The
heart of the Gospel is in verses 45-54. Darkness covers the land—darkness, the
Old Testament sign of God’s impending wrath. Jesus cries out in despair,
quoting Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And the temple
curtain is torn in two
First
the darkness. Darkness is associated with the day of the Lord throughout the
prophets. Israel widely expected the day of the Lord to be the day when God
raised Israel up, but the prophets flipped the script and declared it a day of
judgment over Israel. “Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you
long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light” (Amos 5:18).
On the cross, that day comes, but Jesus interposes Himself under the wrath of
God. Even rebellious Israel, whom Jesus has been in controversy with throughout
the Gospel, can avoid God’s judgment in Jesus.
Then,
the cry of dereliction. What a thing to think about! That the Father would turn
His back on the suffering of His only begotten Son! Jesus dies alone. The crowds
have turned against Him; His disciples have abandoned Him; His Father ignores
His pleas. On the cross, Jesus suffers the very pain of hell, which, by definition,
is to be cut off from all the goodness of God.
Finally,
the temple curtain. The temple, and the tabernacle before it, had emphasized
the utter holiness of Israel’s God and their separation from Him by a series of
gradations. Only ritually clean Israelite men could enter the inner courts of
the temple. Only priests could enter the temple building itself, and then only
for prescribed activities. Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies,
and that only on the Day of Atonement. A holy God could not tolerate sin. At
the very least, the torn curtain declares that sins are forgiven by the death
of Jesus and that humans—of all sorts—are invited into the presence of God
again by the grace that He earned.
In
this moment we see the story come to its completion, and we see with clarity
what God had always been up to: the undoing of Adam’s course in the person of
His Son.
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