The Outer Darkness

Intro (Carlsbad Caverns)

I read a story recently about a group that was taking on a tour of Carlsbad Caverns

When they reached the deepest point in the cavern, the guide instructed them to turn off all the lights

And I’m some of you have been on on a cavern tour and had a similar experience

Enveloped in pitch darkness, this little 7 year old girl is overwhelmed with fear and begins to cry

And who can blame her? That level of dark is lonely, scary, debilitating

I might cry as much as she did!

This morning, we are continuing our series, Light in the Dark

And we are going to see a picture of darkness - what our passage this morning is going to call “pitch darkness”

But first, a quick recap

Recap: The First Day

Looked at Creation

Into the darkness, God spoke light

Bringing order and sight to the chaos and blind

One observation that will be important for us this morning

There was darkness over the face of the deep - darkness over darkness as I called it last week

But God didn’t need the light to see - he knew exactly where everything was that he made

The light is for our benefit that we can see the beauty and the glory of Creation

Transition

This morning we are coming to another passage of darkness over darkness

With that, please turn in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 10

And if you do not have a Bible, we have a few in the back of the room here

Use it this morning and, if you don’t have a Bible, take it home with you as our gift

Scripture Reading: Exodus 10:21-29

Exodus 10:21–29 ESV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived. Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord; your little ones also may go with you; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind.” But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me; take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.” Moses said, “As you say! I will not see your face again.”

Pray

Main Point

We are going to discuss this plague of darkness

Then we are going to zoom out and ask the broader question

That question: What does the darkness represent in this passage and where does light shine into the dark?

Here is the main point I want us to see this morning

The darkness of judgment can only be overcome by God shining light upon his people

Context

Because we are jumping right into the middle of this narrative, let’s provide a little background

Make sure we know where we are and what is happening

The Israelites are slaves in Egypt

And God has promised through Moses to lead them out of slavery

But Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is refusing to let them go

Could even make a joke that I can tell how old you are if the movie you are picturing right now is Charlton Heston’s The Ten Commandments or the animated The Prince of Egypt

God sends a series of plagues upon Egypt as judgment

This plague, the plague of darkness, is the 9th plague

You can imagine the horror, anxiety, fear in the people of Egypt after experiencing the previous 8 plagues

A couple of weeks ago, our family went camping

Right at dusk, the bugs came out - mosquitos and no-see-ums

I was swatting my neck, my ankles, all over

Can you imagine a plague of no-see-ums? I, for one, would lose my mind!

No-see-ums are a type of gnat

The Egyptians had already endured a plague of gnats and a plague of flies… and of locusts, and frogs, and more

And now, what verse 22 describes as “pitch darkness” - we’ll come back to that

In addition to that immediate context, there is also a broader context that connects this passage to Creation

Last week we saw that when God created the world, darkness covered the world

Until verse 3 when God spoke light into that darkness

We described this idea of biblical theology where we can explore the progression and development of a theme in the Bible - in this case the theme of light and dark

But this plague - pitch darkness - is not progression or development

It is regression, it is a step backward!

This plague is this partial undoing of Creation - putting the Egyptians into this state most reminiscent of the darkness over the dark of pre-Day 1 of Creation

Darkness

Last week we mentioned that there are several ways that darkness is used symbolically in the Bible

And last week we talked about the idea of darkness as chaos and disorder

Today, we want to see another way that darkness is used:

Darkness as a picture of judgment

So let’s look back at verses 21-23

Exodus 10:21–23 “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days”

This type of darkness is so tough for us to begin to comprehend

Even when it is dark, our eyes adjust and use whatever little light pollution is around to help guide us

Look at the descriptors of the darkness over the land of Egypt

“A darkness to be felt”

“Pitch darkness”

There is no ambient light

This is “I can’t see my hand in front of my face” level dark

Have you ever felt darkness?

Have you ever experienced a darkness where you figure it is best to just sit where you are because you realize if you move, you will bump into things and get hurt?

In that pitch darkness and not rising, did they not eat for those 3 days? Go to the bathroom for 3 days?

The fear and the anxiety from a felt darkness

At first, darkness doesn’t seem like that bad of a plague compared to some of those that preceded it

But this type of darkness?

What does this type of darkness do?

It unmoors us from our grounding in reality

It disconnects us from our sense of place and our sense of self

This is not “I just went into a dark movie theater and my eyes haven’t adjusted” dark

This is “I don’t know where I am and am not even sure of who I am” level of dark

That is the depiction of the darkness before God spoke light into existence in Genesis 1:3

And it is the depiction of the darkness here in the plague of darkness on Egypt

Rebellion Against God, Opposition to God

So what is the lesson of this darkness? What are we supposed to learn from it?

First, we need to see in the story the reason behind it

Look at Pharaoh here - because at any point he could have let the Israelites go and it would have all been over

But he wouldn’t do it!

Quickly, let’s look back over Pharaoh’s response to Moses’ request to let the people of Israel go from slavery

Exodus 7:13 “Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.”

[After this first one, just show list of references for rest]

Exodus 7:14 “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go.”

Exodus 7:22–23 “But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart.”

Exodus 8:15 “But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.”

Exodus 8:19 “Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.”

Exodus 8:32 “But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go.”

Exodus 9:7 “But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.”

Exodus 9:12 “But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses.”

Exodus 9:34–35 “But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.”

Then, check this out

Exodus 10:7 “Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?””

Even his officials are like, “Really Pharaoh? Is it worth all this? Just let them go!”

His response?

Exodus 10:10 “But he said to them, “The Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Look, you have some evil purpose in mind.”

Exodus 10:27 “But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go.”

Pharaoh, in the darkness of his own heart, pit himself against God and even when the people around him were begging him to relent, he hardened his heart and doubled-down

But here is why the story of Pharaoh is so important: because we are Pharaoh!

We become hard-hearted, we choose darkness over light

It’s not just that sin is us doing some bad things

It is us choosing to be in opposition to God, it is us choosing pitch darkness

John 3:19 “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

Here is the sober truth: we love darkness

It’s not just that we need some light, it’s that we prefer darkness

We have chosen to be like Pharaoh, pitting ourselves against God

So let me ask 2 important questions here:

Question 1: Why do we love darkness more than the light?

Simple answer: because darkness hides and light reveals

We keep things in the dark precisely because we don’t want them to come into the light, to be found out

Question 2: How do we choose darkness over light?

In big ways… and in really little ways like seeing someone drop some money and thinking, “Hey, they won’t even notice if I just pick it up and keep walking…”

Here is how I would summarize it: we have darkness of the heart

And here is how Jesus summarizes it in the Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 6:23 “but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

Darkness as a picture of judgment

Which brings us to the picture of how darkness is used in this passage

And, spoiler alert, it actually gets worse - we haven’t hit the bottom yet

This pitch darkness is a plague - it is a judgment

Our second sobering truth of this passage: sin must be punished

When we chose darkness over light, there is a cost to that

1 John 1:5 “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

Darkness is antithetical to the character of God - because he is light

And all darkness of the heart is deserving of the darkness of judgment

Let’s look at the way Jesus describes the eternal judgment of those who have hardened their hearts against God

3 verses from Matthew

Matthew 8:12 “while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.””

Matthew 22:13 “Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

Matthew 25:30 “And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

Just as the plague of darkness was God’s judgment on Pharaoh and Egypt, it also points ahead to the greater judgment, hell itself, a place Scripture describes as “outer darkness”

And our third sober truth: All who choose darkness now are choosing the outer darkness forever

God Shines the Light

As I said, it got worse

In sin, we chose darkness - we loved darkness more than light - and set ourselves in opposition to God

And then darkness gets exactly what darkness deserves - judgment of outer darkness

God can and must judge darkness because he is light

If that is the case, is there any hope?

Let’s go back to main point for this morning:

The darkness of sin can only be overcome by God shining light upon his people

Look with me at verse 23 again

Exodus 10:23 “They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived.”

Ok, so don’t ask me to explain the science of how this happened

It was so dark in Egypt - pitch darkness - that they didn’t even dare to rise from where they were seated

But the Israelites had light?

Imagine the power being out during a storm

I look out my window and see my neighbor with a light on in their house

Even though I didn’t have any light, I could still tell there was light and my neighbor’s light, even however dim or dispersed, makes its way to me

So no, I can’t explain how the Israelites in this pocket had light but the rest of Egypt was in pitch darkness

But let’s not get distracted by a likely fruitless attempt to understand how God did it

The point is, God shone light upon his people

It is God, the One we already saw who was described as light, who gave light to his people

No matter how dark - how pitch darkness - felt darkness

The light God shines overcomes the dark

And the light God shines overcomes the darkness of sin

People - both the Israelites then and us now - can only see when God shines light upon us

We, the very people who loved darkness and were on a collision course with the outer darkness as a righteous, eternal judgment from God, can now see because God shone his light upon us

Even more, because Jesus, the Light of the World, pierced the darkness for us

As the lyrics of one song state:

“Light of the World you stepped down into darkness, opened my eyes let me see”

We can see - we can be forgiven - we can have our dark hearts transformed into hearts of light

And all because Jesus, by his death, defeated darkness forever and for all whom his light shines

Application

We saw 3 sober truths this morning

We love darkness more than light

Sin must be punished

All who choose darkness now are choosing the outer darkness forever

But we also saw one amazing truth: The darkness of judgment is overcome by God shining his light upon us!

Discussions of eternal judgment, of divine wrath, of the outer darkness are really tough

And they are the teaching of the Bible

It is only as we grasp the desperation of our situation as those who loved darkness and chaos and disorder and sin that we can start to grasp, start to be amazed, that God shone his light upon us and made us see

1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Two final thoughts I want us to hold here from this verse

First, it is God who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light

Salvation, rescue from the pitch darkness, is God’s work

And we are then called to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called” us

The task before us is to proclaim the greatness of God

We proclaim God’s greatness to him

He is worthy of our praise!

We proclaim God’s greatness to one another

We need to encourage one another with the stories of God’s light shining upon us

And we proclaim God’s greatness to those still in the dark and are on their way to the outer darkness

CT Studd (who, can we admit, has an amazing name!) was a missionary to Africa

He was asked once why he kept going back to Africa instead of pastoring a church in London

Here was his response

“Some wish to live within the sound of Church or Chapel Bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell.”

Right now, each of us has family, friends, loved ones who are on their way to the outer darkness of hell forever

And we are invited to… no, let me say it stronger than that… we are called to… we are commanded… proclaim Christ to them

This is why we were brought into God’s marvelous light

Waiting, seeking, expecting that God will shine his light into the darkness of their hearts as he has ours

Because only when God shines his light upon us, only when God makes us see, can we truly see

Conclusion (Carlsbad Caverns Reprise)

We began our study this morning with a frightened little girl in the pitch darkness of Carlsbad Caverns

Thankfully, it didn’t end with her lost and afraid

As she began to cry, her brother, seeking to comfort her, said, “Don’t cry. Somebody here knows how to turn on the lights”

Does that sound familiar?

On our own, everyone of us is that little girl crying in fear of the darkness, even though we chose the darkness!

There was nothing the girl - or her brother - could do to escape the darkness

And neither is there anything we can do to escape the darkness

But the brother was right - someone knew how to turn on the lights

God, not only could turn on the light, he is light

A switch simply pushes the darkness away

But Jesus did something far more profound

He drew the darkness to himself, absorbing the judgment we deserved so we could walk in the light

To save us from the outer darkness, Jesus experienced it for us

Remember the plague? Darkness covered Egypt for 3 days

Similarly, Jesus was plunged into outer darkness for 3 days in the tomb

He entered the darkness of judgment

He took the “outer darkness” that we deserved

Then, after 3 days in the outer darkness, the stone was rolled back and Jesus, the Light of the World, walked out

And then, in an act of great mercy and because the judgment of outer darkness has been fully satisfied, he invites us into his marvelous light

By allowing the lights to go out on him, he turned on the lights for us forever

To the glory of Jesus, the Light of the World

Pray