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On Friday 29th of March 2024 Christians around the world celebrate what is called Good Friday. The title of our message “The darkest day” was chosen because according to the scriptural account, darkness fell on the Earth at the sixth hour. And when the sixth hour came, darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour. Mark 15:33 |
I have heard many sermons about how God the father had to turn His back on his only Son at that moment and rightly so because Jesus did not just take away our sin—He became sin, but is that the reason for the darkness? A priestly ministry was being performed and a transferral took place. If He had merely taken away sin, without totally dealing with the very principle of sin, we would remain forever in a fallen sinful state. In the old Testament Tabernacle worship, the high priest had to enter the outer court as we all do, through the only entrance available in the tabernacle complex. Jesus is the door. The first thing that he saw was an altar on which sacrifice by the shedding of blood and burned offering was made. He then had to go wash at the brass Laver for two reasons. The first was that by making the very sacrifice that God had commanded, it contaminated the man. He then had to wash in fresh water and so doing, he peered down at his own reflection. He needed to see who he was and where he stood before God before proceeding any further. The significance to Christians is that this represents the washing of water by the word of God. The priest then entered into the holy place where he saw the golden candlestick that was the only illumination inside. All worship outside was in the natural realm but once he entered into God’s dimension, the natural was replaced by the supernatural or Spirit. Without that, all of our worship and understanding is in the realm of the natural. | I have heard many sermons about how God the father had to turn His back on his only Son at that moment and rightly so because Jesus did not just take away our sin—He became sin, but is that the reason for the darkness? A priestly ministry was being performed and a transferral took place. If He had merely taken away sin, without totally dealing with the very principle of sin, we would remain forever in a fallen sinful state. In the old Testament Tabernacle worship, the high priest had to enter the outer court as we all do, through the only entrance available in the tabernacle complex. Jesus is the door. The first thing that he saw was an altar on which sacrifice by the shedding of blood and burned offering was made. He then had to go wash at the brass Laver for two reasons. The first was that by making the very sacrifice that God had commanded, it contaminated the man. He then had to wash in fresh water and so doing, he peered down at his own reflection. He needed to see who he was and where he stood before God before proceeding any further. The significance to Christians is that this represents the washing of water by the word of God. The priest then entered into the holy place where he saw the golden candlestick that was the only illumination inside. All worship outside was in the natural realm but once he entered into God’s dimension, the natural was replaced by the supernatural or Spirit. Without that, all of our worship and understanding is in the realm of the natural. |
For he is the complete fullness of deity living in human form. And our own completeness is now found in him. We are completely filled with God as Christ’s fullness overflows within us. He is the Head of every kingdom and authority in the universe! Through our union with him we have experienced circumcision of heart. All of the guilt and power of sin has been cut away and is now extinct because of what Christ, the Anointed One, has accomplished for us. For we’ve been buried with him into his death. Our “baptism into death” also means we were raised with him when we believed in God’s resurrection power, the power that raised him from death’s realm. This “realm of death” describes our former state, for we were held in sin’s grasp. But now, we’ve been resurrected out of that “realm of death” never to return, for we are forever alive and forgiven of all our sins! He canceled out every legal violation we had on our record and the old arrest warrant that stood to indict us. He erased it all—our sins, our stained soul—he deleted it all and they cannot be retrieved! Everything we once were in Adam has been placed onto his cross and nailed permanently there as a public display of cancellation. Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner; they were his! Colossians 2:9-15 |
The account states that darkness fell and lasted for three hours. This darkness “may” have been a solar eclipse, but I doubt that. It may have been much more than a natural phenomenon. I conducted a bible search on darkness and was amazed at the results.
When God issues a command “Light be”, the dark was separated from light. It was not the difference between natural light as in daytime and the darkness of night as the light of the sun, the moon and stars came into existence from verse fourteen onwards. In Genesis 1:13, the earth rose up out of the water, symbolic of the resurrection life of Christ. We may think of the cross in a sad or somewhat negative way and to a certain extent that is true, but it is really a glorious event. Good Friday was the means to an end. Resurrection day is what really matters most. | For he is the complete fullness of deity living in human form. And our own completeness is now found in him. We are completely filled with God as Christ’s fullness overflows within us. He is the Head of every kingdom and authority in the universe! Through our union with him we have experienced circumcision of heart. All of the guilt and power of sin has been cut away and is now extinct because of what Christ, the Anointed One, has accomplished for us. For we’ve been buried with him into his death. Our “baptism into death” also means we were raised with him when we believed in God’s resurrection power, the power that raised him from death’s realm. This “realm of death” describes our former state, for we were held in sin’s grasp. But now, we’ve been resurrected out of that “realm of death” never to return, for we are forever alive and forgiven of all our sins! He canceled out every legal violation we had on our record and the old arrest warrant that stood to indict us. He erased it all—our sins, our stained soul—he deleted it all and they cannot be retrieved! Everything we once were in Adam has been placed onto his cross and nailed permanently there as a public display of cancellation. Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner; they were his! Colossians 2:9-15 |
For he is the complete fullness of deity living in human form. And our own completeness is now found in him. We are completely filled with God as Christ’s fullness overflows within us. He is the Head of every kingdom and authority in the universe! Through our union with him we have experienced circumcision of heart. All of the guilt and power of sin has been cut away and is now extinct because of what Christ, the Anointed One, has accomplished for us. For we’ve been buried with him into his death. Our “baptism into death” also means we were raised with him when we believed in God’s resurrection power, the power that raised him from death’s realm. This “realm of death” describes our former state, for we were held in sin’s grasp. But now, we’ve been resurrected out of that “realm of death” never to return, for we are forever alive and forgiven of all our sins! He canceled out every legal violation we had on our record and the old arrest warrant that stood to indict us. He erased it all—our sins, our stained soul—he deleted it all and they cannot be retrieved! Everything we once were in Adam has been placed onto his cross and nailed permanently there as a public display of cancellation. Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner; they were his! Colossians 2:9-15 |
When He knew He had fulfilled this part of making sacrifice, He cried out in triumph teleō It is finshed. What many people think was a sad day, or a dark day, was sad and dark indeed, but may I say that it is from our human perspective. From God’s viewpoint, it was a triumph. Everything that could possibly separate us from God has been eradicated and we are now reconciled, adopted as Sons and Daughters of the King. It is not a Jewish Passover, but because Jesus is our Passover, I wish you Chag, Pesach Sameach. Robert |
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