Open your Bibles again to Mark chapter 15.
We're continuing our series on the crucifixion in Mark.
! Last week we looked at the moment of the crucifixion.
Next week we're going to look at the burial of Jesus.
But today we're going to look at his actual death.
So would you please turn your focus to Mark chapter 15, verses 33 to 41.
Over the past 2,000 years,
it has been estimated that there have been about 66 billion human deaths in this world.
And think of the whole variety of contexts of all those deaths.
Deaths in hospitals and hospices.
Deaths on the battlefield and the trenches.
Deaths in prisons, on roadsides, in houses.
Tragic deaths.
Heroic deaths.
Deserved deaths.
Executions.
The electric chair, the gallows, lethal injection.
Even thousands of crucifixions in the past two millennia.
66 billion deaths.
But one thing unites them all.
They are all, ultimately, just deaths.
Life coming to an end.
And they may leave behind memories or grief or a legacy.
But still, they are all life just coming to an end.
No mistake about it.
And to deal with the grief, we try our hardest to move on.
And as the centuries go by, the world does just keep moving on.
But I say one thing unites them all.
But really, we should say, all except one.
One death of the 66 billion is not actually just a death.
One, unlike any other.
One with a meaning and significance and impact on you and me, unlike any other.
A death the world cannot just move on from.
And it is the death we are witnessing here in Mark today.
But if you were there on the roadside, as Jesus hung on that cross, you could be very tempted to think,
this is like every other death.
In the middle of two criminals, you could be mistaken to think, his death is just like theirs.
And just like the thousands of other crucifixions of the past.
And just like the other 66 billion.
And in fact, that mistake is being made here in Mark.
We saw last week the passers-by and the priests thought this was a death like any other.
In fact, a forgettable, laughable death.
And the bystanders in our passage today make a mistake.
They hear Jesus crying to God, but they mishear him.
They think he's calling Elijah.
It is possible to mistake what's going on here in the death of Christ.
And to think it is a death like any other.
But to do so would be the greatest mistake of your life.
In fact, you might be here today, and you know this person called Jesus died.
You know it involved a cross.
And you know Christians care about it.
But to you, it may just be a death.
Something you can just move on from.
Well, Mark has written these words today to make it very clear without mistake that this is a death unlike any other.
And you must not move on from it.
Because in this passage here, we see God's perspective of what is happening on the cross.
Two supernatural, divine events appear in this passage.
The darkness that falls upon the land.
And the tearing of the curtain at the moment of Jesus' death.
And in these two divine events, we see God's perspective on the cross.
Not what it means to me.
Not what it means to the onlookers.
But what it means to God.
And we can make mistakes, but God cannot.
And so God is doing something in creation.
Supernaturally shaping these events to clear up the mistakes.
And to show us why this is a death unlike any other.
Why we must not be mistaken about this.
And why the world, why you, cannot just move on from this death.
But rather, this is the most glorious moment of history.
And this death will transform your life.
It will transform your eternity.
And so last week we focused on the dynamic between the passers-by and Christ.
Well now, I want us to turn our eyes up to heaven.
And see the dynamic between God and Christ.
And see what God says about the cross.
And so I just want to focus on two things today.
The darkness and the curtain.
And we will see what God says about this death.
And so the first thing is this, the darkness.
Let's look at the darkness.
Jesus has been hanging on the cross for about three hours now.
And look back to verse 25.
It was the third hour, 9 a.m., when they crucified him.
And now in verse 33, we're in the sixth hour.
Twelve o'clock, midday.
Just outside Jerusalem.
Three hours of Jesus hanging in the hot sun.
His flesh pulling on those nails.
And blood dripping onto the dry dust.
But as the clock strikes 12, what is the one thing you would expect at midday in the Middle East?
Sun.
Hot sun, high in the sky.
For what happens here, the clock strikes 12.
And verse 33, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
Now, this is not talking about a solar eclipse.
This is not talking about just being overcast.
No, this is talking about a sudden, supernatural pitch blackness across the land for three hours.
We're about to approach midday soon.
It would be like right now, the sun turns off like a light switch.
Your eyes dilate.
And London is submerged into a winter night until 3 p.m.
Well, that's Jerusalem here.
As Jesus hangs there, God shuts off the sun's rays.
And this cross and this land is plunged into darkness.
No warmth in your skin.
No light in your eyes.
And without electricity, there really was darkness over the whole land.
And whenever God acts in creation like this, he does so to communicate something to us.
It is like a cosmic sign telling us something about what is going on in this moment.
And darkness in the Bible has a very significant meaning.
Darkness represents two things.
Firstly, darkness represents evil, sin.
The Bible speaks of our sinful actions as being deeds of darkness.
And in sin, we walk in darkness with darkened minds and belonging to the kingdom of darkness.
Darkness means sin and evil.
And we even use that imagery, don't we?
When a great evil happens in our country, think of the Southport attacks.
When that happens, we say, today is a very dark day.
We know something evil is present.
Well, in this darkness, God is indicating in the heavens itself, there is an intense presence of evil and sin in this moment.
And as well as that, darkness means another thing.
Darkness represents God's anger, his wrath, his judgment.
Think of the Exodus, when there was darkness over Egypt as it faces the plagues of judgment.
And think of how Jesus describes hell.
He calls it the outer darkness.
Darkness.
Which makes sense because light, light is to do with comfort and joy, isn't it?
What lifts your spirit?
It's a warm summer's day.
Light is life and comfort and joy.
And in particular, light is God's goodness.
Think of the benediction we hear every Sunday.
God's favor shines upon us.
And so darkness is the complete opposite.
It is the shutting off of joy and happiness and comfort.
And instead, it's the presence of God's wrath.
So in this supernatural darkness over this cross, God is revealing to the world something is present at Golgotha.
God's holy anger is intensely present in this moment.
And these two meanings, sin and wrath, they always go together.
Like two magnets stuck together.
Because the darkness of sin always brings the darkness of God's anger.
Where there is human evil, there is divine wrath.
You cannot separate the two.
And so you may not realize it.
But this very same darkness has been lurking in this world for a while.
Ever since Adam ate that fruit, though the sun still shone, this darkness has filled the earth.
This darkness was over Adam and Eve.
It was over Cain and Abel.
It was over the nations as they grew and spread across this planet.
And it's everywhere today.
This darkness is over this country right now.
It's over this city.
It's over homes and in bedrooms.
It hangs over those parades.
It sits over the mosques.
It's there over phones and laptops, cafes and boardrooms.
The darkness is everywhere.
The wrath of God looms over all ungodliness in this world.
Where there is sin, there is God's wrath.
And it is an unbearable weight hanging over a world turned from God.
It is an infinite debt that none of us can repay.
A guilt none of us can erase.
But the scary thing is, we don't see it.
We go about living our lives thinking everything is as bright as day.
No God, no darkness, no consequences.
And we go about our lives thinking everything is fine.
We make the mistake thinking it's not there, but a darkness looms.
And in this moment, as Jesus hangs on the cross, God knows that we don't see the darkness.
And so he shuts off the sun to show us this darkness really does exist.
And the darkness is intensely present in this moment at this cross.
It is like God is saying, I need to shut off the light from a star just to show you what this cross really means.
And so though the sky is black, this moment is actually blazing hot with the fury of God.
Yet this darkness is hanging over the purest of all people.
A man who has no sin.
A man for whom evil has never even crossed his mind.
The man in whom God is well pleased.
The man who is filled with light and joy.
Yet the darkness of sin and wrath hangs above him of all people.
Why?
Well, God is showing us what this moment really means.
Why this is a death unlike any other.
It is because as Jesus hangs on that cross, it is not his own darkness that he bears.
But he bears the darkness of sinners.
There is the darkness of sin in the air because on this cross, this man is becoming sin for us.
The pure Lord of glory is being treated as a sinner.
He is bearing the darkness of sin in his body on that tree.
And God is striking him with the fury of his wrath upon sin.
But it is not his own sin.
No, that sin is coming from somewhere.
Someone else.
But whose?
Whose sin is he bearing?
Brothers and sisters, it is yours.
And it is mine.
It is like if we could all open up our spiritual bank accounts and see every thought and word and action that we have ever done,
all written with the ink of darkness.
Every sin.
Every outburst.
Every click.
Every kiss.
Every lie.
Everything from our grumbling this morning down to the unspeakable things we don't even dare to think about.
All of that in our account.
It is like as the clock strikes 12 in Jerusalem, the lights go out and your account is drained and emptied and funneled all into Christ's account.
All the darkness of our life landing on him.
You can't even imagine the horrors and the filth being put to his holy name.
Yet in this moment, God is declaring in the darkness, this man is bearing your sin.
And Jesus continues to hang there because he knows we are not able to bear it.
And the only way to save sin is to save you.
It is to take the darkness off us.
And place the unbearable weight of our debt onto his shoulders.
Which means not only the darkness of sin,
but the darkness of God's wrath is falling upon this man.
In this moment, as he hangs there,
the full sting of sin's curse is piercing him right now.
So if in the mockery, Christ was tasting hell for us,
well, this is him consuming every last drop.
Which is why he speaks those haunting words in verse 34.
And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice,
Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani.
Which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
As the darkness comes to an end,
we finally hear Jesus speak.
And we get an insight into how he feels right now.
And what does he say?
It's a quote from Psalm 22.
He cries to God,
why have you forsaken me?
This is what it feels like
to bear the darkness of our sin
and the darkness of God's wrath.
Forsaken.
Cut off.
Shut off.
Now, we need to be careful with these words here.
We mustn't be mistaken.
Look at verse 35.
Jesus says, Eloi, in Aramaic,
which means, my God.
But people mistakenly think he says,
Eli, meaning Elijah.
And like these people,
I don't want us to be mistaken
about what Jesus is saying here.
We must not make the mistake
of thinking,
this is the Trinity breaking.
This is not the Trinity breaking.
That is impossible.
And we must not make the mistake of thinking,
this is a cry of unbelief.
No, Jesus cries,
my God.
God is still his God.
No, what is going on here
is that Jesus,
in his human soul,
he is experiencing
the full weight
of this darkness.
God is shutting off
the light of his goodness
and comfort and grace,
shutting all of that off from Jesus
so that Jesus only feels
the weight of darkness in his soul.
He feels utterly forsaken.
It is a cry
unlike any other.
Even in our darkest moments,
we always have some light
of God's goodness.
His mercy
is always there.
Even at our lowest,
it's never as dark
as it possibly could be.
There is always
some light.
God constantly
shows you
his goodness.
And in Christ's life,
he would have known it the most.
The perfect son
in perfect communion
with the Father,
knowing that joy
and happiness
and delight of God.
Yet now,
in this cry
and in this darkness,
all of that
is shut off.
No light.
No joy.
And instead,
Jesus only feels
in his soul
the dread-filled torment
of God's
holy anger
upon sin.
If you could send
a microphone
down into hell
right now
and record the screams,
it would haunt us
forever,
wouldn't it?
We would know,
I never want
to go through that.
Well,
in a sense,
we have a recording here.
Darkness
covers the land
because as Jesus
bears our sins,
this is God
unleashing
all the furies
of hell
onto this one man
and he can't help
but cry out,
my God,
why have you
forsaken me?
It is a pain
hard to put down
in words,
which is why
Mark needs to write
down the Aramaic
as well,
Jesus' mother tongue
that he would have used.
Eloi,
Lema sabachthani.
If your first language
is in English,
sometimes
you can feel
emotions so strong
that when you cry out,
English won't do,
will it?
You must go back
to your mother tongue.
Well,
that is Jesus.
And so we must
not be mistaken
about what's going on here.
God is telling us
for those in Christ,
Jesus went through
hell for us.
He is crying out here
for your sake.
This is the cry
of bearing
our punishment.
This is the cry
of your forgiveness.
Feeling the weight
of all that we have done,
all those words,
those thoughts,
the things that we
wish we never did,
our sinless Savior
cries out
because he is
bearing all of it
on that cross.
it is a death
unlike any other.
We die as one sinner.
This man dies
carrying the sins
of billions.
And so we must
make no mistake
of how severe sin is.
We may not see
this darkness,
but God is showing us
what it deserves.
This agony
is what the world
will face
if it remains
in darkness.
It is not
a small thing
to be far from God.
It is not
a trivial thing
to have this darkness
over you.
No, look at what
the Son of God
had to go through.
And so Christian,
whatever sin
you may be persisting in,
the sin that we are
ignoring right now,
it needs to stop.
Don't make this cry
mean nothing.
And if you are not
a Christian here today,
God is telling you
something you must
not be mistaken about.
There is a darkness.
And this is what
it deserves,
but the question is,
will the darkness
remain on you
or will it land
on Christ?
Because your life
doesn't have to remain
in darkness.
This darkness
may be everywhere,
but it isn't
over everyone.
because I want us
to now look
at the other
supernatural events here.
I want us to look
at the curtain
and to why
this death
is unlike any other
and why it changes
everything
about the darkness
in this world.
So let's look
at the curtain,
the curtain.
After the darkness
passes
and Jesus cries out,
we come to the moment
of his death,
verse 35.
And Jesus uttered
a loud cry
and breathed
his last.
Just a few words.
After that agony,
after that cry,
he took
his final breath
and Jesus
died.
And again,
you might be tempted
to think
this moment
is like the 66 billion
other final moments.
But as soon as
he stops breathing
and his head
sinks down,
as soon as that happened,
God does something.
Verse 38.
And the curtain
of the temple
was torn in two
from top
to bottom.
Now this curtain
is the temple curtain
that divided
the most holy place
from the rest
of the world.
So behind the curtain
in the most holy place
is where the Ark
of the Covenant was,
where God's presence
most intently dwelt,
intensely dwelt.
And the curtain
was there
to shut the world
off from God
because he's too holy.
It was to keep
the darkness out.
It is a giant
keep out sign
saying,
your sin is too much.
Your guilt
is too severe.
You cannot walk
onto holy ground
carrying that filth.
You cannot come to God.
You do not deserve life.
You do not deserve joy.
You deserve darkness.
But what happens
as soon
as Jesus dies?
The curtain
is torn in two.
The barrier
between God
and man
is split open.
And notice,
it happens
from top to bottom.
This was not
humans cutting up.
This is God
tearing down.
God is showing us
something.
God is showing us
the death of Christ
is like no other.
His death
causes something.
It achieves something.
This death
and only in this death,
this is how
you and I
are brought back
to God.
For those in Christ,
as that curtain
tore,
that is God
declaring to you
in the most
glorious way,
your debt
is wiped out.
your sins
are paid for.
Your darkness
has ended.
The wrath
of God
is no longer
over you
because it
has once
and for all
fallen on
the Son
of God.
Therefore,
your sins
are once
and for all
forgiven.
Your account
is emptied
onto Christ
and it stays
that way.
the curtain
is torn
and you
are forever,
you are forever
brought back
to your God.
God.
But even as
Christians,
we can so easily
be mistaken
about this,
can't we?
Because our
hearts
still accuse
us,
don't they?
Our sins
still plague us
and we imagine
this darkness
still looms
over us.
The memories
of our past
still haunt us
and the guilt
is hard to escape.
We think of what
we did last week,
last night
and we think
God is angry.
God hates me.
What can I do
to make this up
to him?
And when we
think that,
we mistake
what has happened
on the cross.
That sin,
that very sin
that you are
thinking about
right now,
that has already
fallen onto Christ
and on the cross
as that curtain
tore,
that is God
declaring to you
that Christ
has made
an end
of your sin.
And if all
God's anger
fell onto Christ,
is there any
left for you?
None.
And if all
the darkness
fell onto Christ,
when you die,
will you ever
face the outer
darkness?
Impossible.
And if Jesus
was forsaken
for us,
will God
ever forsake
you?
Never.
And so God
holds nothing
against you,
Christian,
because he
held it all
against Christ.
And the curtain
cannot be sewn
back together.
Jesus cannot
be uncrucified.
No,
you are
forgiven.
When Christ's
breath ended,
your sin
ended with him.
And if you
are in Christ,
there is
nothing,
nothing
left for you
to do.
Jesus has
done it all.
And your
soul
can find
rest here
in this
moment.
Jesus has
saved you.
But if you
are here today
and you aren't
trusting in
Christ,
I need to
tell you,
there is still
darkness looming
over you.
you could
say the
curtain
remains up
for you.
An
unbearable
weight still
hangs above
you and
you won't
be able to
carry it.
But there
is someone
who can.
Christ
can bear
it all.
But you
must
recognize
that this
man and
this death
is like
no other.
I want
you to
see the
right way
to respond
to this
death.
Look at
verse 39.
And when
the centurion
who stood
facing him
saw that
in this
way he
breathed
his last,
he said,
truly this
man was
the son
of God.
A
soldier who
was far
from God
but he
recognized
that this
was a
death like
no other.
He saw
how Jesus
died, he
saw the
signs God
gave and
he knew
this was
no ordinary
man and
this was
no ordinary
death.
He knew
this was
the death
of the
son of
God.
And this
is how
we need
to respond
if this
death is
to be of
any relevance
to us.
It is
one thing
to say
a man
died but
it is
another to
say
and that
man is
the son
of God.
And so
I urge
you today
I urge
you,
you must
recognize
that too.
Do not
mistake
this death.
death.
You
cannot
leave here
this morning
and just
move on
from this
death
because you
cannot bear
the darkness
on your own.
You cannot
pay this
debt which
is why
without Christ
you will
have to
bear it
forever.
And so I
urge you
let Christ
bear it.
It is the
only way.
Let your
sins be
taken on
the cross.
and how
recognize
that this
is a
death like
no other.
Recognize
this man
is the
son of
God,
the savior
of sinners
and he
will become
your savior
because for
those in
Christ
this is
your savior.
Your
darkness
has fallen
on this
man.
Your sin
has been
taken away.
Jesus
has carried
it all.
The curtain
has been
torn in
two.
This
death is
like no
other.
Truly
this man
was the
son of
God.
Let's
pray.