Ministry of Darkness

When the Scripture uses the term “darkness,” it most often carries the negative sense of sin.

• “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20)

Darkness also describes the situation when the devil has his way.

• Jesus at His arrest said, “Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on Me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.” (Luke 22:53)
• “The thief [Satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” (John 10:10)

Darkness describes people’s condition before they accept Jesus.

• “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Matthew 4:16)
• “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.” (John 3:19–20)
• Jesus made this promise: “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

The judgment for sin has been taken care of once and for all by Jesus. There are still times, though, when the way ahead seems dark. We aren’t sure which fork in the road we should take. Those are the times to remember that God is with us and for us. As we depend on the Spirit of God for His guidance, He will make the choice clear.

Trials are part of life. While we don’t seek them, they increase our desire for life in Heaven that will never end or darken. “In this [salvation] you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:6–7)

There was one time when darkness was the greatest blessing ever. Darkness fell over the Hill of Golgotha for three hours one Spring Day. It wasn’t just a brief solar eclipse, but a supernatural blackness in which the lights of the universe were extinguished for three hours. When the light of day returned, Jesus cried out to His Father. “‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’—which means, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?’” (Matthew 27:45–46) It was during those hours of darkness that Jesus was taking on the sin of the world and suffering God’s wrath against your sin and mine.

That was the first and only time that the perfect fellowship between the Father and Son had ever been broken. Someone thought that God blackened out the sky so that no one could observe the excruciating suffering of Jesus while He was suffering so as our Substitute. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)

Accept Jesus today. When you do, you will become part of “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.” (1 Peter 2:9) You may never lead troops like Gideon, but God will use you to spread the fame of Jesus.

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