Children of Light: What is Darkness?

Three weeks ago, I began this series, Children of Light, to understand who are they and what weight does this title carry. We can find within the Bible this title being used in various passages (Ephesians 5:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:5) and in the book of Matthew, a specific group of people are referred to as "the light of the world" (Matt 5:14). My hope is to break down the concept into smaller parts and use what we learn to reflect on the concept as a whole.

Using literary analysis, we studied a passage from John, chapter 1 and we've identified that "the Light" is synonymous with "the Word" and "God" and the attributes of "Light" are life, to provide guidance, and it's strong enough strength to pierce through the darkness.

In this post, I'd like to dig deeper into the question, using literary analysis and SOAP to find out what is darkness and where does it come from?

Applying the scientific foreknowledge that darkness is the absence of light, and is caused due to the obstruction or waning power of its source, we can look for textual supporting evidence for

1) A place where God is absent

2) An obstruction of God

3) A waning power of God

When I began to look in the Bible for a place God is absent, I've found lots of scriptures leading to God's omnipresence, or God's ability to be fully present everywhere at once. Our first clue is in the book of Psalms, a collection of poetry and worship songs that range in emotions from great despair to hope. Most of the psalms are believed to be written by King David, (1010-970 B.C.) of the united Kingdom of Israel. Below is an excerpt from Psalm 139:7-12:

"Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the dawn,

If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

Even there Your hand will lead me,

And Your right hand will take hold of me.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me,

And the night will be the only light around me,”

Even the darkness is not dark to You and conceals nothing from You,

But the night shines as bright as the day;

Darkness and light are alike to You."

Kind David is asking God where he could possibly hide. Then he beautifully paints the scenery of different places where living humans cannot physically go (heaven, Sheol, or the dawn) and a place so lonely (the remotest part of the sea) and asserts that God is present there.

I find it interesting here that even light and darkness have an equal relationship in the presence of God. To God, there is no darkness that we can hide behind or that will cloak us from being seen by God. He is present everywhere and knows everything! How powerful!

If you remember in John, chapter 1, we learned that the Light could not be understood, overpowered, appropriated, or absorbed by the darkness. How King David describes God in Psalm 139 further supports that darkness in the presence of God is overpowered and we could say expelled.

Moving forward, we know that God is ever-present and there's no such thing as His absence, so maybe darkness comes from an obstruction. An interesting passage that came up in my research that leads us closer to an answer was from the book of Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet of God(c. 740 -710), and is known to share messages about the promised savior, or the Messiah. In his time, the Kingdom of Israel, united under Kind David's rule about 300 years prior had broken in two - the Kingdom of Judah (where he lived) and the Kingdom of Israel. In Isaiah 59:1-3 it reads:

"Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short

That it cannot save,

Nor His ear so impaired

That it cannot hear.

But your wickedness has separated you from your God,

And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear."

Here in this passage in the first 4 lines we not only have further support for God's nearness, which we've identified in Psalms 139, but we also identify that God's hand can intervene into the lives of people and save. We also learn that God has really good hearing. Yet, there in the last two lines we have a change in the relationship humans have with the truth about God being present and hearing. What causes the change in relationship is identified plainly as "wickedness" & "sin."

Wickedness & sin hides God's face from us and makes Him unhearing. Yet the truth is God does hear, and if wickedness and sin puts a veil over truth to make Him what He is not, surely there is a warping effect wickedness and sin can have in the lives of people!

So we've identified the obstruction of light to be "wickedness" and "sin" and this obstruction causes a change in the relationship & perception humans have with God. We also learned from David that there is no darkness to God, when he shows up on the scene darkness becomes light.

With this information, I think we can investigate point 3 next time.

So far, I have these new concluding thoughts:

1. If wickedness & sin is the obstruction of light, can it eventually lead to an absence of the ever-present God?

2. If dark is as light to God, can the Children of Light possess this attribute to expel darkness?

3. What is "wickedness" and "sin" and what other affects can it have in a relationship with God?

4. What is the cure to sin?

5. Is it possible to be sinless?

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for being a God that is not far away or unhearing. Thank you so so much!

We have read your scriptures, and we have learned that there is an obstruction that exists that can warp and bend our perception of who you are and make you seem far away and unhearing. I ask for every reader that you remove any obstruction in their lives and in their hearts that keeps them from seeing your face and hearing you. We are seeking answers to big questions. Please help us to understand fully what is light, what is darkness, and what it means to be a Child of Light. In Jesus' name, Amen