From Darkness to Light: Christ's Atoning Sacrifice

and so even now when the full measure of the Judgment of God against evil falls upon his beloved Son when his beloved Son is sent into the Wilderness outside the camp outside the city being cursed entirely by the father God turned out the lights and this crowd that had been mocking him and taunting him tormenting him saying if you are the Christ get down off the cross you saved others can you not save yourself and when this event took place every one of the taunts everyone of the mockeries every one of these torments were stopped instantly as every mouth was silenced as the people were plunged in a total darkness they were there to watch the spectacle to life with Jesus that I noon see him exposed to humiliation when suddenly they couldn't see their hands in front of their faces do you have any idea how terrified this multitude was it wasn't a momentary blotting of the sun it lasted across the whole land and for three solid hours they trembled they could hear him talk but they couldn't see him anymore [00:09:54]

the curtain of the Temple was torn in two thirty feet high 45 feet wide the temple curtain was the wall of partition between the holy place and the temple and the sanctum sanctorum the holy of holies where only the high priest could go once a year on the day of atonement and even then only after going through elaborate rituals of cleansing again we go back to the early Pages the dawn of creation when God breathed into the dirt of Adam and Adam became a living soul and then he created a helpmate suitable for Adam and from his rib he made his wife Eve and the first foreboding tension that we encounter in Chapter 3 of Book of Genesis as we read and the serpent was more crafty and more subtle than all of the beasts of the field you know the story the serpent slithered into the Garden of Eden asked a simple question did God say that you should not eat of the tree of any tree in the garden and then if you did you would surely die it's not what he said the server knew it wasn't what he said Adam and Eve knew it wasn't the one that he said but they were tricked and tempted and succumb to the temptation as we all know and suddenly their eyes were opened and they were naked and ashamed [00:11:50]

this was the first time in human history that man and woman sought out the darkness they looked for a place to hide a place where the Gaze of God would not penetrate and so because of their nakedness and because of their shame they hid themselves and when the Creator came in the cool of the evening he called to his creatures saying Adam where are you and the voice replied we're hiding because we're ashamed we're shamed of our nakedness how do you know your naked did you eat of that tree and of course they had and the First Act of God's Redeeming Grace was to cover his shamed creatures with skins that he made from animals to hide their guilt that was an act of Mercy but what followed was an act of judgment where God expelled and banished Adam and Eve out of paradise made them leave and to go live East of Eden and not only that for the first time in human history God appointed Earthly government he assigned a sentinel an angel with a flaming sword to guard the entrance to Paradise lest Adam and Eve would try to sneak their way back a sign was posted on Paradise no admission no entrance here because they were expelled into the darkness [00:13:36]

and throughout Jewish history the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the immediate presence of God was symbolized through the pages of the Old Testament through the construction first of the Tabernacle then of the Temple where this wall of partition made out of several layers of cloth not that made out of wood or gold that could be smashed by sled hammers but anybody wanted to go ahead and destroy that wall of separation if they sent blows against it the plied cloth would just simply give but this day on the day of atonement the temple was torn not by an earthquake not from the ground up but again by the hand of God from the top down as if the Lord God omnipotent reached down because of the atoning work of Jesus Christ and he took the veil of the temple and he ripped it and he tore down the sign that said no admittance said to all of those who were covered by the righteousness of Christ and were justified by his life and death would have the result as the Apostle Paul declared that being justified we have peace with God and what access access into his presence [00:15:39]

The Sentinel that stood at the gates of paradise had his sword extinguished and put back in his Scabbard as he was dismissed from service as for the first time since the fall we could go home Without Shame and without fear to the presence of God I love this hymn that we sang today never mind that I wrote the words I love it anyway if for no other reason than the music that was composed to go along with it loots will sing Pipers play when we see him face to face like your Dave is experiencing on this sabbath morning and so the temple was torn and the bar removed and we once again had access to our God finally Luke tells us then Jesus calling out with a loud voice said father into your hands I commit my spirit seven times Jesus has said to at least is recorded that he spoke from the cross no one gospel writer mentions all of them but this presumably was the last one with his last breath he made a commitment to the father [00:17:10]

I remember when my father died I was there I heard the death rattle in the midst of his coma and I listened to his breathing as it became shallower and shallower and shallower and so you would expect that the last moment of Jesus life that whatever he would say would be hardly audible at all as he was speaking with his last breath but do you read what Luke said Jesus cried out with a loud voice father into your hands I commit my spirit into the hands of the one who had just poured out every drop of wrath upon him into the hands of the father who had put this curse upon him like job infinitely magnified job had said though thou kill me yet will I trust you here Jesus said never mind the torture never mind the Wrath father I commit my soul to you and he breathed his last [00:18:57]

almost as if concluding unscientific footnote Luke adds now when the Centurion saw what had taken place he praised God not Caesar not Zeus but he prays the god of Heaven and Earth and such certainly this man was innocent not I think he was innocent not I hope he was innocent no maybe he was innocent no he said certainly echoing the very Judgment of Pontius Pilate I find no fault in this man and all the crowds that had assembled a huge crowds for the spectacle when they saw what had taken place listen to what Luke tells us they went home not licking their chops they went home beating their breasts which was an indication of fear and trembling among them what they witnessed when the lights came back on what they heard the commitment of Jesus when it was over they went home in self-torment beating their breasts and all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him From Galilee stood at a distance watching these things [00:20:39]

now I believe beloved in the inerrancy of sacred scripture you know that I know there are many scholars and theologians who don't but I do categorically and unequivocally and one might quibble about a possible error that is found here in the text because Luke recorded the Jesus breathed his last and he did breathe his last before he died but the rest of the story says he did not breathe his last because he breathed again [00:22:28]