Darkness That Covered the Land (04/11/2004)

We're gonna be in Matthew chapter 27 verse 33, but before we go there,

I want to I want us to read a couple of passages out of the Old Testament I'm gonna read some from Isaiah chapter 60 in verse 1 and Then Amos chapter 8 that's the one you may need a head start on So be looking for Amos chapter 8 while you're looking for that.

I want to read to you from Isaiah chapter 60 in verse 1 It says arise shine for thy light has come and the glory of the

Lord is risen upon thee For behold the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people but the

Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee and the

Gentiles shall come to the light and Kings to the brightness of thy rising.

I'm going to speak to you this morning about the darkness that covered the land While Jesus was on the cross and what it means and of course the light of the resurrection this passage in Isaiah chapter 60

Says behold the darkness shall cover the land and gross that means thick

Darkness a darkness like you can feel how many of you've ever been in Carlsbad caverns when they turn the lights off You can feel the darkness in front of your face.

You can just feel it. It's a thick darkness This is the word that's used here.

And this is Prophetic it says that there is coming a day when this would happen and it's literally prophesying the day when

Jesus was suspended on the cross and Darkness covered the earth the

Bible says which we'll read about that in a few moments But this is a prophecy of this event. The darkness shall cover the earth gross darkness shall cover the people but the

Lord shall arise upon thee that is a Prophecy of the resurrection and his glory shall be seen his glory.

The glory of the Lord is the resurrection morning and the Gentiles shall come to the light and Kings to the brightness of our rising now turn to Amos chapter 8 verse 1.

I Want you to see this prophetic statement of what the times would be like when this event takes place it tells a little bit about what

Israel's heart would be like and So it helps us understand why the

Jews for the most part missed their Messiah Because look at the state their heart is in Amos chapter 8 verse 1

Before I read it. I want to give us a warning. Do you know that the Bible indicates that if we're not careful?

The state of God's people near the second coming will be the same If we're not careful the state of mind that God's people will have just before his second coming as a mind of complacence a mind of Sleeping a

Mind of going to and fro and buying giving in marriage and eating and drinking and Not really spending time with the

Lord and thinking about him and meditating upon him It's the way it was before his first coming

Amos chapter 8 verse 1 thus hath the Lord God showed unto me and behold a basket of summer fruit and He said

Amos what seest thou and I said a basket of summer fruit Then said the

Lord and to me the end is come upon my people of Israel. I will not again pass by them anymore

That's an amazing statement I Will not pass by them anymore.

This is prophesied of a time That would come in Amos future

Where the people of Israel would be so far from their God that is as if God's presence is not with them anymore and The songs of the temple shall be howlings in the day

Say it the Lord God There shall be many dead bodies in every place. They shall cast them forth with silence

Hear this. Oh ye that swallow up the needy even to make the poor

Of the land to fail now, it's about to talk about the character of God's people

They were taking advantage of the poor verse 5 says When they say when will the new moon be gone that we may sell corn?

It's as if they were sitting in church looking at their watch wait until they can get home and get their business done

When will the new moon be gone, do you know what happens at the new moon? The Passover feast for sure is always done during the new moon the

Passover feast was happening the day Jesus was crucified and It says let it be gone and over with so that we may sell corn and Let the

Sabbath be over with that we may set forth wheat Making the ephah small and the shekel great and falsifying the balances by deceit

They were not only wanting to do business during the Sabbath That's all they could think about was making money, but they were making it in an ill -gotten way

They were cheating the people with false balances as they weighed the wheat for sale

Why did they do that verse 6 says so that we may buy the poor with silver and The needy for a pair of shoes if you can make the people poor enough then you can buy them as slaves and Then sell the refuse of the wheat because you see they had laid some aside when they waited they didn't put as much as they said they put and they kept some aside and they were making the poor people poor and The rich richer and they didn't care about God's feasts

They didn't care about all that it pictured all that the Passover pictured. They didn't care about that They just wanted to get away from the ceremony get home so they could make more money

The Lord has sworn by the excellency of Jacob. Surely. I will never forget any of their works

The works of this particular generation now you have to understand this is prophetic Talking about the generation of Jews that said let his blood be upon our heads and that of our children

God never forgot that never will forget that Shall not the land tremble because of this and everyone mourn that dwelleth therein and it shall rise up Holy as a flood and it shall be cast out and drowned as by the flood of Egypt speaking of the nation

And it shall come to pass in that day saith the Lord now look at this that I will cause the

Sun to go down at noon and Will darken the earth in the clear day

And I will turn your feast that's the Passover among others into sad times

You know that today the Jews when they have their Passover they don't even kill a sacrifice they have no more sacrifice

They don't know what they're doing Part of what they do in their Seder is they put an egg on the table

They don't even realize that that came out of Babylon. It's a fertility symbol. It has nothing to do with the biblical

Passover so they have nothing to joy rejoice in today as they attempt to celebrate this feast of the

Passover Which God turned in the morning for them and all their songs are turned into Lamentation and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins and baldness upon every head and I will make it as the morning of an only son as if you had lost your only son and the end thereof as a bitter day

And more frightening than that speaking to that generation of Jews He said behold the days come saith the

Lord God that I will send a famine in the land Not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water but a famine of hearing the words of the

Lord and They shall wander from sea to sea and from north even to east

They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and they shall not find it

Realize how difficult it is to get a Jewish person to hear God's Word today I've witnessed to Jews before and it is devastatingly difficult

It is just amazing To try to get them to see the simplest truths even in the

Old Testament Of course, you don't use the New Testament with them. You take them over into Isaiah 53 but they can't see the

Messiah there as clear as it is and And They shall seek the word but shall not find it in that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst

They that swear by the sin of Samaria and say thy God O Dan liveth and The manner of Beersheba liveth even they shall fall and never rise up again.

Well, we know that's true The Those who worship those gods those great nations of old are no longer in existence

All you have now are roaming Arabs that took over their land. They're not the original people who populated those places

Well now with that in mind, let's move forward to Matthew chapter 27 verse 33

Remember that the the two prophets Prophesied a day when the Sun would be darkened at noon let's see if we can find that day in this passage

Matthew chapter 27 verse 33 and when they were coming to a place called Golgotha that is to say the place of a skull and Children, I've been to this place before and this really is this mountain or hill upon which

Jesus was crucified Really does look like a human skull It looks like a human skull.

It has a place for the eye sockets It has a place for the nose and the mouth and it looks like a skull and that's why they called it called it

Golgotha because in their language that means the place of the skull and So the hill that Jesus was crucified upon looked like a skull

They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall and when he had tasted thereof he would not drink

And they crucified him and parted his garments Casting lots that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the

Prophet they parted my garments among them and upon my vesture they did cast lots and Sitting down they watched him there and I want you to watch

I want you to try to make yourself be in this place It's amazing. The scriptures are so concise that you have all of God's revelation of the universe of Man, I call this sometimes the owner's manual for a human being but it's all in a book this small

Can you imagine that what if you tried to write it? How many volumes would it have to be? The computers wouldn't hold it all if I tried to write it, but God is concise

So when you read a passage like it says and they crucified him

You know, you've got to sit there and meditate on that and view that to see it all

Because it was stated in four words But there's more there than the four words say you have to visualize this and be there and here they are

Sitting down and watching him now. Can you imagine this they nailed his hands to that cross?

Nailed his feet to that cross Raised it up and jolted it down in the hole that it was made for it and it

Disjointed I'm sure his shoulders All of this has happened he's already beaten to the place where he's not

Recognizable as a human his face is not recognizable as a human face and yet he has stayed alive through this

And now they sit down to watch him They sit down to watch

And I want you to notice what's happening at this part of the crucifixion Because we're going to come to a place that we're studying this morning in a few moments where this will cease

But this happens first they sit down to watch him and they set up over his head his accusation written

This is Jesus the king of the Jews That's all they could find as an accusation for why he was crucified

Then were there two thieves crucified with him one on the right hand one on the left and they that passed by Reviled him wagging their heads.

That's a practice of the Jews You can still see him doing it today if you go to Israel the Orthodox Jews They'll sit there and just wag their heads back and forth

Or sometimes when they pray they'll wag their head this direction But they came by and they made fun of him and they reviled him and they wagged their heads and they said

Thou that destroy us the temple and build us it in three days save thyself If thou be the

Son of God come down from the cross Likewise also the chief priests mocked him

With the scribes and the elders and they said he has saved others Himself, he cannot save if he be the king of Israel.

Let him come down from the cross and we will believe him He trusted in God.

Let him deliver him now If he will have him Or he said

I am the Son of God The thieves also which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth

They began to mocking both of them were mocking him until one of them had a change of heart

As you know now from the sixth hour

There was darkness over all the land and to the ninth hour and When this darkness begins to fall in the sixth hour and the

Jewish way of reckoning is noon And at this time when this darkness fell it's as if all the mocking and the deriding and The wagging of the heads and all of that ceased and there was a silence that accompanied this darkness

Because it was a thick darkness It was so dark we visualize it when we try to picture this some clouds coming over like it's gonna rain

That's not how this was if you read the record in the Scriptures, it was a gross thick

Darkness, it was unnatural. This was not caused by clouds. It was not caused by an eclipse of the

Sun. This was an unnatural miraculous Darkness that God himself brought over this place and it frightened him to death.

That's actually in the Scriptures We'll see that in a moment. Not literally to death, but it frightened him deeply

And all of this mocking stopped Because no one could see anything

And it got quiet and fear rose up in the hearts of those that had been mocking him

Just moments before they had been saying if he's the Son of God Let him come down from that cross if God will have him

And now all of a sudden God himself brings a miracle that's never been seen on the face of the earth since or before that day

And from the sixth hour There was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour if you read that in the in the other

Passages parallel passages it says over all the earth This was a worldwide miracle similar to the flood in its nature as far as being a miracle and About the ninth hour now the scripture is so concise now.

We've gone through three hours Of a type of suffering that you and I could not understand it wouldn't have done

God any good to write about it between the lines we just covered three hours and God simply says all of a sudden three hours later

We hear Jesus cry out with a loud voice saying Eli Eli Lama sabbath, and I that is to say my god

My god, why hast thou forsaken me? That is what ended the silence and the darkness

And all of a sudden is just quickly as it had become dark the darkness passed away and it was normal light again

And Some of them that stood there when they heard that said this man call it for Elijah and Straightway, one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar.

I guess he was feeling guilty And he put it on a reed and gave him to drink and the rest said let him be don't give him that vinegar

Don't give him any help Let us see if Elijah will come and save him

Jesus When he had cried again with a loud voice Yielded up the ghost and Behold the veil of the temple was rent and twain from the top to the bottom and the earth did quake and the rocks rent and the graves were open and many bodies of the

Saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection and Went into the

Holy City and appeared unto many now look at verse 54, this is a man who had observed these events and when the

Centurion and They that were with him those who drove the nails in his hands and feet

Watching Jesus saw the earthquake and those things that were done. They feared

Greatly one of the things that they saw that caused great fear was this darkness that had come over the whole earth and they said truly this was the

Son of God and Many women were there beholding afar off Why is that important that the

Scriptures include that because all these are eyewitnesses to this event? These women followed

Jesus from Galilee ministering to him There's a man Named William Nicholson who wrote a book called the six miracles of Calvary This book this man actually lived from 1822 to 1901.

So the book was written in the 1800s it was not published until 1927

But it was written in the 1800s. I like to read old books. Don't you? I don't like to go down to the

Ark and buy something that was written last year I like to read the things that were written a hundred years ago About the

Bible But Nicholson said this in his book and he covers the six miracles that we just read about the earthquake the darkness and so forth

But speaking of this darkness, he says the midday darkness is the first of six miracles of Calvary It is the beginning of the divine procession of signs that heralded the death of Jesus Christ Jesus had been on the cross for three hours before the darkness from 9 to 12 noon

This darkness had no natural cause There are several ways.

We know this one is that the Bible says the darkness covered the entire known world the whole land at high noon

In Matthew 27, we just read this where it says all the land was dark Until the ninth hour this word darkness comes from the

Greek word she caw, which means shade or shadow And when it uses the word all the land was covered with this darkness

It is the word gay, which means in the Greek language the whole of the globe

So this was a worldwide Darkness, not just over the land of Israel In fact in Luke chapter 23 44 it says and it was about the sixth hour and there was darkness over all

The earth until the ninth hour and the Sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst

Prophecy of Amos had come to pass the people of Israel had gotten to the place where the hearts were so wicked and So caught up in the things of the world that they didn't even see their own

Messiah that their own prophets Had prophesied for thousands of years This darkness was not natural

It was certainly not an eclipse because it lasted for three hours eclipses don't last but a few minutes

Also, it happened during the festival of the Passover Which is always only done at the time of the full moon when an eclipse would be impossible the man who wrote the book about the six miracles of Calvary said this in nature darkness always succumbs to the more powerful rays of light but here

The darkness at Calvary was so intense that it smothered the light

Those who were watching were terrified they beat their breasts and they went away

Even non -christian historians corroborate this event There is a man named

Celsus who used to be a pretty fierce opponent of Christianity about the third century But he referred to this darkness that covered the whole land at the time of the death of Christ He did not deny that it happened.

He spoke of it in his works Tertullian who was a great Christian writer at the

End of the second century wrote this as he argued against those who didn't believe in the

Lord He said to them this he said at the moment of Christ's death the light departed from the

Sun and The land was darkened at noonday Which wonder is related in your own annals and is preserved in your archives to this day?

so Tertullian pointed out that even the Non -christian writers of the day had recorded in history

That this event took place in this darkness did take place on the day of the death of Jesus Christ So no one denies it.

It's just that not many people think about it very often now need to talk about some interesting facts about This darkness and about God and darkness.

Would you turn to Genesis chapter 1? I want us to go back to The first moments of the existence of this universe and this planet

And I want you to realize that we are looking at this from our vantage point in this dimension

Not from God's who is outside of time But he gives us a little bit of information about God And we're going to find from this passage and a couple of others.

Is that God himself dwelt in the thick darkness? We don't view it that way we picture

God as being a bright light But the fact is before the creation of anything

God dwelt in thick darkness from our vantage point. That's how we would have viewed it if we could have seen that with our human eyes

God would not have been in light. He would have been engulfed with thick darkness as a matter of fact it says in Genesis 1 chapter 1 verse 2 and the earth was without form and void and Darkness was upon the face of the deep that is how it was before God's Movement upon it so we see this time as We read this

Notice that before the light was created there was God and There was matter, but there was no light

God was dwelling in the darkness with nothing and then God was dwelling in the darkness with something

That he had created and then God created light It says and the

Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and then God said let there be light and there was light

Before that there was not God was dwelling in darkness and God said the saw the light that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness and God called the light day in the darkness.

He called night. Has it ever occurred to you as you read that verse 5? Then if you read that carefully, it's clear that these

Concepts had never existed before they were given a name for the first time

Day was called day because it never existed before night was called night because it was not known and God named them day and night and The evening and the morning were the first day

These were concepts that that had not existed before and they were named for the first time So God was dwelling from our vantage point had we been able to be there like a fly on the wall

So to speak he was dwelling in darkness Turn to Exodus chapter 20 and verse 21 please and The people stood afar off and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was

You see this from our vantage point God was engulfed in thick darkness and a cloud and The Lord said unto

Moses thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven

But They did not see him with their eyes because he was engulfed in thick darkness

Deuteronomy 4 11 records the same thing It says and he came near and you stood under the mountain and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven with darkness clouds and a thick

Darkness, this is the same word that was used in Amos It's the same word that's used in Matthew describing the darkness that came upon the whole earth as Jesus was suspended on the cross after all the mocking ceased or when the mocking ceased and it was dark and it was silent and People's hearts feared from it the

Bible records This darkness is given the

Hebrew word Call Sheck which means the dark This is where God dwelt

It's called thick darkness or Offell in the

Hebrew it means gloom as of a lowering sky gross thick darkness it means

This is how it appeared when God appeared on the mount this is how it appeared at the beginning of creation where God was and The Lord spake unto them out of the midst of the fire.

He heard the voice of the words, but you saw no similitude You did not see

God Only you heard a voice and he declared unto you his covenant

Which was the Ten Commandments in John 1 18 Jesus said no man has seen

God at any time The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared him

John 3 13 says and no man hath ascended up to heaven But he that came down from heaven even the

Son of Man which is in heaven he said that by the way while he was standing on the earth talking to Nicodemus and He said the

Son of Man is in heaven. So it was both places at one time figure that out We're talking about a different dimension here

Heaven is not in our same dimension Jesus existed in both dimensions at the same time

John 6 46 not that any man has seen the Father save he which is of God He hath seen the

Father 1st Timothy 6 14 that thou keep this commandment without spot

Unrebukeable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall show

Who is the blessed and only potentate the King of Kings the Lord of Lords who only has?

Immortality in and of himself Dwelling in the light which no man can approach him to whom no man hath seen

Nor can see to whom be honor and power everlasting

Amen Now don't you find it interesting that the Bible says that God lives in the thick darkness

And yet it says that Jesus is the only one who has ever been into the heavenlies and approached the light

And seen it. Well, let's look in the scriptures and see if we can find some help to explain this seeming contradiction

Because we know it's not a contradiction Job 22 13 says and thou saith how doth

God know can he judge through the dark cloud? You see Job knew that God dwelt in darkness

From his vantage point if he were to try to view it He would have to look through a dark thick cloud that he couldn't see through And he could not see

God It may be true that God dwells in darkness, but it's also true that no darkness dwells in God because the

Bible says in 1st John 1 5 this then is the message which we have heard of him and Declaring to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all

Psalm 139 11 says if I say surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light

About me. Yay, the darkness hide. It's not from thee But the night shineth as the day the darkness and the light are both alike unto thee

The Bible is revealing some things to us about the nature of God that we've not thought about nor can we understand but the

Bible says that night and day Darkness and light are the same to God where God is

You have darkness and you have light at the same time and they're the same brother

Bill That may give you some food for thought in the world of physics. I don't know but it's an interesting statement and Yet the

Bible teaches us that Jesus himself the Son of God is the light of the world, but I want you to Think of this turn to Exodus 14.

I Insight because it teaches very clearly that What the world sees when it looks as God is one thing and what

God's people see is another and it happens at the same time Exodus 14 17, you'll be familiar with this passage

Moses had led the people out of Egypt He had gained their confidence with God's divine help and intervention

He had gained their confidence. He had gotten them to do what he wanted to do and they followed him out of Egypt and he led them out until they got to the brink of the

Red Sea where they could go no further and they turned back and They saw that Pharaoh had changed his mind so to speak

His heart had been hardened and the fiercest army in existence in that day was coming up from Egypt to destroy them and Their back was against the

Red Sea and they had no way to escape How would you have felt if you were the leader who had brought them to this place?

That was an entrepreneurial risk How would you have felt? That night as you tried to sleep if you could sleep

Exodus 14 17 and I behold I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians and They shall follow them and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh and upon all his host upon his chariots and upon his horsemen and the

Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah When I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh upon his chariots upon his horsemen and the angel of the

Lord Which went before the camp of Israel removed and went around behind them now notice carefully here and the pillar of the cloud

This same type of cloud that we saw on top of the Mount the same type of cloud that we saw at the crucifixion and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind the children of Israel and it came between The camp of the

Egyptians in the camp of Israel now look at this a remarkable statement And it was a cloud of darkness to them

But it gave light by night to these The presence of God was a thick cloud of ominous darkness to the enemies of God and yet that same cloud lighted or gave light upon the camp of Israel all night and Moses the next morning stretched out his hand over the sea

Well, even beginning before the morning and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night

And made the sea dry land and the waters were divided and The children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left

Psalm 112 forces upon the upright there ariseth light in the darkness

Matthew 22 12 says and he said unto him friend how canst thou in hither not having how come you in hither not having a wedding garment and this person was speechless and Then said the king to the servants bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth for many are called and few are chosen we see from these scriptures that apparently the presence of God Can appear as a thick darkness as if in a cloud?

To the world and at the same time appear as light to God's people If you can visualize for a moment this time when

Jesus was hanging on the cross And All of the

Jews Standing there the leaders. Anyway, I won't say all of them, but those who were in leadership began to mock him and spit upon him and Deride him and tell him to come down off the cross if you're really the

Son of God Save yourself if you can Why don't you ask

God to save you since you said he cares for you so much? And then all of a sudden this thick darkness comes upon the whole earth and they're quiet.

They no longer mock him. I Believe that During that time there were several things that were happening this

Nicholson who wrote the book the six miracles miracles of Calvary said this God was putting himself on display

Jesus the Son of God was dying and God the Father was making an appearance You see he appeared the same way he did on the top of the mount that day

The darkness became the background to the cross he was both authenticating and Interpreting for us the death of Jesus Yet the father was there in the darkness

That's from our viewpoint on the earth Though for the time being he had been forced to forsake his son in order to satisfy his perfect righteousness

The abandonment of Jesus experienced the punishment He received from the sin -bearer

Was perfectly represented in the deep dreadful total and sudden darkness in his previous hours of suffering he had been exposed to view

But human eyes were never intended to see him in his supreme anguish

Oh the mysteries of that suffering no man's eyes Should ever see them because man cannot understand them

We don't know what he went through on that cross, but we know that he suffered complete separation from the father

And he said my god my god, why have you forsaken me? The the man

Jesus Christ on that cross was separated From the father it certainly pictured the wrath of God against our sins which were in his body on the tree

It pictured the anger of God toward those who had crucified his sons who were the enemies of God and that's why they saw this as thick darkness

But it also pictured a time when the darkness was toward them But his presence was with his son.

I Want to close with a statement out of 2nd Samuel chapter 22.

I Found this to be quite remarkable because it's obviously prophetic David Spoke it but it could not have been written of David because it says of the one that this is spoken of that he'd never committed sin

So David is not speaking of himself Even though he is a type and a picture of the

Lord. Jesus. He is referring to Jesus Christ and I believe this that this is also a prophecy of the exact moment

During these three hours when Jesus was suspended in darkness upon the cross 2nd

Samuel 22 1 and David sent unto the Lord the words of this song in The day that the

Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all of his enemies You see the

Holy Spirit inspired David to write this after having taken David through an experience that God Ordained David would go through where his enemies had tried to destroy him

And God reached down at the last moment, which he does many times I've experienced that my life and I'm sure you have to seem like the last moment and he reaches down and he shows his

Presence and his strength and his power and he delivers you from whatever that fear was

This had just happened to David and the Holy Spirit inspires David to write this but it is not solely written of David it is written of The one who would come later and sit on the throne of David This was written the day that the

Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all of his enemies and out of the hand of Saul and He said the

Lord is my rock and you might as well just visualize this as the Lord Jesus Christ speaking from here on because it was prophetic and it was written of the man

Jesus Christ so you might as well say and Jesus said the

Lord is my rock and he might have been thinking this as He hung on that cross

Reminding himself of these truths as he felt that separation from God He felt the reality of the sense that God was not presence and God had forsaken him but his mind which he had

Programmed from a small boy up in the reading of the scriptures daily and studying the Word of God so much that his human brain

Which was this marvelous computer that God had built you have one too He had this filled it with God's Word and even as a man

I believe as Jesus was hanging from that cross During these three hours of darkness that his human spirit was already gone being attached to the

Holy Spirit and had gone into heaven and was already beginning to present that perfect blood as a sacrifice and therefore he hung there in complete separation from God not being able to make that attachment and Yet his human brain could remember the scriptures and he remembered this scripture that David had written before and he had studied and he knows that it's written about himself and Jesus cries out the

Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer The God of my rock and him will

I trust he is my shield and the horn of my salvation He is my high tower and my refuge my

Savior thou savest me from violence Can you imagine the violence his body his human body had undergone even before he was at this place of darkness?

And I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from mine enemies?

When the waves of death compass me the floods of ungodly men made me afraid

The sorrows of hell compassed me about can you see the humanity of Jesus here?

The snares of death prevented me in my distress I called upon the

Lord and cried to my God my God my God. Why have thou has thou forsaken me?

But Shortly after that statement was made on the cross the darkness disappeared and the light reappeared

And he did hear my voice out of his temple and my cry did enter his ears

Then the earth shook and trembled which is recorded by the way in history.

There was a great earthquake immediately after this darkness the earth shook and trembled and the foundations of the heaven moved and shook because he was wrong that darkness pictured the anger of God There went up a smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth

Devoured coals were kindled by it as we get a human picture in the language

We can understand of the father and his response to the crying out of his son this was after the separation of the two and now he hears his voice and look at the

Look at how God the father is pictured and smoke went out of his nostrils and a fire out of his mouth devoured coals were kindled by it and He bowed the heavens also and came down and darkness was under his feet.

You see the darkness he dwells in darkness from our vantage point Darkness was under his feet and he rode upon a cherub and did fly

At the very time when these men were looking and seeing nothing But feeling the thickness of the darkness that surrounded the cross that day

God the father was in that darkness They just could not see through it From their vantage point they saw darkness from Jesus vantage point he began to see the light after he himself had passed through this darkness and he rode upon a cherub and did fly and he was seen upon the wings of the wind and he made

Darkness pavilions round about him This is the father coming out of this darkness and dark waters and thick clouds of the skies through the brightness

Before him were coals of fire kindled. You see dwelt in light and darkness at the same time.

How can that be? They're both the same to him through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled the

Lord thundered from heaven and the Most -high uttered his voice and these people these little men that were shaking their little fists at God Crucifying his son and then all of a sudden they find themselves in darkness so thick they can't move.

They can't speak this is God uttering his voice and He sent out arrows and scattered them.

That's the people the enemies of Jesus Lightning and discomfited them they were sore afraid when this event took place and the channels of the sea appeared and the foundation of the world were discovered at the rebuking of the

Lord at the blast of the breath of his nostrils and He sent from above and he took me

He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, which was death and From them that hated me for they were too strong for me

They prevented me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay He brought me forth also into a large place

He delivered me because he delighted in me. This is where we begin to see that.

This is Jesus not David The Lord he did the light in David but only because of Jesus The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness that could not be

David Not the David that was with Bathsheba and then slew her husband

This is the Lord Jesus Christ that this is speaking of The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness

According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me and this is the only reason that the resurrection took place

Because he was in total darkness separated from God suffering hell for us and yet the father came

Down as pictured from this as he lit down from heaven and rode the darkness Enrode the clouds and came to the earth to the presence of the man

Jesus Christ as he was suspended there Separated from him and he came back to him

Because he rewarded him according to his righteousness according to the cleanness of his own hands

As he recompensed me for I have kept the ways of the Lord. No man has ever done that But Jesus David certainly did not and have not wickedly departed from my

God you put it in the negative He says I've never sinned. I Have not departed.

Did you know that when you sin what you're really doing is departing from God in your own way?

You're appearing to view God as if through dark clouds rather than seeing him from the light side the lighted side

Jesus said I've never done that. I have never wickedly departed from my God Do you know that that's why

I never sinned by the way, he was a man. He lived in flesh He never sinned because he never departed from God He was one with the

Holy Spirit Every second of every moment that he breathed on this earth, and that's why as a man he never sinned and yet this is also why

God returned to him and Brought him from the grave of his death is

Because he was righteous Perfectly righteous

Never having wickedly departed from my God for all his judgments were before me and as for his statutes

I did not depart from them You think that's David? No, I Was also upright before him and have kept myself from mine iniquity fascinating verse

That proved Jesus was tempted That proved that there was sin placed before him

He even called it mine iniquity meaning the iniquity that my flesh could have taken part in He had a body of flesh as any man in this room and he could have taken part in any of those things

But he kept himself from it How do we stand in comparison to that Therefore the

Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness. There's no other man that could have made that statement

There is no other person that can be saved by works And yet all the human race wants to invent religions where you have salvation by works

Can they stand can they place themselves here and say these things about themselves?

Can our Church of Christ friends who think you're saved by works? Can they stand before God and said well

I I have seen your ways and I've kept every one of them if they can't then they better drop their works and Look to the one that is suspended here on this cross

Just as the Jews in Israel looked at the serpent as Moses held it up and they were saved from the snake bite.

It was a simple look of faith That's all that can save because it's the one that's on that cross

He is the only one who can say that his statutes as for them

I did not depart from one of them I was also upright before him and have kept myself from mine iniquity

Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness According to the cleanness my cleanness in his eyesight with the merciful

Thou wilt show thyself merciful and with the upright man Thou wilt show thyself upright with the pure thou wilt show thyself pure and with the froward

Thou wilt show thyself unsavory and the afflicted people

Thou will save but thine eyes are upon the haughty That thou mayest bring them down Thou art my lamp.

Oh Lord, and the Lord will lighten my darkness

While the world was viewing. This is darkness There came a moment when the man

Jesus could look up and see the same light Children Israel saw while the Egyptians were viewing it as darkness in the end of the

Sabbath as It began to dawn toward the first day of the week came

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher and Behold, there was a great earthquake and the angel of the

Lord of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it and His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow and for fear of him the keepers

That's the Roman guards Did shake and became as dead men and the angel answered and said to the women fear not ye for I know that you seek

Jesus which was crucified. He is not here for he is risen as He said he would

Come and see the place where the Lord lay. He is not there and Go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead and Behold, he goeth before you into Galilee there.

Shall ye see him? Lo I have told you and they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy and did run to bring his disciples word and as they went to tell his disciples behold

Jesus met them saying all hail and They came and held him by his feet and worshiped him and then said

Jesus and to them be not afraid Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me

If you imagine being there at the moment those two women were there Seeing the very angel that he rolled the stone away being invited to look in here

He's gone Nothing there except the grave clothes that are as perfectly in place as if the body had withdrawn from them

That's what the eyewitnesses found Jesus Christ Was risen

Because of his perfect righteousness Because he kept all of the law

Because even as a man suspended on the cross Separated from the presence of God His human mind that had been so drenched with the holy scriptures could remember

The scriptures and rely upon them when he had no sense of God's presence Have you ever been in a place where you felt that way?

Hang on to the faith that the scriptures give you and you will go right through that time and you'll see the light

Even when you think you're in darkness, let's stand and have prayer together Father we thank you for your word.

We thank you that in a few simple words where you discuss this thick darkness

You can give us revelation of many things That were taking place that the human eye did not see

The type of suffering that we could not have understood If you had allowed us to see it we could not have understood it

And Yet we know that You accomplished this in your son as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of your people

You were propitiated and your holiness and justice were satisfied completely and Then you reconciled us to yourself

You ransomed us from the slave market of sin and Satan in the world And you brought us to yourself

And Lord all of this took place, but what did our Savior have to suffer for it?

Only those three hours of darkness could tell But we thank you so much that Your son

Jesus was tempted in all points even as ye and yet without sin and because of his very righteousness

You brought him back from the grave proving That your holiness was propitiated

Proving that our sins had been removed from us Us having died in him and also risen in him proving

That we will be with you for all eternity Because he was who he claimed to be the perfect Son of God We thank you for all this evidence that you've given us

Lord But most of all for the scriptures and your Holy Spirit who speaks to our hearts of this wonderful event

Lord, we ask you to go with us into our time of fellowship bless our meal that we'll have together

Our thoughts be upon your precious son Jesus as we pray in his name.