Darkness Was Upon the Face of the Deep

2023-07-09

When God created the world, He knew fully the end from the beginning. A pattern emerged from Creation. “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep” (Genesis 1:2). Darkness came first. When He created beings who had freewill, both of flesh and of spirit, surely evil would come. Some would choose to not follow the Creator. The man and the woman did not, and many angels did not. Much death and suffering on an eternal scale happened as a result.

Amid that darkness, though, He was there, for “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” He brought life out of death and light out of darkness. “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:3-4).

The light out of darkness principle is in many places. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). And again, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). And again, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). And again, “Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth” (1 John 2:8). Or the most powerful of all, “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre” (Matthew 28:1).

Though a superior good came out of all this, so many were lost. Why did it happen this way? In this case I must resign to two principles. I am not God, and I am not in control.

There is much darkness, but one day it will all be gone. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). And finally, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Amid this darkness, He is there.