the world.

    Every word spoken by Jesus, as recorded by the gospel writers, is packed full of meaning. A mere handful of phrases spoken in a time of unbelievable agony, with each and every word spoken for a purpose and with power.

    Jesus had the power to lay down His life or pick it up; the full power of the Godhead was available to Him. He could have spoken nonstop or not spoken at all. The fact that He is sovereign over all things, including his pain-filled utterances, should cause us to pay close attention to the words He chose to speak. 

    Church history has typically named the sayings (albeit with some variance) as follows…

    The Word of Forgiveness 

    And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  Luke 23:34a ESV

    The Word of Salvation 

    … he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:42-43 ESV

    The Word of Affection

    … standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” John 19:25-26 ESV

    The Word of Anguish  

    And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 ESV

    The Word of Suffering

    After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” John 19:28 ESV

    The Word of Victory 

    When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.  John 19:30 ESV

    The Word of Contentment

    Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Luke 23:46 ESV

    These sayings are a few short sentences, not many words at all, even less in the original Greek manuscripts. Still, they are profound and worth meditating on. Each one tells us something about the very heart of God.

    Tomorrow, we will begin with the words of forgiveness.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    We are walking through the setting for the Seven Sayings, seven brief but weighty statements Jesus spoke from the cross. Though only a handful of words, each one reveals something of the heart of God and deserves our full attention.

    TAKEAWAY

    Jesus’ death is utterly unique in history, He was the only truly innocent, sinless man to die this way

    What men and the powers of darkness meant for evil, God orchestrated for good, using the cross to glorify Himself and reveal the gospel

    Jesus was sovereign over His own suffering, so the words He chose to speak while dying carry deliberate weight and purpose

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