Darkness

Introduction

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Are you afraid of the dark?

It’s the unknown possibilities that make us afraid of the dark. What is peering through the darkness? What is crouching, crawling, lurking in that darkness? What might I stumble into if I walk into that darkness?

Many overcome their outright fear of the dark, but there is still something unique about that period of the day when darkness covers everything. Outside in the dark there is discomfort and coldness and restlessness.

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When I was a kid I lived on Main street in a town of 250 people. There was a post office and a convenience store and that was it. When darkness fell, there were maybe 6 street lights in the whole town to dispel the darkness. In the winter, when it got dark early, I would sometimes go to or come back from my friend’s house in the dark. That quarter mile walk in the dark was torture. For a minute I’d be walking in the light of a street lamp, and then I’d be surrounded by darkness with ditches on either side of the road and large trees looming overhead. Whenever I walked by a tree I’d cross to the other side of the road, worried that someone might be lurking in the tree branches ready to drop down on top of me. Then, I’d look into the darkness of the ditch and be afraid something was ready to pounce up at me from the ditch, and so I’d go to the middle of the road and run to the next street light. A bike was my best defense at night—no one could catch me on my bike, I was too fast. :-)

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There is a darkness that descends on our hearts that a streetlamp can’t fix.

It’s the darkness of doubt.

The darkness of hopelessness.

The darkness of ambivalence.

The darkness of loss.

The darkness of a cold and stubborn heart.

I’d like to tell you a story of darkness today.

Today is a high Sabbath. This is the Sabbath near the end of Jewish passover festival. The festival began last Sabbath, March 27th, and ends tomorrow, April 4. Unlike the Christmas holiday when we simply guess at a time when Christ may have been born and attach it to an ancient winter festival, this passover feast and memorial of Christ’s death and resurrection is kept with exact precision by Jewish scholars and religious leaders. This year is the 1,990’th year since the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus in April, 31 AD.

I’d like us to imagine that day when Jesus cried out on the cross, “It Is Finished!” The earth had been darkened during the crucifixion. And now that Jesus had died, a different darkness fell on the people.

The disciples and the women who loved Jesus felt the deep darkness of loss, and also a sense of hopelessness and fear.

The people who had stood around the cross jeering at Jesus, and the centurion who said, “This must have been the Son of God,” hung their heads with the awful darkness of guilt and shame at what they had done.

The priests and religious leaders in Jerusalem settled into a dark determination to ensure that Jesus never came out of that tomb.

The Darkest Story

Desire of Ages Chapter 80—In Joseph’s Tomb

The darkness that had mantled the earth at the crucifixion was not more dense than that which still enveloped the minds of the priests and rulers. At His birth the star p 771 had known Christ, and had guided the wise men to the manger where He lay. The heavenly hosts had known Him, and had sung His praise over the plains of Bethlehem. The sea had known His voice, and had obeyed His command. Disease and death had recognized His authority, and had yielded to Him their prey. The sun had known Him, and at the sight of His dying anguish, had hidden its face of light. The rocks had known Him, and had shivered into fragments at His cry. Inanimate nature had known Christ, and had borne witness to His divinity. But the priests and rulers of Israel knew not the Son of God.

They didn’t know him, and so they were in darkness. They had carried out their purpose in murdering Jesus, but now that their task was accomplished they did not feel a sense of victory. They were harassed with doubts. They had seen the rocks torn to pieces when Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” And they were restless and uneasy.

They were jealous of Christ’s influence when he was alive, and now that he was dead they were more jealous of him than ever. They dreaded having anybody look into the events of Jesus’ death.

But many people were looking into the events of that day.

Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus had both been secret followers of Jesus, but didn’t make their allegiance public because they didn’t want to loose their influence among the Sanhedrin. When the council had left them out of the decision to seek Jesus’ death, they both knew that they couldn’t be of any more help to Jesus among the Sanhedrin so they publicly declared their allegiance to Him by asking for His body so they could bury Him with dignity.

These two had been studying the prophecies in Daniel and Isaiah and the Psalms. As Nicodemus watched Jesus on the cross he remembered what Jesus said in the garden, a few years before:

John 3:14–15 ESV

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

When he saw the soldier pierce Jesus’ side with the spear he remembered how the prophet Zechariah had said,

Zechariah 12:10 ESV

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

These fulfilled prophecies and many more confirmed Joseph’s and Nicodemus’ belief that Jesus was the Messiah.

Many people were pouring into Jerusalem that day that had no idea that Jesus had been killed. They came to the temple seeking healing from one disease or another. “Give us Jesus,” seemed to be the cry on everyone’s lips. They heard Jesus had been crucified and then they heard rumors that the most holy place in the temple had been exposed when the dividing curtain had been torn in two from top to bottom without any human intervention. The priests who had to turn these people away were also the ones performing the sacrifices connected with the passover. As they went through the motions of their duties they had a terrible sense of foreboding—a feeling that their work was meaningless. Many from the crowd and even some of the priests went back to Scriptures to try to understand the meaning of the passover ceremony they were involved in. Some went to scriptures to try to understand what happened to Jesus. Some went to try to prove Jesus couldn’t be the Messiah. And when they searched the scriptures, they all felt the conviction that Jesus was the Messiah.

There seemed to be a cloud of confusion all around the disciples. They never rejected Jesus like the Sandhedrin, but they weren’t searching the scriptures either. Their darkness was the darkness of disbelief or the darkness of ignorance. Their darkness was grief and loss and hopelessness. They had never loved Jesus as much as they did now. Never before had they known how much they needed him—how much they longed for his presence. They sat mourning the loss of Jesus, truly believing He was the Messiah, but completely overlooking the promise that Jesus had made.

Matthew 20:18–19 ESV

18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

In their grief and confusion they had forgotten the promise that He would be raised from the dead. The future seemed dark with despair. Their faith in Jesus had perished while their deep love remained.

Like me when I was a little boy, they stared into the dark and imagined horrible things. They imagined that they would be the next targets of the Sanhedrin. They imagined a life without Jesus.

Restful Darkness

That day, from the time Jesus said, “it is finished,” Jesus was in darkness too. He had already experienced an emotional darkness before his death:

Psalm 22:1–2 ESV

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.

Jesus experienced the emotion behind these words of David, and even quoted them on the cross in his anguish. Yes, Jesus is God, and yes, He knew the end of this story was going to be success and resurrection. But Jesus was also human, and subject to the same struggles and emotions that we experience. And so, by faith he saw a resurrection morning, and yet in his deep burden of taking on the sin of the world he saw only separation from His Father.

Jesus had experienced great darkness in his soul from the time he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane until that moment on the cross when he embraced his faith in God’s promises and cried out triumphantly, “It Is Finished!” He knew he had done it! So, He gave up His life, and died.

On that Sabbath day, Jesus experienced the darkness of rest. A sweet, peaceful darkness. No worry. No turmoil. No struggle. No challenge. No hunger. No longing. No burden. Just sweet, unbroken sleep.

Modern Darkness

Are you afraid of the dark?

There are so many dark experiences that we have in our lives.

We have the darkness of doubt and unbelief. We resist submitting ourselves to the truth and instead cling to skepticism. And so we cling to darkness.

We have the darkness of loss. A loved one may have fallen asleep in Jesus and we wonder why they were allowed to leave us so early. Or maybe a precious relative or friend has died, leaving us uncertain about their place with Jesus. And so we sit in darkness.

We have the darkness of shame and guilt. Our sins against God and against others bear down on us and we know for certain that we are doomed. And so we stagger under darkness.

Your darkness is unique to you. It may be a broken relationship that has left you in darkness. Maybe it’s a financial burden that you are struggling to manage. Maybe your darkness is a secret only you know. Maybe its a family burden that you carry together.

But, because of Jesus, we have a solution for the darkness. We don’t need to cling to it, or stagger under its weight. We can rest the sweet rest of Jesus.

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Hebrews 4:9–10 ESV

9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

At the creation of this world God did something very good—perfect—and then He rested from all His creative work. Adam and Eve rested in the work that God had already finished.

At the cross Jesus did something very good—perfect—and then He rested from all his redemptive work. You and I can rest in the work that Jesus has already finished.

The only thing you need to experience this rest is faith.

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Emet — Faithful

When God showed His glory to Moses He said this:

Exodus 34:6 ESV

6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

That last word, faithfulness, is the Hebrew word emet. Its related to another Hebrew word that you’ve probably heard before—Amen! Amen means “that’s true!” Which, you are welcome to shout out anytime you agree with what the preacher is saying. :-)

Emet means truth and refers to correct ideas but really what emet is all about is stability and reliability. When you say that someone is emet, you’re saying they are reliable and have a stable character—in other words, they are trustworthy.

When God says, “I am faithful,” He’s saying that He is trustworthy, reliable, and stable. When God says something, we can rely on it. We can trust it. It is a stable foundation.

In Isiah 55:11 God makes this claim about His promises:

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Isaiah 55:11 HCSB

11 so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.”

Paul says adds to this by saying,

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2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV

20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

Peter talks about Jesus as “the cornerstone” of the Christian church. He is the reliable, faithful, trustworthy foundation that we build our faith—our trust—on.

Faith is not a complex, theological concept. Faith simply says, yes, to the question, can God be trusted?

Conclusion

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The Sanhedrin that pursued the crucifixion of Jesus angrily yelled into the air with their fists raised high in defiance against God saying, God cannot be trusted! They only trusted themselves. Outwardly religious, but inwardly skeptics to the end. And so they remained in darkness.

Jesus talked about them in his conversation with Nicodemus in John 3 when he said,

John 3:19 ESV

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.

The disciples, in their deep sorrow, were not sure about God’s faithfulness. They were genuinely confused. They just said, “we don’t know if God is faithful.” They didn’t trust themselves, and they didn’t know what to think about God.

But then there were the people who went back to Bible—Joseph and Nicodemus and some of the priests and the people. These were sincere people who honestly wanted to know what God had promised. When they saw the promises in God’s word, they said, “we believe. God is trustworthy.”

tomb

And finally, there was Jesus. Against all odds. When even the Father in Heaven seemed to hide from Him. Jesus clung to his faith. He said, “God is trustworthy,” and then fell into a restful sleep.

Until the brightness of Jesus’ second coming dispels it, we will always experience darkness. Like the Sabbath between the crucifixion and the resurrection, we live in the in-between time—between the resurrection of Christ and His return. The only question is, do you have emet in God? Do you trust his faithfulness? Is He a strong tower, a refuge, a defense for you? Is He your comforter and guide? If He is, then you can experience the sweet darkness of the Sabbath rest that Jesus had.

Not a permanent darkness, just a moment of respite before a resurrection of glory.

There are two questions that we must answer every morning before we tackle our day and every evening before we lie down on our pillow—Is God faithful? and do I trust His promises?

These are the questions between the cross and the resurrection. The questions of passover Sabbath.

If you don’t know the promises of God, then now is the time to search the Bible and get to know His faithfulness.

If you know the promises, then your answer to these questions will determine whether you have rest for your soul or not.

If you have some doubts, or are experiencing indecision, or you don’t understand the promises of God, or you have some questions about God or your life, one of the elders or I would love to sit down and look at the Bible with you. My number and email are on the back of the bulletin. Please send me a text or an email or give me a call and we’ll work out a time to get together.

Do you believe in God? Do you know for certain that He is trustworthy? I hope you can say yes, and experience the rest that God designed for this in-between time while we wait for Christ to come again.

Our closing song is a song of faith —faith in God’s Emet. Christ the Lord is Risen Today, # 166.