God’s Light in the DarknessSample

The defeat of darkness

In a galaxy ten billion light-years away, you will likely find planets and stars and solar systems that no one will ever see. Jesus made all that. That’s how powerful he is. And yet, he became flesh, soft as a baby. The Almighty became weak. The omnipresent became tiny. The immortal became killable. Not only is that incomprehensible, but it doesn’t seem like a good battle plan against evil, does it?

John explains: “The light shines in the darkness” (John 1:5). You don’t solve anything by taking out evil; it just comes back in another way. Eliminating evil is not the answer. The answer is eliminating the darkness. The answer is to rip the darkness that makes him do evil out of man’s heart. That’s where Jesus said sin comes from, out of man’s heart (Matthew 15:19). And in case you missed it, he also means the darkness in your heart and mine.

So Jesus came, not to be crowned but crushed. He came, not to put evildoers in the grave, but to put evil in the grave, which is exactly what he did by bleeding and dying on a cross outside of Jerusalem. Jesus came, not in might to demand service, but in weakness to serve you by eliminating your greatest problem—the darkness that’s inside of you. That’s what happens when light hits darkness—the darkness can’t exist. When the light of Jesus comes into your heart, you know your sins are forgiven. Forgiven forever. Darkness is defeated.