 And so, I'll begin reading at verse 33. I'll read to verse 38 and we'll look at this passage this evening. Mark writes, now, when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Alui Lama Sabachtani, which is translated, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Some of those who stood by when they heard that said, look, he's calling for Elijah. Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a read and offered it to him to drink, saying, let him alone. Let us see if Elijah will come to take him down. And Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. As we begin our study, the Lord Jesus Christ has been on the cross now for three hours. When you look in chapter 15 here in the Gospel of Mark at verse 25, it tells us when he was crucified, he was crucified at 9 a.m. And now it's noon. Now Jesus had ministered for three years. And as he had done so, he had made many enemies. His powerful ministry had caused religious leaders to rise in opposition to him. They even desired him to die. And they sought out ways for this to happen. They were finally able to secure charges that they could try him on. Those charges are found in John chapter five. The first charge was that he was a Sabbath breaker because he had healed on the Sabbath. And the other charge was that he called himself the Son of God, making himself, they said, equal with God. Now those are religious charges. They were not enough to secure an execution. So because of this, they took him before the Roman governor, a man by the name of Pontius Pilate. And they gave us secular charge. The charge that they brought against Christ was the charge of sedition. It says in Luke 23 verse 2 that they began to accuse him, saying, we found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ, a king. And so that was a charge of sedition of trying to overturn the Roman governor. And these were charges that Pilate couldn't ignore. And so we see in the scriptures how that he had taken time to talk with Jesus Christ and he asked a series of questions of him. And after he had questioned him for some time, he finally said, I find no fault in him. He didn't find any fault. And though he did not find any fault, he finally had to wash his hands. He washed his hands of the whole thing. So throughout the night, after all of this is taking place, Jesus has suffered. He had suffered severe beatings. He had suffered humiliation. Finally he was taken to a place called Calvary and there he was crucified. Now as crucifixion fulfilled one of the prophecies, the many prophecies concerning Messiah, a thousand years earlier King David had prophesied that this would happen in the Psalms in Psalm 22 verses 14 through 17. It speaks of the Messiah and words that Messiah would utter and it says, I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax that has melted within me. My strength is dried up like a pot's hurt. My tongue clings to my jaws. You've brought me to the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me. The congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones and they look and they stare at me. This is a picture of crucifixion. We need to remember that during the time of Christ and prior to that the Jewish manner of execution was through stoning. Crucifixion was Roman. Now Jesus had been taken outside of the city. He had been taken to a place called Calvary and there he had been crucified. As I was preparing my heart for this message, I wanted to spend a moment allowing myself and I'll encourage all of us for a moment to think what this means when we say crucifixion today across is an article of jewelry for people. They wear it because they think it's just kind of cool or whatever. I don't know why they would wear it but they do. They don't understand what crucifixion is. Crucifixion is one of the most barbaric, one of the most degrading, one of the most painful ways anybody could ever die. The risks of the person being crucified would be nailed to a cross beam. The legs would be twisted and nailed to a post. A rope had been tied around the waist of Jesus and he was placed on a sharp saddle peg. The cross was made up of two pieces, a post and a cross beam and Jesus was either nailed to the cross beam or raised by cords to the cross beam and then it was nailed to it. The cross was usually twice the height of the man. Being crucified, dislocation would occur. The veins would bulge, congestion of blood in the head, lungs and the heart occurred. We know that Jesus had already suffered head wounds that his back had been ripped open and as he was breathing his back was rubbing against the splintered post and the sharpened iron peg, lacerating his back with every breath as he raised himself to breathe. As he did so over time he began to dehydrate, his legs began to cramp, he would suffer intense fever and eventually the dehydration and the shock, the loss of blood and the suffocation would result in his death. Every time Jesus would take a breath his arms had been stretched there on that cross beam. Every time he would lift himself up because he had to lift himself up to breathe because his ribs, his rib cage was collapsing his lungs so in order for him to catch a breath he had to lift himself and every time he lifted himself his back which was already lacerated by the stripes he had earlier received and not the splinters in that wooden post those splinters would be driven into his back. That sharpened saddle peg that was placed in an area around your lower back was not intended to be a place of comfort to allow you to rest on it but it was sharpened like a nail and it would slice into your lower back lacerating it with every breath. Jesus was not on the cross for 10 seconds or 15 seconds he was on for hours and so as he would take his breath every time he would breathe his back lacerated would be torn even more by that wooden cross and the sharpened peg would be driven deeper and deeper into his back. Again people like to wear crosses today for whatever reason I see all kinds of people who have no faith in Christ to wear crosses used to be a symbol of our faith used to be a reminder of our Savior and now it seems to be simply an article of jewelry but it was what Jesus himself went to for us. Now the question has to be asked and it was a terrible death why would he allow himself to die in this way? We know that through Scripture there was nothing in him that should have caused him to have in any way deserve such a death and Pontius Pilate the civil authority had said I find no fault in this man why would that happen? Why would he allow this? He didn't deserve it but the Bible makes it very clear the reason that Jesus went to this cross voluntarily is because it's the way that God is going to provide salvation for man God so loved the world we're told God loved us so much that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever should believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life Jesus Christ came in order to lay his life down he took upon himself our sins because all have sin and fall short of the glory of God there's none righteous no not one there's not one perfect person nobody has been born without this edemic sin nature and Jesus took our sins upon himself he suffered for us and that's something we should remember and that's why we call this Good Friday it was the way that God was providing salvation for us in Matthew 20 verse 28 Jesus said the Son of Man came not to be ministered to but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many and so here he is on a cross and he's been on that cross from noon until from 9 in the morning now from noon until 3 there's a darkness that's over the whole land the scripture says verse 33 the sixth hour had come and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour it's interesting that on the night that Jesus was born remember that it's recorded in Luke chapter 2 how in the night that he was born that the sky was filled with supernatural light and in Luke 2 verses 8 and 9 it says there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night and behold an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were greatly afraid so there was glory there was light it was beautiful there was a supernatural light in the night that he was born Jesus is the light of the world it was fitting that his birth would be accompanied by light but on the day he died at noon when the sun is at its brightest the Bible tells us that the sky had become dark now why would it become dark well in the Bible darkness very often is a symbol it's a symbol of judgment you can see that it's stated that way in both the old and the New Testament an example in the old is in the prophetic book of Amos chapter 5 verse 18 where it says woe unto you who long for the day of the Lord why do you long for the day of the Lord that day will be darkness not light in the New Testament when Jesus was speaking of judgment in Matthew 25 30 it reads throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping in nation of teeth why was it dark because it's a symbol of judgment the cross was a place of judgment the sins of the world were poured out vicariously on the Son of God and the supernatural darkness expresses God's response to sin again in Habakkuk another Old Testament book chapter 1 verse 13 the prophet said you are of purer eyes than to behold evil cannot look on wickedness maybe a picture of the spiritual darkness that was enshrouding those who were crucified Jesus in 2 Corinthians 4 3 and 4 Paul said even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing the God of this age is blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God you might be a Christian who shares your faith and you'll speak to people and sometimes it's almost as if you see a light go off in their eyes when you're speaking to them as they come to realize that what you're saying is true and it applies to them and then there are other times that you're sharing the faith of Christ with someone and there's like a there's a sense that they're not receiving it's only revealing their heart their the spiritual darkness the God of this age Paul said blinded the minds of unbelievers they can't see the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ they can't and so darkness very often is a symbol of God's expression of God's displeasure with sin darkness is a symbol of his judgment later on the light is going to return and that may be foreshadowing the resurrection it says in verse 34 the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying which is translated my God my God why have you forsaken me now I'm going to do something and share something with you here the gospel writers and as you read this and you read the stories in all four of the gospels of what occurs there at the crucifixion if I did interesting to note many of you already know this the gospel writers really preserve very few words uttered by Jesus there on the cross you have a whole gospel filled with his sayings his teachings and all but when he was dying on the cross there are very few recordings of the words that he spoke scripture actually records what are called the seven last sayings of Christ that's seven last sayings of Jesus when he was on the cross and let me remind you of some of these because we're going to see some of this in just a moment but I'm going to take you through these seven last sayings and develop it with you as I go through this study the first of his seven last sayings is recorded in the gospel of Luke it's been called a word of forgiveness and that took place when Jesus was crucified remember there were two thieves who were crucified next to him and there were people there surrounding him and when he was placed on the cross the first thing that is recorded that he said was in Luke 23 34 he said father forgive them for they know not what they do and we have to understand that in the midst of his excruciating pain he's there praying he's praying for those who are putting him to death he's praying for those who harmed him he wasn't specifically praying by the way for Judas who betrayed him or even the pilot or the priest they all had differing amounts of information concerning him and they're the ones who had determined to betray him they're the ones who brought false witnesses to bear testimony against him they're the ones who were involved in his execution and they had a lot of knowledge and they rejected what they had heard and the bible says from the one given much much is required he was praying but he was praying for the soldiers he was praying for those who were carrying out their duties he was praying for the thieves who are dying next to him and those who are watching him die and he was praying that God would show mercy to them that it would be something that they could receive that they would receive forgiveness and it was a prayer that was given to God on their behalf and then a second saying is recorded and it's a saying that was to to one of the thieves who had died beside him and this second saying has been called a word of salvation it's recorded in Luke 23 verses 39 through 43 and he was speaking to a thief a thief was there dying next to him on the cross obviously the thief had been impacted by what he was watching what he was witnessing the thief was there he saw the mocking of the priest and the scribes as well as the elders he heard the taunting of those who were passing by and he saw the Calliston different soldiers who were gambling for Jesus's robe and at first the Bible tells us that this thief had joined in the reviling of Christ but some time during this time he had a change of heart and maybe that he had heard the prayer with Christ that said Father forgive them they no know what they do and as he's watching this righteous man dying he came to believe in him when you look at the story the other thief blasphemed Jesus he said Christ save yourself and us take us from this cross but the other one responded don't you fear God we're getting what we deserve this man has done nothing and then he says to Jesus this is recorded in Luke 23 42 he said Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom remember me don't forget me I know a lot of people who have had people forget them a lot of lonely people a lot of lonely people a lot of people die alone and that's one of the saddest things that can happen to anyone and that was happening to this man Lord remember me you wonder if there were family members or former friends or people who knew that we're there watching this take place I'm gonna assume that there weren't any I'm gonna assume that he was dying next to somebody that he had he had done evil with a man who was another thief but there were no friends there there was no family there there was no mom crying there was no father there saying my son it was just him a thief a crowd and a savior and he looked at Jesus I can't I can't imagine Lord remember me don't forget me and the Lord spoke to him a word of salvation he said I say unto you today you will be with me in paradise I won't forget you because today you'll be with me and this is a man who was the last person to turn to Jesus for salvation during the ministry of Jesus Christ he gave him a word of salvation then there was a third word a word of relationship that's when Jesus entrusted his mother Mary into the care of John the apostle in John 19 verses 25 through 27 he had said to Mary woman behold your son and then he told John behold your mother and in doing this as her oldest son he was honoring Mary by providing for her care Jesus would not entrust her into the care of those who didn't believe in him he had brothers and sisters but he didn't entrust his mother into the care of those who didn't trust him he entrusted his mother into the care of one who did and that's why he pointed to John and said behold your son he wasn't saying look at me he was saying look at him he's going to care for you and he entrusted her into his care he provided for her and he was there on the cross and then there's the fourth saying it's called a word of abandonment and that's when he had said in verse 34 my God my God why have you forsaken me and he cried out he cried out in anguish because of the separation he's experiencing on the cross Jesus experiences the separation of man man's separation from God and that's the only time in eternity that Jesus experienced such a separation and taken upon himself the sin of the world he also felt the isolation that sin produces we know that sin produces isolation it cuts you off from relationship and that's what sin does we are made separate we are separated from God because of our sin Isaiah 59 1 and 2 says the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save or is ear dull that it cannot hear but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear sin when unforgiven produces separation between God and man now what kind of separation did he experience it wasn't a separation of nature it wasn't a separation of his essence it was a separation of fellowship somebody wrote that Jesus had a taste of such broken communion the first and last he ever experienced in those desolate hours when darkness lay upon the earth and upon his soul Jesus was our forerunner in every kind of experience even to the feeling of God's frown of disapproval of sin that he might become our high priest understanding all our infirmities being tempted in all points like us but apart from sin he felt the way a lost sinner feels without himself having sinned again the cross is a place of divine judgment Jesus is bearing our sins he dies in our place to purchase us out of a marketplace of sin the Bible tells us as God is holy he cannot look upon sin with approval and sin had to be dealt with revealing both God's wrath as well as his mercy and that's what he's doing he was providing for us salvation through Christ the cross reveals both God's holiness as well as the grace of God and that's why Paul in Galatians 3.13 would write that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us for it is written curse that is everyone who is hanged on a tree and so on that cross God's love was was revealed 1 John 4 9 and 10 says in this the love of God was manifest it was openly revealed toward us that that God has sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him and this is love not that we love God but that he loved us and he sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins the word propitiation means the satisfaction of his holy and righteous anger Jesus satisfied that on your behalf and the result of believing what God has done transforms us it teaches us that we don't have to attempt to earn his approval that we learn to trust in the love that was demonstrated to us when Christ went to the cross and that's what causes you to love God 1 John 4 19 it says we love him because he first loved us I never did anything to make him love me he loved me first and I love him in response to his love first for me I know he loved God demonstrated his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us by becoming sin for us for the first and only time he experienced separation his communion with the father is broken he feels the isolation that sin produces he experienced what every one of us understands and the separation this loneliness this sense of brokenness is what drove us to Jesus Christ and that brings us to the fifth saying of Christ it's a word of distress John 19 28 says after this knowing that all things were now accomplished that scripture might be fulfilled said I thirst now that's the picture of crucifixion it describes the dehydration that is suffered and Jesus knew all things were now accomplished and when it speaks of the all things that that's the all things that pertain to salvation they're being completed and knowing this is fulfilling scripture once again Jesus said I thirst now that's another prophecy concerning Jesus that is fulfilled it says in verse 36 someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine and put it on a read and offered it to drink and so in psalm 69 verse 21 again another prophecy they gave me golf for my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink and so Jesus is giving these last sayings and that's what's taking place now in verse 35 it said some of those who stood by when they heard that said look he's calling for Elijah now the ones who were hearing it were not Romans they were Jews and they misunderstood what he was saying their reaction to what's going on is anything but sympathetic it's without compassion it's actually mockery this isn't out of curiosity this isn't out of religious fear and so what they're saying is they're twisting his words and instead of it being Eloi Eloi which is speaking of God they're saying he's calling for Elijah you see there was a prophecy that Elijah would introduce Messiah to the nation in Malachi 3 verse 1 behold I send my messenger he'll prepare the way before me and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight behold he is coming says the Lord in the Holy Ghosts and so that was a prophecy related to Elijah and so they're mocking it they're saying is Elijah about to come is he going to formally introduce Jesus to us and so as he's saying that verse 36 that's when someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine and put it on a read and offered it to him to drink saying let him alone let us see if Elijah will come and take him down 1929 a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there and they filled a sponge with sour wine put it on his and put it to his mouth the sour wine was high in water or low in alcohol it was used to quench thirst and by this he was able to moisten his mouth so he could speak his last words this was an act of mercy and more than likely was done by a Roman military guard and as his mouth is now moistened verse 37 Jesus cried out with a loud voice and he breathed his last the vinegar had provided moisture for his dry mouth and now he can cry out Matthew Mark and Luke all say that he cried out with a loud voice in other words it wasn't a weak cry coming out of a man breathing his last breath it was a loud cry it was a cry of victory coming from someone who was dying voluntarily in John 10 Jesus had said this in verses 17 and 18 he said the reason the Father loves me is that I lay down my life in order to take it up again no one takes it from me I lay it down of my own accord I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again this charge I have received from the Father and so he is moistened in his mouth and he is making his loud cry which comes to the sixth saying of Christ on the cross in John 19 verse 30 when Jesus had received the sour wine he said it is finished it is finished to Telestai the word to Telestai is paid in full completely paid for everything was now accomplished he had completed his task it is time to return to the Father in John 16 28 he had said I came forth from the Father and have come into the world I am leaving the world again and going to the Father so the mission is now reaching the end it is time for him to go home and he is crying out and he is saying it is finished and as he does so someone said that Jesus died with the cry of a victor of the victor on his lips not the moan of the defeated nor the sigh of a patient resignation it is the triumphant recognition that he has now fully accomplished the work that he came to do and he cried out paid in full the Messiah's work of redemption was accomplished his Father's command had been obeyed types and prophecies had been fulfilled his life had been lived his teaching completed his last earthly tithe had been severed and the end has come the final wages of sin which his death alone remained to be paid and it is there on the cross that Jesus paid the price of redemption Ephesians 1 7 says in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace and Jesus verse 37 says cried out with a loud voice it is finished and he breathed his last which is the seventh saying of Jesus on the cross Luke tells us in chapter 23 verse 46 he called out with a loud voice Father into your hands I commit my spirit into your hands I deposit my spirit these words are an expression of total trust in his Father remember his death was completely voluntary and he is now entrusting his spirit to his Father the words that he expresses are from Psalm 31 verse 5 into your hand I commit my spirit they were part of the evening prayers for centuries more than likely were part of the evening prayers of Jesus from childhood they would say this prayer as they went to sleep from childhood Father into thy hands I commit my spirit we teach our kids scary prayers if I die before I wake who wants to go to sleep you know that's a scary prayer I mean you already think there's a boogeyman under the bed you already do right many of us grew up thinking there was a boogeyman under the bed and some of us understand that everybody uses a different word for him we use the word kukui and he was under the bed and he was waiting to get your feet I can still remember I would turn the lights off but I would be standing like I was in a race and I would turn the lights off and actually try to beat the light from going off and I would take two steps and dive and I would land on my bed because kukui was going to get me I was taught to do evening prayers a long time ago but the wrong ones if I die before I wake I'm going to die there's kukui under the bed and I have to go to the bathroom I'm a dead man but in the life of Jesus there were prayers they would pray and they would pray the psalms Father into thy hand I commit my spirit and that's how they would put their head on the pillow they'd have their head on the pillow and they would pray that prayer it's very precious a beautiful prayer it's a prayer they would have prayed every night and here on the cross it's a prayer he prays one last time on his lips as he gently as he peacefully and as he willingly died Matthew 2750 says that he cried out again with a loud voice Father into thy hands I commit my spirit and then he said spirit go he yielded his spirit he dismissed it he chose the moment all was accomplished it's over early in his ministry he had been in a place called Cana in northern Israel in the Galilee John records it in chapter 2 how that he had gone to a wedding in Cana of Galilee and as he was there in this wedding his mother had approached him and said to him they have no wine and Jesus responded to her and he said woman what is that to do with me my hour has not come Jesus knew he had an appointed time he knew that there were things he was going to do and that at the moment that everything had been accomplished that's when it was over and no one was to tell him when that moment was it was his father had given to him the timetable and it was his father he obeyed to the very end right so when she had approached him and she said they have no wine he with respect when you're first reading the Bible you may not understand this but for him to say woman is not a disrespectful thing now perhaps for us today in our day if you turn to your mom and said woman maybe she wouldn't like that maybe she'd be upset maybe you think she'd think it was disrespectful but it wasn't disrespectful it was really an honor it was something that they would call their mother they would call her woman that's why he there on the cross he had said woman behold your son it wasn't disrespect at all it was a term of endearment and he had said what is that to do with me what is your concern got to do with me you are not the one who determines the timetable my father does I will go and I will do and I will begin when he says not when you and I was sharing just the other night with another church how that she said to the servants to you do it and I was sharing with them that I was raised in the Roman Catholic tradition many of you probably were too and we were taught to have great respect for Mary but as I got older and I got saved I began to see that there's a place of honor and respect for her for she shall be respected through all generations she gave birth to the son of God of course we venerate and respect of course we respect her we hold her in high esteem because after all she gave birth to Jesus but the wisest thing that I can do is to listen to what she said because she said whatever he tells you you do it she didn't say whatever I say to you she said whatever he says to you she didn't die in a cross for my sins Jesus did the wisest thing I can do is to listen to Jesus and what did he say unless a man is born again he cannot enter into the kingdom of God he said take my yoke upon you learn from me he said that all would come to him all those whom the father had given to him would come to him not a single one of them would be lost Jesus came in order to lay his life down for me and so when he tells me that I should come and pick up my cross you see and so Jesus is there on the cross and he's all things are now being accomplished all things are being settled all things are being done at his time and he begins there to dismiss his spirit and he tells his spirit go he sends it away all things have been accomplished he died but he did it when the work was complete and he died with majesty and when this happened verse 38 says the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom this veil separated what is called the holy place from the holiest of holies this veil was 60 feet long it was 30 feet broad it was a palm breath thick and the veil was to remind men of separation from God in Hebrews 9, 6 and 7 it says priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry they entered the inner room and that only once a year and never without blood which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance he couldn't go back there he had to offer the blood it was a separation but the veil was torn in two from the top to the bottom it wasn't torn from the bottom to the top from the top to the bottom God tore it God established fellowship through the death of Christ the most holy place is now open to all who come through Christ in Hebrews 10, 19 and 20 it says we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way open for us to the curtain that is his body and Jesus was bridging the gap Jesus with one hand took the hand of his father and with the other hand took our hand and he brought us together he's the cross he's the one who reconciles he's the one who died for us and he says it is finished father into his eye hands I commit my spirit and he closes his eyes dismisses his spirit and he dies I was watching a news program man on the street asking people why do they call it Good Friday and I don't know if they're selecting people just to make us laugh because sometimes some of the things we can say are pretty ridiculous I don't know if they select it and we're being selective I don't know that all I know is that nobody really knew why Jesus died nobody that they interviewed could tell the interviewer why is Friday called Good Friday it's good it's a Good Friday because the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world died on a cross for you and for me he took upon himself our sins he died on our behalf the punishment that was really for me was taken upon the innocent and if you don't think that's good it is it's amazingly good not by worse of righteousness which any of us has ever done but according to his mercy he saved us and when Jesus stretched out his arm on the cross he was also embracing us and he was saying come unto me I poured out my blood for you the scripture says he did he is the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world and as he's there and his mom and John and some women and others that they're watching as they watch his body as he's lifting up to breathe and he finally just says Father into thy hands I commit my spirit and he puts his head on the cross like he used to put his head on the pillow and he breathes his last and dismisses his spirit and his mother standing there and John is there and those who loved him are there and that mother who loved that boy that mother who gave birth to a boy named Jesus she saw what they did to him I wonder how many of us could those of us who were parents could stand and see that his beard had been pulled out his head was swollen they had placed a crown of thorns on it his back was lacerated he was groaning in pain and he's praying for those who put him on the cross in the care of his mama and he's praying like he did as a child in front of his mother and his mother sees this and John his beloved apostle and he'd been forsaken by his closest companions and he felt the frown of God cried out for the separation and then he finally just dismisses his spirit and he just hanging there and that mother couldn't do anything because he died for the sins of the world and she watched him die can you imagine I mean when Jesus would smile the sun would shine brighter and now life itself has been extinguished on a wooden cross to the mocking and rejection of man and the clouds and the darkness that had been overshadowing couldn't match the darkness and sorrow in the heart of the woman perhaps she remembered what she was told when she dedicated Christ and the sword shall pierce your soul she was told and she experienced that too and it was quiet and life and the song the song of life had been silenced and it was dark and it was quiet but that was Friday Sunday was coming Sunday was coming Sunday was coming we can go through those times ourselves but we need to remember that the light shines brightly after it's been the darkest he died but he died for us he was buried but on the third day he rose from the dead and because he lives and he died for our sins to cleanse us from unrighteousness to faith in him I can live and I can have hope and I can have joy and I can have purpose because Jesus Christ didn't die in vain for us we have received him as our Lord and Savior and we can say hallelujah Jesus thank you for what you did for us thank you