The Meaning of the Cross, Day 30
The Darkness at the Cross
Welcome Day 30 of our series, “40 Days of the Cross.” Each day we are taking just a few minutes to look at a word which will help us better understand the meaning of the cross. Today’s word is darkness.
One of the unusual things that took place when Jesus was on the cross was an unnatural darkness. In describing the crucifixion, In Matthew 27:45, Matthew writes, “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.”
In the Jewish marking of time the sixth hour is noon and the ninth hour is 3:00 pm. There’s no natural reason for darkness to rule the sky in the middle of the day. This was a supernatural action from God.
What does this supernatural darkness mean? One probable answer is that throughout scripture, a darkened sky was a sign of judgment from God. From the time of the Pharaoh who held the children of Israel captive in Egypt, through the prophets, and into the book of Revelation, we see darkness in the sky as a sign of God’s judgment.
There, as Jesus hung on the cross on a hill outside of Jerusalem, we see the darkness of God’s judgment. What was God judging? The Bible tells us that Jesus did not sin, so God wasn’t judging Jesus. Instead, God was judging the sin for which Jesus was being sacrificed. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
The darkness of the cross was a sign of God’s judgment on our sin. But listen to this: because of that judgment - that darkness, that sacrifice - we no longer have to dwell in the darkness! We are brought into the glorious light of God’s presence and freed from the darkness of sin. The light of God’s presence dwells within us because of the darkness and silence of the cross. (We’ll talk more about silence on Monday.)
After we pray today, I encourage you to take a little time to consider how the darkness surrounding the cross brings us the light of God’s salvation.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your judgment on sin, signified by the darkness surrounding the cross. May we seek to flee the darkness and run towards Your light. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Thanks for reading today.
Continued Monday
