Please turn in the Holy Bible to Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15. I'll be starting at verse 29. I'm sorry, 25, and reading through verse 39. Starting with the time marker of when exactly Christ was first put on the cross. We read it was the third hour, or what we would call 9 a.m. Verse 25. Now it was the third hour, and they crucified him. And the inscription of his accusation was written above, the King of the Jews. With him they also crucified two robbers, one on his right and the other on his left. So the scripture was fulfilled, which says, and he was numbered with the transgressors. And those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, Aha, you who destroyed the temple and built it in three days, save yourself. come down from the cross. Likewise, the chief priests also, together with the scribes, mocked and said among themselves, he saved others, himself he cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And those who were crucified with him reviled. Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani, which is translated, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Some of those who stood by when they heard it said, look, he's calling for Elijah. Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to him to drink, saying, let him alone. Let us see if Elijah will come to take him down. And Jesus cried out a loud voice and breathed his last. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Now when the centurion who stood opposite him saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, truly, this man was the son of God. It is the reading of God's word. May he bless it to us. Let us pray. Oh Father, you are holy and pure and we acknowledge that as sinners We have no right to this word before us. We have no right to even be listening to the gospel today. And so may the fact that we are simply able to be here and hear this give us joy. And also challenge us, O Lord, that you have a message for us. And it is not a take-it-or-leave-it kind of message. It is a message of salvation for those who hear and believe. And a message, likewise, that promises instruction for those who reject the gospel offer proclaimed here. And so grant us faith, we pray, that each one here would know your grace and your mercy in a fresh way yet again. for your glory, we pray. Amen. But the text again is verses 33 and 34. Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at that ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lambas bactani, which is translated, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Brothers and sisters, normally, when you or I go to a concert or some special event, the people behind the scenes shine a spotlight on the person on center stage, and even if they move around on the stage, the spotlight follows them, because that's what we're supposed to be focusing our attention on at that moment in the event. And when the greatest moment in all history, the event on center stage of world history, The redemption of mankind, at that event, how does God choose to focus our attention? At the climax, He drops a thick cloud of darkness over the whole land. And what you can't see is what saves you. What you and I cannot see in this darkness is exactly what we needed to happen when Christ suffered the anguish and torment of hell. For in these three hours of darkness, we have the light of the gospel. That is when Christ is descending into the depths. of Hell. My theme is this, that Hell's anguish is on display in the darkness of the cross of Christ. Hell's anguish is on display, center stage, in the darkness of the cross of Christ. Today, and every Good Friday, we have a practice of worshiping God in the middle of that darkness. Between twelve and three, right in the middle of it, one-third, we meet for worship. In the middle of that darkness so long ago, that time period. We're going to learn that this darkness has an author, this darkness has an explanation, and this darkness has an ending. Darkness has an author, an explanation, and an ending. In verse 23, we see that darkness has an author. Where does this darkness come from? It starts at noon and goes till 3, the 6th hour, to the 9th hour. Perhaps you have seen a solar eclipse, where things get quite dark for a while, or some big thunderstorm that rolls in in the middle of the day, and all of a sudden it's quite dark. But that's not what's being described here. This is not some mere geological phenomenon that occurs from time to time. This darkness is too long for three whole hours, and it's across the whole land, and it's impossible at that time of the month on Passover, when there's a full moon, for there to be a solar eclipse. At the very moment, high noon, when the sun is shining over the rest of the whole world, in the promised land, There is no sun to be found, but all is dark and black. We don't know exactly how black. You have to wonder. They didn't have flashlights or street lights. They had to start lighting the torches to even see what was going on. But we know God dropped a divine curtain of darkness. The Bible repeatedly shows that darkness is something that God uses to send upon a place to show visibly that He is spiritually cursing that place and the people there. That He is forsaking them and bringing His wrath upon them for their sin. You see, the darkness that Jesus endured on the cross has an author, and that author is His Father. This is prophesied in many, many places. For example, Amos chapter 8. Verse 9 says, It shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord God, that I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight. I will make it like morning for an only sun, and its end like a bitter day. The author of this darkness is the One who created the whole world. The sun is in His hands. The moon and stars are in His hands. And this God, this God, is offended by those whom He created good and after His own image, and have rejected Him, and rebelled against Him. And so He says in Isaiah 13, verse 9, Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and He will destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light, the sun will be darkened from the day when God destroys sin and sinners. In the Exodus from Egypt, that was the first Passover, if you remember. And this is Passover time when Jesus is crucified on Good Friday. And that Exodus, there was ten flakes leading up to that. And the plague right before the last one was a plague of darkness that covered the whole land of Egypt. And after that, the angel of death comes, house to house, and kills the firstborn of everyone who does not have the blood of the Passover lamb sprinkled on the doorposts. Of course, you know that it was only the Jews who trusted in their Lord. who did that and escaped the day when God's angel visited in wrath. Well, this time around, this Passover that we read about in our passage, there is a three-hour plague of darkness that filled the land of Israel when the Passover lamb was sacrificed. This time, the Passover lamb was Christ himself. And this time it was not the firstborn sons of the ungodly who were killed, but it was only one son, the only begotten son, the well-beloved son of God himself. The presence of darkness means God is here, creating the darkness and bringing His holy and proper curse upon rebellious sinners. And this one son pays the price. Now we know that the world had rejected Jesus for a long time. All of his life we read from the Catechism. We remember from the moment of Christ's birth there was no room for Jesus in the end. We remember King Herod seeking to murder all of Mao children under two. hoping to snuff out Jesus' life in judgment. But Jesus escaped that judgment. And the religious leaders, very early on in Jesus' ministry, it says they were seeking to kill His life, to kill Him, to take His life from Him. And yet, He lived for many more years. He escaped their judgment as well. Once Jesus is here at the cross, at noon, and the darkness falls, Jesus he's not thinking or really even experiencing anymore the judgment of the Jews or the Gentiles or any humans and their rejection of him. There's really only one source of rejection that Jesus is feeling. A source that is more intense and powerful than any rejection he had ever experienced until that moment in his life. You see, simply being rejected by the world could not save you or I from our sins. Because it was not the law of the world that Jesus, that you and I broke. It was the law of God that we have broken. And He is the one that we have to reconcile with. And so Jesus feels the rejection of the Father as a penalty for the sins that He is carried and held accountable for. The world didn't send the darkness. God the Father, the perfect judge, is the author of this darkness. The God of both Old and New Testaments is a God who has wrath on sinners. There was darkness that day. Secondly, we see that there is darkness, but there is an explanation of that darkness. At the end, or very near the end, anyway, of the darkness, we see an explanation Jesus provides in verse 34. An explanation of what has been going on during the past several hours, in particular. What is this hellish darkness all about? Jesus says, crying out with a loud voice, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Somebody has counted up, and I don't remember the number, the times in the Bible, both old and new, where God comes to us and says, do not fear, I will never leave you or forsake you. Again and again, all over the place, God is saying that. And yet Jesus, here, says that God, His Father, has forsaken Him. Crucifixion was something that happened quite often in the Roman Empire. Jesus wasn't the only one to die on the cross. And crucifixions were marked by screams and cries of anger and pain, wild shouts of indescribable despair. And yet Jesus cried out with a prayer to his Father from Psalm 22. Those words are the very first words of Psalm 22. Jesus' crucifixion, unlike any other crucifixion before or after, had three hours of darkness upon it. And he is the one who explains, this means God has forsaken me. I'm experiencing the wrath of hell. Matthew 25, verse 30, is another place where Jesus explains what this means, even though he hadn't yet experienced the fullness, he wasn't at the cross yet. But he says, this connection between darkness and hell, in Matthew 25, verse 30, there's a time when God will cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, and there will be weeping and gnash of teeth. And those phrases and words, outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth, occur again in the book of Revelation describing hell. God's curse lay upon someone when there is a place of darkness. What else would someone feel but hell? What else could be going on here on the cross? How could we describe it as anything less? than the full weight of hell. There is darkness, symbolizing God's curse. There is someone saying, my own father has forsaken me. I am outside of God's presence. Every unbeliever who has ever lived on this planet, as long as they're living, still is within God's presence and kindness, and is being given breath to breathe, and the sun to shine upon their life, and a job, and all sorts of things. All those things are remains from Jesus. In the darkness of the cross, hell with all of its fury, hell came to earth. And that's what we mean and understand when we say Jesus descended into hell. When Jesus referred to Psalm 22, he shows us where his heart was while he was experiencing the full weight of hell, and the agonies of the cross. In Psalm 22, the full verse, that we don't have quoted here in front of us, says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me? And from the words of my groaning, O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not hear, and in the night season, and in my silence. Are Jesus' words here, God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Is this an expression of faith looking beyond the tragedy to a time when God will answer his prayer? Some have understood that. You see, Jesus really wasn't forsaken. He just says he was, but it wasn't really happening. What could possibly have separated Jesus the perfect son from his perfect father. Well, the only thing that separates us from God is sin. Isaiah 59 verse 2 says, God speaking to his people, your iniquities have separated you from your God, your sin. have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity, and your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue has muttered perversity. And Jesus, as our High Priest, is sinful when he is on the cross." It's hard for us to imagine and think that, because we know from our earliest days that Jesus is perfect. But here, on the cross, he is sinful. Not his own sins. yours and mine, all of his people who've ever lived and who ever will live. And those sins are what separate him from his Father. He's carrying them as a high priest is supposed to. Now we know that certainly Jesus' sufferings for our sin begin earlier than these hours of darkness throughout his life, especially towards the end. I went back yesterday and the day before and just traced some of the events in the final day of Jesus' life. I encourage you to do the same. Think about the sufferings and the ways in which Jesus, what he went through for us, for our sins. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he was feeling hell already. He was exceedingly sorrowful to the point of death, and he prays to his Father, if there is any other way, take this cup of wrath from me. You remember that? Moments later, God answered his prayer when Judas came with the mob and betrayed him. And he was arrested. Jesus knew, on my will, that thine be done. He was betrayed. And those other eleven disciples, so faithful, proved unfaithful and scattered in every direction and left Jesus. One of them came back from a distance and watched the trial for a time, but Peter denied Jesus also. Jesus, the sinless one, was falsely accused, physically abused at his trials. Two trials, one before the Jewish leaders, one before the Gentile leaders, before the Zanhedrin, before Pilate. And then on Good Friday morning, it was still not too late for Jesus to escape crucifixion. For the crowds of Jews could have overruled their religious leaders, the Sanhedrin. For Pilate had this custom on the festival, asked over time to release a prisoner. And the crowds could have overruled their leaders. But we know what they cried out. Crucify him. Let a robber go, but crucify him. There was no special treatment for Jesus. He was crucified exactly like all the others. Put up there with a couple of other criminals. Although Jesus wasn't a criminal, he was convicted as one. He was mocked, spanned upon, He was misidentified by the crowd when he cries out these words in Hebrew. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The beginning of that word, my God, sounds like the beginning of Elijah's name. People said, oh, he must be calling for Elijah. But Elijah was supposed to be the one who would, after him, the Messiah would come. So they still don't get it. Jesus is not the Messiah to them. And yet none of these tortures, none of these persecutions came anywhere close to what Jesus endured from noon to three in the hours of darkness. What he endured directly from the hand of the Father during these hours. Not indirectly, through what the Father allowed other people to do to him. There is true agony for Christ. at the cross. John Calvin points out well, we have it enshrined in our catechism that there are both inward pains as well as outward pains to what Christ endured. Anguish and torment. It is that inward spiritual pain which has never been captured by any movie, by any picture or statue of Jesus. It is that inexpressible pain which can really only be described and explained to a certain point by any sermon. As John Calvin says, it was necessary that Jesus should be placed as a guilty person standing right there at the judgment seat of God. And now nothing is more dreadful than to feel that God, whose wrath is worse than all deaths, God is the judge. And when this temptation was presented to Christ in these three hours, it's as if having God opposed to him, God as his enemy. Jesus was already devoted to destruction, and he was seized with horror. A horror which would have been sufficient to swallow up a hundred times all the men in the world. But by the amazing power of the Spirit, Jesus endured and achieved the victory. And he didn't curse God at all, did he? Even though he didn't personally deserve one drop in that cup of wrath. Think also how Jesus' last comfort was taken away from him during these three hours. You and I can always say Catechism question one. I've got a comfort in life and in death, but I belong to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. We can always say what Paul says in Romans 8, 38-39, that I am persuaded that nothing can separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. But there was a time when Jesus could not say that. There was a time when Jesus could not say that. just the night before, he could still say that. Jesus said on the last night with his disciples in John 16, the hour is coming, in John 16 verse 32, the hour is coming, yes now has come, when you will be scattered each to his own and will leave me alone, yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. And it's now on the cross Jesus can say that. Not even the Father is with Jesus. How is this possible is certainly a mystery. We are speaking, of course, of Christ's human nature, for in His divine nature He is always united with the Father and the Holy Spirit. But how is it that God could forsake God? It hardly makes sense, and yet the Bible says The best explanation I found, a good, clear one, I will read for you from a Bible commentator and Reformed pastor named William Hendricks. He writes, The answer must be that God the Father deserted His Son's human nation in a limited but very real and agonizing sense. The meaning cannot be that there was ever a time when God the Father stopped loving God the Son. Nor can it mean that the sons ever rejected his father, far from it. Jesus kept on calling him, my God, my God. Jesus calls him my God. And for that very reason, we may be sure that the father loved him as much as ever. Let's look at this idea just a bit more. What was the father's attitude while Jesus hung on the cross in the darkness of hell? Was he happy? Was he sad? Was he pleased? Was he wishing he could only do something to help his poor son? We do know that God the Father certainly could never have abandoned his Son to these Jewish and Gentile tormentors, and even to the wrath of his own justice, unless it was necessary. And it was necessary, wasn't it? Jesus would have to fully drink that cup of wrath all the way down to the very bottom. Every last drop of God's wrath must be endured for every last sin of every last child of God. And that's what we don't see in the three hours of darkness when Jesus endured hell for you and for me. Then Jesus could do that. And He did. Because He's our High Priest. Think about it. Think of what hell must be like for people like Adolf Hitler or Saddam Hussein or any other individuals throughout time who have so clearly rejected God and caused such evil on earth. what punishment they must be receiving and they must have to endure and they have deserved and yet just one of those individuals what they deserve and endure for eternity is nothing compared to what Jesus endured for every sin of every one of his children Jesus on the cross is the ultimate example of someone who is reprobate, cast out, excommunicated. Not just in this lifetime when there is still hope for someone to return as long as they still breathe, but Jesus forever excommunicated, forsaken by the Father. God pours out everything upon Jesus, because that's exactly what he deserved. Because that's what he deserved as one who was carrying our sins. As 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 says, when Jesus was on the cross, he was being made sin for us. As Galatians 3 verse 13 says, he became the curse of God for us. That's hell. And that's what Jesus endured in the darkness. But notice also that the darkness has an ending. The darkness has an ending. When we look at verse 33, I wonder if you see there the gospel. Do you see hope? Where is hope in the words of just that verse? For we keep on waiting, and we know a little bit later, towards the end of our reading for today, in verse 37, Jesus cries out with a loud voice and breathes his last, and he dies. Not a lot of hope there. We know he'll rise from the dead in a few days. We know the rest of the story. But just in the words of that verse, there's not a lot of hope all in itself. But where is the gospel in verse 33? While Jesus is enduring hell on earth, suffering hell's anguish, there is gospel light. It's very subtle, but very important. Do you see it? The gospel is found in the word, until. Now, when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land, until the ninth hour. Well, what does that mean? That means the darkness ended at the ninth hour. The presence of God's wrath on sin ended at the ninth hour. And the light was back. The next day, indeed that night, everybody throughout Israel was talking. We don't know everything they were talking about. We know a lot of things they misunderstood. But certainly, they were talking about this darkness that came and lasted for so long and then was gone. Just like that. Until. Why could there be an until? Well, we see that in something that Jesus said. That's not recorded in Mark, but it's recorded in some of the other Gospels. There's a clue in the words of this forsaken son. While he is forsaken, what does he say? In Luke 23, verse 46. His dying words. When Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, he said, Father, not judge, not you terrible, Almighty God who has done what I don't deserve to be. But, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And having said this, he breathed his last. And the sun came out. Dear congregation, if any of us were there, just for our own sins, carrying the weight and guilt and responsibility of just our own sins. Forget the fact that Jesus took the sins of every one of his chosen people. But just for your own sins, there would never, never, never be an until. Because the wages of sin is eternal death. And there could never be an until. The sun will never shine upon anyone who dies without trust and faith in Christ. But they are forever in outer darkness. And yet Jesus could endure all of eternity in three hours. Until... Until... We know this. Jesus died for our sins. Jesus' death was very quick. As crucifixions went off and they went for a couple of days, his for about six hours. His did not drag on. He did not die of exhaustion and suffocation. He died as the choir sang. Of his own choice. He lay down his life. He gave up his spirit. knowing that he had drunk, all the way to the bottom, the wrath of hell. And so he could say, it is finished. Father, into your hand I commit my spirit. My work is done. God's wrath is fierce and real. But it is God's wrath, not wrath and anger like you and I see in the world around us and all too often express in our own lives. God's wrath is holy and just. There's a reason for it. And when the wrath is played out, the sentence has been administered, it's over, and there is no more wrath, no more anger, no more bitterness, no grudges. It is finished. And Jesus can commend his soul to the Father, rest in peace in the grave, and be raised in three days on Easter morning. As Isaiah 53 says in verse 10, what was in the Father's heart and mind? What was he thinking as his Son and his human nature was being forsaken? Isaiah 53 verse 10, It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. when you make his soul an offering for sin. And then Jesus shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands, he shall see the labor of his soul, and be satisfied. For by Christ's knowledge, God's righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. He will carry our sins. Sin is what separated Jesus from the Father. Hell, in all its fury, was poured out upon Jesus, body and soul, especially in the hours of darkness. And since Jesus experienced all of hell, his people will experience none of it. See that? Until the Son came out. Jesus experienced it all, and his people will experience none of it. There is nothing left for us to pay for our sins. There is nothing left to purge out of our lives to pay for. But we have no darkness, but light. We are the light of the world, living in the light of Jesus' Spirit. For the glory of the great light of the world who has shone into the world of darkness and gives us life in Christ. You and I, right now, are righteous, clothed in Christ. He became our sins, we became His perfect righteousness, standing before the judgment seat of God as pure and welcome into Heaven. As Jesus said in John 12, verse 46, I have come as a light into the world, so that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness." And so we go home today remembering the darkness which Christ experienced, and yet because He experienced it, we have absolutely no fear for ourselves that we should ever have to experience that same darkness. Those who believe in Him will not abide in this darkness. Never ever doubt that hell is real. We see it in the dark on Good Friday. We do. We see it in the dark, in the darkness on Good Friday. And never ever doubt that hell is dead and buried for you and I. Because it was dead and buried in the death and burial of Christ. There's no more wrath to pay. We are right in God's eyes. through faith in what Christ has completely and perfectly done for us. And our Catechism in Question 44 explains it so well. Why? Why do we say Jesus descended into hell? Here's why. So that in my greatest temptations, whatever kind of temptation they might be, in my greatest temptations, I may be assured that Christ, my Lord, by his inexpressible anguish, pains, and terrors, which he suffered in his soul on the cross and before, has redeemed me from the anguish and torment of hell. Now that is good news. Amen. Let us stand and pray. Dear Father, we thank you for redeeming us from the depths of hell. Help us to worship you, to be moved, for we know that we have a way of hearing these things and praising you for them in the moment, and yet going away to our lives and forgetting them. Help us not to forget, but to remember and to believe. We pray as you taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.