The Darkness Always Wins?

I came across these lyrics recently:

We’re all fighters, holding up our lighters
Chasing off the monsters, drowning in our sins
With every last breath, try to stop the sunset
Running with the shadows, darkness always wins

Cheesy rhyming of ‘fighters’ and ‘lighters’ aside, something about them stuck with me. Before I came to Christ those sentiments felt uncomfortably true. And even now, for followers of Jesus, don’t we still feel the weight of the darkness around us? Think of world news, local news, the people and events around you, the pastoral situations of your local church. Or more simply, our own struggles and wrestles with sin – the darkness we feel inside.

Sometimes it really does feel like the darkness always wins.

I happened to be playing these lyrics while my tween daughter was in the room. She heard the last line and immediately retorted: “No it doesn’t!” Out of the mouths of babes!

She said exactly what we need to remember. Darkness around and inside may feel overwhelming. It may look victorious. But it doesn’t win.

And that’s exactly what John wants us to see as he opens his account of Jesus:

In the beginning was the Word
And the Word was with God
And the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.

All things were created through him,
And apart from him
not one thing was created
that has been created.

In him was life
And that life was the light of men (humanity)
That light shines in the darkness
And yet the darkness did not overcome it.

Here is why the saints gather each Sunday. Here is why God’s people can continue with hope. Despite the darkness around us – and the darkness still seeming to linger inside us – the greater reality is that the light of God in his Son has shone. And the darkness has not overcome it.

And so we have hope.

Of course, the present darkness in our world, and in us, is complex. Jesus says elsewhere (John 3:19-21) that the light has come. And yet people often prefer the darkness because it hides what we don’t want exposed. This is our world: on the one hand we run from the darkness; on the other hand, we run to it. Light can be salvation. But light can also be judgment as it reveals in uncomfortable ways.

Jesus declares that he is the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5). And as such he offers both salvation and judgment depending on whether we run to or from him. For those who come to him, darkness does not have the final word. And he will continue to reshape his people into those who increasingly learn to walk in the light.

The darkness doesn’t always win.

It didn’t win at creation.
It didn’t win at the cross.
And it won’t win at the new creation.

All because the Light has come – and darkness has not overcome Him.