On one of our vacations when I was growing up, we took a tour through a cave. It was a dark cave, but it became even darker – scary dark – when the tour guide had all the lights turned off. We couldn’t see our hand in front of our face. Relief swept through the place when the lights went back on. This may have been the kind of darkness Jesus felt on the cross.
For His entire earthly life, He had oneness, total fellowship, with His Father. He felt His Father’s presence every moment of every day. He walked in this light. He bathed in this light. In the darkest moments, the light of His Father shown like sun rays bursting from the clouds after a storm. His Father’s eyes were always on Him and Jesus could hear Him speak at any given moment. He lavished in the love of His Father. But for six hours on the cross, He experienced a darkness He had never known before.
Fellowship was gone. Light was absent. The voice He had heard every day was silent. I’m guessing that this was the worst part of these horrible hours. Here’s the thing… God is pure and holy. He is so pure that He cannot look at sin. And in those hours, Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God, had the sin of the world put on Him. So, God looked away. The loneliness was terrible. The emptiness dreadful. He felt alone. Abandoned. Deserted. He felt a solitude He had never known before. That’s when it got too much for Him and He cried out, “My God, My God. Why have you forsaken me?”
You and I will NEVER know that kind of darkness, even when things look utterly bleak. Why? Because the light of Christ is in us. The light of Christ is all around us. You may think… But I’m a sinner so God must turn His back sometimes, especially when I sin. The Bible is clear… God NEVER turns His back on us. Why is that? The apostle Paul said it best in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” In other words, on the cross, Jesus’ righteousness was imputed into us. Therefore, when God looks at us, He ONLY sees Jesus’ blood flowing through us. He ONLY sees Jesus’ righteousness in us. So, He will NEVER look away.
This is a deep subject and one we could write a novel on, but for a moment be thankful that you will never know life without God. Be thankful that today, you can talk to Him and He will listen. You can feel alone, but He is always watching. You can share a fellowship with Him that no one can experience. I’m thankful that Jesus went through those dark hours so I would never have to. Are you thankful?