Mysteries of DARKNESS! Part 2

In Part 1, we talked much about forgiveness which is undoubtedly the single most important thing everyone must do to defeat DARKNESS!  Jesus affirmed our target spiritual condition: “The ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me (Jn. 14:30).”  Those who have hatred and offense in their hearts may think they are in the light but are deceived as they are living in DARKNESS (1 Jn. 2:9, 11)! 

Let’s continue our study of DARKNESS by revisiting and going deeper where we began in Part 1:

Genesis 1:1–4  1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  2 And the earth (from which Adam was formed) was without form (tohu – uninhabitable, chaotic, lack of order), and void (bohu - empty, desolate); and darkness (hosek – physical: absence of light; spiritual: gloom, despair, fear, ignorance, evil, etc.) was upon the face of the deep (tehom - symbolizes the primordial, unformed abyss—the deep waters that remained after judgment—a type of the human spirit).  And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters (tehom - the deep/human spirit/the heart).  3 And 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 (hosek). (KJV)

The Amplified Study Bible conceded: “It is possible that the rise, rebellion, and judgment of Satan transpired before the events of this chapter.”  (Before Verse 2).

After many years of study and walking with the Lord, I believe when God said, “In the beginning (Gen. 1:1),” it was the beginning of the heavens and the earth and He created them perfect in light, not in darkness, and in peace, not chaos.  But something catastrophic happened between Verse 1 and Verse 2, in which Satan and all the inhabitants of the earth (darkness) were judged. 

Replacing DARKNESS with LIGHT!

I believe Verse 2 is the result of judgement—the earth/world was in tohu (without form - chaotic) and bohu (void – empty). This judgement began perhaps thousands of years after Verse 1, so that God’s Spirit could bring redemption and restoration through imparting divine order by replacing the hosek (darkness) which covers and controls tehom (the deep – raw, chaotic, untamed spiritual energy) with Light (“Let there be LIGHT!”).  This foreshadowed the picture Gabriel would paint some four-thousand years later of the Spirit of God overshadowing Mary to bring redemption and restoration to a tohu (chaotic) and bohu (empty) life by replacing the hosek (darkness – fear, ignorance, evil, etc.) which covers and controls tehom (the deep – the “deep waters” of Mary’s raw, chaotic, untamed human spirit) with Light (Luke 1:35).

But there is also a striking similarity between God’s judgment of the earth in Genesis 1 and God’s judgment of the earth through Noah’s flood in Genesis 6-9.  I‘m strengthened in my belief in the former judgement (between Gen. 1:1 and Gen. 1:2) by the words God spoke to Noah following this latter judgment in which Satan, all flesh, and all the earth (darkness) were judged by a flood: “Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth (Gen. 9:11).”  The words, “never again” rings loudly in my spirit. 

Even though the Bible doesn’t say much about what happened between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, I am convinced that in addition to Genesis 9:11, there are other Bible passages that point prophetically to this as a major judgement event:

Jeremiah 4:23–26  23 I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form (tohu – uninhabitable, chaotic, lack of order), and void (bohu - empty, desolate); And the heavens, they had no light (darkness). 24 I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth (mountains and hills often symbolize pride and arrogance—personifying Satan and his followers).  25 I beheld, and indeed there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled (birds prophetically stand for spiritual truth and forces of good and evil).  26 I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, by His fierce anger. (NKJV)

Isaiah 45:18  For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain (tohu – uninhabitable, chaotic, lack of order), Who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. (NKJV).

And inhabited it was as Jeremiah saw a fruitful land capable of sustaining multitudes of people, many who built and lived in the cities he saw cast down in God’s wrath in the Genesis 1 judgement. 

But two is not a complete number.  There is a third, which is the greatest judgement event in history.  It occurred on Mount Calvary when the Son of God received the Fathers full wrath and judgment against the sin of Adam and all mankind, past, present, and future.  Jesus died, not for us, but AS US, as the Son of man.  Therefore, more people “died” in this judgement than ever, yet there was no flood to cut off all flesh and destroy the earth, because God promised Noah that He would not do that again.  But there was one evil power present in all three of these judgments: hosek—DARKNESS! 

Matthew 27:45–46  45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was DARKNESS over all the land.  46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (NKJV)  (This was Adam crying out of his DARKNESS!)

Hidden Wisdom

Many who read this verse see it through physical eyes only.  They imagine God sent a solar eclipse or clouds to block the sun’s rays.  But I know by the Spirit this darkness did not occur by physical means.  It was the result of Satan, his fallen angels, and hordes of demons from throughout the world converging over Jerusalem to witness and celebrate what they mistakenly thought was their victory of darkness over Light.  “And DARKNESS was upon the face of the deep!”

Paul addresses how those who are in and of darkness, especially that the physical and spiritual rulers of the age are blind and ignorant (characteristics of darkness) of God’s spiritual wisdom.  How do we know this?  Paul wrote the answer in a letter to the Church in Corinth:

1 Corinthians 2:6–8  6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.  7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (NKJV)

Understanding “DARKNESS” in Hebrew and Greek

Wm. D. Mounce, in his Expository Dictionary of OT & NT Words received a spiritual revelation of the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words translated “darkness” in our Bible:

חֹ֫שֶׁךְ‎ hosek – 80 × in OT: darkness, dark; blackness, gloom; often darkness has the associative meanings of gloom, despair, terror, ignorance, hard to understand, or evil.

Depending on the context, hosek can represent literal or metaphorical darkness.  Even in the creation account where literal darkness is in view, hosek comes across as ominous (omen - foreboding or foreshadowing evil, M-Webster’s Dictionary). 

σκότος skotos – 31 × in NT: For the most part, skotos is used in a metaphorical way as referring to “darkness of the mind or spirit.”  This metaphorical sense of skotos is clearly negative.  People live in darkness (Isa 9:2; Mt 4:16) and cannot avoid the darkness of death (Lk 1:79).  All too often, people “love darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil” (Jn 3:19).

But skotos is not a power equal to God.  God now causes light to shine in human hearts (2 Cor. 4:6).  He “has rescued us from the dominion of darkness” (Col 1:13).  He has sent his Son to call people out of the “darkness” and into his wonderful light (1 Pet. 2:9).  Once we were darkness, says Paul, but now we are “light in the Lord” (Eph 5:8).  Consequently, we should have nothing to do with “darkness” (Eph. 5:11)! instead, we should wage war against the powers of “darkness” (Eph. 6:12).  For those who give in to sin, “the blackest darkness” is reserved (2 Pet. 2:17; Jude 13).

       Don’t miss The Continuation of this message: “Mysteries of DARKNESS! Part 3”