Holy Week ... Friday
I’m not afraid of the dark! I just don’t like it. It’s ... well ... it’s not light.
It was dark on the first day, until Creator God proclaimed, “Let there be light.” And when God, with His Almighty Hand, flipped on the lights, it wasn’t dark. He said, “Light is good!” (Genesis 1:3-4)
During the days of Pharaoh and Moses, it was dark for three consecutive days in Egypt when God poured out darkness on the Egyptian people as a plague of His wrathful judgment. 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 when 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, “for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV)
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)
With His Mighty Hand, God flipped on the lights...
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)