Let us turn to God's Word I want
this morning to direct you to words that we find in the book
of Exodus in Exodus chapter 10 Exodus chapter 10 and reading the last part of
the chapter from verse 21 Here we read of that ninth plague
that the Lord God visited upon the Egyptians. And the Lord said
unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there
may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which
may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his
hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the
land of Egypt three days. And they saw not one another,
neither rose any from his place for three days. But all the children
of Israel had light in their dwellings. And Pharaoh called
unto Moses and said, Go ye, serve the Lord. Only let your flocks
and your herds be stay. Let your little ones also go
with you. And Moses said, Thou must give
us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice
unto the Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with
us, their shall not an hoof be left behind, for thereof must
we take to serve the Lord our God. And we know not with what
we must serve the Lord until we come thither. But the Lord
hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. And
Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself,
see my face no more. For in that day thou seest my
face, thou shalt die. And Moses said, Thou hast spoken
well, I will see thy face again no more. And I want really to take these
words that we find in verse 21 for our text where we read at
the end of the verse of darkness which may be felt. The Lord said
unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven that there
may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which
may be felt. In the following verse we are
told how there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three
days. Bishop Paul in his contemplations
says it was six nights in one. It was a prolonged period of
darkness that God visited upon the Egyptians And yet the children
of Israel had lights in all their dwellings. And here we clearly
see the distinction between those who are the lords, who are in
the lights, and those who are not the lords, who are in gross
darkness. and all under the hand of a sovereign
God. It was the Lord who hardened
Pharaoh's heart, we're told, that he would not let the children
of Israel go. Even a darkness then which may
be felt. It is in many respects a picture
of that which is to be the portion of the lost forever. The picture
of hell. They are cast into outer darkness,
to use the language of the Lord Jesus in the New Testament with
regards to those who are the disobedient. They are cast into
outer darkness. And I want us to consider then
something of this darkness which may be found. First of all, it
is fearful. It is a fearful darkness that
we are reading of. And there was a reason why I
read those two portions in the book of Psalms, where the psalmist
is recounting something of this history that we have in the book
of Exodus. There in the 105th Psalm, this
particular plague, though it be the 9th plague, the plague
of darkness, it is that that is mentioned first of all the
plagues. there in the 28th verse of Psalm
105. He sent darkness, it said, and
made it dark, and they rebelled not against his works. And then, in the verses that
follow, from verse 30 through to verse 36, we see how the other
plagues are set down in the particular order in which God sent them. Why is it that the ninth plague
is, by the psalmist, put in the first place? It's no accidental
thing. The psalmist is writing under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. There must be a reason for it.
And there is a reason. In some ways it shows us something
of the preeminence of this particular plague. It emphasizes very much
the fact that it was a plague that was sent clearly by God. It says, and they, that is the
elements, they rebelled not against his works. And God is that one
who is sovereign over all of the seasons, that God is that
one who appoints the day and the night? Are we not reminded
of that great fact after God had sent a universal flood upon
all the earth in the way of a terrible judgment in the days of Noah? And after Noah and his wife and
his sons and their wives were spared and there in Genesis chapter 8 the
Lord God speaks to Noah. He tells him quite plainly that
he is not going to send such a judgment again. There will
never again be a universal flood over all the world. God says,
while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer
and winter, day and night shall not cease. God is sovereign. Every returning day we do well
to remember that, when we see the dawning of a new day. As
we've been brought now into another week, we have much cause to thank
God for His faithfulness. in his providence, how he rules
over the world in spite of all that men do, and we do of course
here in these days so much about global warming and the like.
And men of course discount God in all of these things. That's
not to say that man is not guilty often times of abusing his position
in this world, in this creation, where God has set him as his
vicegerent. But God is Sovereign, and He
is Sovereign with regards to day and night. Again, in the
104th Psalm, we read, Thou makest darkness and it is night. Our God is that One who simply
speaks. As we have it there in that 105th
Psalm, They rebelled not against His Word. all God's words. It was by His Word, by His Spirit,
of course, that He created all things. As the psalmist says,
He spoke and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. The language in the 33rd Psalm,
by the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the
host of them by the breath of His mouth. And we see even in
the detail of these plagues, these terrible judgments that
God sends upon the Egyptians, we see the sovereignty again
of God's words. We have it with regards to the
plagues of the flies and the lice. Again there in Psalm 105
verse 31, He spake and there came forth diverse sorts of flies
and lice in all their coast, it says. He spake. He spake and it all happens.
again also with regards to the locusts there in the psalm verse
34 he spake and the locusts came and caterpillars and that without
number all of these things under God's sovereign hand he but speaks
the word and these things come to pass when we turn to the book of Joel
We read there of the terrible plagues that God brought upon
the children of Israel. The plague of locusts and caterpillars
and so forth. And what does it say? There in
Joel chapter 2 and verse 11, the Lord shall utter his voice
before his army. All these insects that come and
destroy all the vegetation throughout the land. It's God's armour. It's God who is the one who rules
over the insect world. It is the word of the Lord then
that he so much emphasised with regards to this terrible plague
of darkness. He sent darkness and made it
dark and they rebelled not against his word. His word is that word
that is sovereign. This, then I say, is the reason
why the particular plague of darkness is placed in the first
place, there in Psalm 105, because there is a particular emphasis
being placed upon the sovereignty of God in His Word, in the way
in which He rules over all the seasons in this particular world. Now those plagues that God sent,
of course, they had a terrible effect upon the Egyptians. What a judgment it was that God
visited upon them before Pharaoh was brought to release the Hebrews
from their bondage. God could have delivered his
people immediately, but there was a work to be done. there
was that that must fall upon the Egyptians as a judgment from
heaven and we see the results time and again of those different
plagues how all the food throughout the land of Egypt was destroyed
the first of the plagues when all the rivers were turned to
blood and how dependent Egypt was and is upon the Nile and
the Nile Delta and all those waters turned to blood and so
there was the destruction of the fish. There was no water
to drink but also there were no fish. There is that plague
that comes, the moraine of the cattle, some awful disease that
comes upon the cattle. They have no meat to eat. There's the plague of the hail,
and that comes and it destroys all their crops. They have no
crops to harvest anymore. The locust plague. that comes
and the locusts devour all the fruit of all the trees and all
the herbs. Our God is destroying the land,
destroying all that sustenance that the Egyptians withdraw from
the land. They have no food. But then they
are also greatly discomforted in their physical lives by the
other plagues. He sends frogs and lice and flies. How unpleasant all of this must
have been for them. and also their physical health
was affected there is that dust and as the dust is scattered
abroad by Moses so there are boils upon the people and they
must have been covered we read about when Job was so sorely
afflicted he was covered from the soles of his feet to the
crown of his head with boils and sores Now there was a physical
effect upon the Egyptians as a result of the plague of oils
that God sends upon them. But then this plague, this plague
of darkness, what is the significance of it? Well it's not just the
darkness, it was that that was also a terror to their minds. It was a terror to their hearts.
It was even a darkness, it says, which may be felt. Strange expression. A darkness
which may be felt. A thick darkness, it says. In
all the land of Egypt three days they saw not one another, neither
rose any from his place for three days. It's not just the fact
of the darkness, there's more to it than that. There were devils
and fiends abroad throughout all that period of great darkness. Now I said just now that one
quite deliberately read the recounting of God's dealings with Israel
and the Egyptians there in the Psalms, in Psalm 105. where this
plague stands in the first place but also we read that portion
in Psalm 78 and you might observe there in
the verses 44 to 51 how the plague of darkness is omitted there's
no reference, no mention there in Psalm 78 of this particular
plague though the other plagues are spoken of However, however,
what do we read there in Psalm 78 and verse 49? It says, "...he cast upon them
the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation and trouble
by sending evil angels among them." And those evil angels
were associated with this period of great darkness. Are not those wicked spirits
in scripture associated with the dark? Paul, when he writes
to the Ephesians concerning that spiritual warfare that believers
are engaged in, all the weapons of our warfare, they're not carnal,
it's not a physical warfare, But they're mighty, they're mighty
through God for the pulling down of all the imaginations of darkness. But there in Ephesians chapter
6 and verse 12 Paul says, we wrestle not against flesh and
blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness. The rulers of the darkness of
this world, spiritual wickedness in high places. Those evil angels
then that were sent abroad throughout the land of Egypt, they were
associated with this plague, this ninth plague of the darkness. Why the devil himself, Satan,
who is the prince of all the demons, is spoken of there in
the sixth verse in the book of Jude as one who is reserved in
everlasting chains under darkness. he's under darkness and our great
comfort of course is that the Lord Jesus Christ has come Christ
who is the light of the world and how the Lord Jesus has overcome
all those powers of darkness how he has vanquished sin and
satan how he has triumphed now over death and over the grave
Here we see how the Hebrews have light whilst
all the Egyptians are in darkness and tormented by these demons.
All the children of Israel, it says, have light in their dwellings. Ought to be those who are not
the children of night but the children of the light. O the
Lord Jesus, that one who was triumphed so glorious, O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
We're told the sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is
the law, but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. This plague, this ninth plague
then, it was a fearful thing. This darkness, a darkness which
may be found Because of all that's associated with it, it's that
that is tormenting these Egyptians. Because all the powers of darkness
are abroad during that terrible period when they had six nights
in one day. But in the words that I said
we would take for our text, we read this strange expression
that it was a darkness it says, which may be false. The Lord
says to Moses, stretch out thine hand toward heaven that there
may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which
may be false. For the margin says that one
may feel darkness. Now We have to recognize that
what we have here, of course, is a figure of speech. It must
be so. You cannot touch darkness. You cannot feel darkness by that
sense of touch. Darkness is not a material thing. Light is not a material thing. We perceive the light and the
dark, not with our hands, but with our eyes. It's not the sense
of touch that's involved, it's a sense of sight. This is a figure of speech, when
it refers to such a darkness that one could feel it. What
it indicates to us is something of the awful nature of the darkness
that is being spoken of. He goes on to say, as we've already
mentioned in the next verse, verse 22, there was a thick darkness
in all the land of Egypt, three days, a thick darkness it says. They saw not one another. It was a total darkness, a total
blackness. I don't know, I've never been
into the depths of the earth, but I've spoken with some who
have been down a mine right down to the bottom of the shaft. And of course, there's artificial
light there, but I remember someone telling me that they were taken
down and the person who was conducting them said well we'll turn all
the lighting out all the lighting was turned out and then the man
said now just hold your hand before your eyes which they did
and they said you could just see nothing you couldn't see
your own hand it was total darkness and this was the darkness that
came upon these but it was worse than that Matthew Henry says
it was associated with damps and clammy vipers it was an awful
thing that came over all that land of Egypt highly spoken of
as the blackness of darkness forever what an expression is
that that we have again in the book of Jude there in the thirteenth
verse the blackness of darkness forever this is what is being
conveyed then in the particular description that we have here
in the words of our text such an awful darkness and so this figure is used it's
something you feel it's something you feel how is it felt? Well, it is that that is felt,
surely, in the conscience. Isn't this what we're to understand
by the particular figure that is being employed? It's not just
dark, but there are evil spirits. There's all the horror, and there's
all that horror of conscience. When we go into the New Testament,
and come to the last book, that book of the Revelation, and there
in chapter 16 we read something of God's judgments. The vials
spoken of there in the opening verse of Revelation 16 that are
full of the wrath of God. And how those vials are being
poured out. And we read there in chapter
16 and verse 10, of one of those vials that's associated with
darkness. The fifth angel, it says in verse
10, poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast and his
kingdom was full of darkness and they gnawed their tongues
for pain. Remarkable imagery, but does
it not throw some lights upon what must have been experienced
by those Egyptians back in Exodus. How the kingdom of the Pharaoh
was full of darkness and it says here, concerning the seat of
the beast and his kingdom, they gnawed their tongues for pain. What is the gnawing of the tongue?
It has to do with the accusations of the conscience. When the Lord
Jesus speaks of hell, He doesn't just speak of it as that place
of outer darkness, but also it's where the worm dieth not, and
the fire is not quenched. The worm dieth not, that's the
conscience, the conscience gnawing the wine accusing constantly
men gnawing their tongues for pain it's an awful place you
see that place of total darkness the blackness of darkness forever
it's a place where there is no place to be found for any repentance,
it's too late altogether two lines again if we'd have read
on there in that 16th chapter the next verse 11 it says they
blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and sores
and repented not of their deeds all the conscience is accusing
them they are ignoring their tongues because of the pain but
they don't repent There is no place for repentance there. It's too late. We read of Esau,
who could find no place for repentance. Spoken of in Hebrews, there in
Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12 and verse
15, the Apostle says, looking diligently, lest any man fail
of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness bringing up
trouble you, and thereby many be defiled, lest there be any
fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of
meat sold his birthright, for you know how that afterward,
when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place of repentance,
though he sought it carefully with tears." Oh, he fails, you see, of the
grace of God. It was too late. there could be no repentance
and certainly when he comes to that place of total darkness,
hell itself, there's no place found for any repentance at all. They blaspheme the God of heaven,
it's a place of blasphemy. And they don't repent of their
deeds. The darkness and all associated
with accusing demons, ignoring conscience. But then, can we not understand something
of God's dealings with his children, even in the day of grace? We
know that the children of Israel here had light in all their dwellings.
whilst there was gross darkness upon all of the Egyptians. There is the day of grace, and
in the day of grace are believers, those who are brought to feel
something of the great horror of their sins. We don't feel
the horror of sin in the day of grace, we will only ever feel
it in that awful day of judgment. That is the truth. We will feel
it then when it is altogether too late. Believers know what
it is to have an accusing conscience even in the day of Christ. And that's part and parcel of
that ministry of the law. There is that two-fold aspect
to the ministry of the law. There's the civil aspects, that
has to do with the way in which God has given his law that there
might be proper order in society in general but that's not the
principal purpose of the law the principal purpose of the
law of God is a spiritual thing the law is good if a man use
it lawfully and Paul says the law worketh wrath oh yes in the
day of wrath there will be darkness there and no repentance in hell
but how God deals with his people now under the gospel there is
such a thing as a law work, the law work in growth even darkness
it says which may be found when God gave the Ten Commandments
there was much darkness associated with the coming of the law when that great event is recounted
in the book of Deuteronomy remember that whilst we find it here in
the book of Exodus in chapter 20 we have the history of how
God descends upon Mount Sinai and speaks the 10 words, the
10 commandments to Israel but then in Deuteronomy as they're
on the borders of the Promised Land we see Moses recounting
their previous history and what had happened some 40 years previously
at Mount Sinai and so the the commandments are repeated in
Deuteronomy chapter 5 but there in the previous chapter he reminds
them of what they experienced there at Mount Sinai Deuteronomy
4.11 the mountain, it says, burned with fire unto the midst of heaven
with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. That's what the Lord
is associated with. Darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And here in Exodus when God comes
there upon the mountain in such a manner and fills the people
with dread as he speaks the commandments to them how fearful they are,
and they want Moses to become their mediator. They don't want
God to come and speak directly to them. They request that Moses
should go up into the mountains, so he does. And he's there 40
days, receiving all those various laws, how the Ten Commandments
are to be worked out in the civil life of the children of Israel,
there's the application, that civic use of the laws, as it
were, how it's to be applied to every detail of their lives,
how they conduct themselves. It's Moses who is receiving all
that instruction. But what do we read here in chapter
20 and verse 21? Moses draws near unto the thick
darkness, it says. The thick darkness where God
was. all the law, that law of God,
how it is associated with darkness and torments and
accusing conscience. This is what believers experience,
even the darkness which may be felt, they feel it in their hearts.
Not only the darkness but the deadness of their condition as
sinners, unable to do anything. Their case so utterly hopeless. They cannot help themselves.
They are brought to see all their dependencies upon the Lord. Though the Lord has made that
wonderful provision for His people in the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Why when Christ came to save
his people did he not experience all the terrors of that darkness?
There in his sufferings upon the cross at Calvary we're told
in the Gospels from the sixth hour that is high noon the sixth
hour they would mark the hours from 6am in the morning 6 hours, the 6th hour then is 12
o'clock, 12 noon when the sun is at its zenith and yet it says
with regards to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel
that from the 6th hour to the 9th hour there was darkness over
all the earth and about the 9th hour the Lord Jesus cried with
a loud voice My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The Lord, bearing that punishment,
that suffering that was due to his people, tasting hell for
them that they might themselves be free from all that wrath of
God. Oh, this is that wonderful provision
that God has made for those who are brought to fill their sins,
even darkness which may be found. What a contrast there is between
the darkness and the light. Remember how Paul, writing to
the Corinthians, makes it so plain. He speaks of God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness that shined in our hearts, to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Well, there is the light. It's
in the Lord Jesus Christ. he says I am the light of the
world he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall
have the light of life but how we have to be those if we would
know that great salvation that grace of God in the Lord Jesus
Christ we must experience these things
here and now in this life. We must know and feel what a
dark thing sin is. If we would know the salvation
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must come even to this even
darkness which may be felt. And then we will appreciate that
glorious light of the Gospel that shines only in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord grant then that we might
have some understanding, some spiritual understanding of these
things that are written, and all written for our learning,
that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might
have hope. Amen.