23.07 | Darkness
Luke 22:66-23:49
‘It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour’
Luke 23:44
The story began in darkness. The story began with the world formless, and empty. The story began without light.
Darkness was over the surface of the deep.1
Darkness was the condition of pre-creation. Darkness surrounded that which had no form. Darkness is the state of being unrevealed, unseen, and unknown.
Darkness is a theme that evokes strong feelings. Both we, and the Bible often understand darkness as a term to describe pain and suffering, difficulty and confusion. And yet, in the ways of God, darkness also somehow captures ideas of a knowing of God that lies deeper than sight. He is the God who is surrounded by darkness,2 and who gives treasures out of the darkness.3 In the places where all sight fails, there is a kind of knowing that enters more completely into the experience of the Father in the very places beyond explanation and beyond definition. It is the deeper knowing—a kind of knowing that we might have tasted something of when in a dark room with a dearly loved one, where your knowledge of one another isn’t meted out through words and sight, but is felt and understood—a holy thing in the silence of the darkness.
The Old Testament prophets spoke of a coming day, that they called ‘the Day of the Lord.’ They spoke of this day as the moment that the Lord would arrive and rout His enemies, bringing justice and life and holiness and truth to the world. It was viewed as a day of His conquest—His opening of heaven and invading of the earth. The Day of the Lord was a day of power and awesome might—a day of thunderous glory. And there was a characteristic of that day, named rhythmically through these ancient prophets:
Darkness.4
The Day of the Lord would be a day of darkness. The sun would stop shining. Darkness would cover the land. And the Lord would rout His enemies. Darkness described the coming of a God ready to avenge His enemies and rescue His scattered and broken people.
As Jesus hung on that cross, the land was covered in darkness. The themes of the ages were coming together.
They were themes of decreation—of darkness again over the surface, a world devoid of creation life as its Author and King bled His life to the ground. For in the biblical story creation is followed by decreation which is followed by new creation. The darkness of Golgotha is, again, the darkness awaiting the interruptive activity of the life-creating God.
It is the darkness of suffering and pain—of evil and depravity. It is the darkness that caused Jesus to turn with compassion to those women following, calling them to lament the utter brokenness of a world that would crucify its Messiah and its only hope. It is the darkness of hell unleashed, the darkness of confusion, the darkness of forsakenness, the darkness of death.
And it is the darkness of the unseeing knowledge of God—where God is crucified and yet here, more than any other moment in history, do we see most truly the magnificence of His heart. In the darkness of Golgotha, we find a kind of knowing that is more than sight. It is more than revelation. It is grief and blood and tears and confusion, and yet, as we fail to see and know what is happening, it is somehow the darkness of the greatest understanding of the heart of our King. For truly there is a kind of knowing that is deeper than sight, and a kind of love that is only knowable in the darkness.
The prophets hailed this day, and on this day it came. The Day of the Lord.
Injustice. Pain. Tears. Grief.
Decreation. Death.
And yet,
In the darkness,
Reorienting grace,
Paradise invitations,
And the Day of the Lord.
The God of heaven, wrapped in darkness, entered death itself, and in so doing routed His enemies, in the thunderous glory of His limitless love.
Reflect:
Simply spend some time with Jesus upon the cross today. Bring Him all that you need to. Let this love soak into your wounded heart. Invite the Spirit to lead you.
Pray:
Lord Jesus,
What words can I bring
Or thoughts can I share?
What truths can I proclaim
Or response can I offer?
For here,
In this darkness—
In the grotesque evil that crucified the Holy One;
In the God with vengeance fire in His eyes;
In the deeper knowing of being with you in the darkness,
Something in me breaks.
For here, Lord,
I see you.
And maybe only here, Lord,
I find that this moment
Is my central moment—
From which every other moment finds its meaning.
For as my God bleeds and dies,
I am remade,
In the perfect beauty
Of perfect love.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Jeremiah 11-12 | Proverbs 19:16-24
Genesis 1:1-2
Exodus 20:21; Deuteronomy 4:11; Psalm 97:2
Isaiah 45:3
There’s a lot of Scriptures we could pull out here. If you want to chase this up, have a look at Isaiah 13:10-13; Ezekiel 32:7-8, 34:11-12; Amos 5:18-20, 8:9-10; Joel 2:1-2, 10, 30-31, 3:14-15; Zephaniah 1:14-16; Zechariah 14:6-9
On this theme of darkness I recommend the poem 'The Night' by Henry Vaughan, especially the final stanza 'There is in God, some say, a deep but dazzling darkness... '