Augustus Neander · 305 of 320

§ 293. Phenomena accompanying the Death of Christ: the Earthquake the Darkness; the Rending of the Temple-veil.

§ 293. Phenomena accompanying the Death of Christ: the Earthquake the Darkness; the Rending of the Temple-veil.

The wise men from the East were led to the Redeemer by the remarkable phenomena which attended his birth; and similar wonders accompanied his death. As the unity of the world as a whole [the world of nature and of spirit], is seen in natural signs accompanying epoch—making events in history, so we need not marvel to find the greatest event of history—shown as such by its fruits in the spiritual renovation of mankind even to those who cannot comprehend its internal import—attended by similar manifestations. At the moment of Christ’s death there was an earthquake; and at the same time, and perhaps from the same cause, a darkness spread over the sky, producing effects like those of an eclipse of the sun. The veil of the Holy of Holies in the Temple was rent asunder, signifying that the Holy of Holies in heaven is opened to all men through the finished work of Christ; the wall of partition between the Divine and the Human broken down; and a spiritual worship substituted for an outward and sensible one.