February 14, 2023
Scheming in the Dark
“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. For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”
John 3:19-20 (NASB)
When I was in middle school, a few years back, I was interested in a female classmate. Her father wasn’t particularly fond of me. I wasn’t the best young man during these years. In fact, I was known to get in a little bit of trouble. One afternoon, after she had been placed on restriction to her room, I went to see her. Her parents lived on the second floor of an apartment building on our military base. I had a way to see her though. The building had begun some work on the exterior, so there was scaffolding in place. This scaffolding went up four stories. I waited though until dark to see her. I knew her parents couldn’t catch what they couldn’t see. As I climbed the scaffold, I went to her bedroom window and knocked. I sat on the scaffold and talked with her for a few minutes. As our voices got louder, I think her father heard us. When he entered her room, he saw me. I was busted! I took off down the scaffold like a squirrel and made my get-away. I used the darkness to cover my escape. It might seem funny, but I actually enjoyed it, and the darkness made a way for it to happen. You see the light exposed me.
Jesus again uses the analogy of “light and darkness” in this teaching. This usage of these words are common metaphors used by John in his writings. There is a noteworthy thing here in this passage. Jesus’ usage of “Light” is capitalized. This usage of the word, “Light” is referring to Him. The word Light, or phaos means “hope or light.” Try inserting the word, “hope” into the passage and see how it reads. ““This is the judgment, that the Hope has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Hope, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Hope and does not come to the Hope for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” It is scary how mankind responds. Jesus is our hope and mankind loves darkness rather than hope. He even hates hope. He doesn’t come to Hope because he is afraid his deeds will be exposed. Without Jesus coming to the world, mankind falls in love with the darkness of sin and rebels against the Light. The Light that exposes darkness (sin) is the same Light that brings enlightenment to mankind in salvation (John 1:9).
I often think about how mankind uses darkness to cover his tracks in sin. When I was in the darkness that night on that scaffolding, I accustomed myself to the lack of light outside. It was my cover. When the young lady’s father turned on the light in her bedroom, it hurt my eyes for a few seconds as I recovered. The true Light hurts lost mankind’s eyes as well. It reveals our wickedness and makes us uncomfortable when we are exposed. This is why mankind doesn’t naturally read his Bible, he doesn’t come to church, and he doesn’t pray. He doesn’t like being near the Light for it exposes his wickedness. As he runs from the Light, he goes further into the darkness. If the person stays in the darkness for too long, he risks an eternity in darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth in an eternity in Hell (found in Luke 13:28). Today, bring yourself to the Light. His name is Jesus. He wants to bring enlightenment to your life. Ask Him for a thorough inspection of your life. Let Him shine light into the darkest areas of your heart. Ask Him to shine His light into your life and expose sin. Then confess it and return to the life He has for you, a life of light!