The Cross He Bore - Outer Darkness

  • Tim Challies
  • 04/10/09
  • 3

Today is Good Friday and, not coincidentally, today we finish reading The Cross He Bore by Frederick Leahy. It has proven, I think, a valuable read leading to those days we set aside to particularly remember Jesus' death and resurrection. Today's text is Matthew 27:45: "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour."

Here is a short quote:

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At Bethlehem, when the Saviour was born, the night was changed to day as the glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds. On Golgotha the day gave way to night as Christ sank deeper and deeper into the abyss of damnation. At Bethlehem there were countless angels praising God; on Golgotha legions of darkness filled the impenetrable gloom, hoping that darkness would finally triumph over light.

Golgotha was so different from the mount of transfiguration where the Lord conversed with Moses, representing the law, and Elijah, representing the prophets (Mark 9:2-4). There, for a brief moment, the glory of deity broke through the veil of flesh, a fleeting glimpse of the radiant splendour of Christ when he comes at the end of this age "in the glory of his Father with the holy angels" (Mark 8:38).

Between the shining forth of glory at the transfiguration and the glory of the second coming, however, lies the heavy darkness of Golgotha.

At the creation, God, at an early stage, introduced light. Yet now he leaves his Son suspended in darkness at midday...

Comments (3)

1
Anonymous's picture
a comment from David Porter • 04/10 @ 11:33am
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Darkness. Not city boy darkness, but cave darkness. Mercifully hiding all that was happening to my Christ. All around...earthquake, rocks splitting, all of creation groaning.

Hidden from my view....God's holy wrath being poured upon my Savior. The fatherless, and wretched Satan's helplessly flinging his final, desperate furies. For three hours, all of creation is in an unimaginable whirlwind.

Then....in an instant....it is silent....and my Savior proclaims perhaps the most precious three words...It...is...finished.

Leahy got it right, this is most holy ground. We must remove our shoes, and sit in penitent, grateful silence.

I am most grateful that the Holy Spirit has more clearly instructed me of this scene.

I continue to be amazed with my Father's love.

Abba,

I do stand mute before you, in wonder and awe.

2
Anonymous's picture
a comment from Lisa notes... • 04/10 @ 2:21pm
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Tim, you did well in recommending this book. It slowed me down to meditate deeper on Christ's gift of love at the cross. I hope to pull it out every Easter season for reflection.

David, thanks for sharing your gift of verbalizing our thoughts. They provoke me to silence and to worship.

"Christ spoke solemnly of ‘outer darkness,’ associating it with unspeakable anguish (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). To redeem his people he entered and endured that darkness."

"Now he calls us ‘out of darkness into his marvelous light.’ He is the true light and those who follow him ‘will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’ (1 Peter 2:9; John 8:12)."

Amen.

3
Anonymous's picture
a comment from Jim • 04/11 @ 7:20pm
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Thanks again, Tim, for suggesting this reading! And thanks to all those who commented as well. It's so encouraging to be pointed to the Lord and remember what He suffered.