Nr. 12139 The Darkest day in History

  The Ninth Hour

This was the darkest day in History

John 14:8-9 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

You’ve been with me all this time.

And you still don’t understand?

John 14:9-10 To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, ‘Where is the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren’t mere words. I don’t just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act.”

And you still don’t understand?

 

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

“A darkness falls over the earth from the sixth hour to the Ninth hour”.

Wounded In The House Of My Friends.

Zechariah 13:6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

Jesus' Blood Sacrifice is All Sufficient.

Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 

The Darkest Day in History 

There were a series of miracles that took place at Calvary when Jesus was crucified. All of them were in direct connection with His death. Nature was in sympathy with the crucifixion of the Son of God.

The Miraculous darkness that surrounded the cross illustrates the depth of His suffering of soul as He felt Himself regarded as sin though sinless,

2 Corinthians 5:21 For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 

Jesus was Bearing the Sin of the World

Jesus was Bearing the Sin of the world. He was the Sinless substitute dying in the place of sinners, of us all.

In that moment when the Father regarded Him as sin, He experienced the anguish of the deepest suffering. The Son of Man did not cease to be the Son of God.

In the Temple at Jerusalem, darkness filled the Holy of Holies''symbolizing the Dwelling place of Jehovah God. On the Mercy Seat God’s Mercy met man’s sin and God judged it there.

Once a year on the Day of Atonement the High Priest slipped behind the thick veil and sprinkled Blood on the mercy seat to make Atonement for sin. 

“THE SCENE”

Matthew, Mark and Luke tell us that a sudden, strange ''mysterious darkness’ ‘ fell over the scene at Calvary. 

It was darkness at noontime, a darkness in the presence of the sun while the sun was brightly shining.

Under normal conditions it is the light that is antagonistic to darkness. We don’t click on darkness to extinguish the light, but light to extinguish the darkness. However, the darkness at noonday at Calvary smothered the sun at high noon! 

“No wonder God caused the earth to tremble“

The great darkness the day Jesus died, extended far beyond Jerusalem. It was as if the sun could no longer look upon the terrible effects of the depravity of sin.

Not an eclipse

This mysterious darkness continued for three hours and could not have been the result of an eclipse of the sun. The time of the year was the Passover, which was always observed at the time of the full Moon when an eclipse of the Sun was impossible. The brightness of the sun would have been most powerful at noon time. A strange supernatural darkness settled down over the world obscuring the sun so it would no longer be seen 12 noon until 3 p.m.

A strange supernatural darkness settled down over the world

No simple phenomenon 

There are instances in history when darkness sometimes precedes earthquakes when a smoky haze obscures the sun and gives the impression of the close of day. But what happened at Calvary was not a simple phenomenon. Nothing in this passage indicates a sand storm.

Matthew simply says the sun failed without indicating the cause.

“Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour”

“darkness fell over the whole land”

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

Mark. 15:33 And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

It was a sudden and great darkness.

All at once, suddenly, unexpectedly the whole scene at Calvary shut down and a death silence covered the land, and the Miraculous darkness appeared to have vanished as quickly three hours later just before Christ died.

There is independent historical evidence of this miraculous event. The second century Christian leader Tertullian responds to an atheist saying, “At the moment of Christ’s death, the light departed from the sun, and the land was darkened at noonday, which wonder is related in your own annals and is preserved in your archives to this day.” 

Extensive darkness

How extensive was this darkness? How much of the earth did it cover? Did it cover the whole of the daylight half of the earth or just the land of Judea? We are not told in this passage. But it was extensive and compelling enough to grab the attention of the people of Israel for three hours. (in my opinion the Whole world, because Jesus died for the Whole world)

“All the land” can refer to “all the earth” or to “the whole country” as land

of Israel. I think Matthew would have us think this was an enormous event that cast darkness over the entire creation. It was a cosmic event.

Penetrating darkness

The darkness had a concentration of force, like that of the three days’ darkness in Egypt, while at the same time there was light in Goshen where the Israelite slaves lived.

Moses tells us the darkness extended over all the land.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt.’”

Exodus 10:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.

“Even darkness which may be felt”.

The darkness had a concentration of force

In Egypt there was a “thick darkness” that lasted for three days. It was so dense “they did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings” It was miraculous. Exodus 10:22-23.

The hand of God cut off the light of the sun for three days. God did it.

The Egyptian’s chief god was RA, representing the sun, and Isis was their moon goddess.

They were supposed to control the light. The god the Egyptians worshipped was obscure

''The Plague of blood''

Egyptians had darkness which they could not light up.

 

Israel had a light which they could not put out! 

“Israel had a light which they could not put out”

How deep was the Darkness at Calvary?

We are simply told only there was “darkness.” You are made to feel the 

sudden hush over the scene. It was not twilight. This was penetrating, thick frightening darkness. Sela

Supernatural darkness

The whole country was covered with darkness. Matthew probably sees the darkness as a fulfillment of Amos 8:9,

Amos 8:9 “The time is coming when I will make the sun go down at noon and the earth grow dark in daytime”

The only way to try to explain this “darkness” over the land when Christ died is to accept the fact that it was supernatural. God did it and He simply did not tell us how He did it. There was a visible suspension of the order of nature.

The Creator stepped into His creation and caused “darkness” to suddenly cover the land. It was a supernatural manifestation in nature. God did it! Nature was in sympathy with its Maker during those 

''horrible three hours of suffering.''

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

He saw in a vision evidently about ''The ninth hour'' of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.

Acts 10:3 He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.

For the law was given by Moses,

but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ 

The Ninth hour of the day - three o'clock, the hour of the evening sacrifice. But he had been "fasting until that hour" perhaps from the sixth hour

Acts 10:30 And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,

They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.

Acts 8:23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.

An interesting thing about gall. It was the mainstay of the Roman Army. It was composed of apple cider vinegar, or red wine vinegar (depending onlocation), water, honey and sea salt.

 

This combination enabled the Roman Army to march non-stop each day. The army would eat a meal in the morning and a meal at night but gall was world renowned, in the times of the Romans’ rise to power, as a drink concocted by the gods to enable men to be more god-like in their endurance.

What the Roman soldier was doing was trying to keep Christ alive longer so they could watch him suffer longer.

And when they had crucified Him, they parted His garments, and did cast lots, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Prophet,

They divided My garments among them, and upon my vesture did cast lots.

And they sat and watched him there.

 

John 19:19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read

:

JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

They set up also over His Head this cause written,  
This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

 Behold The Man

AD 33 Crucifixion. ''Behold The Man''

A Life Crucified at the age of 33,

And there were two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. And they that passed by, reviled him, wagging their heads,
And saying, Thou that destroyest the Temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.Likewise also the high Priests mocking Him, with the Scribes, and Elders, and Pharisees.

‘’A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God’’

“And yet His work has been finished since the creation of the world” 

Hebrews 4:14-16 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all pointstempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. 

No priest, nor pastor, nor preacher, nor president, nor king, nor dictator dare now bar the way to God’s presence.

The First Exodus. ''Coming out of Egypt''

No man nor woman shall stand between me and God. I need no burning bush, nor a miraculous vision, nor a voice to say, “The place where thou standest is Holy Ground.” Every mountain side can now be my Temple, and every cornfield can be a Holy of Holies.

I hear Jesus knock at the Door of my soul, and Jehovah, Himself enters and abides with me. We sup together the communion of abundant life. The “I Am” of Moses in the desert is now my “I AM,” or rather the “ I will be what I will be.” He is ever speaking in this Holy Place.“To your weakness I will be Strength; to your worthlessness I will be Worthiness: to your darkness I will be Light: to your death I will be Life.

The Rent Veil is Revelation:

This newly unfurled curtain Reveals His attributes and makes Him more fully knowable. He is so Approachable!

''He is so Approachable''

God bless you

Josie Hagen



Wilt u de brieven per mail ontvangen, stuur dan een bericht naar 
josie_hagen@yahoo.com.au