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Feature Article: The Light Extinguished
THE LIGHT EXTINGUISHED
Imagine being plunged into total darkness. No sun, no moon, no electricity, no oil lamps; not even the flicker of a candle. People and animals would hardly dare move for fear of stumbling into danger. The world would grow cold. Plants would wither. And soon, life itself would cease.
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Light is the source of life.
“Let there be light.” Genesis 1:3-4 introduces God’s first work of creation. He didn’t just speak into the void to illuminate its gloom; He was creating an environment where life could be sustained. As with all artisans, God was putting something of Himself into His creation:
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
1 JOHN 1:5
The light wasn’t just helpful; it was “good.” Light, then, becomes symbolic of God and His life-giving truth and goodness. And His next act confirms it—He separated the light from the darkness. It is as though light and darkness are rivals; one must overcome the other. And that is a theme we can trace right the way through Scripture. In fact, we can follow it together right into the heart of Easter.
John, in his gospel, describes Jesus’ incarnation saying, “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (JOHN 1:9). Jesus is the embodiment of all that light represents; and He came to bring light to the darkened world. Jesus confirmed it when He said:
I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
JOHN 8:12
How did the world respond to the light? Did the people who had been blindly stumbling through life run to Jesus overjoyed that their night had finally ended?
The unnerving thing about light is its ability to reveal. We sit comfortably in our house until the sun beams in and illuminates the layers of gathering dust we never noticed. The light shatters our comfort. We confidently admire our reflection until someone turns on a bright unflattering light that shows our flaws. Light can be offensive, especially if there are things we’d rather hide.
Some did run to Jesus’ light; most didn’t. Jesus explained:
This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
JOHN 3:19–21
We overestimate our genuine desire for truth. Truth hurts. Light exposes. Shadows and darkness feel safer than the glare of purest light. For those who love darkness, the light is intolerable. It wasn’t enough for the Jewish leaders to reject Jesus. His light offended them so deeply that they scrambled to extinguish it. And it looked
as though they succeeded.
It was nine in the morning when they crucified him . . . At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.
MARK 15:25, 33
Three hours of darkness as the Light of the world was snuffed out. They buried His body in a tomb cut deep into the rock and rolled a stone over the opening. And night fell.
Good Friday was the darkest day in human history; but the story does not end there. On the third day at dawn, the women discovered that the sun had risen in more ways than one! They were the first to discover that darkness cannot overcome the Light!
