Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The first hour of the day, according to the method of time-keeping back then, began at 7am.  From Mark’s Gospel, we learn that the actual crucifixion of Jesus took place at the third hour, which began at 9am.  And for the next three hours, Calvary was a busy place.  
The sign that described Jesus as the King of the Jews was put in place.  
Bitter wine was offered to Jesus but He refused to take it.  
Jesus called on God to forgive those who crucified Him because they did “not know what they were doing.”  
People passing by stopped to abuse Him and blaspheme.  The chief priests, the scribes and the elders also took time to mock Jesus.  The soldiers joined in with this spectacle and cast lots over His robe.  
The two robbers, initially, joined in with the mocking before one repented and used his last day on earth to prepare for eternity.  
And as a faithful Son, Jesus had also made arrangements for His mother to be cared for by John.  

But then midday arrived.  And midday, the time when the Sun was at its highest point in the sky, began the sixth hour of the day.  
And Matthew tells us that “from the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.”  The hustle and bustle surrounding the first three hours of Jesus’ crucifixion was replaced by darkness.  

And we search in vain among the Gospels for a record of anything that happened during those three hours.  John does not make reference to these hours at all and Matthew, Mark, and Luke simply tell us that from the sixth hour to the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.  

And so, on this Good Friday morning, we are going to meditate on the significance of this darkness.  We are going to see that in these three hours our Lord and Saviour moves on from the travesty of His crucifixion to the passion of being crucified. 

For here in these verses we see that Darkness covers the agony of our crucified Saviour.  And as we meditate on the significance of this darkness, we want to see that it is 
a Supernatural darkness, a symbolic darkness, and a Suitable darkness.

Firstly then, we note that this is indeed a Supernatural Darkness.  
1.	Now, in some ways, it might seem rather unnecessary to describe this darkness as supernatural.  After all, it is midday!  And yet, it is necessary precisely because of this.  
a.	You see, because of the unusual nature of a three hour darkness beginning at Midday, many have sought a naturalistic explanation.  
i.	For instance, Luke, in His Gospel, tells us that “the sun stopped shining.”  Other versions have it as “the sun was obscured” or “was darkened.”  Now, the Greek word that Luke uses here is Ekleipo.  And I am sure you can hear the resemblance in this word to the English word eclipse.  Ekleipo/Eclipse.  
1.	And so, some have suggested that this is simply an eclipse of the sun, nothing supernatural at all.  
2.	The problem with this view though is that Jesus’ death took place at the time of the Passover, which is during the full moon.  An eclipse is simply not possible at the time of full moon.  And even if it were an eclipse, like those we have probably all witnessed at some time, the moon passing in front of the sun produces, at most, a few moments of gloom, not three hours of darkness.  

ii.	Other suggestions put forward include a severe thunderstorm or the famous sirocco sandstorms which are known to occur in that region from time to time.  
1.	These sandstorms would collect the sand off the African coast and hurl them across the Mediterranean creating astonishing weather conditions.  
2.	But these sandstorms will last from half a day to a few days.  

iii.	And in addition to these facts, there is no doubt that this was a darkness that was localized to the area of Palestine.  
1.	There are a couple of authors from around the time who mention something of an eclipse or a darkening in other places, but the lack of more references to something as striking as a three hour darkness in the middle of the day suggests that their words were influenced by accounts originating from this area.  
2.	This darkness was very much a symbolic darkness, as we shall see in our next point, but it was symbolic only for the people of Israel.  And this is why this darkness descended upon this Land.

b.	Well, the fact is that we simply do not know what atmospheric conditions brought about this darkness.  How the light of the sun was obscured cannot be known by us.  But what we do know is that behind this darkness, just as behind all else, stands the providential hand of God in heaven.  
i.	And this is not the first time such supernatural phenomena have occurred.
1.	In Luke 2, we are told that Shepherds were “keeping watch over their flocks by night.  Suddenly, an Angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.”  
ii.	And so, just as a supernatural light announced the birth of the Messiah, so a supernatural darkness shrouded His death.  
1.	The same God who created light and darkness in the first place, the same God who covered Egypt in darkness for three days and yet gave light to Israel in Goshen, the same God who caused the sun to stand still in the sky over Israel’s armies, caused a thick, cold, and gloomy darkness to descend upon Calvary for these three hours.  

Well, acknowledging then the supernatural nature of this darkness, what then did it mean?  
And here we go on to see that this was also a Symbolic Darkness.

1.	People of God, one word serves best to describe what it was that this darkness symbolized.      That word is judgment.  Now, there are a number of aspects to this judgement, as we shall see, but this a darkness of judgment.
a.	And we see this as we recall the very first page of the Bible.  
i.	In Genesis 3:1, God said, “Let there be light.”  
1.	In order that God’s power, majesty, and lovingkindness may be seen by all, His first creative word was “let there be light.”  
ii.	Now though, Jesus hangs on the cross and commences, in earnest, His mediatorial work. (Boys and girls – mediatorial means work on behalf of someone else.)
iii.	And even the first gift of creation is stripped from Him as He is forced to do His work in darkness.  
b.	I made reference also a moment ago to Egypt.  
i.	In Exodus 10, we read about the ninth plague that came upon Egypt because of the hardness of Pharoah’s heart.  God said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand towards the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt – darkness that can be felt.”  Moses did this and darkness descended over the land for three whole days!  
1.	And what was this darkness if not a symbol of God’s judgment?  
ii.	You will recall also that immediately after the darkness was lifted by God, the tenth plague came as a further symbol of judgment upon Egypt, as every firstborn son was killed by the Angel of the Lord.  
iii.	Thus, after three days of darkness in Egypt, the first born son dies under God’s judgment, and after three hours of darkness in Calvary, the first born Son dies under God’s judgment.   

c.	And as we come to the prophets we find the same theme of judgment and darkness repeated again and again.  
i.	For example, in Isaiah 13:9 we read, “See, the day of the LORD is coming--a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger-- to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.  The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light.  The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.”  
ii.	But perhaps the clearest association of this darkness and the prophecies of judgment can be found in Amos 8.  There Amos says, “’In that day,’ declares the Sovereign LORD, ‘I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.  I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your singing into weeping.  I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads.  I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.’”

iii.	Now, it needs to be said that these prophecies are written with the Day of Judgment in view, specifically.  But, even that being said, how fitting that that day should be connected to this day by the symbol of darkness that descends upon Calvary.

d.	Well, the association between judgment and darkness is even seen in the words of Jesus during His earthly ministry.  
i.	Three times, just as he does here in Matthew 8, Jesus spoke about the Jews who failed to receive Him as Messiah, saying, “The subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  
ii.	Darkness, according to Jesus, is associated with the judgment of hell and damnation.

e.	And so, the darkness that fell upon Calvary was indeed a symbol of judgment.  
i.	The darkness revealed God’s judgment on this terrible crime.  
1.	The one declared innocent, three times, was being unjustly murdered.  
ii.	The darkness revealed God’s judgment upon Jesus Himself.  
1.	He who had agreed to bear the sins of the world on His shoulders now had to face the wrath of God in the darkness.  
iii.	The darkness revealed God’s judgment on the people and land of Israel.  
1.	Those who had closed their eyes to the light of the world received a foretaste of the darkness of eternal Hell.  

2.	And yet, judgment was not all that this darkness symbolized.  
a.	No, the darkness served also to symbolise what appeared to be the victory of the powers of darkness over the Sun of Righteousness.  
i.	It is for good reason that the disciples, typified by Cleopas and his friend on the road to Emmaus, were left sorrowful and dumbfounded about what had happened to Jesus.  After all, these events hardly seemed to symbolize anything else but defeat.  
b.	And finally, the darkness symbolized the despair and anguish and agony then being suffered by Jesus.  For it was during those three hours that He endured the infinite and eternal wrath of God for your sins and for mine.

Thus, we may surely agree that this Supernatural and symbolic darkness serves also as a Suitable Darkness.  

1.	Brothers and Sisters, around this time last year I preached to you also on Good Friday morning, only it was not here but at Cornwall St.  
a.	And you may remember that in that sermon I described the horrors of crucifixion.  
i.	And we should never minimize the realities of the pain and agony that Jesus suffered with those jagged nails digging deeper and deeper into His flesh, the severe fever, and the unquenchable thirst.  
1.	Indeed, Galatians 3:13 makes it very clear that Jesus had to die in this precise manner in order to be the acceptable sacrifice; He had to hang on a cross to redeem us from the curse of the law.  

2.	But what this darkness indicates, and what the cry that was wrung from His body at the end of those three hours of darkness indicates is that the deeper agony that He suffered was the agony of His soul.  
a.	“For about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice … My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”  And what His words reveal is that during the time of darkness, He, as the Apostles’ Creed says, “descended into hell.”  

b.	Now, to understand this, we need to return again to the opening pages of the Bible.  
i.	In the Garden of Eden, you will recall that God made covenant with Adam.  
1.	Describing what we call the Covenant of works, God said to the first Adam, “Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”  
(a)	In other words, God said to Adam, keep my commandments and you will live.  Render to me perfect obedience and you will live.  
2.	But Adam chose disobedience and death.  And because all born since Adam are connected with him, we too chose and choose disobedience and death.  

ii.	And the only way for this condition to be remedied for was for a greater Adam to come who could undo what Adam had done.  And Jesus is that greater Adam.  
1.	Up till now, He has rendered the active obedience that God required of man.  He has kept all of God’s commandments, perfectly.  
2.	But more is required of Him.  
(a)	You see, the penalty of Adam’s, your’s, and my sin must be paid.  
(b)	The passive obedience that willingly endures the wrath of God against sin must also be rendered.  
(c)	He must make atonement for the sins of all those that belong to Him.

3.	And here, at the commencement of the sixth hour, as darkness descends, God places the covenant of works on the table of judgment.  He and Jesus stand before each other.  Jesus must be judged and tried and weighed to see whether His mediatorial sacrifice is sufficient to bear the weight of God’s wrath.  
(a)	Will His obedience be perfect obedience?  
(b)	Will His suffering be sufficient?  
(c)	Can this Mediator fulfil the impossible task of suffering an infinity of punishment in a finite space of time?     

4.	Yes, humans can make a cross and hang a man on it.  But that is nothing in comparison to the instruments of punishment that God now applies to Jesus Christ.  
(a)	God, His Father, removes the light of his presence from Him and thrusts Him into outer darkness.
(b)	God, His Father, holds every sin of history before the eyes of Jesus and punishes it in Him.
(c)	God, His Father, ensures that Christ’s teaching on the agonies and realities of hell is borne of His own experience.
(d)	God, His Father, turns His back on the human nature of Jesus Christ.  

iii.	It is not possible for us to know or comprehend the terror and the agony and the despair that He endured in that time.  It is not possible for us to understand the devastations that God the Father cast upon Him amidst that darkest darkness.  
1.	But His cry reveals the extent of His agonies as He was forsaken by His Father.

c.	It was indeed a suitable darkness that covered the agony of Jesus Christ.  
i.	It is right and appropriate that light does not reveal the nature of His agonies.  
ii.	It is right and appropriate that the Gospel writer does not reveal the nature of His agonies.  
iii.	Nevertheless, Jesus’ own words do reveal that He suffered terrible agony.  

3.	But in all of this, what is most important is not that you understand the nature of this three hour darkness.  What is most important is that you realize that this Darkness covered the agony of your crucified Saviour.  You must see and believe that what was judged in the midst of that darkness was your sin.  

a.	And this is seen in four words that we have not yet considered: 
i.	“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.”  
ii.	Have you ever paused to ask yourself why these words are recorded in Aramaic?  
1.	We are straight away given a translation, why do we need the original?  Why didn’t Matthew just say, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”  

iii.	Brothers and Sisters, young people, and boys and girls, the reason these words are recorded like this is because the Holy Spirit wants you to hear Jesus’ words for yourself.  
1.	Every time you read or hear these words, you stand in front of the cross of Calvary.  
2.	You strain through the darkness to look up at your bleeding and torn Saviour.  
3.	You look upon His pain wracked face and hear Him cry out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.”  
iv.	No answer to this cry comes from the darkened heavens.  
1.	But what this cry reveals is that Jesus Christ knows that the God who had forsaken Him is still His God; “My God, My God.”  

v.	You see, the cry of Jesus Christ is heard in heaven.  
1.	His sacrifice is accepted!  
2.	By His blood, He has obtained redemption for His people.  
3.	The Father’s wrath is appeased.  
4.	And the darkest darkness begins to lift!

One would like to think that at that moment, all those there present would have fallen down to worship Jesus as Messiah.  
They have witnessed a profoundly Supernatural darkness.  
They have witnessed an obviously symbolic darkness, which should have wrung every OT alarm bell they knew!  
And they have witnessed a darkness Suitable for covering the agonies of Israel’s Messiah.  

The facts are though that just as they stubbornly rejected the Light who had come into the world, so now they reject the darkness that announces His work of salvation.

Well you too have heard about the Darkness that covered the agonies of Jesus.  

On this Good Friday, have you seen again what your sins brought upon Jesus, your Saviour?    

Do you praise Him for enduring the eternal darkness of judgment for you?  

And are you more determined now to love Him and serve Him?  

May God grant each of you this grace.  Amen.