Did you hop in your car or book a flight so you could join the crowds gathered at Niagara Falls, or on the tracks of the Indy 500 Speedway so you could be smack-dab in the center of the “Path of Totality”? Or did you join fellow “eclipsers” down in Del Rio, Texas, the first location in the good old USA where the much-hyped Total Solar Eclipse of 2024 could be seen?
After all that effort, did you miss it? Did a raging atmospheric river wash out the precious four minutes and 27 seconds when you hoped to view the great Total Solar Eclipse of 2024? What a bummer! That means you’ll need to wait until August 22, 2044, for the next eclipse. But that path of totality will only occur in North Dakota, Montana, and northern Canada. You’ll need to wait until August 12, 2045, for a path of totality that will span the Lower 48.
And the maximum width of that path? 124 miles.
Yawn. Despite the hype, these total solar eclipses are nothing compared to what happened some 2,000 years ago.
The Gospel writers Matthew and Mark inform us, “From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.” (Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33) That’s noon till 3 PM as we reckon time. The day? Good Friday. On that day there were three hours of total darkness “over all the land.” Not just a few minutes!
Three hours of total darkness over what land? Israel? If so, that would mean the path of totality was about 71 miles wide. That’s how far Israel stretches from east to west at its widest point. To put that into perspective, that would be a band of darkness that stretches from my front door down to Merrill, WI. Wow! Kind of impressive, right?
No! What happened 2,000 years ago on Good Friday was no mere solar eclipse, and the land it covered wasn’t just the puny nation of Israel. Ancient records from Rome, Greece, Egypt, and as far away as China make mention of it, because this unique phenomenon didn’t coincide with any known astronomical events! On Good Friday our Lord caused a path of total darkness that stretched around our entire globe. 24,901 miles around the equator.
This totality of darkness settled down over the earth for three long hours so no one could miss it, no matter where they were on earth at the time! But our loving Father wanted you and me to see this totality, too! That’s why – through the changeless record of his inspired Word—he has opened the eyes of our faith to peer back in time and see, “From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.” This Totality of Darkness was the darkness of his judgment. The Father had to look away from his Son, and the Son had to be completely abandoned for the Lord had “laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) Your sins. Mine. The sins of some 8,102,246,482 people who lived on this earth in the moment when I checked the world population clock on the internet. (https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/)
Add in the sins of all who will be born till the Judgment Day, and all the billions more who died going back to Eden.
God’s path of totality on Good Friday stretched around our world as a global visual aide for what was happening on the center cross of Calvary. There hung the one who “offered one sacrifice for sins for all time.” (Hebrews 10:12)
This judgment totality was the only way to rip away the death shroud that “covers all peoples, the burial cloth stretched over all nations.” (Isaiah 25:7) And rip it away is exactly what our Lord did! At 3 PM, when the darkness ended! When the Son cried out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30) When the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom! When the earth shook! When the rocks split! When tombs were opened “and many bodies of saints who had fallen asleep were raised to life!” (Matthew 27:52)
Three days later, the Lord replaced the totality of Good Friday’s darkness with a totality that bathed the entire earth in the sun of his grace! For lost sinners everywhere, throughout time! For you! For me! For all of us the Sun (Son) of righteousness has risen, and there is healing in his wings!. (Malachi 4:2) This Sun (Son) is Jesus! “In him (is) life, and the life (is)s the light of mankind. The light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5)
And the darkness never will. Our Sun’s (Son’s) guarantee rings forever true. “I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
After all that effort, did you miss it? Did a raging atmospheric river wash out the precious four minutes and 27 seconds when you hoped to view the great Total Solar Eclipse of 2024? What a bummer! That means you’ll need to wait until August 22, 2044, for the next eclipse. But that path of totality will only occur in North Dakota, Montana, and northern Canada. You’ll need to wait until August 12, 2045, for a path of totality that will span the Lower 48.
And the maximum width of that path? 124 miles.
Yawn. Despite the hype, these total solar eclipses are nothing compared to what happened some 2,000 years ago.
The Gospel writers Matthew and Mark inform us, “From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.” (Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33) That’s noon till 3 PM as we reckon time. The day? Good Friday. On that day there were three hours of total darkness “over all the land.” Not just a few minutes!
Three hours of total darkness over what land? Israel? If so, that would mean the path of totality was about 71 miles wide. That’s how far Israel stretches from east to west at its widest point. To put that into perspective, that would be a band of darkness that stretches from my front door down to Merrill, WI. Wow! Kind of impressive, right?
No! What happened 2,000 years ago on Good Friday was no mere solar eclipse, and the land it covered wasn’t just the puny nation of Israel. Ancient records from Rome, Greece, Egypt, and as far away as China make mention of it, because this unique phenomenon didn’t coincide with any known astronomical events! On Good Friday our Lord caused a path of total darkness that stretched around our entire globe. 24,901 miles around the equator.
This totality of darkness settled down over the earth for three long hours so no one could miss it, no matter where they were on earth at the time! But our loving Father wanted you and me to see this totality, too! That’s why – through the changeless record of his inspired Word—he has opened the eyes of our faith to peer back in time and see, “From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.” This Totality of Darkness was the darkness of his judgment. The Father had to look away from his Son, and the Son had to be completely abandoned for the Lord had “laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) Your sins. Mine. The sins of some 8,102,246,482 people who lived on this earth in the moment when I checked the world population clock on the internet. (https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/)
Add in the sins of all who will be born till the Judgment Day, and all the billions more who died going back to Eden.
God’s path of totality on Good Friday stretched around our world as a global visual aide for what was happening on the center cross of Calvary. There hung the one who “offered one sacrifice for sins for all time.” (Hebrews 10:12)
This judgment totality was the only way to rip away the death shroud that “covers all peoples, the burial cloth stretched over all nations.” (Isaiah 25:7) And rip it away is exactly what our Lord did! At 3 PM, when the darkness ended! When the Son cried out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30) When the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom! When the earth shook! When the rocks split! When tombs were opened “and many bodies of saints who had fallen asleep were raised to life!” (Matthew 27:52)
Three days later, the Lord replaced the totality of Good Friday’s darkness with a totality that bathed the entire earth in the sun of his grace! For lost sinners everywhere, throughout time! For you! For me! For all of us the Sun (Son) of righteousness has risen, and there is healing in his wings!. (Malachi 4:2) This Sun (Son) is Jesus! “In him (is) life, and the life (is)s the light of mankind. The light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5)
And the darkness never will. Our Sun’s (Son’s) guarantee rings forever true. “I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
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