Three Miracles From The Cross

One day the reformer Martin Luther was feeling rather down. He had problems at his workplace. He felt the heavy pressure that came with being a professor, pastor, and father. And he was in excruciating pain from kidney stones. As he moved around the house lamenting for all that was happening, his wife Katherine came near him and said in a sad voice, “God is dead.”

Luther looked at his wife with puzzlement and replied, “God is not dead.” Katherine went on to say, “It sure seems like God is dead by the way you are acting.” Luther thanked his wife and etched a Latin word on his desk: vivit. Vivit means, “He lives.” Whenever things weren’t going well and Luther was tempted to complain about them, he looked at that one simple word and was strengthened.

Jesus is alive today amidst all the situations in our life.

1. Darkness over all the land

Matthew 27:45 - From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.

Jesus was hanging for six hours on the cross. From 9:00 am in the morning to 3:00 pm in the afternoon. There was light in the first three hours and from noon onwards, darkness came over all the land.

This is recorded in all the three gospels: in Matthew, Mark (15:33) and Luke (23:45).

Look at the phrase ‘over all the land’. It was not darkness just in Jerusalem where Jesus was hanging, it was not darkness just in Israel, but darkness over all the land. That is a miracle. Because the earth is designed in a way that when there is light in one part of the earth, there is darkness in the other.

Luke 23:45 - for the sun stopped shining.

Over the years, scientists and scholars have tried to find out the reason why there was darkness for three hours upon the whole of the land.

One suggestion was that probably could have been a solar eclipse at that time. But that cannot be possible at all. Because it was the day of Passover. Passover is celebrated on a full moon day. A solar eclipse cannot happen during a full moon.

There’s yet another reason why this darkness cannot be a natural one. Total eclipse for the whole of the earth happens very rare. Most often eclipses happen in a particular location. For instance, during the last total solar eclipse in America in 2017, none of the other countries were affected. And the maximum possible duration of a total solar eclipse is 7 minutes and 31.1 seconds. Another source says that the only total eclipse visible in Jerusalem in this era occurred late in the year AD 29, on 24 November at 11:05 AM. Around the Sea of Galilee, it would have been visible for just one minute and forty-nine seconds.

All this proves that the darkness on the land was a supernatural occurrence. Just as Luke writes, the sun stopped shining. I think the sun stopped shining when the light of the world was put on the cross.

This is something similar to what was there in the beginning before God created anything.

Gen 1:2 - Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

This is something that will happen when Jesus comes again. Amos 5:18 - Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.

What does this miracle show us?

In the Old Testament, there are instances of darkness happening as a sign of judgment from God. While God sent ten plagues over the land of Egypt, the ninth plague was darkness for a period of three days. We read about it in Exodus 10:21-22. It was so darkness that scriptures say the darkness could be felt. After the plague of darkness came the death of the firstborn sons in Egypt.

Recall that the ninth plague of the exodus event was darkness over the land of Egypt for a period of three days—a darkness that could be felt (Ex. 10:21-22). After the plague of darkness came the death of the firstborn sons (Ex. 11:4-5). Darkness preceded death.

Likewise, on the cross, darkness preceded the death of Jesus. What does that mean? The judgement of our sins was placed on Christ. Jesus was our substitute. On the cross, God poured the judgement of our sins on Christ. The darkness was the sign of judgement, as Jesus was bearing our sins on the cross.

2 Cor 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.