It is a truth that darkness rules the world. I’m not speaking of day and night darkness. I’m talking about the darkness of sin that destroys people’s souls. The New Testament writers often spoke of this darkness. For example, 1 John 5:19 has this: “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”
Any good Bible student knows about sin and hell. Sin, that’s the tool the devil uses to destroy lives and souls. Romans 3:23 tells us that we all sin, and Romans 6:23 says we pay for that sin with our lives. That means eternal torment.
But where does the darkness come from? The devil, of course. The darkness came into the world way back in Genesis 3 with the serpent and Eve, a hideous story. We all know that story. The effects of darkness marred the world (Romans 8:21). It separates people from the life and light of God (Isaiah 59:1-2). In fact, Jesus said the devil is the ruler of this world – darkness rules the world, right now, through the devil! See John 8:44 and John 12:31.
Then, there’s this thought from John 3:19, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.”
Did you catch that? People loved darkness. And the light? Not so much. Jesus is the light. The devil is dark. He’s got billions of people headed to hell with him.
I like what Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:9-10. It’s a list of darkness, and there are awful things listed there, like parental murder, the grossest/sickest sexually immoral things, and profane people. Profane means wicked. Penitentiaries are full of wicked people. That’s why they’re there; they are wicked.
The devil seems to win the battle every day. That’s why Paul said we need to wear spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:11). Verse 10 of the chapter speaks of spiritual warfare. Christians war against the dark forces of rulers, against powers, against the world forces of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. That’s quite a battle.
Fortunately, we can defeat the devil by staying with Jesus, making Him our complete focus (John 8:12). We all know Jesus is eternal life. We also see that the devil is eternal death. Why would anyone choose that? Figure out God’s plan for salvation. It includes Jesus, or shoot me an email and I’ll send you a doc of His plan for your soul.
By: Garland Van Dyke
Where: Matthews St. church of Christ, Bay City, TX 77414
Contact us: PO Box 1522, Bay City, TX, 77414
On the web: www.matthewsstreetchurchofchrist
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