Post Tenebras Lux
Yesterday I read the hauntingly chilling words of Jesus to Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives immediately before Jesus’ arrest—“But this is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53, ESV). Judas, a traitor in their midst and part of God’s sovereign decree, was no surprise to Jesus. With these words, the Son of God and the Son of Man gives him “permission” to act out his heinous betrayal, ending in his own suicide even before Jesus appears before Pilate (Matthew 27:5).
The power of darkness appears all around us—from the slaughter of the innocents through abortion to the mutilation of the imago Dei via transgenderism to the soul-killing effects of pornography inside the church. Indeed, the devil walks among us as both an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14) and a roaring lion (I Peter 5:8). The first, second, and third beasts of Revelation 13 & 17 represent persecution, deception, and seduction respectively—all scenarios we’ve seen played out around the world through the Covid narrative over the past 3+ years. (I owe this understanding to chapter 9 in John Stott’s The Cross of Christ.) Indeed, the church has been at best less-than-helpful and at worst largely unrepentant in her complicity with this trio of destruction.
As Sunday School children, we sang “This little light of mine/I’m gonna’ let it shine…” In writing about the Logos, the author of the Gospel of John writes, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5, ESV). Probably most of you have had the experience of being underground in a cave when the guide turns out the lights and there is palpable darkness less than an inch from your eyes. But then a match is struck, or a flashlight is turned on, and the darkness begins to dissipate. That’s the image here, except in cosmic proportions!
The Reformers called it post tenebras lux, Latin for “after darkness, light.” One can imagine living in 16th-century Europe after 1,000 years of darkness (the Middle Ages) and finally being able to read the Scriptures on your own and hearing their glorious truths being boldly proclaimed. It is a reminder that even today, darkness is NOT the end of the story.
The Ligonier National Conference in 2015 was on this theme, and this is a picture I took of a young artist creating a wall mural during the conference.
The darkness cannot overwhelm the light! And whether the coming Light is in the form of a Third Great Awakening or in the form of the visible and bodily return of the Lord, may you not be overcome by darkness. Let your light shine today in whatever context God grants you.