That day, the Lord had been mistreated, mocked, ridiculed, and blasphemed. All of Satan’s instruments were mobilized against Him, challenging Him to show His power and come down from the cross, but He remained silent. Yet He made intercession for His guilty people and comforted the criminal beside Him—saving him by grace at this late moment—and cared for His mother.

But now an unusual darkness came over the land and over the Roman Empire. This was not an eclipse or some natural phenomenon, but God’s sovereign intervention. The darkness emphasized that God had forsaken this perfect Man—the Righteous One—who suffered for us, the unjust. God turned His face from the One who had always honored and served Him: unfathomable mystery! The obedient and dependent Man was forsaken of God whom He had always honored. Yet the eternal Father was with the eternal Son. During those dark hours, the Lord Jesus bore the sins of all those who would believe in Him, paying their penalty. This One, who knew no sin, was made sin—the perfect sin-offering—in order to bring us to God. There, God was glorified! Christ always glorified God: at His birth, in His private life, in His public ministry, and now as the perfect Sacrifice. The unusual darkness indicated creation’s respect and awe in this solemn hour; the angels must have covered their faces. We will never be able to grasp this darkness, so horrible to our Lord. It seemed unjust, but it was needed for us that, in Him, we would become God’s righteousness.