For individual or group Bible study, look up the passages indicated and contemplate the flow of this poem.
Also available:
- PDF handout or bulletin insert (suggestion: copy onto double-sided paper and trim to 5.5 x 8.5 inches)
- Poem, without Bible passages
When Darkness Becomes Light, by Ryan MacPherson
Thick darkness falls deeper
- Isaiah 59:9–15
- John 3:19–20
layering the land;
- Psalm 23:4
- Matthew 27:45
- Mark 15:33
in sorrow cries Someone,
- Psalm 22:14–15
“Where is the Lord’s hand?”
- Psalm 22:1–2,19
Distant, so distant
- Exodus 14:11–12
- Psalm 22:11
- Habakkuk 1:2
God’s presence recedes,
- Matthew 27:46
- Mark 15:34
yet God’s hand is close—
- Exodus 14:13–14
- Psalm 22:16
- Habakkuk 3:17–19
- John 20:20,27
nailed to the trees.
- Matthew 27:35
- Mark 15:25
- Luke 23:23–33
- John 19:16–18
Blood flows and dries
- John 19:31–37
- Hebrews 9:13–14
in the sunlight now vanished;
- Luke 23:44–45
for the sins of all people
- Isaiah 53:5–6
- John 1:29
- Hebrews 10:10
- 1 Peter 3:18
- 1 John 2:2
God’s own Son is banished:
- Leviticus 16:10
- Isaiah 53:8
For the sin of those taunting
- Luke 23:34
at the One on the tree—
- Deuteronomy 21:22–23
- Galatians 3:13
they sneer, “Save thyself!”
- Psalm 22:8
- Luke 23:36–37
to Him who saves me.
- John 3:16
- 1 Peter 1:9–12
Afar in the Temple,
- Hebrews 9:3,9
but so near in my heart,
- Ephesians 2:12
a veil that once separated
- Exodus 26:31–33
is now torn apart.
- Luke 23:45
- Ephesians 2:13
- Hebrews 9:11–15
The Christ breathes His last
- Luke 23:46
- John 19:30
as He gives up His life,
- Isaiah 53:9,12
to breathe into me
- John 20:22
God’s first breath of life.
- Genesis 2:7
- Job 33:4
The old Adam dies
- Romans 6:2–3,6
that a new may be born—
- Colossians 2:11–12
when darkness becomes light
- 2 Samuel 22:29
- Psalm 119:105
- Ephesians 5:8
- 1 Peter 2:9
- 1 John 1:5
on the great Easter morn!
- Job 19:25
- Isaiah 53:10
- Luke 24:1–8
- John 8:12
- John 11:25