When the Sun Refused to Shine

“And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a 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” ( Luke 23: 44, 45).

Jesus was nailed to the cross the third hour of Friday afternoon ( Mark 15: 25), and three hours later, the sixth hour, darkness covered the whole world and continued until the ninth hour. It was literally the three longest and darkest hours the world had ever witnessed.

Inasmuch as it covered the whole earth it was not an eclipse of the sun, nor can it be explained by any natural phenomenon.

It was as if the sun refused to shine, and all nature hid its face from the pain and agony of its Creator.

However, while dark, at the same time, the total six hours of anguish and suffering He endured ( from the third hour to the ninth) are the brightest and most glorious the entire Universe has ever witnessed.

Those six hours qualified and enabled Jesus to honor the request of the repentant thief.

“And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” ( Luke 23: 43).

But, not just the repentant thief, all who are willing to look in faith upon Him and be saved, as illustrated in the experience of Israel when they were plagued by snakes and so many needlessly died. “And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live” ( Numbers 21: 8).

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” ( John 3: 14- 16).

Those six hours on the cross not only redeemed mankind, they also determined the eternal destruction of the devil, his sympathizers, and sin.

“What do ye imagine against the Lord? He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time” ( Nahum 1: 9).