DID THE DARKNESS WIN?
THEME: CHRIST HAS OVERCOME THE DARKNESS FOR MAN.
The world is dark. Two planes become two missiles, two towers become two piles of rubble, and thousands of families become fatherless and motherless. One man’s regime exterminates 6 million Jews to make room for a master Aryan race. A teenager boards a bus, detonates a bomb, and blows up everything in sight. Serial killers terrorize entire cities, child predators prey on the innocent and helpless, school buildings become crime scenes, individuals are abused physically, sexually, emotionally, and verbally, people are murdered because they are of a different race. The world is dark. A mom murders her children, a husband stabs his wife, a wife runs over her husband who has been cheating on her. Millions of babies are aborted before they are ever given a chance at life. 14,000 pornographic web sites powering a multi-billion dollar industry pollute the internet. The local news is a commentary on the darkness of the world. The world is dark.
Has God lost the fight? Did God lose the battle? Sometimes it seems this way. It seems that God is no longer in control, but Satan has stolen the victory. The world is sinful and dark. We hear accounts of the church dying. We hear stories about abuse, murder, division. We read statistics about fewer people attending church. So has Satan won? Has the darkness over the Savior?
The disciples felt this way. The disciple thought God has lost. You would have too. John 18:2-3 states “Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place; for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. Judas then, having received the Roman cohort, and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.” One of Jesus’ own disciples is selling out his Savior. He leads the soldiers to Christ to arrest him. There are about 200 to 600 hundreds soldier there to take Christ into custody. These odds are impossible to defend against. There is no way this battle can be won. The disciples seem to be on the wrong side this time. Jesus cannot escape like he did before. The darkness is winning. But just when you think that Jesus is powerless to defend himself. He blows on the people the breath of “I AM.” In verse 6 of chapter 18, the cohorts of soldiers tumble to the ground. The power of the presence of Christ is still in control.
Peter seeing this sign of power and might lines up with Jesus. John 18:10 “Simon Peter therefore having a sword, drew it, and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus.” Peter is brave and confident that the victory will go to God. He is willing to fight to the death with Christ by his side. Peter at this point knows who is most powerful. Peter is no fool. He is on the winning team. He is begging for a fight. He is challenging the soldiers with his actions. He is taunting his adversary. I darn you to fight. As long as Jesus is with him, he can overcome the impossible odds. As long as Jesus is with him, he can defeat hundreds of soldiers. Peter feels that God will overcome the darkness at this point.
We are like Peter. When it seems like Jesus is in control we are fighting on his side. When it seems like the winning team is God’s, we line up with the Lord. Humans like to be on the winning team. At church camp every year, high school boys and girls would completely change their tune. The same teenagers that would never be at any devotional or service project would be speaking up like dedicated Christians. These were the same boys and girls that would too busy drinking and partying on the weekends to be at church. When being a Christian was cool, they changed their stripes. But when being a non-Christian was cool, they played that tune also. This is like the man who has the holy look on his face during church. He prays a beautiful prayer. He watches his tongue and makes spiritual comments during class. But at work he is cursing, telling dirty jokes, and going to the bar with the boys after work. In the presence of Christ he is one man, but he is another at other times.
Instead of Jesus engaging in combat, Jesus tells Peter to put away his sword. Jesus submits to go with the soldiers. Jesus is going to have a mock trial. He is going to have to stand before Annas and Caiaphas. Peter has to watch Jesus be bound and arrested. Jesus is led away by the power of men. Peter is watching these events unfold. It seems like Jesus is at the mercy of man. This once powerful man seems to be helpless. He is being persecuted by these leaders. And Peter is watching all of this. He must be second guessing him. Maybe he chooses the wrong team to be on. Maybe he is not sure that Christ is going to get out of this one. It says in John 18:15-16 “And Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought in Peter.” Peter is there with Jesus. He is watching the darkness prevail. It seems like maybe Satan has won.
Now that Peter is not as confident about the power of Christ. Look what he does. John 18:25-27 “Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said therefore to him, "You are not also one of His disciples, are you?" He denied it, and said, "I am not." One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, "Did I not see you in the garden with Him?" Peter therefore denied it again; and immediately a cock crowed.” Peter becomes a turncoat. Now that it seems that God is going to lose, now that it seems that Christ does not have the power. Peter starts to change his tune. He denies Christ just after he was willing to fight a huge army for him. How can a man change this quickly?
It’s a question of how the followers of Jesus perceive the odds when faced with darkness. Remember the two defining moments for Peter in this story. In the garden, surrounded by overwhelming odds but standing next to Jesus, Peter is ready to fight to the death. Jesus has to tell him to put the sword away. No one arrests Peter for his attack on a personal slave of the high priest. No one retaliates….an ear for an ear. Peter gets to go wherever he chooses from that garden. To his credit, I suppose, he goes to the high priest’s house. But just in that span of time and across the distance from the courtyard to the house, presence turns to absence and witness turns to denial.
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to say, “Jesus is Lord” when you can feel his presence in the room? Have you also experienced the swiftness with which witness can turn to denial and we can act and speak as though we never knew him? It’s what happens when we have that big family fight on the way home from church. It’s the relapse that occurs when that obstinate sin in our lives conquers yet again when we swore before God that it would never happen again. People who believe in God do not sin when they know God is standing right there beside them. No one decides to drive 90 mph when the patrol car is in the lane beside them! Sin is made possible by absence, right? Presence doesn’t have to be very far removed….just from the house to the courtyard. That’s all it takes for I Am to become I am not. When we know God is going to win the battle, we stay in the fight for God. Look at the play ground for the proof. The team that is winning never has children who are quitting. The winning team wants to continue the game. But the losing team has blame, finger pointing, and quitting. The losing team’s players are ready to give up on the team and find another activity. When man looks at the situation and feels that Satan has the edge, man is willing to throw in the towel.
Most of us have had a Peter moment, a moment of spiritual strength followed by a moment of spiritual defeat. I remember returning from Texas after being baptized for the remission of my sins. I was on fire for God. I remember going down to Bridgewater to the County fair for a few days to stay with my cousin at the park which was a typical habit of my each summer. During that time, I boldly proclaimed Christ. I talked of Jesus and the church to a point that my cousin asked me to quit. I was not ashamed of my faith or of Christ. But on my way home, I saw some young people hedge hitching and picked them up. They were typical teenagers, swearing and cursing, but instead of proclaiming Christ, instead of asking them to stop swearing, I joined it to fit in. When I got home that day, I was ashamed of myself. The same tongue that I used to preach Christ was used to disgrace Christ. That day I chose to blend into the darkness. I made a promise to myself that I would never swear again, and as far as I remember I have kept that promise to my Lord.
The situation continues to get worse for Peter and man. Jesus is taken to Pilate where he is mocked and whipped. It seems like the whole world has turned against him. The soldiers are beating him, the crowds are screaming at him, and Satan is laughing at him. It seems like Christ has lost the fight. His ministry is over and his influence is dead. But even though Pilate is questioning Christ, there is a sense that Jesus is still in control. Jesus will do whatever he wants to. Pilate even claims to have authority over Jesus. But Jesus corrects him. He says in John 19:11 “"You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above.” Pilate is not in control, but Christ.
But Satan is not finished yet. Pilate delivers Jesus over to be crucified. This seems like the knock out blow to God. John 19:17-18 “They took Jesus therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.” Just them, everything seems lost. There is no hope, no escape, just defeat. Jesus is hanging from the cross that man has placed him on. The darkness won, the darkness was victorious. But once again, God still seems to ultimately be in control. Man does not kill him John says. John does not state that Jesus died by the crucifixion. Jesus dies because he chooses to die. Jesus was not a victim but the victor. John tells us that Jesus sacrificed his life; it was not taken from him. John 19:30 “When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit.” Jesus gave up his spirit by his own choice.
During the last hours of Christ life, it might have seemed like the darkness prevailed. The sinfulness of man was so great, the wickedness of Satan was so extreme, and that darkness won the battle. But the battle was not between light and darkness. God always had a plan. In fact the gospel records that the events were already foretold concerning the death of Christ. The really battle was going on in the heart of man. How were the disciples going to interpret these events? Did they see the darkness winning? When we see the world around us, it is easy to see through the eyes of the disciple. It is easy to see defeat. But through the eyes of God, you see victory. Jesus returned from the dead. He was victorious over sin. It was not the darkness that won that day but God. So instead of crying at the grave of Christ because we feel the darkness has won we need to look up because Jesus has been standing there this whole time. John 20:13-14 “Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him. When she had said this, she turned around, and beheld Jesus standing there,” because Jesus has been in control this whole time.
