The Bible in Depth – #6

 
Study Six
 
Darkness Exists

Most people believe there is no such thing as a demon, yet Scripture mentions the darkness with regularity, and it’s not the natural mention of the lowering of the lamps. Darkness refers to hell where Lucifer is king and where the crowd of angels live who have distanced themselves from God. Lucifer is the original name for Satan. He has other names, such as Slewfoot, Slanderer, Accuser, Evil One, Prince of the Power of the Air, etc. Whereas God prepares good things to come, Satan prepares bad things to come. We, as children of God, must cancel Satan’s works and replace the evil with the good.
 
12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love (Colossians 1:12, 13).
 
When Jesus died on the cross about three in the afternoon, He descended into hell and defeated the devil. At that point, He delivered us from the power of darkness. Satan’s defeat is eternal. Even so, he is consistently working hard to get himself and his minions back inside human beings where he and they can work havoc on the poor victim, or victims. Every evil thing that transpires on the earth has Satan as the source.
 

13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven your trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (Colossians 2:13, 14).
 
Our mission here on earth is to receive Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives. Satan’s one goal is to stop this transmission. Before the Son of God came into our lives to live with us forever, we were dead. Evil had us. Satan dictated our thoughts, our emotions and everything we had a will to do or be. Jesus nailed all that darkness we used to live by and nailed it to the cross. Now we are truly free.
 
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:5, 6).
 
Whereas Satan had darkened our lives, God made us truly live, not only to be free to be who God made us to be, but to be seated with Christ in heavenly places. I hope you know the joy of sitting on the lap of God whenever you want and having a true father/child conversation with the one who created you and knows every answer you need.
 
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory (1 Timothy 3:16).
 
What is the mystery of godliness? In the process of being devoted to God, finding out what is well pleasing to Him and then acting on it, being consistent with the truth, communicating faith, revering God, demonstrating piety and worship, all of which lend to godliness. Once we have established Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then we pursue godliness. It can’t be done without Jesus.
 
1 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified would have had no more consciousness of sins (Hebrews 10:1, 2).
 
In the Old Testament the Jews were instructed as to what to do about sin. They made a yearly offering of an animal sacrifice, done in a prescribed manner, and then their sins were covered for only one year. We have a better sacrifice as Jesus offered His own blood on the altar in heaven. For us, under this new covenant, our sins are forgiven forever.
 
Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame (1 Corinthians 15:34).
 
In this new covenant, we lose our sense of sin because we are not conscious of it like the Jews were whose sins were only covered. Our sins are gone forever.
 
Open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one (2 Corinthians 7:2).
 
Only someone whose sins have been forgiven can speak like this.
 
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
 
Only someone who trusts their sins have been forgiven could possibly join God on His throne.
 
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil (1 Peter 3:12).
 
Being without sin gives us entry to that throne room and gives us answers to our prayers.
 
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16).
 
If you have sinned against another child of God, go to that one and confess. Ask for his or her forgiveness and then pray together. Keep the unity of God’s children in full form and accomplish much!
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