MONDAY 18 October 2021 “Darkness” Exodus 10:21-23

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Good Monday morning to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

When you were a child, were you afraid of the dark? Have you ever been in a darkness so dark you actually felt it? What happens to you emotionally when the darkness engulfs you? Have you ever felt a ‘darkness of the soul’, when your heart and mind seem to be in a very dark place, almost a hopeless place? Where do you turn in such oppressive darkness?

We’ve been walking a journey with Moses and the Pharaoh of Egypt for several days. There’s a battle raging. Moses repeatedly has brought to Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the world, messages from the Almighty God of the Hebrews. Those messages are calling Pharaoh to humble himself and acknowledge the power and greatness of the only true and living God, but also to release nearly 1 million Hebrew slaves, so they may go and worship this almighty God. But Pharaoh’s heart has remained very hard, unyielding. In fact God has been hardening Pharaoh’s heart with each confrontation with Moses and every miracle. Pharaoh refuses to acknowledge God despite God’s unleash of His mighty power on Egypt in what history calls plagues, remember? The land of Egypt had been laid waste by these terrible, powerful, devastating plagues. May I ask you, when you consider the most powerful forces known to mankind do you think of fire or wind or floods or bomb blasts or a terminal illness pandemic or military invasions? But have you considered the power of darkness?

Let’s join the Pharaoh and his officials standing on the palace overlook balcony surveying the devastation of Egypt. They are shaking their heads, wondering what more could possibly go wrong? The locust invasion has destroyed every green thing. The landscape is barren as far as they can see in any direction. The leaders of Egypt are wondering where to begin trying to rebuild what was once a beautiful, bountiful countryside. Suddenly one of them points to the far horizon. A dark cloud bank is coming across what is a bright, blue, cloudless sky. They furrow their brows as they watch the cloud bank approach. What could it possibly be?

God was brewing another plague for Egypt. We have no record of Moses bringing the message to Pharaoh, but this is what we know as found in Exodus 10:21: “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt – a darkness that can be felt’. So Moses stretched out his hand and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anything or anyone or leave his place for three days.” I invite you to close your eyes, my friends, and then put your hands over your closed eyes, so it gets as dark for you as possible. Now imagine it’s even darker, it’s pitch black dark, so dark you can’t see even a faint silhouette of anything. Not just for a moment or 10 minutes or an hour or two, but for days. Total, constant blackness, so dark you can feel the heaviness of dark. Can you feel the anxiety rising up inside you? Does your mind begin to imagine things in the dark, things that might hurt you? How do you describe the fear that begins to rise up within you? How long before it’s terror? Paralyzing, hopeless, terror.

For the Egyptians, there is nowhere to turn. There had been no warning. In the middle of the day, darkness, deep darkness, had crept over Egypt. At first people wondered, then as the darkness grew darker, people began to worry and then rush to their homes as quickly as possible. Soon panic is spreading across Egypt! But for those Egyptians who live near Goshen, the part of Egypt in which the Hebrew slaves live, they observe a very strange phenomenon. There is light in Goshen! (Ex. 10:23b) Perhaps God sent a thick fog or dark cloud bank which formed a barrier wall keeping the light in Goshen from illuminating Egypt, and keeping Egypt engulfed in oppressive darkness?

In the palace, what do you suppose Pharaoh was doing? I’m sure they had candles but those candles could not obscure the cries he could hear from the worried, now perhaps terrified people. Neither Pharaoh nor his officials nor his magicians had either explanation nor response to the darkness. No one knew why it came, how long it would stay, when or if it would ever leave. As daytime turned to night, the darkness got even deeper. As night turned to the next day there was no change, only deep darkness. Minutes seemed like hours, hours seemed like days. Families huddled together, their voices trying to encourage each other in the pitch black darkness. Could they remember where their water jars were or their loaves of bread? How long could they possibly keep themselves somewhat calm in this pitch blackness?

In this darkness may I ask, can you think of another time in history when the sun went dark in the middle of the day, and darkness covered the land? Yes, that’s right, the Bible record tells us that at the time when Jesus hung on the cross in Jerusalem, a thick darkness, sent by God, covered that region of the earth! Dr. Luke records it this way: “It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out [from the cross] in a loud voice, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ When He said this, Jesus breathed His last.” (Luke 23:44-46) In those three hours, the wrath of God’s judgement for sin was being poured out upon Jesus who was bearing upon Himself the sin of humanity. The darkness for Jesus was the darkness of sin separating Him from God. The darkness for all those people in Jerusalem on that Passover weekend, was the terrible reality of ‘perish‘, what life would be like separated from God, with no hope of any reconciliation with God, only the ever deepening darkness of sin…forever. (John 10:28)

For the Egyptians and the Pharaoh, they had only questions and fear, no answers and no hope. Whatever power had brought the darkness, was the only power that could remove it and return the light. All they had was time to wait, think, and hope that somehow things would change in Egypt. For the Hebrews, I assume as they walked from their humble slave huts to go work in the mud pits making bricks, they saw the cloud bank. Perhaps some of them attempted to walk through the cloud bank but found themselves in the deep darkness on the other side and fearing that darkness, they quickly returned back to the light, in Goshen. They too wondered would things ever return to normal in Egypt?

For Jerusalem, that Passover weekend, slowly the darkness started to dissipate, the sun began to shine again. Jesus had died. The sin ransom price had been paid. But then came a ‘darkness of the soul’ over Jesus’ friends and disciples. They gave no thought to His promises of resurrection. Jesus was dead, and buried, all hope was gone, replaced by the hopeless despair of ‘darkness of the soul’. For three days Jesus’ closest friends lived in this helpless darkness. But then came resurrection morning and everything changed as a resurrected Jesus became their all powerful Savior, who had defeated death, sin and Satan!! So it’s important I ask all of us, wherever you are in the world… are you in the suffocating darkness of sin, soon to experience the eternal darkness of ‘perish‘ without Jesus as your Savior?

Both the Egypt darkness and the Jerusalem darkness are pictures of the world in which you and I live today! Our world is an increasingly dark place. It’s ethically dark, morally dark, spiritually dark, politically dark, socially dark. And the darkness is getting darker, do you see it and feel it? Jesus once said “I am the light of the world, whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life…if you hold to My teaching, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free… so if the Son of God sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:12, 31,32,36)

Years later the Apostle John wrote these words, rooted in his own experience with Jesus: “This is the message we have heard from Jesus and declare to you: ‘God is light. In Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have a relationship with God yet we walk in the darkness we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives.” (1 John 1:5-10)

So, in closing, I ask you today… are you living in the deep darkness of our world, the world of sin, or have you met Jesus and has He set you free from the ‘darkness of your soul’, forgiven your sin and brought you into relationship with Almighty, Holy God? Are you living in the light of God’s truth, in a growing relationship with Jesus with the Holy Spirit alive in you, or are you walking back and forth between the light and the darkness? Or is it possible you are deep in the darkness, not seeing any light anywhere? Jesus is ready, right now, to help each and all of us… no matter where we are! I urge you to reach out to Jesus and step out of any darkness that is drawing you, and step fully into His light of His truth and a darkness rejecting relationship with Jesus. He’s ready, He’s paid it all, He penetrated the darkness, cleared the path for you, are you for Jesus? Here’s a song to help us consider this powerful moment…

Today’s Scripture is Exodus 10:21-23.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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