A Light In Darkness
You know, anytime you turn on a light, it just pushes the darkness right out of the way. Light overcomes the darkness every time. The only way darkness will ever overcome the light is if you turn the light off. Think about it. When you walk into a dark room and turn on the light, there’s no more darkness. The room will stay light until you turn off the light. John 1:5, says ”The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
What Caused The Darkness?
In Genesis 1:31 it says, “Then God looked over all he had made and saw that it was very good!” Well if God saw that his creation was very good, then how did darkness come into the world? Well, it was sin that caused the darkness, and what is sin?
Disobedience To God
Humankind purposely and willfully disobeyed God. That’s what sin is, disobedience to God. He told them what they could do, and what they couldn’t do, and they disobeyed him. Most of us know the story of Adam and Eve. God had placed them in the Garden of Eden, and they had everything they needed, and access to every plant and tree in the garden, except one. Satan in the form of a serpent enticed Eve to eat the fruit from the tree God had forbidden them to eat. She then gave the fruit to Adam to eat. Now sin was in the world through their disobedience. From that point it was all downhill. It got to the point where humans were so disobedient, and so far away from God that he was sorry he even created them. Genesis 6:5-8 says, “The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing-all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.” But Noah found favor with the Lord.
Noah And The Ark
Well God did wipe out the entire earth. Thank God though, that Noah was a righteous man. The only righteous man. Most of us know that God sent a flood to wipe out the earth except for Noah, and his family. Because Noah was a righteous man, God saved him, and his family. He had Noah build an ark for his family, and for two of every kind of animal and bird. And then came the rains. Even though God had destroyed the world except for Noah and his family, it didn’t take long for sin to creep back into the picture again.
The Sons Of God
You may be asking yourself, that if God is omnipotent, didn’t He know that the flood would not wipe out sin for good? Genesis 6: 1-7 says, When human beings began to increase in number on earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw they were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, ‘My spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.’ Who were the sons of God? That is a highly debated topic. Some say they were fallen angels. I’ve also read, where some felt that rather than fallen angels, due to a difference in translation, the Sons of God were powerful and influential men who felt they were above the law and would not be held accountable for their predatory sexual practices, meaning systematic rape and non-traditional marriages.
Didn’t God Know?
Getting back to the first question, yes, God did know that the flood would not wipe out sin for good. Yes, he did. God is all-knowing. So why did he send the flood if he knew it would not end sin? One thought is that God saw that humanity was so wicked, they had reached the point where, if he did not intervene, they would have eventually destroyed themselves, so God took action. After the flood, he made a covenant with Noah that he would never again send a flood to end all life. The sign of this covenant is the rainbow. All of this can be found in Genesis 9.
Separation From God
Like I said previously, sin caused the darkness. When sin came into the picture, it separated us from God, so humanity was now lost and doomed to death. Humanity’s sin grew worse and worse. Even God sending a flood to destroy most of humanity didn’t stop sin. Believe it or not though, but God already had his plan of salvation for humanity.
What Is The Answer?
For those who may not know, before humanity sinned against God, there was a perfect relationship between God and humanity, or Adam and Eve. Sin is what damaged the relationship between God, and humans, and doomed us to death, and separation from God. John 14:6 says, “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” So Jesus is the answer. He paid the price for our sin by his death and resurrection. Kind of like, if you did something wrong, say on your job, and were going to be fired, and a co-worker told you they would take your punishment in your place, and be fired instead of you, so you could keep your job.( I said, kind of like.) John 8:12 says, “Again Jesus spoke to them saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” There was a song a number of years ago by Gospel artist Andre Crouch titled, Jesus Is The Answer. It was a very popular song.
The Light Of The World
So Jesus is the light of the world. John 1:5 states, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Like I said earlier, darkness can never overcome the light. If the power at your home goes out, you light a candle, or turn on a flashlight so you can see in the darkness. Well Jesus Christ is that light, and the darkness of sin will never overcome the light. Sometimes in the world we live in today, it may not seem like it, but God’s Word stands true. Nothing will ever overcome the Light of Christ. There are so many crazy things going on in the world today. It seems like the world is moving farther and farther away from God. Hold on to God’s Word though. Jesus Christ is the Light of the world, and the darkness of the sinful world in which we live will never overcome that Light.
The pic of this post is just like the title. It’s a picture of light shining in darkness. To take a look at it, just click on the “Pic Of The Post” link. Also, please feel free to leave questions, or comments.