“And He will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.'” – Isaiah 25:8, 9
“And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'” – Mark 15:33, 34
It was 3:00pm. It had been dark since noon. The last three hours of the suffering of Jesus had been an event of cosmic proportions. All of creation bowed its’ head as the Savior of heaven and earth struggled to breathe. This makes sense because in our minds “darkness” usually accompanies death. The “light” of one’s life dims and goes out as they die. This is the work of death…but…at 3:00pm on that Friday, something else happened.
There were several things that occurred at the “ninth hour” that day. First, the last three phrases spoken by Jesus were uttered at this moment. The Scripture tells us that after three hours of silence He rallies to speak three things “loudly” from the cross.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)
“It is finished!” (John 19:30)
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46)
Though the exact order is hard to determine, all three of these statements were spoken as Jesus died. That brings us to the second thing that happened at 3:00pm…Jesus died. He “yielded up His spirit” (Matthew 27:50). He “breathed His last” (Mark 15:37/Luke 23:46). “He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” (John 19:30). Yes, it is certain that Jesus, the Messiah, the Promised One, the Son of God…our Savior died.
But, there was one more thing that happened at 3:00pm that we sometimes miss and, today, I want us to notice…the darkness ended. The testimony of all four Gospels is that at the “ninth hour” there was light! The death of Jesus did not bring the darkness that we normally associate with the end of life…it brought light! Unlike any other death that had occurred before, the death of Jesus changed things. The darkness of death was eliminated once and for all. Just as Isaiah prophesied above, death has been swallowed up and salvation had come! This is what inspired the Apostle Paul to write,
“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin…but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 15:54-56
I am reminded of the chorus of that old Gospel tune,
“I saw the light. I saw the light. No more darkness, no more night. Now I am so happy, no sorrow in sight. Praise the Lord, I saw the light!” – Hank Williams, Sr.
Are you afraid of the dark? I want to remind you today that the death of Jesus brought LIGHT and not darkness. It brought victory, not defeat! We no longer need to fear death and the darkness that it brings. The death of Jesus ended the darkness. When He died at 3:00pm on that Friday afternoon…the lights came on!