4. The Word of Spiritual Desolation
“It is about twelve o’clock noon. The crowd stares up at the men dying as they hang
bleeding on their crosses. The agonizing moans of the two malefactors ring in
the ears of those who will hear as the blood of Jesus trickles to the ground.
From time to time the silent sobs of the faithful few may be heard. Will the
Father continue in silence forever concerning His Son, and not somehow make it
known to the world by some sign that He is watching?
At that moment a sign appears, but
what type? Who could have anticipated this thing? Surprise increases to horror,
amazement to dismay. The sun, having just arrived at the meridian, withdraws
its beams, as if the earth were no longer worthy of its light, and begins
visibly, in a clear sky to grow dark. First twilight comes, then evening, and
finally the gloomy darkness of night. The funeral pall extends not only over Judea but over the whole of the earth.
The animals cower in frightened
silence. The birds flutter to their nests and the masses of people who surround
the place of execution hurry back to Jerusalem
with loud outcries, wringing their hands, and beating their breasts.
What does the darkness mean? Those
who had demanded a sign now have one, not the miraculous display of power they
so wrongly associated with Messiah, but the sign of the 9th plague on Egypt, which
Exodus describes as the darkness that may be felt. Whereas that darkness
covered only the land of Egypt,
and not of Goshen
which was the dwelling place of the Hebrews, this darkness covered the whole
land.
In that moment the Lord withdrew
Himself from the eyes of men behind the black curtain of appalling night, as
behind the thick veil of the temple. For three full hours He hung there in
impenetrable darkness. He is in the Most
Holy Place. He stands at the altar of the Lord. He
performs His sacrificial functions. He is the true Aaron, and at the same time
the Lamb for the slaughter.”[1]
Mark 15:34
“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?’
The darkness is nearing its end.
The time approaches 3 pm. The final agonizing moments of this scene are being
played out.
The sinless One has become sin for
His beloved. In this moment His Father turns away. He is alone. The perfect
communion of the God-head is broken. Somehow, incomprehensible to us, all the sins of the world were laid on Jesus and the full weight of the wrath of God against sin was emptied on Him.
Martin Luther, sitting wide awake and
motionless for several hours without good, returned from deep meditation on these words of Christ and exclaimed, “God forsaken of God! Who can understand it?”
Have you ever felt forsaken of God? If you have felt that, let me tell you with 100% confidence, you have never been. Why? Because Jesus was.
In His cry of desolation, there was a transaction made that traded all our sin for His righteousness and all our just punishment for His acceptance. He was forsaken so that we never would be. We are not and can not be abandoned in our sins. Jesus secured that for all eternity.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31–39)
No comments:
Post a Comment