From Hezekiah’s shadow turning back, to the darkness that covered the earth at Calvary; from a light brighter than the noonday sun that changed Paul’s life, to the promise of the Sun of Righteousness rising with healing — these Scriptures reveal a God who brings light into darkness, hope into despair, and life where there seemed to be none.
Bible Scriptures: Darby Translation
2 Kings 20:1-11 “20 In those days Hezekiah was sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah: Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.2 And he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Jehovah saying,3 Ah! Jehovah, remember, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done what is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept much.
4 And it came to pass before Isaiah had gone out into the middle city that the word of Jehovah came to him saying,5 Return, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up to the house of Jehovah;6 and I will add to thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
7 And Isaiah said, Take a cake of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What [shall be] the sign that Jehovah will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of Jehovah the third day?9 And Isaiah said, This [shall be] the sign to thee from Jehovah, that Jehovah will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?
10 And Hezekiah said, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: no, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.11 And Isaiah the prophet cried to Jehovah, and he brought the shadow back on the degrees by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.”
Luke 23:33-49 “33 And when they came to the place which is called Skull, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, the other on the left.34 And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And, parting out his garments, they cast lots.
35 And the people stood beholding, and the rulers also [with them] sneered, saying, He has saved others; let him save himself if this is the Christ, the chosen one of God.36 And the soldiers also made game of him, coming up offering him vinegar,37 and saying, If *thou* be the king of the Jews, save thyself.
38 And there was also an inscription [written] over him in Greek, and Roman, and Hebrew letters: This is the King of the Jews.39 Now one of the malefactors who had been hanged spoke insultingly to him, saying, Art not thou the Christ? save thyself and us.40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost *thou* too not fear God, thou that art under the same judgment?
41 and *we* indeed justly, for we receive the just recompense of what we have done; but this [man] has done nothing amiss.42 And he said to Jesus, Remember me, [Lord,] when thou comest in thy kingdom.43 And Jesus said to him, Verily I say to thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
44 And it was about [the] sixth hour, and there came darkness over the whole land until [the] ninth hour.45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple rent in the midst.46 And Jesus, having cried with a loud voice, said, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. And having said this, he expired.47 Now the centurion, seeing what took place, glorified God, saying, In very deed this man was just.48 And all the crowds who had come together to that sight, having seen the things that took place, returned, beating [their] breasts.49 And all those who knew him stood afar off, the women also who had followed him from Galilee, beholding these things.
Acts 26:9-23 “9 *I* indeed myself thought that I ought to do much against the name of Jesus the Nazaraean.10 Which also I did in Jerusalem, and myself shut up in prisons many of the saints, having received the authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death I gave my vote.11 And often punishing them in all the synagogues, I compelled them to blaspheme. And, being exceedingly furious against them, I persecuted them even to cities out [of our own land].
12 And when, [engaged] in this, I was journeying to Damascus, with authority and power from the chief priests,13 at mid-day, on the way, I saw, O king, a light above the brightness of the sun, shining from heaven round about me and those who were journeying with me.14 And, when we were all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? [it is] hard for thee to kick against goads.
15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, *I* am Jesus whom *thou* persecutest:
16 but rise up and stand on thy feet; for, for this purpose have I appeared to thee, to appoint thee to be a servant and a witness both of what thou hast seen, and of what I shall appear to thee in,17 taking thee out from among the people, and the nations, to whom *I* send thee,18 to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me.19 Whereupon, king Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision;
20 but have, first to those both in Damascus and Jerusalem, and to all the region of Judaea, and to the nations, announced that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
21 On account of these things the Jews, having seized me in the temple, attempted to lay hands on and destroy me.22 Having therefore met with [the] help which is from God, I have stood firm unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying nothing else than those things which both the prophets and Moses have said should happen,23 [namely,] whether Christ should suffer; whether he first, through resurrection of [the] dead, should announce light both to the people and to the nations.”
Malachi 4:1-3 “4 For behold, the day cometh, burning as a furnace; and all the proud and all that work wickedness shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, so that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.2 And unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and leap like fatted calves.
3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I prepare, saith Jehovah of hosts.”