“When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” (Luke 22:53, ESV)
It seems Thomas Fuller, the English theologian, was the first to coin the proverb, it’s always darkest before the dawn. In the passage of Luke’s gospel above, we see an analogous truth.
The darkness under which the arrest of Jesus takes place is symbolic of the reign of darkness under which the cosmos was suffering just before the dawn of the Christian epoch.
That early Friday morning before the first Easter was the darkest hour in history. A spiritual battle was culminating. Principalities and powers were lining up for the ultimate battle–God against the prince of the power of the air, the ruler of this age, that old serpent, Satan.
It was a Friday, and the outcome looked bleak because it was their hour and the power of darkness.
Though we know how it played out being on this side of the Resurrection; the first followers of Jesus, being on the far side of it, were frightened and faithless, and most of them temporarily fled further out into the darkness.
Even so, Sunday came and brought forth the Light!
May Good Friday remind us that even amidst our darkest days, it will never be that dark again; and while some days may seem like that Friday when darkness reigned, Christians have this confidence: Because Jesus defeated the power of darkness on our behalf, every Lord’s day is a reminder that Sunday is coming.
Further Reading: Luke 22-23 cf. John 13-19
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