After Darkness...Light!

Good Friday thoughts from Luke 23:44-56

We often talk about the Gospel shining like a light into the darkness and the crucifixion of Christ is a vivid reminder of that because so much of it takes place in darkness. In part, the crucifixion is a reminder that God is at work in the darkness to bring light.

The darkness that engulfs the cross, the world, is perhaps the pinnacle of the crucifixion. What is happening in this darkness? Why has God plunged the world into darkness as Christ hangs on the cross? In the darkness there is hope and there is hope because God is working to bring light.

 There was darkness

At about noon darkness covers the earth for three hours. Some think that because Jesus cries “why have you forsaken me?” that the Father was absent. No, the Father was very present, in fact, He was present in great power. Consider the other events that take place during this time: the veil of the temple is torn in two, the earth is rocked and graves are opened (Matt. 27:51-52). The darkness doesn’t mean the Father is absent though it does conceal His work. In the darkness God is present in power but He is also present in purpose, working out His eternal plan to save His people.

Perhaps that darkness is also part of God’s mercy to us because it hides from us Christ’s greatest pain and anguish. It’s in the darkness that the Father pours out His wrath on sin. Not just a portion of His wrath like we see expressed in the law or in chastisement but the full, undiluted fury of His anger against sin. It’s the anticipation of this that brought Jesus to His knees in the garden the night before (Lk. 22:42). In the darkness Jesus is bearing the full weight and fury of God’s wrath like we have never known. He didn’t earn this darkness, it wasn’t for Him, this darkness was for us.

"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." [1 Peter 2:24]

Do you remember that great curtain in the Temple, a curtain 10 cm thick, was ripped in two from top to bottom during this darkness? That was a symbol that the way to God had been opened. Jesus had paid the debt and made a way, the work of salvation was complete. “It is finished” (Jn. 19:30). In the darkness Jesus died, not because of the pain, not because of the torture but because He had completed what needed to be done so He laid down His life (Jn. 10:18).

 
In the darkness there is the hope of light

Even before the rising of the sun on the first day of the week there were already glimmers of hope. The Centurion watches Jesus die and gives glory to God (Lk. 23:47). And he’s not the only one but several of them declare “truly, this was the Son of God”. These men had seen many people put to death but they’d never seen anyone die like Jesus. I think, from this testimony, these men believed. Sadly most of the people who saw Jesus die were filled with regret, guilt or sorrow and even fear but they walked away from the cross unchanged (Lk. 23:48). If only they had hearts like the criminal to seek forgiveness or like the soldiers to humbly recognize that Jesus is Lord.

While some believe and others reject the followers of Christ are plunged into the darkness of confusion. Yet in the confusion we have hope and conviction. Two Pharisees, Joseph and Nicodemus, decide now, when Jesus is dead, is the time to stop hiding and proclaim their devotion to Jesus. Can you imagine what kind of courage it takes for a Pharisee to identify with Jesus now? The cross calls us to lives of conviction and sacrifice, even in times of darkness. What about the women and other disciples? Now that Jesus is gone what do they do? They do what God expects all of us to do in dark times. Do what you know to do. They keep the feast (a feast pointing to Jesus) and they prepare for Sunday. They’re confused but still hopeful. It doesn’t seem like it but light is rising.

Sometimes the darkness of life is heavy, hard to bear and full of confusion but God promises after darkness…light.

"Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)" [Hebrews 10:23]

God is at work in the darkness.

He worked in the darkness to save sinners, He worked in the darkness to make everything right. In the darkness on the cross God was at work providing salvation from your sin. Making a way for you to find forgiveness and not endure the wrath of God. And He is still working in the darkness so that after darkness there is light.

Pastor Brian