The Darkness in Humanity and the Light of Christ!

There is a darkness in humanity, a quest for freedom which is neither noble nor praise worthy.  This quest is against being, but speaks as though it is the fulfillment of being.  There are few things in life that can produce beauty without order and purpose, yet our quest continues to strain against the order that would bring beauty out of our chaos.  We want to be our own people.  You may succeed in being your own person in either life producing or destructive ways.  Yet, there is truly no happy medium, there is no neutral zone, no common ground between life and death.  They are not poles on a continuum, they are independent places separated by a gulf, traversable in one direction only and by one means alone.

Can we find light to fill the darkness in us?  Can we overcome the void that is reminiscent of the "Tohu vaVohu, vaHoshek"  a Hebrew phrase in Genesis 1:2 translated "formless and void and darkness..."  What has produced the wreck of formless, voided, darkness in the creature today?  What hope is there for The "Wasted and Wild and Dark" (another possible translation of  "tohu vaVohu vaHoshek ") humanity?   You may look around you and see devastation and you would be right in your assessment. Yet the very same transaction in Genesis is the same which must occur in us today.

In Genesis 1:2 we hear the statement of the wrecked condition of the earth and we see the presence of hope hovering above the face of the abyss, the deep into which the darkness pours.  The "Ruach-Elohim" The Spirit of God is hovering above the wreck and ruin of the earth.   Then in the very next verse, the transaction of deliverance commences.  Genesis 1:3 relates it this way in the New Living Translation, "Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light."

Hope for the darkness in humanity is found in the declared word of God as it was and continues to be for the " Tohu vaVohu" in our lives and world.  The declared word of God was carried in the mouths of the prophets and has been finally declared in the life and finished work of Jesus Christ.  John 1:14 say it plainly, "So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.  And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. "(NLT)

The darkness in humanity is overcome by the life of Christ Jesus because as John 1:4 testifies, " In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind." (NIV)  As we become free, it shall never be done through the meonic, "anti-life" assertion of your own freedom to self-will.  We become free by submitting to the discipline of the Word made flesh as his followers, disciples.  Our life is made possible by the light that he places in us.

Here are the words of 2 Corinthians 4:6&7, "For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.  We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves." (NLT) 

You may consider the following statement overly simplistic, but it  is stated so because the Word of God declares it to be.  The darkness which remains in us is not there because the light is insufficient to fill us, but because we love the darkness and by self-willing, we wrestle against true freedom.  Our supposed quest for freedom apart from The Word of God, Christ results in the loss of freedom.    We retreat into the hopelessness of "Tohu vaVohu, vaHoshek" and darkness fills our earthen vessels.   The only way out is to advance through Jesus Christ, the Visible, Revealed Word of God.     Nicolas Berdyaev's book, The Destiny of Man. offers this beautiful statement: 

Then comes God's second Act: He descends into non-being, into the abyss that has degenerated into evil;  He manifests Himself not in power but in sacrifice. The Divine sacrifice, the Divine Self-Crucifixion must conquer evil meonic (anti-life) freedom by enlightening it from within, without forcing it, without depriving the created world of freedom." 

Berdyaev says plainly, that we by virtue of our fallen state cannot pursue light and life because we will ourselves toward death.  Only God by His own act of sacrifice/Love can reverse the destruction of our self-will; we are incapable of doing so at all. Our way only leads in one direction. Proverbs 14:12 says it best, " There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." (KJV)  We are acted upon by the Love of God in our darkness, and He by doing so fills us with His life and light.   

The solution to the darkness in humanity is the Word of God, Jesus Christ.  It is the light and power that shines in us, the lamp that guides us as we walk the path and the source of our boast in the Lord, because He has placed it in us.  Freedom is made perfect/mature in surrender to the light and Life.