“The earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths” until God said, “Let there be light!” At His sovereign command, “there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:1–4, CSB).
It was dark for three consecutive days in Egypt when God poured out a soupy, thick darkness on the Egyptian people as the nineth plague of His wrathful judgment. “One person could not see another, and for three days they did not move from where they were” (Exodus 10:23, CSB). The darkness was stifling, heavy, painful. It was a “darkness to be felt” (Exodus 10:21, ESV).
And on Friday of Holy Week, from noon until three o’clock, darkness covered the land (Luke 23:44). As Jesus, hanging upon the cross, bore the wrathful judgment of His Holy Father, there was intense darkness!
It was dark as the “Lamb of God” carried “away the sins of the world!” (John 1:29, ESV).
It was dark as “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24, ESV).
It was dark when, “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21, CSB).
And, it was dark when Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, ESV).
But, at three o’clock that afternoon, the victory was won, the triumph complete, the foe was vanquished, the price was fully paid, and Jesus cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30, ESV).
Today, Jesus is “the light that shines in the darkness.” No indeed, “the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5, ESV).
Our Living Savior said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12, ESV).
