I'll mention tonight also about
the fact that we will not have an evening service Easter Sunday,
which is not this coming Sunday, but the following Sunday. And
then the last Sunday in this month, the fifth Sunday, we will
have our fifth Sunday lunch and recognize our graduates. We have four graduating this
time, two from college and two from high school. Now, if you
will, let's open our Bibles once again to Psalm 97. Psalm 97, and I would like to
speak to us tonight from the words in verse 2, which tell
us clouds and darkness are round about him. I was reading this
passage of scripture last week sometime, and those words just
really stood out to me. about God. Clouds and darkness
are round about him. When God gave his law to Moses
on Mount Sinai, we are told in the book of Exodus, and Moses
drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. Moses climbed
up the mountain, entered into that cloud, and the scripture
says, drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. The Apostle John, we all know,
in his first epistle tells us this about God. God is light. And the Apostle Paul, writing
to Timothy, tells us that God dwells in the light which no
man can approach unto. those two things, light and darkness. God is light. And yet, we read
that Moses entered into thick darkness when he received the
law from God. And this verse tells us that
clouds and darkness are round about him. In this text, it's
clear to me that we are to understand that by clouds and darkness,
It is the Lord's ways, the Lord's dispensations toward His children,
and not only His children, but towards all men, that His ways
are past finding out. It is His dispensations and that
we will see things. We will experience things. those
of God's children, we will experience things and we will see things
in this life that we cannot possibly understand. Clouds and darkness
are round about him, his dispensations toward us. In Isaiah we read,
for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
There are things that we see and things that we experience.
We just are not possibly able to comprehend in this life. I'm reminded of these four things
that God did, we read in the scriptures, that God did under
the cover of darkness. And they are all such things,
so great things, that there will always be things about them that
we will never fully comprehend in this life, in this world. The first one is, God created
the heavens and the earth in darkness. Turn back with me,
if you will, to Genesis chapter one. God created the heavens
and the earth, the material universe, God created in darkness. In Genesis chapter 1, we're all
familiar with these first few verses here. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. Now we know that he created the
heaven and the earth in darkness. Because we read, And the earth
was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of
the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters, and God said, Let there be light. God
created the universe in darkness. We know that has to be so because
there wasn't light. He had not yet created light. And light is a mystery. You say,
well, light comes from the sun. Yes, but God created light before
he created the sun. The very thing about light is
a mystery, and there's much about creation that will always remain
a mystery to us. Things about it we are not possibly
able to understand, to comprehend. God created the stars and the
light left there so many thousands of years ago that is just now
coming. And we say tonight, if we go
out and look up into the skies, the things about creation, this
great work of God, He did in complete darkness. And there
are men, there are scientists, and I'm thankful for them, they
spend their lives They spend their lives studying about creation,
but they many times do not recognize that it is God's creation and
that there are things about God's creation that they will never
fully be able to comprehend. Man wants, he wants, he has that
desire to be able to explain everything, to dot every I and
cross every T and tell exactly how it is that this material
creation came into being, but God created it in darkness. Clouds and darkness are around
about Him, and there are things about this creation that you
and I and all men, we're just not going to comprehend in this
life. The writer of Hebrews tells us,
through faith, And this is the only way, and this is the way
a child of God looks at these things. The astronomer, they
can ask us questions that we could not possibly answer, and
we could ask them questions they couldn't answer. But through faith, we understand. We understand that the worlds
were framed by the word of God. It's by faith, isn't it? God
declares it. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. Don't ask me to explain that.
Don't ask me to explain how old the earth is and all of these
things that men spend their lives studying. No, clouds and darkness
are round about him. In the darkness, God wrought
this great work. Here's another thing that occurs
to me. God the Son was made flesh in
darkness. Look with me in Luke chapter
1 and verse 35. God the Son was made flesh in
darkness. It took place in the womb of
the Virgin Mary. A place of darkness. Luke chapter
1 and verse 35. The angel, in answering Mary's
question of how it would be possible that she could have a child,
the angel said, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the
power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy
thing or holy one which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. Now, when you look at the Word
of God, the reason I say that the Son was made flesh, God the
Son was made flesh in darkness in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
because the Word of God tells us that the womb is the lowest
part of the earth. Now, the lowest part of the earth
would be a cave, and there's darkness in a cave. Remember
in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 9, speaking of Christ, He ascended. Paul tells us He who ascended,
descended. He descended first of all. The Son of God came into this
world. He descended into the lowest
parts of the earth. What does He have reference to?
The lowest parts of the earth. He has reference to the womb
of the Virgin Mary. In Psalm 139, that wonderful
psalm that we love to read that speaks to us about the many attributes
of God and then tells us how that we are fearfully and wonderfully
made. Our bodies are sewn together. A beautiful tapestry is the picture
that is given there. But it is represented, the womb
is represented as a place of darkness, a secret place, and
man cannot cannot fully explain how it is that the child grows
in the womb, the bones are formed and mature in the womb and everything
else that is involved. But what a mystery! What a mystery! When we speak about God, the
Eternal Son, being made flesh, what a great work. And there
are things about it that we cannot possibly fully understand how
it is possible that He, this one person, Jesus Christ, born
of the Virgin Mary, This one person, He is absolutely God,
and at the same time, absolutely man. Great is the mystery of
godliness. There are truths about His incarnation,
which God wrought in darkness. that we cannot fully understand. And yet the Apostle John, he
begins his first letter. Now here's a man who walked with
the Lord, who lay upon the Lord Jesus Christ's breast. This is his testimony. And remember
in the Gospel, he makes his comment in the Gospel of John towards
the the end, he said, and we know that his testimony is true. He's speaking about himself.
He said, I know what I'm writing here is true. I know it. And
in 1 John he says this, in the first sentence he says, that
which was from the beginning. Now who is from the beginning?
Only God. In the beginning, God. Whenever
the beginning began. Whenever God began the beginning,
there was no one, no thing, other than God. He said, that which
was from the beginning, which we have heard, we listen to Him,
which we have seen, we looked upon Him, we have seen Him with
our own eyes, which we have looked upon, and yes, He said, our hands
have handled, we've touched Him, the Word of Life. Who is the
word of life? Christ is. He said, I'm the way,
the truth, and the life. He is life. There is no life
apart from God. You and I, I try to remind myself
of this quite often. That verse where the apostle
Paul said in Acts chapter 17, when he was preaching on Mars
Hill to a bunch of philosophers, vain philosophers who spent their
time desiring to hear something new. That's all they wanted to
do. We want to hear something new,
something different. And they argued this and argued
that. But remember Paul in his message told them that in him
we live, we move, and we have our being. That is, in God. Jesus is God. And yes, His incarnation,
the Son, was made flesh in darkness. A third thing, God the Son of
Man was crucified in darkness. Look with me, if you will, into
Mark, Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15, verses 33 and
34. And when the sixth hour was come,
that's noon, when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness
over the whole land until the ninth hour, the third, three
o'clock in the afternoon. There was darkness. Now what
was happening? The son of God, the son of man
was being crucified, hanged on that tree. made a curse that
He might redeem us from the curse of the law. There was that between
Christ and God that was taking place. His atonement wasn't toward
you, and it wasn't toward me, it wasn't toward Satan. His atoning
work was toward God. God, His justice had to be satisfied. before you could be forgiven,
before I could be forgiven. And all of this took place in
darkness, in darkness. Verse 34, and the ninth hour,
and at the ninth hour, after being in darkness for three hours
during the crucifixion, At the ninth hour, Jesus cried with
a loud voice saying, Eloah, Eloah, lama, sabbatania, which is being
interpreted, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I
know most of you have heard the story of Martin Luther. sitting
at his desk, and he read that passage, and he read that passage,
and he read that passage, and Martin Luther was a very, how
shall I say it, animated type of person. I mean, he showed
his emotions, and he jumped up and closed his Bible and put
it down on the desk and ran out of the house saying, God forsaking
God. Who can understand that? And
the point I'm making is simply this, that there are things about
the crucifixion, just like there are things about creation, just
like there are things about the incarnation, so there are things
about the crucifixion of the Lord. Truths, I should say. Not
things, but truths about the crucifixion which God wrought
in darkness that we cannot fully, completely understand. But this
I know, and this is enough for me. The Lord Jesus Christ said,
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. That's all I need to know. He's
the good shepherd and he gave his life in the place, in the
stead. for his sheep. And here's a fourth
thing. God the Son of Man was raised
in darkness. Now follow with me. God created
the material universe in darkness. There are things about it we'll
never completely comprehend. God the Son was made flesh in darkness. God the Son of Man
was crucified in darkness. And God, the Son of Man, was
raised in darkness. Look with me in John chapter
20. John chapter 20. And verse one, we read this truth. The first day of the week cometh
Mary Magdalene early. Notice, when it was yet dark. It was yet dark when Mary Magdalene
came to the tomb where the body of the Lord Jesus Christ had
been laying. It was yet dark unto the sepulchre
and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. When she
got there, it was still dark, the stone had been removed, which
tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ was raised in darkness. Now, you know that that stone
was not removed to allow Christ to come out of that grave. The
stone was removed to allow men and women to look into the grave
and to see that the grave was empty. That yes, the Lord Jesus
Christ had conquered death. He came out of that grave. He
was raised in darkness. But I say unto us tonight, there
are things about his resurrection, which God wrought in darkness
that we cannot fully understand. What do I mean by that? Have
you ever thought about this? In Isaiah 52 and verse 14, before
that great chapter, Isaiah 53, that speaks to us of our suffering
substitute, who was wounded for our transgressions, who was bruised
for our iniquities, and by his stripes we are healed, and by
his knowledge we are justified. Before that chapter, and maybe
they made a mistake, maybe not a mistake, but they could have
better divided the chapters, but in Isaiah 52 and verse 14,
this statement is made about Christ. His visage, his appearance,
his visage was so marred more than any man, and his farm more
than the sons of men. when he was arrested and taken
before Pilate. Well, even before the priest,
remember, they beat him. They plucked out the beard. And
then before Pilate, he was beaten, he was bruised, the bruising
of him which was inflicted upon him. And yet the Apostle Paul
tells us that his body, his resurrected body, is a glorious body. When they took his body down
from the cross, it was bruised, black and blue, lacerated. And yet, when he comes out, it's
a glorious body. I can't explain that, and I don't
think anyone else can either. And the only marks, the only
marks that remained in his body, as far as we are told, is the
prints of the nails. Now he was pierced, his hands
and his feet were pierced, and then he told his disciple, Thomas,
reach hither thy hand and my side. So his hands, his feet
were marked, the nail scars are still there, and the side, the
opening in his side is still there, and yet it is a glorious,
glorious body. And when you and I, by God's
grace, when we enter into glory and we look upon the Lord Jesus
Christ and we see those prints in His hands and that gash in
His side, that will only make His body more glorious to us
because we will know, yes, it was for us. It was for me. It
was my sins for which He was crucified. glorious body of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was wounded for my transgressions. Now, let's go back to Psalm 97. So, clouds and darkness are round
about him. That God did these great works
under the cover of darkness, Creation, Incarnation, Crucifixion,
Resurrection. And there are things about all
of those truths, about all of those things that we understand
enough. I'm not saying we don't understand
enough. But there's still mysteries involved. But I want to point this out
to us. Every child of God, as we go through this world, We'll
experience things that are beyond our understanding. These truths
are beyond our understanding, but the point I want to make
now is our experience, things that we experience are beyond
our understanding. When Job lost everything, he
didn't understand. There's no way that he understood
what was taking place. He was not privy. to the conversation
that passed between God and Satan. The only thing he knew was he
was hurting. He was suffering. And there are
things that God's people experience in this world, dispensations
of God's children that remind us that clouds and darkness are
round about him. And as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so his ways and his thoughts are higher than
ours. But that being true, and it is,
notice these three things that we should be aware of. Number one, in the first two
verses of this psalm, be aware the Lord reigneth. Now just write
that down. Write that down and do not forget
that. The Lord reigneth when the sun
shines brightly, and it seems like everything is going your
way, as the world would say. The Lord reigneth. But when things
change, when clouds gather over and around us, Remember still,
the Lord reigns. Nothing has changed. Nothing
has altered. God is still on the throne. There's
not the least shadow of turning in Him. His love for you hasn't
buried one iota, nor shall it. The Lord reigneth. The Lord worketh
all things, all things, after the counsel of his own will. I don't understand this. I can't
understand why this is happening to me or why it's happening to
others that I love and care for. I don't understand. Be aware,
the Lord reigns. He's still on the throne. And
that's not going to change. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. David said, why should the heathen
ask, where now is your God? In Psalm 115, where's your God? I wonder if he was asked that
when God took his son, his infant son. I wonder if he was asked
that when one of his sons murdered one of his other sons. I wonder
if he was asked that when one of his sons raped one of his
daughters. I wonder if he was asked that
when one of his sons raised up a rebellion against him, tried
to destroy David and take the kingdom. Where now is your God? You've been talking about him,
you've been boasting about him, you've been writing about him.
Where now is your God? Don't you love the way David
responds in that psalm? Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. That hasn't changed. Hasn't changed
at all. The Lord reigneth. I've been
thinking somewhat the last day or two about Job's answer to
his wife. Some believe that Job's wife,
out of pity for him, and surely she pitied him. I mean, all covered
over with balls. She loved him, her husband. Surely
she had some pity for him that she told him, she gave him bad
advice, but maybe out of good intention. Curse God and die. Just put yourself out of misery.
You remember Job responded to her like this. He said, shall
we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive
evil? Remember, be aware. Even though
there's clouds and darkness round about him, his ways, his dispensations
are higher than the heavens. Be aware, the Lord reigns. Number
two, be aware We always have cause to rejoice. Notice he says,
the Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice. When he says earth,
he's talking about not just the nation of Israel, but he includes
the Gentiles. Let the multitude of the Isles
be glad thereof. We always, God's children, God's
people, always have cause to rejoice when we learn to rejoice
in Christ Jesus. That's what Paul said, isn't
it? Rejoice in the Lord. Yea, I say unto thee again, rejoice
in the Lord. When we learn to rejoice in Him,
then there's no variableness, because He is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Paul said, in everything give
thanks for this, for this, whatever it is, for this, is the will
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Now it's a whole lot easier to
read that, quote that, be dogmatic about that than it is to do it,
isn't it? And yet that's what we're told
to do in everything. Give thanks for this is the will
of God for you. And number three, be aware The
habitation of His throne is righteousness and judgment. Clouds and darkness
are round about Him. Righteousness and judgment are
the habitation of His throne. Be aware that everything that
God does, we don't have to understand it, but everything that God does
is right. Sound up the judge of all the
earth, do right. The very habitation his throne
is built upon is righteousness and justice, holiness. When our
Lord took that basin of water and
a towel and made his way around the table there, his 12 disciples,
They didn't understand what he was doing. Peter, of course, he was always
the one that kind of spoke out. He said, you're not going to
wash my feet. And our Lord said, if I don't wash your feet, Peter,
you have no part with me. Well, if that's the case, just
wash me all over, my whole body, whatever. I won't have part with
you. And the Lord said, No, there's no need. He that is clean is
clean every whit. He that's washed is clean every
whit. Not all, because Judas was one
of those twelve sitting at that table. But the eleven, yes. But then our Lord said this.
They didn't understand what He was doing. But our Lord told
them, What I do, thou knowest not now. but thou shalt know
hereafter. And there are things that we
do not know, we do not understand, but if it's needful, one day
after we will understand. But many things we just must
confess that clouds and darkness are round about him. Well I pray
that the Lord would bless this message to all of us here tonight.
It might be a help. We serve a wonderful God, don't
we? A great God, a wonderful God, wonderful Savior. So thankful
tonight that he was mindful of us. The psalmist said, when I
consider the heavens the work of thy hands, what is man? What is man that thou art mindful
of him? I think of myself sometimes just
a little speck on a little speck the earth and all of God's great
universe. And yet God is mindful of me. That's amazing to me. Is it to you? It's amazing. May
the Lord bless his word. Let's sing a hymn before we're
dismissed.