Luke 23:44-46 - Three Hours of Darkness

Forthe first three hours, Jesus hung on the cross, the people mocked Him, theymade fun of Him, they laughed at Him, and they yelled at Him. Thenat the sixth hour, which would have been noon, verse 44 says there was darknessover all the earth until the ninth hour. The three hours of darkness was amiracle. It was not an eclipse because that would have been impossible duringPassover because it was the season of a full moon. It was a God-sent darkness, recognizingand also amplifying the fact that the whole world was in darkness, in sin andshame, and men were loving that darkness. Even when Jesus began His ministry, Matthew4:16 tells us: “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to themwhich sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up”. Andnow when this darkness takes place, remember it is the time of the feast of thePassover. This reminds us of Exodus 10:21-22 which tells us of the last plague whichwas a darkness that was sent over all the land of Egypt for three days. Thiswas just before the Passover lamb was slain and the blood was applied to thedoorpost in Exodus 12. When Jesus was on the cross, three hours of darknesspreceded the death of God's Passover Lamb for the sins of the world (John1:29).  Nowfor three hours, the earth is shrouded in darkness as God made His Son tobecome sin for us who knew no sin, as stated in 2 Corinthians 5:21. It was asthough all nature was sympathizing with the Creator as He suffered and died.  And so we see that Jesus was on the cross,dying on the cross as the Lamb of God in these three hours of darkness. Nowalso we believe that on the cross, Jesus, at this time, somewhere during thesethree hours of darkness, according to Matthew 27:45-46 and Mark 15:33-34, criedout, quoting from Psalm 22:1, "My God, My God, why have You forsakenMe?"  Tomorrow,I’m going to take more time to talk about how many times Jesus called HisFather. In fact, this last three hours on the cross ended when Jesus' lastprayer on the cross was, "Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit."But during these three hours of darkness, I can't explain it totally. I cannever understand it completely, but as far as I'm concerned, as I've looked atand studied it over the years, it was during these the three hours of darkness thatJesus suffered an eternity of outer darkness, an eternity of hell.  TheBible says that hell is a place of outer darkness. Jesus went into outerdarkness. There in these three hours, the wrath of God was poured out on Him.He was bruised by God (Isaiah 53), as we talked about yesterday, for our sins.He suffered. He was separated from His Father. His favorite reference, the mostused word in the Gospel of John, is the word Father. Jesus loved His Father.His Father loved Him. But now His Father turned His back on His Son and pouredout His wrath upon Him to be crucified, to die, to shed His blood for my sinsand your sins.  Myfriend, what great love that God had. And that's why Jesus cried out, "MyGod, My God," somehow God turned His back on His Son. Again, I don'tunderstand it, but He did according to the Scripture. And then it says in verse45 that “the veil of the temple was torn in two”. The Gospel accounts ofMark and Matthew add, “from top to bottom”. My friend, this is becauseGod from heaven miraculously tore that veil that separated “The Most Holy Place”from everyone except the High Priest once a year.  Thismiracle announced to the priests and people that the way into God's presencewas open for all who would come to Him by faith through Jesus Christ (Hebrews9:1-10:25). No more do sinners need earthly temples, altars, sacrifices, orpriests, for all had now been fulfilled in the finished work of the Son of God. Areyou experiencing and enjoying this open access to our Father in heaven today? Godbless!