The Hour of Darkness

Published: 9th of July, 2022

I recently watched a video on social media where detractors of the Gospel of Christ questioned why Jesus couldn’t have saved himself from crucifixion. They quoted Jesus’ prayer at the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus asked God to “remove this cup” from him. And they questioned, if Jesus is the Son of God, why did God not answer His prayer?

At that time when Jesus said that prayer, the hour of darkness had already come over the world. It was the time when Jesus was to bear the sin of the world. And being separated and rejected by God was part of the punishment.

When the guards came to Jesus to take Him away, He said to them, “I was among you all along, but you could not lay your hand on me. Why now? It is because this is your hour – when darkness reigns.”

It was during the hour of darkness that Jesus took the place of sinful man – separate from and rejected of God – the weight of every curse upon his shoulders. Jesus felt betrayal, separation from God, rejection from God, persecution of man, humiliation, and pain and suffering all at one time. He lost His divine power during the hour of darkness. And this was demonstrated when He cried out, “my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?”

God forsook Jesus during the hour of darkness. The Father could not bear to look upon the Son because God is righteous and He could not look upon Jesus when the sin of the world was cast upon Him.

God gave His Son up during the hour of darkness out of His Great love for mankind, but with great pain and agony. The earth rocked with the anger of God as Jesus lay on the Cross of Calvary. It was at that moment that Jesus bruised the devil’s head and the devil bruised the heal of Jesus. The unadulterated wrath of God was poured out on Jesus for a brief moment because He is the only One who is qualified to take away the sin of the world. No animal sacrifice, and no sinful man could have done what Jesus did on the Cross of Calvary.

Jesus was the Lamb without blemish who was given up, rejected and forsaken of God, bearing the wages of sin for the salvation of all mankind. That was the hour of darkness – when darkness reigned upon the earth – when Jesus suffered and died so that you don’t have to.