The Darkness Is Past!
By Elder Enoch Ofori Jnr.
Brethren, there is a new edict out there from heaven: the darkness has passed away- in fact has evaporated like a bad dream-and a new dawn of glory has broken upon us!
Here’s the full text:
“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” (I John 2:8).
A commandment is a commandment which we must believe, obey and ACT ON!
Satan is finished! On the surface, he is all hyperactive, but in reality he is only running round in circles! He’s stuck in a rut of defeat. And all his efforts and machinations merely bring him back to square one-a defeated foe of God!
There are two eras in the life of every believer-his past life where Satan could hurt him, impoverish, kill and make him fall sick at will. And there is his present life where Satan has no power over him, but he is rather in control.
The prophet Nahum captures these two opposite eras in the following scripture:
“What do you imagine against the Lord? He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time” (Nah. 1:9).
Yes, affliction shall not rise up the second time, for our God will put an utter end to all satanic operations against us. The evil power of Satan will be put out because Satan has no role or part in the new life of the believer (Eph 2:2-3). We are no longer in his kingdom as followers of his evil ways, and so he has no claim over our lives as he has over unbelievers (I Peter 5:8-9).
Indeed as born-again believers, we are to have nothing to do with the unfruitful works of darkness. For though we were once darkness, we are now light in Christ (Eph. 5:8-11).
In His light shall we see light (Ps. 36:9). And it is in this new life in Christ that God’s power of light reigns supreme, and we walk in his victorious power. Life after the cross is a life of victory over Satan, for we now have power to trample on all the power of the enemy and destroy his works (Luke 10:19,1 John 3:8).
The power of darkness has been brought down, for its prince has been overthrown. When Christ died on the cross and went down to Tartarus (Hades), Satan was judged, weighed and found wanting! He was found to be a failed, wicked ruler who had caused much misery on earth, inflicting pain and distress on both young and old. He had to be ousted, and this Christ did when he triumphed over him and his demons by His death on the cross.
Jesus pre-announced this judgment on Satan and his subsequent overthrow in John 12:31-32:
“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”
That “lifting up” was His death on the high stake by which He lifted up all men (believers) brought low by Satan to live in triumph! (Heb 2:14-15).
On that great day at Calvary, the overthrow of Satan, the prince of darkness, was signified by the return of light after a 3-hour darkness in which Satan was given a buffeting knock-out by Christ (Matt. 27:45-46. See also Col. 2:15, Matt. 28:18).
The prophet Isaiah foresaw this glorious time when he wrote, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Isaiah 9:2).
When was this time to be ushered in? It was to be ushered in with the coming of the Messiah! Hence “Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given…. (Isaiah 9:6).
The Messiah would be born as “a dayspring /Rising Sun” to banish the power of darkness out of our lives, as we prepare our hearts and ways in the light of His righteousness for an encounter with glory! (Luke 1:76-79).
Today, He tells those of us who trust in His redemption to be still, secure in the knowledge that He has been exalted in the earth, and we have been exalted with Him (Ps. 46:10).
Once we are in Christ’s Kingdom of Light, we have made a break with Satan’s, and over us he has no control (Col 1:12-13).
There is therefore cause for joy! For this purpose Christ was born and so it has happened in our new life in Christ, the Light:
“I am the light of the world,” Christ says,
“He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).
Therefore my dear brothers and sisters now asleep n the darkness of sin, “arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Eph. 5:14).
May we all continue to walk in the light of His Truth so that His glorious power of victory would always rest on us! Amen!
