Illuminating the Darkness
By
Michael K. Farrar, O.D.
©
March 11, 2011
www.godsbreath.net
Copies
of this and other homilies available by sending requests to: mikefarrar@aol.com
"You,
O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light." Psalms
18:28
There
are dominant themes in the Holy Scriptures and one such theme is that there is
darkness and light in the world. Darkness is representative of death, sin and
evil. Light represents life, holiness and truth. This theme begins in the first
chapter of Genesis where it says, Genesis
1:1-2, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the
earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and
the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."
Here
we see creation in its primordial form; shapeless, lifeless, empty and dark. God
had not yet given life to the earth. It was yet to be blessed with living
creatures, plants and mankind himself. There was no light to rule by day or
night, just simple form and substance of matter, empty of not only life, but
light as well. In this dark beginning, God's Spirit hovered over the waters in
anticipation of what was yet to come.
As
God created the heavens and the earth, He had a plan to reveal His nature and
character in creation. Romans 1:20 speaks of this witness observable in nature.
It is a witness of a powerful, creative, intelligent and loving God. God
created the sun to rule by day and the moon to rule by night, but darkness also
existed for a purpose. Night is a time of dormancy, inactivity and rest. But
when sin entered the world, the darkness of night also became a hiding place of
evil and an opportunity for the innocent to be attacked and consumed. God knows
and sees all that happens in the dark as well as the light, but there is
something about the darkness that makes men think they can hide their sinful
deeds from their Creator. There are spiritual analogies here for men and women
to ponder. When Adam and Eve sinned and were cast out of the Garden of Eden all
of creation was tainted and spoiled by their disobedience. Darkness came to
represent evil and sin. Light represented the goodness of God.
This
theme of light and darkness is spoken of in Holy Scripture throughout the Old
and New Testaments. We come to know something about God as well as the evil in
the world as we read these descriptions.
1
John 1:5 says, "This is the message
we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no
darkness at all." God is light. When you have light, darkness cannot
exist. Light bleaches out and removes any darkness and eliminates even the
slightest shadows. It exposes whatever was hidden by the darkness. Darkness and
light cannot coexist. The purity of God is described in this verse as light and
the comparison of God to light tells us about his "omniscience."
Omniscience is the ability to know everything in complete intimate detail.
Complete knowledge of every thought and deed of any individual is part of God's
omniscience and light is used to represent this ability and character trait of
our Heavenly Father.
Samuel
tells us in 2 Samuel 22:29 that, "You
are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord turns my darkness into light." God has
an ability to enter the life of a person and when He does He turns their
darkness into light. Samuel is expressing here the intimate revelation that
when he submits to God and lets his Creator take over his life, the darkness of
fleshly sin, a personal disobedience or a difficult hardship is illuminated by
the Lord. In the case of sin, confession is required as light exposes the sin.
In the case of a disobedience, loving discipline is given to not just chastise
but also to instruct towards growth in faith. In the case of a hardship or
trial, God's light gives strength to endure or can reveal answers on how to
make godly decisions. Psalms 112:4 echoes some of this same concept when it
says, "Even in darkness light dawns
for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man."
In the midst of a very dark time of life, God's light can penetrate with
guidance and comfort for those men and women who have taken on characteristics
of their Heavenly Father through growing in a relationship with Him. Here in
Psalms are mentioned, "grace, compassion and righteousness." When a
person has a dynamic growing and intimate relationship with the Lord they begin
to manifest godly characteristics. Even though they may experience dark times
in life, there will always be a light shining in their witness and from the
hope they have found in the Lord.
In
Luke we find a great privilege that is bestowed upon John the Baptist. This was
also foretold by Isaiah (4:30)and Malachi (3:1). In Luke 1:76-79 Zacharias, John
the Baptist's father states, "And
you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on
before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of
salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of
our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those
living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path
of peace."
God
is never caught off guard, you can never surprise Him, that is reflected in
comparing Him to light and when Adam and Eve sinned He already had a plan to
redeem mankind from this sin. John the Baptist would prepare the way for the
godly light that would manifest upon the earth, live among men and eventually
pay the penalty for sin. This light would be God's only Son, Jesus Christ.
In John 1:1-5 we see a detailed picture of
this light, Jesus Christ. It states, "In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He
was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him
nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the
light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not
understood it." This passage
tells us that Jesus existed with God from the very beginning. Jesus is the
Word, the very essence of God Himself. It is a difficult concept for us as
created beings to understand, but God is triune. Within the nature of the one
God are three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They all have existed
forever and all are represented by the light spoken of in Scripture. Here in
John we are told that Jesus, the Word, not only was with God, but also created
all things that were made. From this passage and others we know that God the
Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ created the heavens and the earth.
Here John also expresses the fact that in Jesus is life and light. This light
of Jesus shines in the darkness of the world and the darkness of sin and the
sin in mankind cannot understand this light. Darkness not only hinders one's
ability to perceive with sight, it also dulls the mind and blurs spiritual
discernment. What a dilemma we have here. Mankind is in darkness and the light
that can grant forgiveness for sins, give hope for the future and bestow godly
blessings is unable to be discerned for what it is - marvelous loving grace and
rescue from judgment!
But
we see in the New Testament that God has a way of penetrating the darkness of
man with His loving light. John 3:16-21 gives us a hint of the magnitude of the
love of God for men and women who live in darkness. It says, "For God so loved the world that he
gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but
have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not
condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has
not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light
has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their
deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into
the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the
truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has
done has been done through God." God so loved the men and women in
this dark evil world that He was willing to allow His only Son to be a
sacrifice for the sin of mankind. Those who love evil and darkness will not
only refuse to let their lives be exposed by the light of God, they will be
filled with hatred for the light. But there are some who will respond to the
light of God, His only Son, and accept Jesus as their personal savior.
In
Acts 26:15-18 we see the miracle of how Paul was converted when Jesus appeared
to Him. It says, "'I am Jesus, whom
you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. 'Now get up and stand on your feet. I
have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you
have seen of me and what I will show you. I will rescue you from your own
people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and
turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that
they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified
by faith in me.'" Here Paul is commissioned to be a servant of God and
his mission and ministry is to open the eyes of men and women so they will turn
from darkness to light, from the dark power of Satan, to the loving light of
God. This turning from dark to light is accomplished when they receive
forgiveness for their sins through Jesus Christ. Once this commitment is made a
person who lived in darkness now can live in light through a relationship with
their Heavenly Father, made possible by His Son Jesus Christ. This process of
rescue from darkness is described in Colossians 1:13-14, "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought
us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins." Jesus spoke of Himself in this fashion in John
8:12, "When Jesus spoke again to the
people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will
never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
James
1:17-18 speaks of the blessings that come to those who believe in the light and
emerge from being concealed in darkness through a commitment to Jesus Christ. "Every good and perfect gift is from
above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change
like shifting shadows." God is not only light, He is consistent light.
He does not fade, dim or grow faint. He is a brilliant pure holy light that
continues to penetrate the darkness of this world and especially the hearts,
minds and souls of those who commit themselves to Him. Part of the blessings of
living in the light is having the ability to not fear the darkness of this
world or the dark times that we may face as His children. Psalms 91:5-6 tells
us, "You will not fear the terror of
night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the
darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday." Earlier in this
chapter of Psalms it talks about hiding under the shelter of God's wings. That
is one of the benefits of knowing Jesus as Savior, our Heavenly Father is also
our protector.
Many
verses talk about who we are as Christians living in the light. 1 Peter 2:9-10
tells us that we were called out of the darkness into the light and we now have
both a heritage and inheritance to live by,
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of
darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are
the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received
mercy." Ephesians 5:8-14, reminds us that we were once living in the
dark but now we live in the light and we are to remain in the light. "For you were once darkness, but now you
are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light
consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases
the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather
expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in
secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light
that makes everything visible." 2 Corinthians 4:6 reaffirms the fact
that God's light shines in our hearts as Believers so that we might fully know
the glory of God that dwells within our Savior, Jesus Christ. "For God, who said, "Let light
shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." Romans
13:12 tells us we have a responsibility to live as people of the light and not
according to the sinful nature that is darkness incarnate. "So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of
light...and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful
nature." 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6 further identifies who we are and what
how we are to behave when it says, "You
are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or
to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us
be alert and self-controlled."
Let
us assist God in rescuing others from the darkness that holds them in bondage.
Let us share the light of Jesus with others. Let us live as children of the
light according to 1 John 1:7 "But
if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."
Ralph Waldo
Emerson said, "Light is the first of
painters. There is no object so foul that intense light will not make it
beautiful." The light of God is so intense, He can make the darkest
sinful soul beautiful in His eyes. Lets help God paint the life of others with
His saving light, Jesus Christ.