From Darkness To Light

I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’
Acts 26:17-18

As Paul describes that which God had called him to do, we are given a glorious description of what the Lord does when He saves a sinner. This experience involves the opening of eyes. As John Newton put it in Amazing Grace, “I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see.” What a blessing to be found, to be given eyes to see, to have the darkness removed and be bathed in light!

This turning from darkness to light is a similar thought that the apostle uses in other passages. He writes to the Ephesians, “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart…” (Eph 4:17-18) Our state prior to salvation was one of darkness. We were trapped in the darkness of our understanding and the blindness of our hearts until God give us light. Col 1:12-14 says we should give “thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

In our main text, the apostle highlights that being turned “from darkness to light” is as being delivered “from the power of Satan to God”. Satan’s kingdom is one of darkness. How thankful we ought to be that we can be set free and can enjoy light! The state of Satan and the demons is described by Jude as follows: “And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day…” (Jud 1:6) Notice the adjective describing their chains in their darkness?  Those chains are “everlasting”!

2Pe 2:4 reads, “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment…” The word “hell” which Peter uses is an interesting one. It is the only time in all the Bible that this Greek word is listed. Similar to the way Paul used the “unknown God” of the Athenians to preach Christ (Act 17:23), Peter chose the Greek word “Tartarus”, a place in Greek mythology which was the deepest abyss of Hades, the place where Zeus banished the Titans. It was reserved for the worst offenders, the vilest criminals. There was no more horrible state of existence, and such is the case for Satan and the devils. They fell from their glorious standing with God when they sinned, and there is never any chance of parole from their eternal chains of darkness. They are forever blinded and can never be saved!

Oh, redeemed sinner, how we ought to give thanks to God that we have been set free, that our chains were not everlasting! God in His mercy sent those like the apostle Paul to preach the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and free us from our deplorable state. Satan fell and can never enjoy the redemption of the saints. He is devoid of light, filled with hatred, and is the thief that only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But in strong contrast, Jesus came to set the fallen in humanity free from their chains. He came that “they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (Joh 10:10) We were born blind, born enslaved, born in darkness, but “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8) Satan is eternally bound, but we have been eternally liberated; let us then eternally praise our worthy Savior Who set us free!

Jamie

2 Replies to “From Darkness To Light”

  1. Amen! We must remember we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but we fight a spiritual battle against the powers of darkness. May our hearts be burdened for these souls still bound in the blindness of sin.

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