In the Quiet Place
Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness all over the land (Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44).
The sixth hour represents 12 noon; and the ninth hour represents 3:00 in the afternoon. This darkness defied the natural order of time wherein the sun shines at its strongest bursting forth with the brightest of sunlight. The darkness as described here was a total supernatural phenomenon beyond human capacity to explain, and was recorded, not only in the Bible, but in several other historical accounts by non-Christian writers of human history.
What happened in this darkness? When you live in certain parts of the world where electricity is a blessing to be appreciated and not to be taken for granted, when its “lights off”, the public activities of a whole community suddenly stop. Very few folks will venture outdoors, all dreading the possible dangers of not being able to “see clearly” what could pop out from the bushes or from that hidden back alley. In this darkness, it gets real quiet.
When has the sun ever been swallowed by darkness from noon to three in the “after” noon? Only at the time of Jesus hanging on the cross at Calvary. The crucifixion began at 9:00 a.m. (the third hour) with nails driven through His hands into the thickest of a solid wooden transverse bar; and His body raised in a position to die in a slow life-sucking process of about six hours.
As in modern communities which experience “black-outs” and the people change the way they behave while it’s dark outside, so, too, did historical writers affirm that at this time there was an obvious change in the conduct of the crowd witnessing the crucifixion. There was a pause and lull. The mocking, the taunts, the gibes ceased, and the life of the Crucified One ends in silence broken only by His own cry, “It is finished!” (1)
The darkness can signify various times. It connotes a period of reflection wherein you close your eyes and think about life-matters. It renders a time for stillness, or nighttime, for resting the spirit-soul-body of the total human being. Darkness can also signify a time of gloom due to deep disconnection away from the Source of Life.
In this conversation, we’re experiencing this dispensation of darkness as a time of preparation. Yes, in the darkness, we were conceived and developed inside our mother’s womb. In this darkness, a seed germinates into a fruit-bearing plant. And, in this darkness, our being gets crucified of all that which hinders our walking in the image of God, our Creator and Father, in the likeness of His Son Jesus Christ, and in the power of His Holy Spirit.
This darkness is the venue of preparation for your miracle. This is an appointed moment when there is a pause from those taunting and teasing and mocking and laughing at your godly conduct and your lifestyle of holiness. This is a place where you get quiet and reflect on where you want to go in life and listen to God’s instruction on how to get there. This darkness is a time for you to be alone in the quiet place found in the recesses of your heart where only you and God meet, and you pour out everything good and bad that is effecting your development into His image, likeness, and power.
The life poured out on the cross ended in a darkness unexplainable by the science of man, but mandated by God Almighty for the preparation of His Son to take all our sins into His body so that sin in us could also die in the quiet place. After three hours in the darkness, the Crucified One, cried out in a loud voice, “It is finished!” The purpose for which He was born on Christmas day—to save the lost unto repentance and discipleship—had been completed.
In the same way, you were born here on earth with an assignment, a purpose, to complete. The darkness is your quiet place to prepare. The darkness signifies a miracle moment about to be released in your life. After Jesus declared, “It is finished!”, He died physically so that the miracle of resurrection could follow. Your miracle moment comes after the death of anything hindering the fulfillment of your assignment, your purpose, your destiny here on earth. You must die to everything that creates obstacles to your purpose, progress, and possession of the hidden treasures in store for you at your resurrection.
Don’t be discouraged, beloved, by what you define as setback, disappointment, rejection, and the rest of the list of “negative gibe”. If you find yourself in the quiet place, the Lord, our Vine-dresser, has set you there for His special pruning, to cut out and throw away any character or behavioral flaws that could stop your resurrection. As Jesus took all our sins into His physical body to kill all its influence on the cross and later rose up from death in a glorified body; so, too, is your life on earth marked by the death of all that is in you which must die so that you can rise up into a life propelled by purpose, progress, and possession of all the promises of God.
The darkness is not a place to contemplate (think about) giving up on life, even unto suicide. No, the darkness is a time of quiet to die to sin, or to weaknesses, or to hindrances that are blocking your way to the miraculous light ahead. The darkness described here is a miracle moment where new life is developing, like an embryo or seed; and when that process is finished, you will know it in your spirit and deep down in your soul, that everything or everyone which gave you pain and despair and vexation of soul, no longer have control over you—that you are set free!
Now rise up and get to stepping into victory.
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© 2023 by Patience Osei-Anyamesem. All rights reserved. Published by The Light In Me Enterprise. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews or other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
1. Elliot’s Commentary for English Readers and Benson Commentary retrieved from www.biblehub.com/commentary. These on-line and other reference book commentaries include the evidence of this darkness from non-biblical sources as a confirmation that, on that day, all eyes, Christian and heathen, gave account of this supernatural phenomenon.
The artwork depicted in the blog article is carefully selected to draw out the points made for healing of the soul, and by no means promote any ideologies from the various artists unless they are found in the center of God's perfect will.
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