Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Ezekiel 19-24
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 27:46
In the middle of the dark afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice.
Jesus: Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani—My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
The sun was blotted out. This was no ordinary eclipse. Darkness fell over the earth for hours while the Son of God hung on the cross. It was as if evil finally won and blotted out all the light that God created and said was good. Jesus had taken on the sins of the world and as Satan thought he won the battle, God let darkness creep over the land showing everyone present just how evil men could become.
Throughout His ordeal, Jesus continued to pray from scriptures He’d learned throughout His life. He quoted from the Psalms and poured out His heart to His Father. He used David’ words to gain the strength He need to endure the pain and suffering inflicted on Him by those around Him who didn’t understand the meaning of the sacrifice He made for them or the actions they took against God Himself by hanging Him on that tree.
And now, as Jesus neared the end of His agonizing sacrifice, He cries out in one desperate plea, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.” Which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” When the human side of Jesus needed the Father most, He turned His face away because of the darkness of the sins He bore for us. The Man who committed no sin. The One who served as the perfect sacrifice for us. The Father, turned away to let Him die alone on the cross as the penalty for us, separated from Him for a time.
Utter darkness. Complete separation. Total abandonment. We have never experienced it because God’s Spirit is alive and active in our world today. He does not leave us alone in this place. But He did with His Son for those moments as He carried the whole world’s sins on His shoulders.
We have no record of what happened from the time Jesus was laid in the tomb until He burst forth in resurrection power. We don’t know the struggle that took place between He and Satan. We don’t understand the realm of the after life and what happened to Jesus’ spirit after He took that last breath and left this world to enter the next. But I imagine the real battle took place then.
Satan thought he won when He killed the physical shell that housed the God/Man. He thought it was over when Jesus’ heart stopped its rhythmic beat and His lungs refused to release and accept air in them. Satan thought when the physiological processes ceased, it was over. But I think he and his minions found the battle had only begun when Jesus’ last breath passed His lips.
I think it was at that point, when Jesus had become sin for us and died for us that He entered the depths of hell for us. And there He engaged His enemy in full force. I expect Satan never expected God to visit his domain. God is holy and would never step foot into the bowels of hell which reeks of evil and vice and sin. But when Jesus, the Son of God, became sin for us, then gave His life, and as Paul tells us, descended into Hades, the battle was on. Now the Son of God, covered in our sins, took on the demons of hell in their domain.
What could they do? Here was God in their midst. Satan thought He was defeated, but through His death it gave Him entrance to the very place God would not go because of His holiness. Now carrying our sins into the pits of hell, that place reserved for us, Jesus faced the tormentor for us. And the tormentor could do nothing but bow at Jesus feet because He is Lord of lords, King of kings, Creator of all things. Even the demons bow before Him.
Those days between Jesus’ death and resurrection remain a mystery for us all. One day we can ask what happened in that interim. Until then we can only surmise what Jesus did during that time. But I expect He did not just sleep. I expect He did not just lay on that stone slab in the cave dug out for Joseph’s final burial place. I expect Jesus was busy letting Satan know He had the last word. Sin would not conquer God’s holiness then, now, or anytime in the future. Jesus died to conquer death. Jesus became sin to destroy sin. Jesus paid a visit to hell to take hell off our vacation list and make it possible for us to avoid its trap.
God, the Father, forsook the Man as Jesus hung on the cross. I think the reason was so He would never have to forsake us. Once and for all, Jesus made possible real life without the dominion of sin and death hanging over us. He conquered it all and three days later burst out of the tomb dressed in glory, the garment of victory for all who follow Him.
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