Darkness
And now darkness falls upon the earth. The sun hides itself. Worse
than all, the Father hides His face from His Son. What else is the
meaning of that bitter cry:
"My God! my God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?"
Ah! It had been written, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a
tree." Jesus was made a curse for us. God cannot look upon sin: and
so when even His own Son was bearing our sins in His bo
y, God could
not look upon Him.
I think this is what bore heaviest upon the Savior's heart in the
garden when He prayed:
"If it be possible, let this cup pass from me."
He could bear the unfaithfulness of His friends, the spite of His
enemies, the pain of His crucifixion, and the shadow of death; He
could bear all these; but when it came to the hiding of His Father's
face, that seemed almost too much for even the Son of God to bear.
But even this He endured for our sins; and now the face of God is
turned back to us, whose sins had turned it away, and looking upon
Jesus, the sinless One, He sees us in Him.
In the midst of all His agony, how sweet it must have been to Christ
to hear that poor thief confessing Him!
He likes to have men confess Him. Don't you remember His asking
Peter, "Whom do men say that I am?" and when Peter answered, "Some
people say you are Moses, some people say you are Elias, and some
people say you are one of the old Prophets," He asked again, "But,
Peter, whom do you say I am?" When Peter said, "Thou art the Son
of God," Jesus blessed him for that confession. And now this thief
confesses Him--confesses Him in the darkness. Perhaps it is so dark
he cannot see Him any longer; but he feels that He is there beside
him. Christ wants us to confess Him in the dark as well as in the
light; when it is hard as well as when it is easy. For He was not
ashamed of us, but bore our sins and carried our sorrows, even unto
death.
When a prominent man dies, we are anxious, to get his last words and
acts.