If you would turn with me to
Exodus chapter 10, tonight we will look at the ninth plague,
the plague of darkness. The scripture is clear that God
is light and though he is light, in him is no darkness at all. And without him, the minds and
hearts of fallen men and women are dense and in desperate darkness. And unless God intervenes, unless
God causes the face of Christ through the light of the glorious
gospel to shine in our hearts, we will forever remain in that
darkness. When we consider how much is
said about spiritual light and spiritual darkness in the scriptures,
We can see really how appropriate it was that before Jehovah finished
his earthly dealings with Pharaoh, brought Egypt under this impenetrable
cloud of darkness. Time after time after time, Pharaoh
hardened his heart, but it only revealed the darkness that already
resided within him. The very God that in the beginning
said, let there be light, Now in judgment against Pharaoh and
Egypt says, let there be darkness. And what God declares always
comes to pass. Now, like the plagues of the
lice and the boils, this plague comes without warning, but it
comes at the command of God. Verse 21 tells us, and the Lord
said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand toward heaven. And
you might notice this time, there's no mention here of the shepherd's
rod or Aaron's rod. And I believe this is to remind
us that the miracles that God did in these plagues were not
made possible by the rod of Aaron, but by the power of God. God doesn't want anybody worshiping
a shepherd's rod. And I'm telling you, they certainly
would. just as many today worship the cross. Matter of fact, in
Numbers chapter 21, when Moses made the serpent of brass, which
represented and pictured Christ, and he put it upon that pole,
those who looked at that brazen serpent lived. We all know the
story. All those that look to Christ
in faith shall live. That's what that picture. But
the symbol has no power to say. no more than the cross and no
more than Aaron's rod. Therefore, Christ is the object
of our worship, not the brazen serpent. For even as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him, not in the symbol of
the brazen serpent, But in him, whosoever believes in Christ
shall not perish, but have everlasting life, eternal life. Did you know
that Israel kept the brazen serpent that Moses made and began to
worship it? When Hezekiah, who was a godly
king, began to reign, one of the first things he did was to
break that brass serpent into pieces. And he did so for that
very reason, because Israel was worshiping that symbol instead
of Christ, worshiping Christ himself. And just as the cross,
that piece of wood on which the Lord Jesus hung, it had no effectual
power to save. The serpent of brass and Aaron's
rod had no power. It's only looking to the Christ
of the cross and the God who brought power to Aaron's rod
has the power to save. Now look at verse 21 again. 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. Do you see right there that it's
God that sends this darkness? There'd be many that disagree
with you on that. Verse 22, Moses stretched forth
his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the
land of Egypt three days. When God turns the lights off,
there's a darkness like no other. This was a darkness that could
be felt. It astonished, it terrified. It continued three days. I was
thinking that's like six nights in one. And God said that this
darkness would be over the land of Egypt, which as we know, pictures
this world in which we live. What a picture this darkness
in Egypt is of the spiritual darkness that we have in the
world today. Like the earth in Genesis chapter
one, verse two, the minds and the hearts of unregenerate men
and women are without form. Void, the scripture says, and
darkness was upon the face of the deep. And in the deep recesses
of the hearts and minds of men and women, nothing but darkness. Fallen men and women, nothing
but darkness. For sin has made us to have no
form of godliness, none. void of any life and righteousness. And darkness is all we see until
God says, let there be light. That darkness within us is most
certainly a darkness that can be felt. And just as it was in
Egypt, for the chosen people of God, the only hope that we
have of deliverance is for God to shine the light of the gospel
out of darkness and shine into our heart. It takes the same
power to do that as it did for God to speak the worlds into
existence and cause light to come upon the face of the earth.
It's the power of God as he shines the light of his gospel out of
darkness into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God. Where is that? in the face of
Jesus Christ. For when God says, let there
be light, there's light. Now in these verses, we again
see the sovereignty of God in exposing all of Egypt's false
gods and idols. The greatest of Egypt's gods
was called Ra, the sun god. And like all the other Egyptian
so-called deities, God brings to nothing this false idol, proving
once more that he is the only sovereign. the only sovereign
who rules and reigns over all things. Now to the ancient Egyptians,
Ra was the ruler of heaven. He was the god of the sun, the
bringer of light, and he was patron to the pharaohs. According
to legend, The sun traveled across the skies as Ra drove his chariot. For people in ancient Egypt,
the sun was a source of life, as it is to us today. It was
power and energy, it was light and warmth, and it was what made
the crops grow each season. And the Pharaohs were often believed
to be seen by the people to be incarnations of the sun God,
thus believing that they had absolute power. There's no doubt
that Pharaoh felt that way. When Aaron and Moses first came
to Pharaoh and said, the Lord God said, let my people go. He
said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? Why in Pharaoh's
mind, he was his own God. But now God sends total darkness
upon Egypt. Where is Egypt's great God of
the sun now? He's with all their other gods.
He's been snuffed out. He's been made helpless, proving
that he was nothing more than a god of their imagination. God
destroyed all the hope that their false idols brought. And at the
same time, he taught the very influential Israelites that there's
only one true God. Has God shown you that? I know
that he has. Now Egypt finds a darkness upon
them that renders Egypt helpless. Darkness, firstly, is a biblical
sign of God's judgment. The judgment came as a result
of their continued rebellion and disobedience to God's command. And God sent this darkness, and
it's God that still sends it today for the same reason, disobedience
to God's word. Though it was Moses that lifted
his hand toward heaven, it was not Moses who sent the darkness.
It was God who sent it. And again, I remind you that
God, the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul tells us in
Romans chapter nine, verse 17, for the scripture saith to Pharaoh,
even for this same purpose have I raised thee up that I might
show my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. Therefore, Therefore, hath he
mercy on whom he'll have mercy, and whom he will, he hardened
it." I got to thinking about that verse that's so familiar
to us all. And we say it all the time, all
God has to do to harden a man or woman's heart is to leave
them and leave them in their darkness. In verse 22, notice
that this darkness is called a thick darkness. The Hebrew
word for thick gives reference to a total concealment of light. There was no light at all, none. I can remember years ago taking
one of those tours in Mammoth Cave and somewhere in the middle
of that tour, they turned the lights off and you can't see
your hand a half inch from your face. No light at all. When Moses
wrote that this darkness could be felt, I found it also very
interesting that that word felt in verse 21 means to grope. That's what folks do in darkness. In order to do anything in darkness,
you have to grope. You have to feel your way around. that thought was somewhat interesting
to me. What a picture that is of the
darkness found in religion today. Fallen men and women are in such
darkness that it seems that they depend totally upon their feelings. They try to find eternal life
and they grope around. They claim that in order to be
saved, you have to feel this way, or you have to feel that
way. Do you feel saved? Do you feel
lost? Do you feel good? Do you feel
condemned? Do you feel like a sinner? Do
you feel like a Christian? Do you feel like God has done
something for you? Do you feel the love of God in
your heart? Martin Luther said this, and
I agree, feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the word of God,
not else is worth believing. Though all my heart should feel
condemned for want of some sweet token, there is one greater than
my heart, whose word cannot be broken. We don't put our faith
in feelings. We put our faith in Christ, who
is the word of God. Great is the darkness of fallen
flesh. In Matthew chapter six, the Lord
teaches us something of this spiritual light and this spiritual
darkness of which this plague pictures. Hold your place here
in Exodus and turn there with me if you would. Matthew chapter
six. Matthew chapter six, having spoken
of true treasure, true treasure. Our Lord says here in verse 19,
lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust
doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. You
know, that's exactly what Pharaoh and Egypt had done, they had
it all, but they didn't have God, so really they had nothing.
And God brought their mighty Egypt to ruin. Can you picture,
before I go on in Matthew, can you picture in your mind's eye
what Egypt looked like at this point? Death and destruction
was everywhere. Everywhere, what the hell and
the fire hadn't destroyed, the locusts did. No life left, no
sustenance of life, nothing but devastation everywhere you looked.
And you know, I was thinking if we could truly see with spiritual
eyes, with supernatural eyes, we'd see the same thing today
in this world in which we live. Our Lord goes on to say here
in verse 21. He says, for where your treasure
is, now listen, this is so important. Where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also. Now that means that whatever
rules and reigns in our hearts is what our true treasure is.
Is Christ your treasure? Is Christ your treasure? Is he
who dominates the thoughts of your heart and mind? Now look
closely at verse 22. The Lord said, the light of the
body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light. I heard Brother Darvin
say recently in a message on this very verse, that our eye
is the only window in this house in which we live. That's so true.
What comes through this window is what fills the house. That's
what our Lord said. And if our eye be single, concerned
only with Christ and His righteousness, the Lord Jesus said, all these
other things will be added unto you. Seek ye first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness and everything else I'll provide
for you. We will be full of light. Friends,
there's still light in Goshen. Now look at verse 23 here. But
if thine eye be evil, the whole body shall be what? Full of darkness. If therefore the light that is
in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. And that's
what we have in this plague. Great darkness, a darkness that
can be felt, a darkness beyond all experience, a darkness that
can't be described by human language, but one that our Lord very well
describes in spiritual language here in Matthew chapter six.
Now, look back in Exodus chapter 10 and look at verse 22 again. And Moses stretched forth his
hand toward heaven. And there was a thick darkness
in all the land of Egypt three days." Can you imagine having
total darkness? I mean a total concealment of
light, no light at all for three days, which as I said a minute
ago was like six long nights, nothing but darkness. That brings
me to the second thing. Secondly, darkness in the scriptures
is specifically associated with abandonment, with God's abandonment. And that's why it is such a severe
sign of judgment. Darkness indicates God removing
himself. God is light, and when he removes
himself, friends, there is nothing left but darkness. Darkness represents
the abandonment by God. By when the Lord cried from the
cross, Eli, Eli, lama saboth and I, that is to say, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? There was three hours of
darkness over the whole land. God had forsaken his son and
darkness covered the land. So I think we can clearly see
that darkness is very closely associated with the abandonment
of God. When God abandons men and women
and leaves them in their unbelief, they are in total darkness. Sadly,
lost men and women love darkness rather than light. In verse 23, it says, they saw
not one another, neither rose any from his place for three
days. But, you know, almost every time
we find that little word in scripture, good news follows. But all the
children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Now, three
things here worth mentioning. First, it says they saw not one
another. This plague of darkness was a
plague of inner darkness. It prevents men and women from
seeing one another in God's light. It prevents them for seeing others
as they really are. It was this darkness that kept
men and women from seeing who Christ really is. It's the same
darkness today. Obviously, the Jewish nation
and their leaders knew not that Jesus was the Christ. When our
Lord said, I and my Father are one, they took up stones to stone
him. He said, many good works have I done among you. For which
one of these do you stone me? And they answered and said, we're
not stoning you because of your good works. We're stoning you,
we're gonna stone you because you are a man that claims to
be God. They didn't know who he was.
Time and time again, our Lord said, I am the bread of life
that cometh down from heaven. And what did they say? Is this
not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
They didn't know who he was. Darkness, darkness, the plague
of inward darkness also keeps men and women from seeing who
they really are. David was ready to kill the man
that had so horribly treated the poor man with the little
ewe lamb. And he said, who is this man
that would do such a thing? He said, as the Lord liveth,
he swore to the Lord's name that the man that had done this would
surely die. And you remember what Nathan
said, thou art the man. You see, the only true light
of God's gospel can reveal to men and women who and what they
are by nature. Now, the second thing we're told
about the darkened Egyptians in verse 23 is that neither rose
any man from his place for three days. I think probably a good
title for this message would be When God Turns the Lights
Out. And unless and until God turns the gospel light on, sinners
will remain in darkness. This darkness within man prevents
him from ever rising from his place. False converts, they can
change their appearance, they can change their habits, they
can change their speech. They can even change their doctrine,
but they can't rise from their place of condemnation. They can't
rise from their place of guilt and shame. They can't rise from
their place of judgment and wrath. This is a place of darkness. And that's where they'll sit
until God sends them light, if he's ever pleased to do so. Blind
Bartimaeus, he sat there on his beggar's blanket until grace
brought him to Christ to receive his sight. And this is the condemnation. This is the plague that God sends.
This is the darkness that all the fallen sons and daughters
of Adam possess. Our Lord said, he that believeth
not is condemned already. They're born condemned. And this
is the condemnation that light has come into the world. And
men loved darkness rather than light. Isn't that an amazing
thought? Why? Because their deeds were
and they are evil. For everyone that doeth evil,
hateth the light. Neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved, John 3, 19 and 20. Then the third
thing we see in this verse is the beautiful thing. The thing
that we see is the gospel that's found in this. It says, but all
the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Now, let
me say this. There's no mention in these verses
that there was a total eclipse of the sun like we had back in
2017, especially a total eclipse that lasted for three days. And
I don't know if God made it pitch black in Egypt and had light
shining in Goshen. You see, there's a lot of things
concerning God that we don't know. His ways are past finding
out. I don't know if this darkness
in Egypt was just inward darkness, which fell upon all the Egyptians.
It could have been that God's so pleased to just make every
Egyptian see nothing but darkness for three days. God can do anything
and everything. I don't know if God simply put
his hand between the sun and Egypt and maybe let light, sunshine
pass into Goshen for his people. I don't know, we're not told.
I don't know if God blacked it all out and just it was the Shekinah
glory of God shining as light for the people of God in Goshen.
But I tell you what I do know, this light was as supernatural
as the darkness. The people of God are the children
of light. I know that. All the children
of God had light in their dwellings. Key word there is dwelling. What
does that word mean? Well, the Hebrew word is pronounced
Moshab. First, it means a seat, a seat. Where is every believer seated?
And God hath raised us up together. And he's made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It also means to sojourn. As believers, we're only passing
through by faith. Abraham, our father of the faith,
we are like him looking for a city which hath foundation, whose
builder and maker is God. We're just sojourning. We're
just passing through. We're just visiting. This is
not our home. And the word dwelling also means
abide. Christ said, abide in me and
I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it
abide in the vine. No more can ye except ye abide
in me. Dwelling. That word dwelling
also means assembly. There was light in the assemblies
of Israel. All the children of Israel had
light in their dwelling. The elect of God are referred
to in the New Testament very often as the general assembly
and church of the firstborn. This assembly, this church that
this represents is the bride of Christ. But one thing is for
certain, if you're not in this house, this dwelling, if you're
not in this assembly, there is no light, only darkness. There's light in the church of
God. There's light in Christ, whom
God's people abide. But if you're not in Christ,
if you're not in whom this dwelling place pictures, there's nothing
but darkness, no light anywhere else. Now we've said many times
now that Goshen is a figure and picture and type of Christ, and
it's a fit symbol for God's church. And in Goshen there were many
dwellings, and there was a light in every one of them. That light
is Christ. Apart from him, friends, there
is no light. He said, I am the light of the
world. He that followeth me shall not walk in what? Darkness, but
shall have the light of life. John 8, 12. Our Lord said, as
long as I am in the world, I am the what? The light of the world. John 9, 5. And rejoicing this,
Christ said, I am come a light into the world that whosoever
believeth on me should not abide in darkness. No darkness for
those that abide in Christ. Friends, yet a little while is
this light with you. The scripture says, walk while
you have the light, less darkness. come upon you, for he that walketh
in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. But if we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus, the blood of Christ, his Son cleanses us
from all sin. When God turns the lights off,
you can be assured that before the foundation of the world,
he was pleased to reserve mercy for some. When Adam sinned and
God turned the lights off, in the fullness of time, in the
time of love, Christ became the light for some. For ye were sometimes
darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children
of light. Oh, may God be pleased to call
others out of darkness into his marvelous light. Only those in
Goshen, only those in Christ have life and light.