They Could Not

By Shauna Leis

“From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ – which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”

Matthew 27:45-46

At this point in history, evil thought that it had won the ultimate battle. Satan had seen Jesus, the darling of heaven, come to earth and bear witness to the Truth of God and His love. He had witnessed love personified as Jesus went throughout the towns and villages healing people and spreading the gospel of love. He and his evil minions had even infiltrated Jesus’ closest companions and convinced Judas to betray Jesus into the hands of the religious rulers at the time. They knew that they were close to keeping Jesus from fulfilling His destiny.

The religious rulers and people of the city convinced Pilot to sentence this innocent man to death because they were fearful of the message that He preached – a message of love and forgiveness. Pilot had Him beat unmercifully, almost to the point of death. Then they made Him carry His cross all the way up the path to Golgotha and they hung Him on that same cross. Jesus suffered in both physical and spiritual agony as the weight of the sins of the world came crashing down. And, for the first time in the history of all that He had known, He was now separated from a Holy and Righteous God. With the sins of the world on Him, He could no longer commune with His heavenly Father and so He called out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” He got no response. Then He died a very physical death.

For the next two days, evil celebrated like never before. Can you just picture with me how confident they were that they were now in control? The darling of heaven was now very dead and God had not rescued Him. What could possibly stop them from taking over all of creation now? Except for one minor detail: this had been part of God’s plan all along and He had not missed any of the particulars.

On the morning of the third day, the powers of darkness began to tremble as something was just not quite right. There was a quiver in the air and a foreboding that things would never again be the same. Matthew 28:2-4 indicates, “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.”

Oh, not that I would ever wish any one any harm, but would you just have loved to have been there when that angel came down from heaven and just sat there on the rolled stone in front of those two guards? Do you think that his feet were even swinging to and fro in pure joy at knowing that Jesus was no longer in that tomb. These poor men were so frightened that they could not move and were like “dead men”. I wonder too if that means they fainted with the shear fright of seeing someone from heaven.

However, what causes my imagination to wonder here is what was happening in the realm of darkness during this time.They finally figured out that their plan had been foiled and the countdown for their ultimate demise had finally been started. They thought they had beat Him, but PRAISE GOD, THEY COULD NOT!Though they had tried to beat Him, kill Him, and destroy Him, they could not. Their power was no match for the love of the God of the universe and His faithful Son who endured such a cruel death on our behalf.

Luke 24:4-6a records, “While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!’” These are probably the three most beautiful words ever recorded in the Bible to me – He has risen. He was not there in the tomb any longer; He was now alive. In that one awesome moment, Jesus conquered death for each of us and made a way for us to find forgiveness. Now, the heavenly realms were shouting, “Hallelujah!” and dancing in the streets of gold.

So, what about us?  Have we been living our lives like Satan has already won?  Have we lived lives already shrouded in defeat?  Or, are we celebrating with the heavenly realms that darkness could not defeat our Almighty God and Savior?  My prayer is that we realize and accept what Jesus did for us, and that we too will start living lives of victory instead of lives of defeat.  Darkness could not hold back the power of God’s love.  Bask in that knowledge today dear friend!                       

Pray with me: Precious Lord, we are so awed at what You endured on our behalf. You gave up heaven and fellowship with God so that You could save us from our sins.  The agony that must have filled Your soul!  But, all honor and glory and praise are Yours forever because You conquered death with Your ultimate sacrifice.  May we constantly live lives of victory instead of lives of defeat.  We praise God that darkness could not defeat You.  God, we love You so very much and pray all of this in the name above all names, Jesus Christ!  Amen.