March 12, 2006 Luke 22:47-54
While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, “No more of this!”
Matthew 26:52-54 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”
And he touched the man’s ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.” Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest.
The Hour When Darkness Reigns
I. Darkness comes through betrayal - a turning from good to evil
One of the most famous phrases of all time is the ever popular, “et tu - Brute?” It comes from one of the most dramatic moments on the Shakespearean stage. In the play, the audience witnesses the arrogance of Caesar who sought, within a republic, to become a monarch, comparing himself to the gods. Brutus, a friend of Caesar and yet a man who loves Rome (and freedom) more, then joins the conspirators in the assassination. Caesar initially resisted his attackers, but when he saw Brutus - his close confidant, he supposedly spoke those words and resigned himself to his fate saying, “et tu, Brute?” History is full of these characters - who seem to be on one side - only to betray their confidants. Movies make a living on them.
The most dangerous enemies of the church are those who come from within. Paul was serious concerned about this as he said in Acts chapter 20, “Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” When someone gains your trust, they can turn that trust against you - and use it to take you apart - attack you at your weak points. It hurts the most when the betrayal comes from within.
This is what of course makes the betrayal of Judas such a wicked thing. Psalm 41:9 says, “Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” Here was a guy who was able to chase out demons. He had witnessed Jesus do incredible things - heal the sick, walk on water, feed five thousand, and probably even raise the dead. Yet he conscientiously chose to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. He is the one who sets into motion the “hour of darkness.” While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” Judas even had the gall to do it with a kiss.
Judas is in many senses a perfect picture of what evil is. Evil does not create itself. Evil takes that which is good and corrupts it to do evil. Satan was created good - yet he conscientiously chose to be evil - made an effort to do so - to make his own road and path apart from what God wanted. So Satan does not create evil out of nothing. He takes what is good, and turns it into evil - twists it, abuses it, and changes that which is good. He convinced man to no longer serve God - but serve himself - twisting him into a selfish being. Sex is turned from a wonderful expression of love between a married couple into a selfish device used to gain power, money, or even show anger. Money - instead of being used to help and support the hungry or the sick or those in need - is used to pamper one’s selfish desires or becomes a crutch for people to trust in. Evil is a warping of what is good - that is how evil reigns - turning light into darkness.
The deceptive thing about evil - is that it often times convinces the good of it’s “good motives” to accomplish it’s evil purpose. A man convinces himself that he needs to be happy - and the kids shouldn’t hear him argue with his wife - so it’s “for the better” that he divorces his wife. An employee convinces himself that he isn’t getting enough pay from his boss, therefore he has “earned the right” to abuse the system and call in sick - even when he isn’t. An American citizen says that Uncle Sam gets enough of his money, and therefore the government doesn’t need to know how much he really makes under the table - because then he “couldn’t survive.” The young girl is told that she needs to be “loved,” so she’ll let the boy violate her sexually. In the end, Jesus calls Judas kiss what it is - it is an act of betrayal. The minute you start excusing your sin because you are “kissing Jesus” - darkness has convinced you that it is light. You are too blind to see the mob behind you wanting Jesus dead. The seeming friends who act like they like you - don’t really care about you. They are standing behind you and following you because you are helping them achieve their evil purpose. Satan doesn’t really care if you have good intentions or not. He just wants you to perform his evil. Darkness - carrying it’s torches - is still darkness. It is not the light.
II. Darkness reigns with the permission of God
When darkness begins to close in - the first response is to try and keep it away. This is what happened in the Garden. “When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” Matthew 26:52-54 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” Darkness uses power and threats - torches and spears and soldiers to accomplish it’s objectives. Satan influenced not only Judas, but also the powerful and mighty - the chief priests and teachers of the law - to bring about this hour of darkness. It would appear that the only way to fight fire - is with fire. It’s this same mentality that leads Muslim extremists to try and force submission of Allah on people with riots and car bombings. It has also been used by anti-abortion protesters who bomb abortion clinics and murder their doctors. Jesus said, “that’s not the way I reign. We don’t need swords to conquer evil. Put them away.”
Notice in the midst of this that Jesus remained in control. He told the disciples what to do. He even kept those arresting him from taking his disciples captive. The reason he remained so calm is because that He knew something the disciples didn’t know. He asked, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” Jesus knew that just with one prayer - God could send in 12 legions of angels - a legion was what - about 6,000 - times 12 - that’s thousands of angels - who are far more powerful than men - to protect Him. So he asked the question, “But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” This statement shows us that God predicted long ago that all of what was happening here in the Garden had been predicted by God. If God predicted it, then it HAD to happen that way. In other words, GOD WAS STILL IN CONTROL.
Yet did you hear what Jesus said to the crowd when they came to arrest him? “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.” Jesus said that even though God predicted it and He could call angels to help him - that darkness was reigning. How so? It was reigning at the PERMISSION of God and also to the ultimate PURPOSE of what God wanted.
If you think about this whole thing - it almost blows the mind. Evil convinces good that evil is good. Judas is brought to darkness through greed. He tries to cover it up with a kiss - yet Jesus exposes evil for what it is - evil. Evil thinks that because it has perverted the light to darkness - it has won. Evil is allowed to be evil - in all it’s force. This is where - as Jesus said - darkness seems to reign. Let’s make no mistake - there is no good in evil. There is no good in Judas’ betrayal. The betrayal and false testimony and murder of Jesus was pure evil. God was not happy with this action. God is not happy when suicide bombers kill innocent people. God did not like Satan putting boils on Job - or when Satan perverts light to darkness. God hates it. Just because He allows it - doesn’t mean He likes it. He hates it when children are raped and murdered. There is nothing good about married couples yelling at each other and getting divorced. Whenever darkness reigns and wherever darkness reigns - it is and remains evil darkness. It is not good - no matter how you paint it.
Yet in the end - when we look at the reign or darkness - we still have to recognize that the Light is still in charge of the darkness. These are not two equal forces that battle between good and evil. Good - the Light - Jesus Christ - is far more powerful than evil. Darkness reigns in this world - but only at the permission of God. Why God permits darkness to reign is not ours to know. Yet we know that if God is still in charge, if God predicted that these things would happen - we have to be assured - as God promises in Romans 8 - that “ALL THINGS work out for the good of those who love Him.” We have to be assured that the God who LOVES us and CALLS us - has a HIGHER purpose in mind. If He is allowing Satan to reign for some reason - to have his hour - God is still controlling this evil in a way that will magnify the Light. That is why God allowed Pharaoh to harden his heart - so God could show His power and redemption. That is why God allowed this darkness to reign on Jesus - so God could ultimately blame Jesus for our sins and raise Him from the dead. Darkness has a limit to it’s power and God still controls it for our good. If we didn’t have this assurance from God that He still reigns over the reign of darkness - we would have to despair as we live in the midst of darkness.
III. Darkness only lasts an hour
We also have one other assurance as we look at the length of the reign of darkness. What did Jesus say it was? Your HOUR - when darkness reigns. Earlier - in last week’s sermon - we mentioned how an hour was not considered very long to watch and pray with Jesus. The hour that Jesus was referring to was obviously not exactly an hour - it was longer than that hour in Gethsemane. Jesus spent the night on trial, being mocked and crucified. This lasted well into afternoon of the next day. The devil had an enjoyable time as he struck God on the heel - savoring the flavor of blood from the whip and the nails. He may have felt like king for at least a day - as he was able to exact some seeming revenge on Jesus at the hands of the chief priests and teachers of the law - as well as through the Roman guard. Yet that taste, like any meal, didn’t last long. The hour is a set amount of time, a limited amount of time, and in comparison with other time periods, a SHORT amount of time. Like I said last week, time is relative to what is happening at that time. During the hour of the reign of darkness, it seems like it will NEVER end. But in the end, it was only an hour. An hour may be more than a minute or a second. But it’s less than a day, a year, a decade, a century or an eternity.
When Jesus says this is your hour - when darkness reigns - this could also be looked at as a grim reminder to Satan - who was influencing and controlling Judas and the mob. As Satan heard this, he was being grimly reminded that his time would not last forever. What does this mean to us? Revelation 12:12 says, “Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” The devil knows that he only has a short time. As the end days grow closer, God says that He will loosen Satan’s chains more and more. Things will go from bad to worse, as Satan deteriorates the society and the order that we have in this world - both socially and physically. It is scary and sorrowful to think of what is yet to come. Yet God says to us - “it’s only for an hour!”
Throughout the Scriptures - this was the encouragement to those believers who lived in this world. The writer to the Hebrews writes of Moses in 11:25-26, “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.” Paul also wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, “the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.” This is only an hour of darkness - it won’t last forever! When you compare the length of suffering that we may to go through in this life - how can it compare to an eternity of bliss in heaven? It can’t!
Right now it gets dark at 6:28 and the sun rises at 6:35. I kind of like this time of year as the days grow longer and the nights seem to shrink. If we designed it, we might prefer our days to be more like summer most of the year. But we didn’t design it, and it seems to be that the seasons and days and years usually keep us going pretty well. It’s worked for thousands of years this way - so it shows God knows what He’s doing in the end. He knows what He’s doing too with the hour of darkness. We might ask, “why an hour? Why not a minute, or a second, or no darkness at all?” Then we remember, “oh yeah, we allowed this darkness to come here in the first place - as Adam and Eve willingly gave in to Satan’s temptation. The hour of darkness could have easily been an eternity of darkness!” Thank God it’s only an hour! Thank God that this darkness mainly effected Jesus - as He was crucified for our sins. Thank God there’s a light at the end of the tunnel! Whatever residual hours of darkness that we now face - in comparison with what Christ faced - can’t be half as bad. Whatever hours of darkness we witness are also seemingly short when we compare it to the eternity we are promised through the salvation of Christ. An hour of darkness? It’s limited. It’s short. It’s all under God’s design, and He knows what He’s doing. Amen.
