Introduction-Advent (From Darkness to Light)

Advent is one of my favorite times of the year, but at the same time, I never grew up in a very liturgical church

-We celebrated the Christmas season and of course as every good Baptist the yearly cantata……

-But when we take a moment and step back and see things from a more traditional liturgical (fancy word for order of worship) view Advent adds so much to this time of year and especially as we come to days text there is a depth of meaning of the hope that light will shine into darkness.

-Each week of advent we light another candle signifying the work of Christ and the anticipation of His coming. With each candle the light becomes greater slowly pushing back the darkness that surrounds it, until in Christmas eve evening the final candle is light and the room is bathed in the light of Christ.

Each week shows the triumph of the gospel over darkness

And this year for Advent we are actually continuing straight through our Exodus series as in it we will see the judgment of sin and the hope found in the Passover lamb. And how through the death of the first born comes redemption.

 

As I said though as we approach Advent we begin in Darkness and shadow a symbol of judgment and un creation and with that in mind let us turn now to the text before us:

 

Where we will see today both the reality of a literal and spiritual darkness has the work of God’s judgment and the grace of his light towards his own:

 

So first we see the Literal Darkness descend:

 

I. A Literal Darkness (21-23)

Exodus 10:21–23 “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” So, Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived.”

 

We have seen now 8 plagues fall upon Egypt: (each attacking the strength of Egypt and their so-called gods)

-Blood

-Frogs

-Gnats

-Flies

-Pestilence

-Boils

-Hail

-Locus

Here we come to the final plague in the final triplet: Darkness

1. The Lord Commands Moses

-No Warning (Just as with the Boils and Gnats good gives no warning to Pharaoh only tells Moses to act)

• SO, he does

-Illustration of darkness falling

There is a terror in this reality if you spend anytime really thinking about the suddenness and the depth of what is befalling Egypt

This is straight out of a disaster movie

-One minute there is light and calm the next darkness rolls over the land

-In this we can clearly see the supernatural reality of this moment

1. Purely supernatural

-Each of the others have some natural occurrence or are replicated by the magicians

-As you go back over the last eight plagues there are elements that these are natural things that happen but have been supernaturally turned up to 11 by God as a sign of his judgment

-The only other non-natural occurrence is the Nile to blood which is still replicated by the magicians.

Here there is no doubt of the source, there is no middle ground. Darkness does not fall as it does here:

-Some falsely try to give it a natural occurrence such as a strong sandstorm (but the language doesn’t line up for such a reading)

-Rather in this darkness we see the undoing of creation for those not under god’s protection

-An Undoing of creation (A return to darkness) a return to before creation as the light no longer shines on them they are subject to complete darkness (Genesis 1:1–2 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”)

-Darkness in scripture is often associated with judgment or of those outside God’s covenant

John 3:19 “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

Amos 5:20 “Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?”

-It is also an attack on their False god Ra (Who is the sun god)

-IN many dynasties of Egyptian worship Ra is the preeminent of their deities as he is the one who governs all that happens in the world being the source of light and re birth

-Here again God challenges their own false worship by showing his supreme authority over their gods.

-For whom else can cover the suns power and quench its effects

-Not only though does the light from the sun cease to sign in Egypt, but light itself seems to flee

For it was a Darkness you could feel

It Was a Dark Darkness (The Hebrew doubling adds context to the depth of this reality)

1. A Darkness you could Feel

-Darkness has some pretty wicked effects on the human psyche (Thus they become completely inactive)

-This darkness was paralyzing to the people

-For three days they did nothing (That is darkness)

—Illustration-Touring caves in Kentucky you get to sections where the turn off the lights and you can’t see your hand even if it is right in front of you.

-Now turn it up again to 11

-And far more terrifying than I think we can imagine

-Truly the perfect set up for the final plague (Not wasted)

 

So, we have seen the judgment of God through literal darkness we will now see in 24-29 the judgment of God through A spiritual darkness:

II. A Spiritual Darkness (24-29)

 

Exodus 10:24–29 “Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord; your little ones also may go with you; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind.” But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me; take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.” Moses said, “As you say! I will not see your face again.””

 

We see the realty that Pharaoh’s heart remains darkened to the reality before him:

1. Pharaoh’s continues his halfway measure of seeking a compromise

He is still seeking to make a deal to keep the people

-Moses is done with this and we now see he challenges Pharaoh

(Not only will we leave with our animals you will prove some as well)

This is a bold moment as we have seen Pharaoh time and again play with the Israelites and with Moses and each time Moses prays for Pharaoh and again Pharaoh refuse to relent or repent truly from his ways, rather we see him even in his compromises show he has no desire to change course.

The darkness is greater in him than that which he just walked through, and he doesn’t even realize it

1. Once more the Lord seals Pharaoh’s heard and steady’s his resolve to keep the people

-And so, we see God seal Pharaoh’s fate. He will see this thing through to the end

1. Pharaoh become enraged at Moses

(Now he threatens him, no more prayers in this moment)

He will not turn back he has put all his chips in and will not be deterred

In this moment he is done seeking prayers and restoration he is so angry with Moses, and he would rather see them Dead (Should he see them again)

-And they are cool with this Moses is equally done with the whole situation

-It’s hard to watch someone continually drive themselves into destruction

-The darkness is deep within Pharaoh and as we have seen God is the one at works so that the whole of Egypt and Israel will Know that HE IS GOD!

 

And so, we have now seen that literal darkness that has befallen the land of Egypt in 21-23 and the Spiritual Darkness of Pharaoh in 24-29 we should go back as we move to the final point to look at the great hope in the midst of all this and it is the light of Hope in vs 23

 

1. A Light of Hope (23)

Exodus 10:23 “They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived.”

This simple verse shows the immense mercy of God in two direct ways and also as a precursor to what we see throughout the scriptures:

1. 1st we see directly the mercy of God

The Darkness was Limited to 3 days; it is short and yet dully powerful. We saw in the first point that the dark darkness was a terrible reality, and it was a paralyzing judgment, but the reality was it was still limited, God was still merciful in his execution of judgment

God’s judgments are purposeful and direct they

1. 2nd we see the Light of God is always upon His people

Again, God is with his people for they are of the light because God is light (not of any good that they have done, but because he is their God)

God continues to preserve his covenant people and keep them here from the judgment facing Egypt. It is another moment of God reminding them of who their God is and showing them the immensity of his mercy, love and grace towards them.

As we have seen the plagues are not just about Pharoah Knowing who God is, it is about Israel knowing who their God is, these are the moments while they seem subtle are essential moments for them to learn that He is!

So that throughout their history in the midst of hardship their descendent such as Micah can say:

Micah 7:8 “Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.”

 

The two final aspects that we can glean from the light of hope are more forward looking as well as we see this text point us firmly forward toward the greatest day of judgment and redemption the world has ever known at calvary:

1. For in that place for three hours light failed as the wrath of God is poured out on himself to save us sinners:

Luke 23:44–45 “It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.”

 

It is no accident that the judgment of God is seen in the darkness of the day or that it held for 3 hours. These are all part of God’s divine work, pointing to the reality of God’s judgment against sin, and also His forgiveness.

Which leads to the concluding purpose and that is the truth that:

2. Christ Advent was meant to bring s out of the darkness

Matthew 4:15–17 ““The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.””

He came preaching the truth repent and believe

-The great light shines forth into the darkness, hope for those in the shadow

 

-The sun has shown are we watching do we appreciate the reality or is our spiritual darkness so great we do not cherish the reality of the sun.

For he is the light of the world:

John 8:12 “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.””

May we who have seen live in light of these truths.

May we proclaim these truths to those who do not yet know:

Acts 26:17–18 “delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’” 

 

For we this advent season we who have experienced the light of hope in Christ, the Gospel grace shown upon us by the father who has transferred us from the kingdom of Darkness into his great kingdom of Light, may we shine bright with this wonderful hope that the light of Christ remains for those who will look and see that the baby born in the manger came to die, came to take on himself the darkness of sin and death, so that we may truly experience the light of God and life to the full.