Daily Bible Verses for 3/25/2016

Bible Verse
Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep [died] were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

Reading Notes
Dear child of God, we need to pay close attention because we are looking at the exact moment in history, when we forever received the greatest gift mankind has ever received. Because of this one moment in human history, we through faith can call ourselves children of God and joint-heirs with Christ in the kingdom of God. The Apostle Paul explains this for us in his letter to the Galatians. What we see here in these passages is Jesus, taking our penalty of sin upon Himself, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree),” and redeemed us from the curse of the law. He did this that through faith we may be made alive to God and have eternal life spent in His presence. As we read these passages we can see the supernatural “God events” surrounding His crucifixion. As we watch the scene unfold, we see the eternal God of Heaven who stepped out of eternity and took on humanity, pay the price for our sins, once for all times, past, present and future.

The first “God event” was a supernatural darkness which started at the sixth hour, which would have been noon time, the brightest time of the day. This darkness lasted until the ninth hour. It was during this time the wrath of God was being poured out on Christ. This supernatural darkness and silence which covered the land was only interrupted by the voice of Jesus who said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” The word used here for “land” is the Greek word “ghay” which means the entire globe or earth. This tells us as Jesus paid the price for our sins, darkness covered the entire world. At the ninth hour which would have been three o’clock in the afternoon, with a supernatural darkness caused by God, covering the land the second “God Event” took place. Jesus the eternal God of Heaven, the Second Person of the Trinity cried out in a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” As Jesus for the first time in all eternity lost fellowship with God the Father. It’s important to understand that Jesus who is fully God and fully man did not cease being God. Rather, as the Second Person of the Trinity He experienced a loss of fellowship with God the Father. This event was followed immediately by several more “God events.”