Mysteries of DARKNESS! Part 1

DARKNESS was here in the beginning!

Genesis 1:1–4  1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness (hosek) was on the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.  3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.  4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness (first mentioned in verse 2). (NKJV)

The Lord has been speaking to me about a spiritual reality that as Christians, affects us far more negatively than we previously understood.  That spiritual reality has a name, it’s called DARKNESS!  The Bible begins the Old Testament by mentioning four spiritual personalities (four is the number of the earth).   So, these four existed before the earth and are now associated with the earth.  Three are wonderful and good (the Holy Trinity), but one is not because it is adversarial to God and to His people.  God is mentioned in the first verse of Genesis, then darkness and the Spirit of God in the second verse, then light in the third verse.  On first reading of scripture, we were trained by the world to see everything through natural eyes.  So, we see darkness and light as natural phenomena.  But when we meet Christ, become hungry to go deeper in Him, then get baptized with the Holy Spirit, we begin to see the world through new spiritual eyes.  Darkness becomes more than the absence of light.  Darkness and light take on live personas, as we are enabled to see into the spirit world.  Jesus declared to the Pharisees that He was “the LIGHT of the WORLD,” but they didn’t believe Him because they were spiritually blind and couldn’t see the LIGHT.  Perpetually living in darkness, they (we) were of the darkness (Jn. 8:12).  In Genesis 1:4, when God saw the light which He commanded to appear in verse 3, He separated forever LIGHT from DARKNESS, both physically and spiritually.  Now, no one can live in or be LIGHT simultaneously with DARKNESS.  That’s why salvation through Christ requires a choice!  Everyone must choose LIGHT (Christ) while rejecting DARKNESS.  

Jesus had an encounter with darkness which was recorded in the Fifth Chapter of Mark’s Gospel.  When we see this event through spiritual eyes, it becomes very enlightening.  When Jesus came to the Gadarenes, He encountered a man with an unclean spirit living among the tombs (death, darkness).  When the man saw Jesus (Light), he ran and worshipped Him.  As Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out, He asked, “What is your name?”  The unclean spirit (darkness) answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many (plural).”  The revelation is that darkness is not one devil or evil spirit, but many!

Don’t Take It Personally—Darkness Hates Everyone!

The Apostle Paul warned us in the Sixth Chapter of Ephesians to stand against the wiles or wicked schemes (plural) of the devil.  He made it clear that as Christians we are constantly wrestling, not with people, like the enemy tries to make us think, “but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  Notice these diverse evil types of “spiritual personalities” are not singular, but plural as well.  The word “DARKNESS” stands for the sum total of trillions and trillions of evil spirits, including demons and one-third of the angels, all being led by Lucifer himself, and empowered by one motive—HATE, especially toward God and all His people who love Him.  According to Paul, our greatest weapon against DARKNESS is to “be STRONG in the Lord and in the POWER of His might”—which is LOVE, then “take up the WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD,” using all our offensive and defensive spiritual weaponry (Eph. 6:10-13).

The WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD Explained

Ephesians 6:13–18  13 Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand…

The Syriac version renders it, "that ye may be able to meet the evil one; to face him and give him battle.”  Paul understood that all the days we are living in are evil and we must be ever vigilant of attacks against us.  The Lord told me that many of the spiritual and physical attacks we have experienced as Christians, are because we were not vigilant.  It’s like going to bed at night, leaving the front door wide open, while thinking there is no one around that would want to rob us.  Honestly, I have been convicted of being both ignorant and complacent concerning the evil intentions of the DARKNESS that ever surrounds us!  But remember, the Lord’s intent is never to induce fear, but to remind us that He has already done HIS PART by winning this war against DARKNESS, but now He is counting on us to do OUR PART by taking up the WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD to enforce that victory through prayer!.

Paul uses the vivid imagery of a Roman soldier’s armor to illustrate how we can wake up and prepare ourselves for spiritual warfare against these deceptive, destructive forces of DARKNESS.

(Eph. 6) 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 And having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.  17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints (NKJV).

1. Belt of Truth  The belt represents truth and integrity.  Just as a soldier's belt secured his tunic and held his weapons, truth holds together the Christian's spiritual life.  Living truthfully and embracing the truth of God’s Word protects against the deception and lies of the enemy and the world.

2. Breastplate of Righteousness  The breastplate protects vital organs.  Righteousness—living in right relationship with God—guards our heart spiritually from temptations, moral failure and false accusations.  Visualizing this outward armor reminds us of the inward commitment to a life of LOVE that honors God.

3. Shoes of the Gospel of Peace  Roman soldiers wore sturdy sandals to maintain solid footing (peace) in battle.  In spiritual terms, having your “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace” means being prepared to share the good news wherever you go and to step forward in peace even when the terrain is uncertain.  This readiness gives us the stability to move forward quickly and without fear, even when the battle rages, grounded in the peace that our salvation in Christ provides.

4. Shield of Faith  The shield in a Roman soldier’s arsenal was faced with leather soaked in water to extinguish flaming arrows and deflect other missiles.  This is a reminder that our faith will extinguish fiery assaults of doubt, fear, and false accusations when soaked in the Holy Spirit and the Word.

5. Helmet of Salvation  The helmet protects the head, the seat of thought and decision—the mind.  Salvation begins the process of renewing the mind by replacing old, worldly and fleshly thought patterns with God’s truth, resulting in a transformed mind that fulfills God’s will and purposes.  Christ wore a crown of thorns depicting Adam’s cursed way of thinking, to put it to death on the cross, exchanging it for the Helmet of Salvation which we now wear as spiritual Soldiers in Christ. 

6. Sword of the Spirit  The sword is the only offensive weapon in the armor.  It represents the Word of God—the Bible in the physical realm, and the person of Christ—the Word Himself in the spiritual realm.  When mixed with faith, the Word will counter lies and spiritual attacks.  Wielding the Sword of the Spirit means to actively refute DARKNESS—lies, partial truths, and conflicting messages with LIGHT, by proclaiming biblical truth.

Prayer as a Continual Connection  The ultimate purpose of taking up the whole armor of God is “PRAYING ALWAYS IN THE SPIRIT!”  It’s a reminder that our true battle is not fought with physical weapons, but with spiritual disciplines that safeguard and strengthen our hearts and minds.

       Don’t miss The Continuation of this message: “Mysteries of DARKNESS! Part 2”