Mark tells us that there was darkness over the whole land for three hours, from the sixth to the ninth hours or from noon until 3 PM, as we reckon time today (Mark 15:33). Each of the Synoptics testify of the land being dark for three hours (Matthew 27:45; Luke 23:44), and it was predicted by the prophets that the sun would be darkened at noon (Amos 8:9-10; cp. Isaiah 50:3). When the Lord judged Egypt, just before he first took his people out of the land of bondage, he darkened the land for three days (Exodus 10:21-23). Paul likened the Law and Jerusalem to being in bondage (Galatians 4:24-25). Darkness is an allegory for the lack of spiritual knowledge, and we who know the truth have been delivered from the power of darkness and made partakers of the light of Jesus’ Kingdom (Colossians 1:12-14), and to teach the truth is to lead the blind into the light (Romans 2:19). Nevertheless, just as the Lord confronted the darkness of his day, so must we wrestle with those who have a stake in keeping folks in the bondage of darkness in our day (Ephesians 6:12).
We need to keep Mark’s testimony in the context in which he recorded it. None of these things occurred as accidental events. Remember, Jesus was condemned to die, not for being King of the Jews (Mark 15:2; Luke 23:3-4), but for claiming to be God’s own Son (Mark 14:61-64; John 19:7). The accusation King of the Jews was but a statement Pilate needed for his records that would be sent to Caesar. Theological problems and differences were not subject to Roman condemnation (cp. Acts 25:14-19, 24-27), therefore Pilate’s written accusation of Jesus was a matter of convenience, not reality, for he had originally found Jesus innocent of any political crime. Therefore, the darkness that engulfed the land depicted the spiritual condition of the rulers of the darkness of that world (Ephesians 6:12). The Jewish authorities’ mockery of Jesus (Mark 15:29-32), and those who joined them (Luke 23:35-37), brought on the darkness that engulfed the land. They were the darkness (Ephesians 5:8a), which hid the Light (1John 1:5), testifying that, because God did nothing to save him, Jesus couldn’t be the Messiah (cp. John 12:34). They claimed God had forsaken Jesus.
Nevertheless, God had not forsaken his Son, and the doctrine that teaches he did, and is believed by many even today, is itself darkness. The fact is, the scriptures testify the Lord cannot deny himself (2Timothy 2:13), and while Jesus hung dying on the cross, the Father was in him drawing all men to Christ (2Corinthians 5:18-19). So, when Jesus cried out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34), he was praying Psalm 22. Every rabbi who mentions the first lines of a text in scripture intends for his disciples to consider the whole. Psalm 22, far from a psalm of despair, testifies of Jesus’ confidence in his own resurrection (Psalm 22:20-24).
Yet, when Jesus cried out to his Father in prayer, those who ruled the darkness and stood near the cross tried to hide the truth by saying Jesus cried out to Elijah to save him (Mark 15:35-36), vomiting out their own doctrine of lies that Elijah, who was dead, yet lived and might come to save him. When such a thing didn’t happen, they could continue to spread their doctrine of darkness. Nevertheless, at Jesus’ prayer to the Father, which he prayed at the ninth hour, the third hour of prayer,[1] the darkness lifted and the light of the sun was present once again (cp. Mark 15:33-34).
Finally, as the Passover lamb was being slain in the Temple, one of the priests blew the rams horn, announcing the fact to all Jerusalem. The blast of the horn could be heard at the site of the crucifixion on the Mount of Olives, and at that moment Jesus cried out: “It is finished!” (Mark 15:37; John 19:30), and he bowed his head and gave up his life—the Lamb of God (John 1:29, 36) was slain!
At that very moment there was an earthquake (Matthew 27:54) and the lintel over the entrance of the Temple broke and part of it fell to the Temple floor tearing the veil from top to bottom (Mark 15:38-39). The centurion who stood by witnessed it all and testified that Jesus truly was the Messiah, the Son of God, which once again testifies of his innocence of any political crime. Besides the centurion many of the women who followed Jesus from Galilee witnessed what had occurred, and with them were Mary Magdalene, Salome, the sister of Jesus’ mother, Mary (Mark 15:40-42), and Mary, the mother of James the less and Joseph. Thus, the darkness that seemed to prevail and hide the truth could not suppress the light (John 1:5) and these, Jesus’ witnesses would be counted to him for a generation (Psalm 22:30).
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[1] Compare Acts 3:1. There were three official hours of prayer observed in the Temple the 3rd, 6th and the 9th hours of the day, no doubt echoed in Psalm 55:17.
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