Seeing the Son out of the Divine Darkness

“And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ And some of the bystanders hearing it said, ‘Behold, he is calling Elijah.’ And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’ And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 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!’”

Mark 15:33-39 

Much could be said about this passage—the use of the Psalm, the reconciliation of the hour with that time used by John, and the nature of the mocking—but I only want to draw your attention to two things: 1. The darkness of God’s curse was placed upon the Son. 2. The sight of the Son was opened up to the sinner.

The Darkness of God’s Curse Was Placed on the Son

It is clear enough that the darkness was both a real physical phenomenon and a sign, as God often writes into His story real persons, events, or objects which stand for a deeper spiritual reality, or even some fulfillment much later in time. As the author of Hebrews speaks of the many facets of the old covenant as “copies of heavenly things” (9:23), so here the skies copied their Maker.

This curse is a darkness from God Himself. Everything that the Gospels tell us about Christ’s suffering, leading up to this (not to minimize any part of it), pales in comparison to this darkness hurled upon the earth by the Father. That may seem odd at first because the darkness fell upon all. It doesn’t seem to have added to the pains of crucifixion in any way.

The Scriptures tell us that “God is light” (1 Jn. 1:5). What then can it mean for darkness to rise at the sixth hour, to eclipse broad daylight? It was a moment of judgment that God’s people had been hearing about for centuries. The way they had heard of it, it was called the Day of the Lord. As it says,

“Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light” (Isa. 13:9-10).

Or in Amos, “‘And on that day,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight’ (8:9). But this couldn’t be that day, could it? God was not punishing the world. One can speak of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 in that way. Ultimately, one can think of the Last Day when God will wrap up all of history. But how was this day related to those?

This curse was the legal response to sin. People back in Amos’ day got the idea that this coming “divine darkness” would be a bad news only for the worst of the worst, but a ride in the park for them. He says, “Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light” (5:19). This was the worst of bad news that human beings could ever hear. None could escape, because “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23). If God is light and in him is no darkness at all, then it must follow that no soul with the slightest blemish could ever escape His piercing righteous eyes. 

This curse involves being forsaken. That means separation from God: abandonment. “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (v. 34) These words are from Psalm 22, though they are the Aramaic, a common touch to Mark’s literary style. Is it true then, what the song says? The Father “turns his face away”? While that exact expression is not used in the New Testament, the idea of this hour of darkness and the other texts discussed here are the truths that people would point to in order to justify the idea. It should be mentioned that rejection of the Son by the Father is unnecessary to the idea of bearing our curse. And Psalm 22 actually continues: "he has not hidden his face from him" (v. 24). There is nonetheless the true subjective sense—in his human nature—of this God-forsakenness. This alienation. He was not simply quoting Bible verses to bolster prophetic status, as that would be quite impossible to the excruciating reality of the situation.

All of this is to remember that this curse is the opposite of the blessing that God told Aaron and his sons to place upon the people, the ancient benediction:

“The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” (Num. 6:24-26).

This was the great hope of God’s people—that they would see His face. Their understanding of peace (shalom) was not a mere ceasefire or calm in the universe, but rather the sum total of blessing. All things restored. All sin put away. To have God smile upon us in truth is to have all else that one could call good. But that is not the world of sin; and that is because of our personal sin.

What Jesus experienced in this divine darkness was the ultimate malediction. He “became sin for us,” Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:21—not ontologically so, but legally so. That Christ “became a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13) means that God placed all of the guilt and shame upon Jesus in our place. This is no mere “theory” of the atonement. It is the only one that gives any hope against hell, for it is the substance of hell poured out upon our Savior instead of on us.

The Sight of the Son Was Opened Up to the Sinner.

Here was a Roman centurion. A Gentile. A trained assassin. All that is in this truth begins to be unpacked at the sound of this man’s sight. At this “Ground Zero” of God’s justice satisfied, not only was the temple veil torn in two, but from that blast open, this man’s eyes were miraculously opened. It is the same supernatural act that any of us needed to begin to see. Why? Because “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers” (2 Cor. 4:4). What then did he see? On the surface he saw one thing. Perhaps he even saw another. Yet through his seeing, the Scriptures would have us see three things.

First, there is what is obviously said in the words themselves: “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (v. 39) If He was the Son of God, then He was wholly innocent. And Luke affirms that the centurion had this same impression: “saying, ‘Certainly this man was innocent!’” (23:47). So all that is wrapped up in that darkness is strictly undeserved by Christ. As our Great High Priest, He made voluntarily made Himself the sacrifice, the Substitue—“For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:7). The innocent took on our guilt. 

Second, there is the sight behind his sight. Maybe he didn’t understand, but Mark explains it to us in the words: ‘the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom’ (v. 38). This was what symbolically divided a holy God from the sinner. The TOP TO BOTTOM direction signifies that God must act from heaven. And so He had.

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh” (Heb. 10:19-20).

Third and finally, it was ‘when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last’ (v. 39a). Now we know from another Gospel that words accompanied his last breath—“It is finished” (Jn. 19:30) and “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Lk. 23:46) None of the Gospels draw out for us the connection; but given that this centurion was physically closer to Him than anyone else, it seems unlikely that both Mark and Luke would draw out the centurion’s reaction in the very next breath as these words in Jesus’ last breath, unless these shaped the Spirit-given new view toward Jesus. I mean these words about who Jesus is in relation to the Father, and what Jesus was doing in paying for sins.

Seeing the Son in the Present

Seeing the Son here does not mean making of Him whatever you like. Popular Christian culture—truly an oxymoron—makes Jesus out to be the uncomplicated God-man. The ever-smiling, never-judging, creed-minimalist, whose only business here seems to have been to change the hearts of a handful of grumpy legalists and leave the rest to their own self-inflicted hell on earth. With everyone else this Jesus is already well pleased and ready to be for them the ultimate life coach.

What else can be said but this: That is not the biblical Jesus.

We do not see Jesus rightly if we do not see His right to command of us all His holy will. We do not see Him right if we go on talking about this or that “theory” of what He came to do. Such things are not open for debate.

You see Him rightly when you see what He did on the cross. You see Him rightly when you see your sins placed upon Him. You see Him rightly when you see Him as the only way through the veil, and to the Father. Do not look away, and do not look at Him in your own way. 

Here is the way that Jesus Himself puts it.

“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn. 6:40).