The power of darkness

George Matheson (1842-1906), one of the most beloved preachers in Scotland and author of the great old hymn "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go," began to lose his eyesight at age 15 and was totally blind by age 20. He wrote these lyrics to his hymn, "Light and Darkness":

"Each tear of hearts made tender By the deep folds of night Sparkles with rainbow splendor, Rays of the Father's light. Until our lives are ended, Darkness and light are blended."

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The Bible begins with, [1] In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

[2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
[3] And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
[4] And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

“Look at what the passage says: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and now there’s a radical intervention and then He recreates everything," explains Richard Jordan.

"That understanding is what refutes evolution, because what evolution says is it was here all these years and just came along per uniformitarianism.

“Satan was already there when God created Adam . . . To refute evolution doesn’t require you to change the Bible. Evolution refutes itself if you examine it.

“When it says ‘darkness on the face of the deep,’ God didn’t create His universe in darkness, because where God is there’s no darkness. That’s judgment.

“What Genesis 1:3 says is that when God moved back into His creation to repurpose it—‘I’m back!’—there was light. He made a division between the light and darkness: ‘I’m here and darkness is there.’

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Genesis 15: [12] And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
[13] And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
[14] And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

“He literally is going to sense and feel what His people are going to feel when they’re cast out among the Gentiles. There’s a horror associated with darkness. You understand there’s something not good in it.

“Exodus 10: [21] And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.
[22] And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:
[23] They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

“Absolute, complete, total blackout to the point where you could feel it.

“Jude 13: [13] Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

“You can be in darkness and not have it be a real blackout, but then there’s the horror of great darkness; it’s darkness that can be felt and now you have the blackness of darkness.

“By the way, when you’re in that kind of darkness—total blackout--you can’t tell time; the perception of what time it is, how much time passes, how long something is going to last, it all goes away.

“When Christ is in that physical darkness on the Cross, the darkness makes it seem like it’s never going to end. The physical darkness put the Lord in a position where He’s suffering without the ability to tell how long it’s going to last. The perception part of it, like it’s endless. The isolation, the loneliness.

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“But there’s another kind of darkness. Luke 22: [52] Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves?
[53] When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.

“That’s spiritual darkness. This is the blindness of spiritual unbelief. Paul says in Colossians 1 that He ‘delivered us from the power of great darkness.’ He talks about ‘the rulers of the darkness of this world.’ So there’s a spiritual darkness that’s engulfed the religious leaders of Israel.

Luke 23: [44] And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
[45] And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.

“Wait a minute, if there was darkness over all the land AND the sun was darkened, that tells you there’s a different kind of darkness—it wasn’t simply the physical darkness; there was the spiritual darkness.

“It’s in that spiritual darkness that the Lord Jesus Christ is entering into combat with the rulers of the darkness of this world. You remember in Genesis 3 the seed of the woman is going to crush the head of the seed of the serpent. There’s going to be a conflict, a battle.

“All through the life of Christ He had been challenging Satan and Satan would challenge back with his demonic activity. At the Cross the Lord says, ‘Where’s my adversary? Let him step up and let’s have it out.’

“The strategic victory for eternal redemption is accomplished at Calvary, where Jesus Christ didn’t simply pay the eternal consequences of our sin, but He defeated the Adversary.

“Colossians 2:15: [15] And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

“There’s a battle going on in that darkness and at Calvary, Jesus Christ won the authority, the right to deliver you from the power of darkness and put you into His life.”

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Here's another post on the subject:

“There’s this POWER of darkness. Darkness and light are used all through the Bible to contrast the glory of God and the absence of that glory. So when He says ‘God is light,’ literally, physically, the manifestation of His glory to His creation comes that way.

"When you think what would light intellectually convey to you, it would convey the issue of God’s knowledge. God knows everything. If you want to see something and the room’s dark, in Genesis 1 when He said, ‘Let there be light,’ what was He doing that for? He wanted the angelic host to see what He was doing.

“On that first day of re-creation there in Genesis 1, all He did that whole first day—every other day was filled with teeming activity, but on that day He just said, ‘Let there be light.’ It was so they could see.

“Intellectually, this dazzling display of the light of His presence brings the ability to see and it tells you there’s nothing that God doesn’t know; there’s nothing that escapes Him. Ephesians 5:13 says, [13] But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

“When we think about God’s light in a moral sense, we think about the issue of His integrity, of the holiness of God. Because if something is going to be made manifest, the Bible says ‘God is of pure eyes and cannot look upon sin.’

“If His presence brings to light everything that’s there, and ‘men love darkness more than light because their deeds are evil,’ well, then morally, ‘God is light’ has to do with the fact that His integrity, His holiness, is involved.

“God’s integrity is made up of two of His attributes—His justice and His righteousness. The righteousness of God is the standard of His integrity. His justice is the enforcer of His integrity.

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“James 1:17 says, [17] Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’

“Now, that’s fascinating. Not only is there no darkness in Him; there is not even any shadow. No place where even the light of His glory, and the intense gaze of His integrity, is even shielded just a little bit.

“There’s no shadow. That’s saying God never turns Himself away from light so there would be a shadow on the side. He’s always looking one way—steadfast. He never changes. That’s the issue I John’s dealing with. We’re dealing with the manifestation of His glory. We’re dealing with the fact He knows it all and that He holds everything to that standard of what He knows.

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“Notice Verse 5 again in I John 1: [5] This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

“This is something John had already taught them about. There’s a strange little passage in John 1 that’s often not paid a lot of attention to.

“John 1: 4-5 says, ‘[4] In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
[5] And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.’

“When you read that, you say, ‘Man, what kind of darkness can remain when the light goes on?! That’s a strange kind of darkness.’

“Darkness is the absence of light, but when light shows up, darkness flees away. Here’s a darkness that’s still there! Obviously it isn’t literal darkness. It’s a special kind of darkness; he’s talking about spiritual darkness.

“He’s talking about the spiritual darkness that existed in Israel. People who should have been the light to the world sat in darkness and when the source of light, the S-u-n of righteousness, when the light showed up in the darkness of Israel, when Jesus Christ came as the light, they still didn’t get it.

“John 8:12 says,  [12] Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

“Notice very carefully the definitions here. Spiritual light came into the darkened, unbelieving nation Israel, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they didn’t comprehend Him. He came unto His own and his own received Him not.

“Remember what Jesus said to the blind man in John 9: 4-5? [4] I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
[5] As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world..

“While He was there, the light shone, but some of them didn’t get it. John 12:35 says, [35] Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.’ ”

"Paul writes in II Corinthians 4, [3] But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
[4] In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
[5] For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
[6] For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
[7] But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

"The light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ has shined into us. What you need to do in your life is demonstrate the value you've discovered to be in the Lord Jesus Christ. As you put that on display it will attract people; it will be the draw.

“To be transformed, there’s something inside of you which comes out. Jesus went up on the mount of transfiguration and who He was inside shined out of Him and that’s that word ‘transformed.’ "

(new article tomorrow)