If you can't see Jesus in the dark, you can't see.

I live in central Alabama, this means if someone sneezes the power goes out. Recently the remnants of some storm came through and nocked out the power. This shows you how much time I have for keeping up with the weather. So yesterday (Wednesday) I attended a College ministry I often attend, and they had no power. The service was done by light of a plethora of candles. It was here that the College pastor told a folk type story, it went something like this,


"A revival type preacher in the south was preaching in the 1970's, and he was reaching the climax of a very powerful message, and all the power went out. It was pitch black. He got down because this impediment was assumed to be too much, and someone in the back yelled, 'Keep on preaching preacher! We can see Jesus in the Dark!'" The college pastor then said, "Aren't we thankful that we can see Jesus in the Dark?"


This prompted an immediate tweet from me, but it did so because it struck me. In the dark we see Christ. I have pondered this last night and today, and it brought this to mind.

The robbers who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him.

Now from noon until three, darkness came over all the land.

At about three o’clock Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 

 Matt. 27:44-46

It was dark then, during the crucifixion, Jesus on the cross. Atonement was made, God's wrath poured onto Christ, this all happened to Jesus, it happened in the dark. 

I think why this was profound to me was because the place we look back to as our defining moments as Christians, as followers of Christ, is covered in darkness. Victory happened in the dark. If we can't see Jesus in the dark, you can't really see Jesus. 

This was also profound because I see life as a dark place. I mean place in a temporal sense, that life, that existence, that birth are all located in a fallen or synonymously dark world. So we come from a dark world to a dark cross, to see The Light of the World. 

If we can't see Jesus in the dark, we cannot come to the defining moment of Christianity, and if we can't see Jesus in the dark we can't see him from where we are, in the dark world. 

And that is why the beginning to John's gospel is glorious. Because in all this dark the Gospel is glorious light.

In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.

And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it.

John 1:4-5

And if you can't see Jesus in the dark it is because your blind, cause Christ is light. In the dark of the cross and wrath, Christ was glorified. Christ was still The Light of the World.