Darkness To Light

Text: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5).

Is there anyone here who prefers the darkness to the light? I am talking about the darkness of night as compared to the lightness of day.

I would venture to say that most of us remember the days of the kerosene lamp. That kerosene lamp hanging on the wall did not give off a great deal of light and besides that it had that oil odor.

Also, I remember the very early days of my life when my dad worked in the coal mine and each miner had a small carbide lamb attached to his safety hat. Carbide is a power and when you added a little water to it, gas was given off and this is what burned to give the miners light in the dark mine tunnels.

A little bit of light is better than no light at all. Personally, I don’t like to be in the dark. When our kids were growing up, we had night lights throughout the house. In fact we still have night lights in each of our rooms. I just don’t like to stumble around in the dark.

I remember growing up in the hills of Southern Ohio. We lived in a coal mining and strip mining town. We did not have street lights because we did not really even have streets. We had gravel roads that were graded periodically by the county.

When night came, especially in the winter time, it really got dark. We did not have inside plumbing so that meant our toilet was outside. This was referred to as the outhouse. I remember we had one flashlight, but most of the time the batteries were rundown.

Eventually the coal mining company ran an electric line to our house. I say our house, but it was owned by the coal company. This was a real improvement and it meant we could see much more than we could with the kerosene lamps. Then my dad managed to get an old radio from somewhere and we were able to get some reception and could listen to shows like:

The Lone Ranger

Captain Marvel

Jack Benny

Ma Perkins

The Great Gildersleeve

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir

I am glad we have light because I feel more secure in the light than in the dark.

Do you think that God created the light first so that he could see the other things he was about to create and that if they were unacceptable in his sight, he could wipe them out?

I don’t think so. The light was necessary for everything else he was about to create. Since he would create the vegetation, he knew light would be necessary for the vegetation to survive. God did all creation in an orderly manner.

There are two kinds of darkness. There is a physical darkness and then there is a spiritual darkness.

Physical darkness is not having sight that we might see people or things around us. People can live in physical darkness. People have been born blind and have never been able to see even outlines or shape as you and I do.

Our daughter’s step-son and his wife are the parents of a baby boy, who is three months of age, and who was born blind in both eyes. This was not revealed until after the baby was born. Doctors said the retinas in both eyes did not develop during the baby’s fetal life.

There are many physical blind people in the world and many of these people are very productive. There are blind people in a variety of professions and vocations. Physical blindness does not mean life is over. Physical blindness will not keep a person from spending eternity with the heavenly Father. Physical blindness will not separate one from the love of God.

Isaiah talks about God’s people walking in darkness and those living in the shadow of death (9:2). The people in the days of Isaiah were disobedient to God. They were not obeying the Law. The people were living the ways of the world. They refused to accept God’s love and kindness. The people looked to other nations and mediums and fortunetellers for help and assistance.

The people began to blame God for all their misfortune and the things that were happening in their lives. The same thing happens today to those who tend to leave God out of their lives and live as though they are in control. When they reach a breaking point and nothing is in their favor, people blame God when in reality the misery is self-induced.

At this point, people are in darkness and this is exactly what Isaiah was talking about. He was trying to tell the people that there would be a Savior, a Messiah that would be the light of the world. Isaiah’s prophecy as well as the prophecy of the other prophets would not occur or become reality for approximately another 700 years.