Mar 15:34 | KingComments | STEP | Then the sixth hour comes. It is the middle of the day. When the sun is at its highest point in the heavens, all of a sudden total darkness comes over the whole land. So far, all the Lord’s sufferings have been perceived by everyone. The suffering for sin that now follows takes place in darkness, without a human eye being able to perceive it. This darkness lasts for three hours. In these three hours of darkness, the Son of God is burdened with the sins of all who believe in Him, and He is made sin by God and God judges Him. He does not spare Him. The judgment that God executes on His own beloved Son is withdrawn from human eyes. The reckoning takes place between God and His Son alone. In these hours, the Lord Jesus is not only the burnt offering but also the sin and trespass offering (Leviticus 4-5). When the three hours of darkness are over, we hear the Lord’s complaint that His God has forsaken Him. This is His greatest suffering. In those hours God, Who was always with Him, is against Him. The sword of God’s righteousness is awakened against the Man Who has always been His Associate ( ). During the first three hours, the Lord suffered from the side of man. In the second three hours He suffered from the side of God. The result of the first three hours is that man increased his guilt toward God and brought it to a climax. God’s response to this is His judgment on man. The result of the second three hours is the atonement that God can offer to even the greatest slanderer. The Lord’s complaint is the question to God – Whom He calls “My God” – why He has forsaken Him. He knew, but He expressed this complaint so that we might understand how great His suffering was because of being forsaken by God. He had gone through everything with His God, while all had left Him, but now He had also been left alone by God. This loneliness is the loneliness that every man will know forever who dies in unbelief, but without that question of why. Every person who is in hell will know why. At the same time, his loneliness will be experienced by him in a completely different way. He, Whose deepest joy it was to be in God’s presence and always has been, has uniquely experienced the lack. No unbeliever who perish will ever experience it that way. He is the One and Only in this. When the three hours of darkness have passed, the mockery continues. The explanation of His words as if He were calling for Elijah is proof of this. It may also be that someone makes this remark who does not understand the language and hears Elijah, while the Lord says Eloi. The Lord is thirsty. Someone gives Him a drink so that He may live a little longer and His call for Elijah may be heard. Thus man mocks Him. But His life and His death are not in the hands of men. He dies at the time God has determined. Fully in accordance with this, at that moment the Lord voluntarily commits His spirit into the hands of the Father. He does not die of exhaustion, but lays down His life Himself ( ). What else does He have to do in a world in which He lived only to fulfill the will of God? Everything is finished, and He must necessarily die because He has been rejected by the world. As a result, there is no more room in this world for His mercy toward it. He breathes His last, obedient to the end, to begin a life in another world – either for His soul separated from the body, or in glory – where evil can never enter and where the new man will be perfectly happy in the presence of God.

‏ Mark 15:34

The Death of the Lord Jesus

Then the sixth hour comes. It is the middle of the day. When the sun is at its highest point in the heavens, all of a sudden total darkness comes over the whole land. So far, all the Lord’s sufferings have been perceived by everyone. The suffering for sin that now follows takes place in darkness, without a human eye being able to perceive it. This darkness lasts for three hours.

In these three hours of darkness, the Son of God is burdened with the sins of all who believe in Him, and He is made sin by God and God judges Him. He does not spare Him. The judgment that God executes on His own beloved Son is withdrawn from human eyes. The reckoning takes place between God and His Son alone. In these hours, the Lord Jesus is not only the burnt offering but also the sin and trespass offering (Leviticus 4-5).

When the three hours of darkness are over, we hear the Lord’s complaint that His God has forsaken Him. This is His greatest suffering. In those hours God, Who was always with Him, is against Him. The sword of God’s righteousness is awakened against the Man Who has always been His Associate (Zec 13:7).

During the first three hours, the Lord suffered from the side of man. In the second three hours He suffered from the side of God. The result of the first three hours is that man increased his guilt toward God and brought it to a climax. God’s response to this is His judgment on man. The result of the second three hours is the atonement that God can offer to even the greatest slanderer.

The Lord’s complaint is the question to God – Whom He calls “My God” – why He has forsaken Him. He knew, but He expressed this complaint so that we might understand how great His suffering was because of being forsaken by God. He had gone through everything with His God, while all had left Him, but now He had also been left alone by God.

This loneliness is the loneliness that every man will know forever who dies in unbelief, but without that question of why. Every person who is in hell will know why. At the same time, his loneliness will be experienced by him in a completely different way. He, Whose deepest joy it was to be in God’s presence and always has been, has uniquely experienced the lack. No unbeliever who perish will ever experience it that way. He is the One and Only in this.

When the three hours of darkness have passed, the mockery continues. The explanation of His words as if He were calling for Elijah is proof of this. It may also be that someone makes this remark who does not understand the language and hears Elijah, while the Lord says Eloi.

The Lord is thirsty. Someone gives Him a drink so that He may live a little longer and His call for Elijah may be heard. Thus man mocks Him. But His life and His death are not in the hands of men. He dies at the time God has determined. Fully in accordance with this, at that moment the Lord voluntarily commits His spirit into the hands of the Father.

He does not die of exhaustion, but lays down His life Himself (Jn 10:17-18). What else does He have to do in a world in which He lived only to fulfill the will of God? Everything is finished, and He must necessarily die because He has been rejected by the world. As a result, there is no more room in this world for His mercy toward it.

He breathes His last, obedient to the end, to begin a life in another world – either for His soul separated from the body, or in glory – where evil can never enter and where the new man will be perfectly happy in the presence of God.