How Dark is the Darkness?
Prophecy - Signs
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Lea Sylvester
Exactly how dark is a plague of darkness? In the Bible, darkness symbolizes spiritual ignorance. Light symbolizes revelation from God.
The ninth plague on Egypt was the plague of darkness. It was not normal darkness like that of an eclipse. It was a supernatural darkness, "even a darkness which may be felt" (Exodus 10:21).
The darkness persisted for three days. Not even artificial lights such as lamps and torches could pierce the blackness. The Egyptians stayed indoors for the three-day duration. But the Israelites had light.
The plague of darkness symbolized a defeat of the Egyptian sun god, chief over the pantheon. It also symbolized the spiritual darkness of Egypt. Though the Israelites were the slaves and the Egyptians the masters, the plague of darkness illustrated that it was the Egyptians who were in servitude. They were enslaved to the adversary and their false gods. They were under the dominion of the kingdom of darkness. Though the Hebrews were slaves, they were spiritually free. As servants of the truth, they were part of the kingdom of light.
A person in spiritual bondage might not know (or will not admit) that he is in bondage. He feels as if he is in control of his life, calling the shots and making decisions, but ultimately, he serves and feels a great emptiness.
For example, a man with an alcohol addiction tells himself that he could stop at any time, and that he only needs a drink to "take the edge off." It is obvious to everyone around him that he has a compulsive disorder and his alcohol consumption is out of control, but the man continues to deny the problem.
In the same way, human beings without faith and without God live in a state of denial. They refuse to admit that a great vacuum exists within them. Their souls are starving for light, but they don't know it, nor do they know how to feed it. But they seek to fill that void in many ways including drug use, alcohol, chasing material possessions or materialism, sex, pornography, food and in numerous other ways. This void cannot be filled by anything but God Himself.
Yeshua (Jesus Christ) conquered all darkness and we can add death to that "darkness" as well. We have many references to the Light of God Almighty in the holy scriptures. These are found all throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. The spiritual darkness that is referred to here is surrounding us.
"Blow ye the trumpet of Zion and sound an alarm in the holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darness, as the mourning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath never been ever the likes neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations." Joel 2:1-3. (See also Amos 5:18,Zeph 1:15, Exodus 10:14).
The scripture in Joel refers to a literal darkness that is coming as well as the spiritual darkness that has been referred to as the apostasy, deception, etc. in God's Word. Yeshua warned us of this great evil many times and He knew full well that if we were not walking in the Spirit, keeping our eyes upon Him, we could be easily deceived. He raised men from the dead and He raised men from spiritual darkness as well. He literally raised us from spiritual darkness into the light of the Truth.
The Master (Yeshua) called down into the darkness of the tomb with a loud cry, “Lazar! Come out!” His shout into the darkness recalls his earlier words: “Amen, amen, I say to you, that an hour will come and is now here in which the dead will hear the voice of the son of God, and those who hear will surely live” (John 5:25NKJV).
Lazarus stepped forth still bound in his tachrichin; the linen wrappings in which the Jewish people bury the dead to prepare them for the resurrection. In Jewish burial practice, the simple linen garments are tied around the dead with special ceremonial knots. A covering veils the face of the deceased.
In those days, they placed a strip of linen on the corpse, wide and long enough to completely envelop it. The feet were placed at one end of the cloth and then they drew the cloth over the head to the feet. They bound the cloth at the ankles, and they secured the arms to the body with linen strips.
The gospel’s description of Lazarus’ burial garments (tachrichin) is consistent with Jewish burial garments to this day. The Gospel of John later describes the tachrichin of the Master in identical language, but in that case, the Master left His burial garments behind, abandoned in the tomb.
So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. (John 19:40)
And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there. (John 20:6)
The grave clothes illustrate the difference between the resurrection of Lazarus (resuscitation) and the resurrection of Yeshua (transformation). Though Lazarus returned from the dead, he remained clothed with a mortal body. He was destined to die again. Yeshua, however, left mortality behind in the tomb, much as He left behind His burial garments.
The Master instructed the onlookers to release the revived man from his burial garments and let him go. Yeshua also releases us from our mortal bodies and offers us a transformation.
“Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Yeshua the Messiah our Master!” (Romans 7:24-25).
An hour will come when the dead will hear His voice and rise.
The Apostle Paul tells us to give "thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:12-13).
"For God, who commanded us the light to shine out of the darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. II Corinthians 4:6. (See also Genesis 1:3, 2 Peter 1:19, 1 Peter 2:9).
Subject: How Dark is the Darkness? 
Wed Jan 21, 2015 9:49 am
