Darkness Came Over the Whole Land

Chris Tomlin’s 2016 worship song, God of Calvary is a beautiful reflection on the scene at Calvary and the victory that Jesus accomplished there. The chorus never ceases to draw me in to worship, “By His wounds I am set free, by His blood I’ve been redeemed, the great divide He crossed for me, Oh, praise the God of Calvary”. However, in his first verse, there’s one line that I’ve always wrestled with, “The sky went dark, the angels wept, the Father looked away, the final breath, He bowed His head, the Lamb of God was slain.” Most of it I’m good with. The synoptic gospels all attest to the sky going dark. It’s the line that says, “The Father looked away.” Try as you might, you won’t find these words in Scripture. There is no verse that says the Father turned his face away. So where did this idea come from? It’s not new. I’ve heard it most of my life.

The idea flows out of interpretations of two other aspects of the crucifixion scene. The first is Jesus’ cry just before he gave up his spirit, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”. Since Jesus asks why God has forsaken him, many theologians have come to believe that this is what happened, that in that moment, God the Father, being perfectly holy, forsook Jesus, who, while sinless, “became sin for us.” The second is that the darkness that is recorded to have been present is seen as an evil presence brooding over the land.

Why does this idea make me uncomfortable? The biggest reason is that this seems contrary to a trinitarian view of God. The three persons of the Godhead are in perfect unity, perfect relationship, perfect love. They have always been and always will be. How are we to fathom the idea of the crucifixion ripping that union apart? That’s a huge ask placed on the interpretation of one cry by Jesus on the cross and three hours of unexplained darkness. Is there an alternative view?

The starting point is to figure out why Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Was it a declaration of fact or was Jesus pointing to something else?

In the time of Jesus, Jewish people would remind each other of passages of scripture by quoting the first line of the passage. When Jesus gave his cry, he quoted the first verse of Psalm 22, a psalm of David. If you go and read through the psalm for yourself, you’ll see that much of it describes what is happening at the cross. By quoting the first verse of Psalm 22, Jesus is causing all those in his hearing, Priests, Levites, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, and opponents and supporters to think of this Psalm and to realize that it was being fulfilled in their hearing.

What does this have to do with the Father turning his face away? After David describes himself as being surrounded and afflicted, he continues by calling on God to save him. He says in v24, “For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.” I believe that when Jesus gave his cry he was speaking to the whole psalm. Yes, he was surrounded by evil men, but God had not turned his face away. The psalm continues in praise of God and how “all the families of the nations will bow down before him” and then ends with this line, “for he has done it.” After Jesus had cried out, he said one more thing, “It is finished”. It is done.

As for God not being able to be in the presence of evil, basic theology tells us that this isn’t true. God is omnipresent, he is everywhere. Psalm 139 teaches us that we cannot flee from him, we can’t escape his presence. The scenes in the book of Job 1, 2 of the Accuser coming and standing before God and Jesus being in the presence of Satan during his temptation tell us that God can handle the presence of evil. But what about the darkness? Who caused the sun not to shine during those 3 hours at the crucifixion? Surely that is a sign of the presence of great evil at the crucifixion? Scripture doesn’t say anything about who caused this three hours of darkness, but it is informative to look at the only other time in biblical history when the sun didn’t shine. Not for three hours but for three days. “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.’ So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days.” Exodus 10:21, 22. This was an act of God, not evil. It was a judgement on the gods of Egypt. Only God has authority over the sun. Why would this not also be true during the crucifixion?

Additionally, right after the plague of the three days of darkness, came the plague of the death of all the firstborn in Egypt, a judgement on all the gods of Egypt. (Exodus 12:12) Jesus, the firstborn son of God, dies right after the three hours of darkness and all the gods of the world are defeated, judged. (Ephesians 1:20-23 Colossians 2:14, 15).

Now, think about that line, “darkness that can be felt.” This kind of darkness shows up a few more times in the Bible, one after the plagues in Egypt and one before. Shortly after, in Exodus 20, when God made his covenant with the people of Israel and gave them the 10 Commandments we read, “Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.” v21. This isn’t the first encounter with God in thick darkness. The first is the scene of God’s covenant making with Abram in Genesis 15 where all the animals are cut in half. V12 “As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him, …” In these passages darkness isn’t the sign of evil; it’s the very presence of God.

With Abram’s covenant, the presence of God comes in thick darkness. In Egypt God stops the sun from shining as a judgement on the gods of Egypt. When God makes his covenant with the people of Israel, he comes in the thick darkness. What happens when Jesus is crucified? A new covenant between God and mankind is made. Instead of animals being sacrificed, God’s son is sacrificed and Satan and all his forces are defeated. It makes far more sense to me that the darkness over the land wasn’t evil, but the very presence of God the Father with his son. Not turning his face away, but present to the bitter end. That’s the kind of God we serve, one who has promised to never abandon us, just as he never abandoned his Son. Do I still sing Chris Tomlin’s song? Yes, I do. There’s much to like about it. But I no longer sing, “The Father turned his face away.” I just can’t. Instead, I sing, “The Father turned his face towards him”. Now that sings!

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This article was originally published in Recorder vol 63, No. 1