5. At what time did the darkness fall on the sorrows of Calvary? How long did it last? Matthew 27:45; Luke 23:44-45 first part.
COMPILER’S NOTE: The sixth hour was 12.00 midday. The ninth hour was 3.00 p.m. our time.
NOTE: ‘With amazement, angels witnessed the Saviour’s despairing agony. The hosts of heaven veiled their faces from the fearful sight. Inanimate nature expressed sympathy with its insulted and dying Author. The sun refused to look upon the awful scene. Its full, bright rays were illuminating the earth at midday, when suddenly it seemed to be blotted out. Complete darkness, like a funeral pall, enveloped the cross. “There was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.” There was no eclipse or other natural cause for this darkness, which was as deep as midnight without moon or stars. It was a miraculous testimony given by God that the faith of after generations might be confirmed.’ Desire of Ages, page 753.
6. As Jesus cried out in anguish that His God had forsaken Him, how did one onlooker respond? Matthew 27:48. Compare the response of others in the crowd. Matthew 27:49.
COMPILER’S NOTE: Some have wondered why earlier He had prayed to His Father, in asking for the soldiers’ forgiveness, but now He prays in anguish to ‘My God.’ It is thought that this might have been the deepest point of His agony on the Cross. He is perhaps experiencing in His last hours of life, the total separation and banishment from God that will be the lot of all those who choose to follow their own way. Having expressed the human cry, ‘I thirst,’ He took the sponge offered to Him.
NOTE: ‘When Jesus had therefore received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost.’ John 19:30.