“Men Loved Darkness … Because”

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and MEN LOVED DARKNESS rather than light, BECAUSE their deeds were evil.

20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. — John 3:17-21

You would think that by the time Yeshua came on the scene we would have figured out that life outside the Garden, quite frankly, sucks. How many centuries does it take to realize that our lives lack true meaning and purpose apart from God? Instead, we just plunge deeper-and-deeper into darkness. We’re not idiots, right?

Have you ever wondered why Yeshua was and is hated? If you step back and think about it, it makes no logical sense at all. He came to deliver mankind out of its miserable sinful existence. He wanted to restore the relationship with His creation that was lost in the Garden of Eden.

But, that’s not what happened.

By His very existence, Yeshua was a lightening rod that attracted abuse and attack. It’s not like He went out of His way to get peopled stirred up and mad at Him. It just sort of happened.

Why? — Because mankind loves darkness rather than light. We’re just plain evil.

Yeshua was perfect light walking in the midst of darkness. He was the Light that exposed the Darkness for what it was. There was no hiding from Him. Darkness could not walk out in the open without exposure. He was a walking antithesis to pretty much everything that swirled around Him. And a lot of people didn’t like it.

Our verses make it crystal clear that God didn’t send Yeshua to bring condemnation upon the world. God wanted the world, through Him, to be saved. Instead, it seems like Yeshua got “mixed reviews” in the hearts and minds of people. So much so it cost Him His life.

It’s the same in our day. Jesus, Yeshua, still isn’t very appealing to the majority of people. People want the “Jesus” of their own making — if they want Him at all. As long as He’s the meek and mild Jesus of love that morphs into whatever form they want, then everything is OK.

But …

When the Biblical Yeshua is seen for who and what He truly is … it brings self-condemnation. There’s the sense of “condemned already.” There’s that automatic understanding that we “love darkness rather than light, because our deeds are evil.” Therefore, we dig in and resist Him. We actually come to the point where we “hate the Light.” We don’t want our “deeds to be reproved.”

People are in love with darkness in our day just like in Yeshua’s day. The battle that Yeshua waged against the forces of darkness is our battle today. Therefore, we shouldn’t be surprised when we experience the same sort of rejection He did. They hated Him; they’ll hate us too.

Our responsibility isn’t to be liked by everyone. Our responsibility is to let the light of Yeshua shine through us in the darkness that envelops us. And, we’re going to have to accept the fact we won’t be the ones getting invited to all the parties. There’s a good chance we’ll be shunned and avoided. That’s to be expected.

Those of us who are saved were once in darkness. We didn’t necessarily like the light of the Gospel exposing us. We fought against it. But, thank God there were people in our lives that were willing to battle against our rejection of the Truth so that we could come to the Light and experience salvation.

We live in a darkened world. We can bemoan it; complain about it; try to hide from it. But that won’t change anything. We need to see those around us lost in sin and headed to Hell. We have to remember how much we loved our own darkness and resisted any attempts to bring us the Light.

The truth is that people already sense, deep down inside, their own condemnation before God. They know they are estranged from the God who created them. They know their own darkness.

That’s where we come in.

God is preparing the hearts of those we come in contact with. Because of that, we can with a sense of assurance and boldness let our light shine into the darkened lives around us. God will do the unseen work in their lives. We just have to trust Him.

Yes, men love darkness. But we who are saved love the Light. Let’s let the world see that kind of love.

“I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.” John 12:46