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Darkness over the land

Dear BPCWA worshipper,

This past week, many tourists flocked to Exmouth to catch the total solar eclipse which was visible there. This happened at about 11:30 am on Thursday, when the daylight was plunged into darkness as if it were night. A solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and the earth. When this happens, the rays of the sun are blocked from the earth and the sky turns into darkness with only the outermost circular light from the sun left viewable. In the recent eclipse in Exmouth, it was like a night sky lightened by a full moon – just before noon! On the other hand for us in Perth, we witnessed only a partial solar eclipse, where the brightness of the sun was only slightly covered by the moon. As expected, this event was excitedly reported on the news channels.

A day when the sun was darkened.  As we have just commemorated Good Friday, many of us may have read the accounts of Christ’s passion and crucifixion. After Christ endured betrayal, was deserted by His disciples, and had false accusations raised against him at an unfair trial, we are told that “it was the third hour, and they crucified him” (Mk 15:25). During the New Testament times, the day was divided into four parts. The first hour was the time from sunrise to the second part of the day. The second part, which lasted till noon, was called by them the third hour. By the end of the third hour, it would have been at noon, with the sun overhead and shining brightly in the day. We are then told further that “when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour” (Mk 15:33), a fact repeated in three of the four gospels.  The sixth hour would begin at noon and last till about three o’clock in the afternoon. Luke further describes that during this early afternoon period “the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.” (Lu 23:45).

It was an actual darkness. With the recent solar eclipse fresh on our minds, we would probably assume that this was a solar eclipse. Scientists however may possibly disagree, since solar eclipses typically last a few minutes before the planetary system’s movement once again reveal the sun’s rays upon the earth. This causes some to even think that these gospel accounts were not actual historic accounts and instead attribute such mentions to being symbolic of judgement. However, the Bible is the book of God and tells us of things that can defy science. The Creator God who spoke the universe (including the sun, moon, and earth) into existence transcends the laws of science which He created. How it happened, we cannot be sure. But when it is so clearly documented in the gospels, there is no reason to rationalize it away simply because science may not have an answer for it.

The reason for the darkness. Have you ever been plunged into sudden darkness and experienced the fear that gripped you without light? God uses light and darkness to teach us about the spiritual. Physical darkness in the Bible is at times symbolic of the horrors of God’s judgement. We have many accounts where darkness has been mentioned – even early in the Bible of the plagues upon the children of Egypt when God through Moses sent “a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days” (Ex 10:22), a punishment upon Pharaoh for his hardness of heart in rejecting the demands of God for His children in Egypt. Then there is the warning of God’s judgement on “The great day of the LORD . . . even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly” (Zep 1:14). This terrible time “is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness” (Zep 1:15). The darkness coming upon the land from the sixth to the ninth hour at the crucifixion of Christ was the terrible judgement of the Almighty Thrice Holy God coming upon the Lamb of God, the very Son of God, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Ro 3:25). While we are familiar with the theological term of Christ’s propitiation, what Christ endured in those hours of darkness upon the earth was the absolute horror, intense agony, woe, and isolation being poured upon Him. Christ, as our Substitute, bore the full payment of God’s judgement for our sins. Christ, your Saviour, took the punishment that you would otherwise have had to bear. This punishment is more than what is already an agonisingly painful crucifixion. The payment for sins isn’t merely an abstract theory or a concept but is a physical reality. The payment was paid in full that day on Calvary by the Creator, the Son of God, the Prince of Glory. As the hymn writer well writes, “Well might the sun in darkness hide, and shut its glories in, when God, the mighty maker, died for his own creature’s sin.”

A darkness awaits all who reject Christ’s work and offer of salvation. What Christ bore on His body as God-man that day, we will never fully know nor understand. This is a practical experience that we don’t want to experience. But readers must not forget that the ultimate judgement for sin is in hell, where unbelievers will “be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Mt 8:12). That darkness will never end. Once you are there, the suffering will last for all eternity. Are you sure of your salvation today? If not, come in humility before Christ who bore it all. He offers you the gift of salvation today. Come and plead for salvation in His Name, for “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Ac 4:12). Why would you turn away from such a salvation?

But for those who have been saved, let us learn to love our Saviour even more, knowing what He has borne on our behalf, “But drops of tears can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away; ’tis all that I can do”. It is infinite love that caused the Father to have “made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2Co 5:21). It must cause us to return ourselves to Him wholeheartedly to live for Him henceforth. As we remember even how the momentary darkness of the eclipse blocked the light of the sun upon the earth, let us also remember that as children of light, we have a calling to live out,

1Pe 2:9   “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:”

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor