Passage: Exodus 10:21-29

The Big Idea

Egypt rejected the light of God’s word, so God took the light away: three days of darkness so thick it could be felt. But every Israelite home had light. Darkness pictures separation from God, and Jesus entered that darkness on the cross so we never would. We were once darkness; now we are light in the Lord. Even when we feel darkness, depression and silence, we walk by faith in what God says, not by what we feel.

Calling It a Day

After God created the first day and night, an angel asked, “What are You going to do now?” God said, “I think I’ll call it a day.”

Egypt had rejected the light of God’s words and rebelled against them. Now the light itself would be taken away.

Darkness That Can Be Felt (Exodus 10:21-23)

The Lord told Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so darkness spreads over Egypt, darkness that can be felt.” Moses stretched out his hand, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else, and no one left his place for three days. But all the Israelites had light where they lived.

“Darkness that can be felt.” Groping darkness. When you can’t see, feeling is all you have.
Spiritual darkness is spiritual bondage. They were trapped in their homes, stuck, and no one could help.

(Two friends fell down a well. One said, “Isn’t it dark down here?” The other said, “I don’t know. I can’t see a thing.”)

But all the Israelites had light.

God is light, and in Him there’s no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).
Israel was “abiding” with light, a picture of Jesus, the Light of the World (John 8:12).

Darkness pictures separation from God, being judged and abandoned by Him. Jesus described final judgment as “outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12).

Three days often points us to Jesus. And on the cross, Jesus endured three hours of darkness (Matthew 27:45).

The world went dark as the Light of the World bore God’s judgment.
The cross was the greatest act of love ever, and also the most terrible outpouring of God’s righteous anger against sin the universe has ever known. God poured it all out on His beloved Son.
No one will ever fully know what Jesus endured in silence on the cross for the sins of His bride.

And you and I are His bride by faith. We enter that loving covenant when we trust that what He did on the cross was for us and enough for our sins, turn from our sins, and walk in the new life He pours into us every day. That’s grace.

Once Darkness, Now Light (Ephesians 5:8)

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”

We were once darkness. It was our identity.
But through faith in Jesus we’re made alive. Our identity changes. We’re born again.
Yet the old way of darkness still pulls at us until we’re with Him, so we keep putting it to death, saying no to it day by day (Colossians 3:5).

That’s both easier and harder than it sounds.

Easier, because it looks like walking as a child:

Trust the Lord like a child every day.
Let go of control and independence.
Humbly call on Jesus and depend on Him for everything.

Harder, because it means saying no to part of our nature:

We love independence. We cherish self.
Tim Keller has made the point that you can’t have Jesus with you while keeping the right to run your own life.
Our attachment to sin runs so deep that denying it can feel like suffocating.

Walking as children of light

We have a daily privilege of walking in our new identity of light.

We believe God has changed us, that darkness no longer holds us. And as we believe it, we find we really are free. He didn’t lie.
That’s walking in the light: making decisions based on faith that God has changed your nature.

Example: forgiveness. In the light, God enables me to forgive anything. To walk in that, I decide by faith to forgive and obey Jesus. Not because I feel like it. Not merely because it’s the right thing. But by faith: God is honored when I forgive and depend on Him to carry it through. He’ll equip me. He’ll make me sufficient through the life of Jesus, which I access by faith. I believe He lives in me by His grace, so He’ll enable me by His grace.

“For God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, has shone 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).

This way of living doesn’t make sense to the natural mind.
It depends on a miracle every day. If God doesn’t supernaturally supply our light each day, we’re sunk.
This life grows out of an intimate relationship with Jesus, and walking in the light deepens that relationship.
We keep growing in knowing Him, growing more comfortable trusting Him, and letting go a little more of our need to control.

Always moving from darkness to light.

When It Still Feels Dark

But have you ever felt like you were still in the dark? Depression. Discouragement. A darkness of the soul you can almost feel.

After Mother Teresa died, a collection of her private letters revealed that for decades she felt deep spiritual darkness: emptiness, a sense that God was absent and didn’t want her, even doubts about whether He existed, while outwardly she kept smiling and serving. I’m not making any judgment here about her faith. I simply want us to notice the struggle, because many sincere people know that kind of darkness, and God’s Word speaks to it.

Have you ever felt that kind of doubt and darkness? Some of us have. And Jesus experienced something far worse.

Jesus in the darkness

Remember the three hours of darkness on the cross. Darkness: forsaken, abandoned by God.

God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Habakkuk says God’s eyes are too pure to look on evil (Habakkuk 1:13).
Talk about abandoned! On the cross, Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).
We suppose God isn’t looking at us. We feel like it. But is it true?

Psalm 88

When we feel like this, turn to Psalm 88, the darkest psalm in the Bible. Heman the Ezrahite cries out day and night. His soul is full of trouble; his life is near the grave. He feels like the forgotten dead, cut off from God’s hand, laid in the lowest pit, in darkness and the depths. God’s wrath presses on him like waves. Friends have abandoned him. He’s shut in and can’t get out. Can God’s love be declared in the grave, or His wonders in the dark? “Why do You reject me? Why do You hide Your face from me?” It ends with darkness as his closest friend (Psalm 88:1-18).

Why read this psalm when we feel darkness?

Because it’s true, but it isn’t finally true for us.
It’s a psalm only fully fulfilled in Jesus. He’s the only one truly cut off from God, the only one who has tasted the full wrath of God, the only one whose cries God did not answer in the moment.
God has heard every one of our cries for deliverance, and He answered them by sending Jesus to the cross for us. To answer our cries, He turned from the cries of His beloved Son.
This psalm is full of despair, yet it fills us with new hope when we add Jesus. God turned His back on Jesus so He will never have to turn away from you.
Whatever silence you feel, it isn’t God abandoning you.
As a child of light, you are never really in the dark, even when it feels dark. You are light in Him.

Feelings are strong, and they can lie. But God is greater than our hearts (1 John 3:20). He can overcome our feelings with His truth if we give Him time and room.

Feelings aren’t the enemy. The problem is handling them apart from the truth of Jesus.

You feel alone. You aren’t. He is always with you (Hebrews 13:5).
You feel rejected. You aren’t. He has accepted you in His beloved Son (Ephesians 1:6).
You feel unloved. He loves you with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3).
You feel darkness. You are light (Ephesians 5:8).
You feel forgotten. He never forgets you (Isaiah 49:15-16).
You feel your faithfulness goes unnoticed. He sees your faith (Hebrews 6:10).
You feel dead. You are alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5).
You feel trapped. You are free (John 8:36).

Which will you walk in: faith or feelings?

“Awake, You Who Sleep” (Ephesians 5:8-14)

Look again at Ephesians 5. Walk as children of light (the fruit of the light is all goodness, righteousness and truth), discerning what pleases the Lord. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; instead, expose them. Everything exposed by the light becomes visible. That’s why it says, “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

No fellowship with the fruitless works of darkness.
Instead, rise from the dead, and Jesus will give you light.
These are New Covenant words. Rise: we’re raised to new life by the same mighty power that raised Jesus. That’s the power of grace. Give: grace is always about what God gives us through faith in Jesus, everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

“You’ll Never See My Face Again” (Exodus 10:24-29)

Pharaoh summoned Moses: “Go, worship the LORD. Even your children can go. Just leave your flocks and herds behind.” Moses said, “You must let us have animals for sacrifices and burnt offerings to the LORD our God. Our livestock must go with us; not a hoof will be left behind. We’ll need some of them to worship the LORD, and we won’t know what we need until we get there.” But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he wouldn’t let them go. Pharaoh said, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you never see my face again, because the day you see my face, you’ll die!” Moses replied, “As you say. I will never see your face again.“

Not a hoof left behind! No compromise.
No fellowship with the fruitless works of darkness.
Pharaoh represents the rebellious heart that always wants its own way and will never submit to God as King.
Moses was walking in the light, literally.

Grace Takeaway

Egypt groped through a darkness that could be felt, while every Israelite home had light. Jesus went into the deepest darkness, forsaken on the cross, so that you would never be forsaken. You were once darkness; now you are light in the Lord. When your feelings say it’s dark, answer them with what God says: you are loved, accepted, alive, free and never alone. Walk away from the darkness, and walk as a child of light.

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Plagues 109: Darkness