Illuminating the Darkness

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

“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.