LIGHTS OUT IN JERUSALEM

(Luke 23:44-49)
November 12, 2017

Read Luke 23:44-49 Newlywed Pam called her minister: Pastor, John
and I had our first fight. It was awful! Why shall I do? He replied, Calm
down, Pam. This is normal. It seems bad now, but it happens in every
marriage. Pam replied, I know. But what do I do with the body? Well, I
hope youre not hiding real bodies, but I know one body many of us carry
past failure. In our minds we are forgiven yet the body of guilt lives with us.

The reason? We dont fully understand the cross. We get how it relates to
salvation. BUT we do not understand the gospel as it applies to daily life to
our past failures, even as believers. To really understand the cross, we must
see its meaning for salvation and its continued meaning to believers!

I. Penalty Absorbed (Atonement)

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It was now about the sixth hour (noon), and there was darkness over the
whole land until the ninth hour, 45 while the suns light failed. Often ignored,
this event is loaded. The crucifixion occurred around 9:00 am. Soldiers and
crowd begin to mill around -- waiting. Suddenly at high noon, the lights go
out like someone turned off the switch for 3 full hours. Mt 27:51 tells us of
a great earthquake. Terror reigned. Why? God had departed in judgment.

Did this really happen? Three credible gospel writers affirm it did. So do non-
biblical sources. Paul Maier in a footnote in Pontus Pilate says, This
phenomenon, evidently was visible in Rome, Athens, and other Med cities.
According to Tertullian . . . it was a "cosmic" or "world event." Phlegon, a
Greek author from Caria writing a chronology soon after 137 AD reported
that in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad (i.e., 33 AD) there was the
greatest eclipse of the sun and that it became night in the sixth hour of the
day [noon] so that stars even appeared in the heavens. A Roman historian,
Thallus, also references this spectacle. It happened, and it was no eclipse.
They dont last 3 hours. And a solar eclipse cant be at a full moon as at
Passover. No natural phenomenon; this is God leaving the scene in judgment.

The Jewish people would immediately equate darkness with Gods judgment.
It was one of the plagues in Egypt in Ex 10. It signifies judgment in prophetic
passages like Amos 5; Joel 2-3, Zeph 1; Isa 5, 13 and 60 a trend that goes
on in the NT in Acts 2; Mt 24, II Pet 2 and Rev 6. Amos 8:9) And on that
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day, declares the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon and
darken the earth in broad daylight. Thats end-time judgment on Israel. But
the darkness of Calvary indicates that in one sense, the day of judgment has
come. But guess what? It didnt fall on unbelievers this day; it fell on Gods
only Son! The darkness depicts Gods arriving to judge; but the ultimate
judgment is Gods absence. Only this day its not on those rejecting God; it
has fallen on His Son as our substitute. John MacArthur says, God brought
the outer darkness of hell to Jerusalem that day as He unleashed on Jesus
Christ the full extent of His wrath against the sins of all who would ever be
saved. This darkness was literally hell on earth as Jesus took our penalty.

This is the ultimate Day of Atonement. Lev 16 tells how it took two goats to
illustrate atonement. The first was killed and the blood spread on the mercy
seat in the Holy of Holies showing the sacrifice required to pay sins penalty.
But the 2nd goat: Lev 16: 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head
of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel,
and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of
the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in
readiness. 22 The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area,
and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. The tabernacle, Gods
dwelling, resided right in the middle of camp. To be driven out was to be
excluded from Gods blessing driven into the outer darkness of Gods
absence. The where the 2nd goat symbolically removed sin outer darkness.

So on the cross, Jesus dies the real death symbolized by the first goat to pay
the price. But He also fills the real role of the 2nd goat. Heb 13:12 So Jesus
also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own
blood. Jesus died outside the city gates, bearing our sins into the outer
darkness of Gods abandonment, never to be held against us again. What we
should have gotten, He got. Rather than doubt that, we must revel in it!

Nothing spoke of Gods blessing to Israel more than Moses benediction in

Num 6:25, the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to
you. But now, to the only one who deserved it, the light of the Fathers face
is turned away. Darkness descends as our sins are poured out onto the perfect
lamb of God. Wave after wave after wave of every evil you can think of and
some you cant falling upon the Son of God. The blessing is gone, replaced by
the greatest compilation of sin and rebellion ever gathered in one place in the
history of the universe. As each wave arrives, the wrath of God is poured out
as Jesus bears the sin outside the camp and suffers the separation from the
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Father that each sin requires until He cries out in anguish, My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me? Jesus experiences God now not as loving
Father, but as ultimate Judge. In this three-hour window Jesus absorbs all the
horrors of eternal hell that we deserve. This is monstrous reality of Gal 3:13:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us
for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.

Thats why the lights went out because Jesus was paying the infinite price of
our guilt so that we would not have to. He is satisfying the just demands of a
righteous God, so that we could have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ (Rom 5:1). Peter explains: I Pet 2:24 He himself bore our sins
in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By
his wounds you have been healed. Paul explained II Cor 5:21: For our
sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God. Jesus took our hell so that we might have
His heaven. Free to us, our salvation cost Jesus everything. Thats atonement.

II. Passage Arranged (Access)

45b: And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. At the center of the
temple was a Holy Place with 2 compartments. The first held the altar in
incense where priests entered to offer daily sacrifices. The second, the Most
Holy Place was separated from the Holy Place by a great curtain embroidered
with images of cherubim guarding the entrance. In Herods temple, that
curtain was of the most expensive blue, purple and crimson material, 60 feet
high and several inches thick. Massive. Thru that curtain, the high priest came
once a year on the Day of Atonement symbolically entering the presence of
God to offer a blood sacrifice for the sins of the people. That was the symbol.
But this day, reality replaces ritual!

Now, as the sun returns, Jesus cries out Tetelesthai It is finished (Jn
19:30). What is finished? His mission to ransom fallen humanity His perfect
life and sacrificial death completed. Judgment has fallen; salvations price is
paid and It is finished! Hell was silenced when Jesus cried, It is finished. It
can never bring a charge against you again! So, 46 Then Jesus, calling out
with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit! And
having said this he breathed his last. Mission accomplished, He once again
commends Himself to the Father and gives up His life. But simultaneously
45b: And the curtain of the temple was torn in two a glorious symbol.

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The fellowship Adam and Eve lost is restored. Remember? Gen 3:24 He drove
out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and
a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
The cherubim on the curtain signified access could only be renewed thru the
sword. Heb 9:22b: With the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of
sins. But now the blood is shed; the death is died; the penalty is paid; and
access to Eden is open once again. Not just forgiveness, but fellowship!

The Holy of Holies on earth was only a copy of the real thing in heaven. And
now, thru Jesus, the curtain is torn in two; the barrier removed; the way open
to God. Heb 9: 23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things
(the temple) to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places
made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer
himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with
blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the
foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of
the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. That is amazing Grace.
Jesus didnt go to a manmade Holy of Holies once a year to pay a temporary
price; He paid a permanent price and entered the real thing once for all.

What the temple was temporarily; He is permanently. What the priests were
temporarily; He is permanently. What the sacrifices were temporarily; He is
permanently. Thus He said, I am the way, the truth and the life; no one
comes to the Father except thru me? Buddha was no Savior. Confucius was
no Savior. Vishnu was no Savior. But by His death, Jesus tore the curtain
down, and blazed a trail straight into the presence of God for all who believe.

In Martin Bubers book The Way of Man, he says, All men have access to
God, but each man has a different access. God does not say: this way leads
to me and that does not, but he says: Whatever you do may be a way to
me. The torn curtain says differently. The only access to God is through the
Son who paid the price for entry for all who believe. Its the only way!

III. Payment Applied (Acceptance)

Access provided doesnt mean access accepted. For Jesus death to benefit us,
we must follow Him thru that torn curtain into Gods presence. Some do;
some dont. Simon of Cyrene followed. The repentant thief followed Jesus
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thru that torn curtain into the Holy of Holies in heaven that day! The centurion
in v. 27 declares Jesus innocent. Mark 15:39 adds: 39 And when the
centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last,
he said, Truly this man was the Son of God! Tradition says this centurion,
named Longinus, became a believer. V. 49 And all his acquaintances and the
women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching
these things. They didnt understand it all yet, but they followed Jesus thru.

Others were convicted. 48 And all the crowds that had assembled for this
spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their
breasts. Theyre confused, but know theyve seen something extraordinary.
Theyve heard Jesus comments, seen the thief saved, lived thru the 3-hour
darkness and know this isnt normal. They said, Mt 27:25, His blood be on
us and on our children! Now, they fear what theyve done. Peter reminds
them 7 weeks later at Pentecost and 3,000 follow Jesus thru the curtain.

But the payment must be applied personally. All who will may come, but you
must follow personally. David said, The Lord is my shepherd. Is He your
shepherd, or are you like the boy who was asked by his SS teacher, Why do
you believe in God? He replied, I dont know, unless its something that
runs in the family. That wont do, Beloved. If youre here bc family is here,
Mom and Dad insist you come, to please your spouse that wont do. The
question is, have you personally followed Jesus thru the curtain?

Conc For unbelievers, the cross means the price is paid; just come. But
what about believers? Is it all past tense for us? Not so! Some of you need the
cross more now than when you first came to faith. You found it easier to
accept Gods forgiveness for sins prior to salvation than for those after.

Think for a moment of the worst thing you have ever done the thing that
haunts your existence. Got it? Now let me tell you, whatever it is, you have
done something far more serious than that! Let me illustrate. In Becky
Pipperts book, Hope Has Its Reasons, she tells of a woman who came to her
at a conference. She sobbed her way thru a tortured story. She and her finance,
to whom she was now married, had been youth workers in a large church
greatly admired. But a few months before they were to be married, they began
to have sexual relations. Soon she discovered she was pregnant. The guilt was
crushing! But the thought of the scandal a confession would bring was
unbearable; they determined to abort the baby. She says My wedding day
was the worst day of my entire life. Everyone was beaming with pride, and
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all I could think was, Youre a murderer a murderer! You were so proud
that you would not bear the shame and humiliation of being exposed for
what you are but I know what you are, and so does God. You have
murdered an innocent baby. She added she now had 4 beautiful children;
she knew God forgives sin and had confessed 1,000 times. But she could not
escape the guilt and shame. How could I murder an innocent life?

How do you deal with that kind of guilt? Becky Pippert breathed a quick
prayer for help, wrapped her arms around that woman and said, I dont know
why you are so surprised at your despair. This is not the first time your sin
has led to death. Its the second time. The woman looked at her in utter
amazement and she continued, When we look at the cross, all of us show up
as crucifiers. Religious or not. Aborters or not. All of our sins sent Jesus
there. Do you think there are any sins of yours Jesus did not die for? The
very sin of pride that caused you to destroy your child is what killed Jesus as
well. It doesnt matter that you werent there personally. We all sent Jesus
there. Luther said we all carried his nails in our pockets. So, if youve killed
once, why would you think you couldnt do it again?

The woman stopped crying and said, Youre absolutely right. I have done
something even worse than killing my baby. My sin is what drove Jesus to
the cross. His blood was on my hands just as much as those in the crowd.
And yet He saved me. Talk about amazing grace! She went out a woman
transformed as she grasped even as a believer the meaning of the cross.

Heres the truth. Were all far worse than we ever could imagine. But we are
also far more loved than we ever dared hope. The cross proves it. The place
where hell came to earth so that earth could go to heaven. Come to the cross!
If youve never given Him your life, do it today. Believer or not, if your past
haunts you, bury the body once and for all. Let His forgiving grace pour over
you anew. Rom 5:20: But where sin increased, grace abounded all the
more. Reach out and take what He paid so dearly to give. Lets pray.