The Death of God

Near the end of the 20In century, the wake of unprecedented and horrifying turmoil, humanity found itself haunted by a lingering and chilling thought: Was God was dead?

In Fact, Times magazine came out asking that very question .

And in a way, who could blame them after humanity had seen such monstrous events that had never been seen before, who can really blame them?

For instance: World War I introduced humanity to the horrors of trench warfare, where soldiers faced the relentless shelling and monstrous use of chemical weapons which was not only physically devastating, but moral devastating as it pushed the boundaries of what was deemed acceptable even in warfare. Then there was the Second World War which brought its own horrors, As entire cities were laid to waste by aerial bombings, and the world was witness to the systematic genocide of six-million Jews in concentration camps which included men, women, and even children in Hitler’s Holocaust.

And so standing in the wake of such horrors, humanity began to echo the thoughts of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who declared that “God was dead.” wondering how could a good, all-power, and all-loving God could stand idly by in the face of such horrifying evil?! Didn’t He care? Couldn’t He hear there screams? Where was Divine intervention when humanity needed it most? The answer was, so it seemed, no where. which is why so many reluctantly concluded that God... was... dead.

When it comes to God’s existence, the problem of theodicy - which is term for the problem of evil and suffering - is considered by many to be it’s greatest challenge. In fact, many argue that it’s an insurmountable problem that proves the all-knowing, all-powerful, good and loving God of the Bible couldn’t exist. Think about it. Sure, we can blame human evil on ourselves, But there’s also natural evil like hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, and diseases like cancer. And all of these combined lead to the deaths of over 150,000 people every... single.. day. That’s like a small city being wiped out - and not just once - BUT DAILY! Every single day thousands family members have their loved ones suddenly torn away from them, and there is NOTHING they can do about it... And so in light of all of this, the question we must answer is: “Is God dead?” DOES the existence of evil and suffering prove that the all-powerful, benevolent God of the Bible couldn’t exist?

No it doesn’t. In fact, despite what philosophers and atheists will tell you, it doesn’t disprove God’s existence at least not for the Christian God. For in our passage this morning, we encounter a God Who is far from indifferent to our suffering! In fact, He is a God who cares about it deeply. and the cross of Jesus Christ proves it, For: The cross reveals a God who:

1. Cares about the darkness
2. Enters into the darkness
3. Overcomes the darkness.

1. Cares about the darkness

⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

Matthew 27:45 ESV

Here we find Matthew telling us how at the 6th hour when Jesus was on the cross, darkness came over the whole land. And this wasn’t a natural phenomenon, as the 6th hour is between Noon and 3:00 pm. It was a supernatural event. It couldn’t have been a sandstorm that darkened the sun, because passover was during the rainy season And it couldn’t have been a solar eclipse, because remember, this happened days before the Jewish Passover, which occurs when the moon is just about full. In fact, historians have found other writings from different people and places, that spoke of how the sun bizarrely went dark in the middle of the day. For example, the historian Phlegon who lived during this time, wrote of strange event where the sun went dark, and went on to say: “it was as though the entire creation were in disorder on the account of the King of Creation.”

And that’s exactly right. For during this time, the entire creation went dark to illustrate the disorder that was happening in the cosmic realm. And the disorder was that the King of Creation was in disorder as the wrath of God was being poured out upon the 2nd person of the Godhead. And the darkness upon the land powerfully illustrated that.

See, in the Bible, physical darkness always represents spiritual darkness. Which is why several weeks ago when we looked at Jesus’s arrest, Jesus tells the religious leaders:

Luke 22:53 (NIV) 53 … But this is your hour - when darkness reigns.” And by darkness, Jesus means everything that is evil and wrong with world.

Do you remember back in Matthew chapter 4, what Matthew told us about Jesus? He said, quoting the prophet Isaiah,

¹⁶ the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

Matthew 4:16 ESV

And who is that light? The light is God.

1 John 1:5 (ESV) 5 God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

And as John tells us in His gospel when He gives us the Divine genealogy of the Son of God, He tells of how Jesus was both life and light, and how He came into the darkness as the light to overcome it, and give light to everyone! And the reason this is necessary is because we’ve been cut off from the light because of sin.

If the earth suddenly flew out of it’s orbit and spun off into the galaxy, do you know what happen? Well not only would everything go dark, but everything would go cold and whither. And that’s because the Sun is the center of our planet’s light and life. And the same is true spiritually with God. Which means, that if we go off orbit - and we all have - we too will live without light and life, and we too will whither. But... if we center our lives on God If we orbit around Him as we were meant to, well, then we’ll flourish just as He designed us to.

But the reality is, we haven’t orbited around Him, We’ve gone off orbit and tried orbiting around created things, instead of the Creator. We orbit around: Our careers, Money, Sex, Drugs, Friends Family, You name it - we’ve done it. And the result is, we now live in a land of deep spiritual darkness, And the result of that is we are disoriented in every single way - It’s why our world and our relationships and even our bodies are in dissaray, which is exactly what sin does to us.

If you’ve ever had the electricity go off, you know what I’m talking about. Because even if you’re in a familiar place - like your house - you still end up roaming about bumping into things, which not only hurts the things you bump into, but your hurt yourself as well. And that’s exactly what sin does to us, as it cuts off off from the light, and harms both us and others. And the longer we are in the darkness, the worse the disorientating effect is upon us.

In 1911, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen led a expedition to be first one to reach the South Pole. And later, Roald and his team spoke of the challenges they faced, And one of the greatest challenges they faced wasn’t hunger or cold, It was the unbearable Antarctic darkness.

See, for several months every year, the South Pole is plunged into 24-hour darkness, there’s no sunrise, there’s no warmth to felt on your skin from the mid-day sun, No sense of time, hope, or direction And not only that, but darkness heightens the sense of isolation. It’s like a thick, black curtain falling between the explorers and the rest of the world, which can drive even the most sanest person mad! Which is precisely what the explorers struggled with! Do you get the picture here spiritually?

Because of sin, we are cut off from God and isolated in spiritual darkness. And this makes so we can’t see truth even when it’s staring us in the face! Which is why whatever it is your orbit around can’t satisfy you! It always leaves you feeling empty and alone - always! And reason is, it’s not a source of light and life! Only God is! For God is a God of creation and order, And without Him, we all fall into disintegration and disorder.

This last week, I was reading one of my favorite pastors - and I’m sure most of you can probably guess who that is, and he pointed out how this is a truth that is found in the very first verses of the Bible. And what He said was, and it’s brilliant - if you go back to the very beginning of time, Genesis 1:1 and 2 tell you what Genesis 1:0 was like. Because in Genesis 1 verses 1-2, it says: “darkness was on the face of the deep, and the earth was without form and void.” And as he points out, that’s emptiness, That’s formlessness, Everything is in chaos and darkness - because, those all go together. and then what happens? God says: “Let their be light…” and by God’s mighty power the Creation rapidly spins into order. that’s creation.

But what is sin? Sin is de-creation! It is dis-integration and disorder! Which is precisely what happens when we orbit our lives around anything that’s isn’t God. And we’ve ALL done that - which is why humanity is in deep spiritual darkness.

But here’s the thing. This darkness we are in, yes it’s certainly bad, But it’s not as bad as it could be… at least not yet! But, one day soon it will be, For one day soon, God will God give everyone who’s one off orbit the full consequences of their actions, which is in a place of outer-darkness called hell.

In the Bible, whenever it speaks of God’s judgment, how does it usually describe it? A day of deep darkness! For example: The prophets Joel and Zephaniah refer to the coming Day of judgment as: “a day of clouds and thick darkness”

The prophet Isaiah says “on day of the Lord the sun will rise in darkness and the moon will not shed it’s light.”

The prophet Amos says “it is a day of darkness and not light”

Do you realize why when the Bible speaks of God’s judgment in this way? It’s because on that day, everyone who wanted to live out of orbit away from God’s life and light, will feel the full, never-ending, disintegrating effects of sin.

For the longest time, when I read about the 10 plagues that God sent on the Egyptians after Pharoah refused to Orbit around God and let God’s people, I used to think they were just raw-displays of God’s power that were intended to communicate one thing Which was: “do what I say, or else. “ And while that certainly was a part of it, as Tim Keller pointed out to me, not in person… I wish - but in His preaching, The plagues aren’t just magic tricks, they are a foretaste of judgment day. They were a foretaste of an unraveling, disintegrating existence without light of life - which is God.

Think about the plagues: Creation started unwinding: You couldn’t drink the water anymore, Nature started unraveling, with lice, gnats, frogs, flies and boils all over the place, and then what else happened? Do you remember what the 9th plague was? It was plague of darkness,

The Bible is crystal clear here, When God’s judgment strikes, it will strike in the formless form of Genesis 1:0. As Keller rightly said: On “doomsday, God will only give us what what we want, but what we want, if He pulls away, will be chaos, disintegration, formlessness, emptiness, and darkness.” It will be an eternal hellish existence, cut off the light of life.

And then he quotes the the prophet Jeremy, who speaks of the day of the Lord, which is judgment day, saying:

²³ I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light.

Jeremiah 4:23 ESV

But here’s the thing, and please don’t miss this. Because of Christ’s work on the cross, we don’t have to continue spinning out of orbit into the eternal hell of perpetual disintegration! We don’t have to experience the never-ending consuming fire! And why not? Because Christ took our hell upon Himself upon the cross.

The cross reveals a God who:

2. Enters into the darkness

⁴⁶ And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Matthew 27:46 ESV

At this point, Jesus has said very little. Before the Sanhedrin and Pilate, He was almost entirely silent, And upon the cross, apart from a few words to HIs mother and a few others, not much has been said. But here, Jesus cries out, with a LOUD voice, saying: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

And you know something. Right here you can tell immediately that all of this was NOT made up! And the reason you can tell, is because no one would ever make something like this up

See, if wanna start a religion, and you felt free to embellish the facts as you saw fit, why on earth would you include something like this? Because here is no question about, this is not a good look for the leader of your religious movement!

When our English text says that Jesus “cried out,” Which is a really a weak way of putting it. the more accurate way to translate this, would be something more along the lines of the words SHRIEK or WAIl.

As one theologian put it, “it’s like the translators weren’t willing to all the way on this one, because they were worried about making Jesus look bad.” Which makes sense, because at first glance, it looks pretty bad! It looks like Jesus snapped! So what’s happening here? Why is Jesus shrieking in horror?

The reason is because Jesus is feeling, for the first and last time, the full darkness and hell of God’s eternal wrath coming down upon Him! And it shakes Him to the core of His being

For all of eternity, Christ, the second person of the Trinity, has orbited around the Father in a relationship of perfect love, intimacy, and union. But not here... Here, Christ is cast into the outer darkness! He’s fasces hell itself! And I know that might sound shocking to you - but it’s absolutely true!

Now please don’t misunderstand me - Christ didn’t go to hell after He died, and we know that because in Luke’s gospel, it says:

⁴⁶ Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

Luke 23:46 ESV

No, Jesus didn’t go hell, Hell came to Him when He hung upon the cross. And the hell he faced, which was the wrath of God, was pictured to us by the darkness that engulfs Him. And as it does, look at what Jesus scream: He doesn’t say: My thorn crowned head. My pierced hands and feet, My wounded side, Or My scourged back, What does He say? He quotes Psalm 22, saying: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

In Psalm 22, we read:

¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? ² O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.

Psalm 22:1-2 ESV

The interesting thing about this Psalm, is that is written by King David, BUT - as the theologian Derek Kidner points out, it’s describing events that never happened to David... David was never executed! He died in his bed as an old man! But Psalm 22 is describing what is clearly and execution! which never happened to David. Which is why in Psalm 22, verse 14 he goes on say:

¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; ¹⁵ my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. ¹⁶ For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet - ¹⁷ I can count all my bones - they stare and gloat over me; ¹⁸ they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

Psalm 22:14-18 ESV

The reason Jesus cried out: “My God, My God, why are you forsaking Me” is because the hell that Christ experienced upon the cross wasn’t centered upon the horrific physical torment He was under, It was centered upon the cosmic eternal torment He felt from disintegrating and hellish effects of sin. And why?

Because, as 2 Corinthians 5:21 says:

²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

While the physical sufferings of Christ were great, the cosmic hell he faced from being forsaken by God was infinitely greater. And may I remind us that this was a hell infinitely greater than any hell anyone else could experience. it had to have been! Why? I know we’ve talked about this before, but I need to say it again: If someone who is knew to the church comes up and tells me they think I’m an awful preacher and they are never coming because never want to see me again, Sure, that will sting a little... But if one of my parents says that, Or even worse, my wife says that, I’d be devastated! And the reason is because the closer the relationship, the more painful the severing of the relationship is!

And with Jesus, He had dwelt in the bossom of Father for all of eternity and His ONE and ONLY SON, where He experienced perfect pleasure, goodness, joy, and love from Him, But on the cross that was severed, as Christ was forsaken by His Father in order to suffer the darkness of hell that you and I deserve. And that’s why He shrieked out in eternal pain and agony saying: “My God, My God - why has thou forsaken me.” And He did so He could overcome our darkness.

The cross reveals a God who:

3. Overcomes the darkness.

⁴⁷ And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” ⁴⁸ And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. ⁴⁹ But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” ⁵⁰ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

Matthew 27:47-50 ESV

After hearing Jesus’s cry upon the cross, the people watching misunderstand His cry and think He’s calling to Elijah, when He was calling out to His father. And then after rejecting the sour wine, Jesus musters up His last strength, and He pushes Himself up once more to breath and cry out: “IT IS FINISHED” Which was not a cry of defeat, but was a SHOUT OF VICTORY! And it was a shout of victory because Christ had finished exactly what He had come to accomplish, which was to overcome the darkness and bring the light of life to us!

And here’s the thing about that victory, It’s a two-fold victory!

And why is it a two-fold victory? It’s a two-fold victory, because NOT ONLY did Christ victoriously free us from sin’s penalty But, He also won us the eternal favor of God! Which means, that when God looks at you, He doesn’t see your sin, He doesn’t see your failures!

And this means, we don’t have to strive anymore! Why would we? That’s what it means when Christ says: “it is finished” It doesn’t mean we don’t have things we should be doing as Christians, It simply means, that when it comes to the sin that separated us from God, there is NOTHING more that needs to be done! It is finished!

But here’s the thing, As Christians, we can often forget this. Yes, our sin is paid for in full - for it is finished, Yes, in Jesus Christ, we have been returned to our proper orbit Yet, what are we still tempted to do? Return to our striving How? By going back to our old ways of looking to created things for our hope and joy, instead of the Creator Who is forever blessed! We can look to our Bible reading, prayer life, work, family, or even how successful we are at pastoring a church. But none of these things can give us rest! Only Christ can, who bought and brought us eternal rest!

Which is why Jesus gives us an offer with a promise. Which we find in:

²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28 ESV

Not only did Jesus promise this, but He brought receipts! He proved it! How so? Look at verse 51:

⁵¹ And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, ⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

Matthew 27:51-53 ESV

As we know, the curtain that tore was a thick, un-impenetrable, wall-like veil that stood in the temple and separated the people from the inner sanctum, the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence dwelt. and this signified that the divide that separated God and man had been restored! Which meant that we could return to our proper orbit! We could come back from the darkness of our sin and live in the presence of God’s light! Which is also why ground shook and the graves of many saints burst open, as a foretaste of the final resurrection which is soon to come for all those who look upon the Son of God and say by faith as the Centurion did

Matthew 27:54 (ESV) 54 “Truly this was the Son of God!”

So, is God dead? He was....

But as we know and we’ll look at next week, He is not dead, He is alive! For the grave could not hold Him! For there ain’t no grave that hold this body down! And because the grave could not hold him, we have a promise and guarantee that the grave cannot hold us!

As the Son of God, though He could have, He didn’t stand idle by and watch us in our distress! He wasn’t indifferent to our suffering! No, instead, He entered into it and overcame our darkness, so we we wouldn’t have to be overcome by it! and the cross stands as a monument for all time proving once and for that our God is not dead, for He is ALIVE! And because He’s alive, we can face whatever darkness this world has, Whether it be World Wars, Famine disease and even, And confidently sing:

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, Because He lives, all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living, Just because He lives!

This is the manuscript the sermon was preached from, so the recording may differ in places.