Monday, November 9, 2015

Darkness, and Jesus the Light

Waaay back in history -- around 1500 BC -- the children of Israel were in Egypt, enslaved by the Pharaohs, and working long hours under the lash, for no pay (and you think your job stinks!). The Lord sent Moses and Aaron to set them free, but it wasn't a simple process -- if it had been, the book of Exodus would be about three chapters shorter! Along the way, some of the events look
forward to what the Lord would do in another age to set ALL people free. Let's look.

Moses and Aaron gave God's messages to the Pharaoh of Egypt, but his stubbornness and pride helped him refuse to hear and obey. The consequences of not obeying God's voice included a stack of miracles like plagues of swarming flies, frogs and other gods of the Egyptians, and finally, a plague of darkness for three days. The next plague was when the firstborn of the Egyptians died mysteriously -- while those of the Israelites lived. The ruler of Egypt refused to let the slaves go until he was finally beaten down by the death of his own son. Even then, he tried to wipe out the nation of Israel as they camped by the Red Sea, but his army was drowned, at least in large part, as they followed Israel into the chasm God had created for them to cross the Red Sea.

Many centuries later, another set of rulers refused to listen to the Messenger sent by God. This time, another plague of darkness occurred, but only for three hours, not three days. The occasion? Not a solar eclipse (those only last about 7 minutes) but a deep darkness, perhaps a sudden cloud cover; at any rate, some kind of absence of the sun's light, from noon to 3 p.m.

And why not darkness? The Light of the world (John 9:1-5) was dying! For awhile, it appeared that darkness would overcome light; but three days later, Jesus was resurrected into the light of day, never to be in shadow again, and true Light has been on the world ever since.

And another detail we might otherwise miss:  in Egypt, the plague of darkness was #9, followed perhaps only a few days later by the death of the firstborn, #10. In this case, the darkness was followed immediately by the death of God's firstborn Son (Romans 8:29Colossians 1:15, 1:18, Hebrews 1:6, Revelation 1:5). By his death and resurrection for us, Jesus also brings us into himself as the firstborn -- Romans 8:29 calls him "the firstborn among many brethren." Hebrews 12:23 calls us "the church of the firstborn," which could mean we are the firstborn, but more likely referring to Jesus as the firstborn and to us as his church. The plague of death sent on Egypt was only a tiny pre-figuring of the infinite value of the death of the Son of God, "who loved us and gave himself for us" (Gal. 2:20, using "we" instead of "me").

After the plagues in Egypt, the tribes of Israel walked free. After the darkness and the death of the Firstborn, 2000 years ago, all of humanity walks free from now on, in the Light of Christ (2 Cor 4:6). How about celebrating that today, by being thankful to the God who knows you, loves you and invites you to walk in his light?

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