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Introduction
If there is any place where darkness has set up its throne, it is in the heart of man and his realm; for sin rules in the heart of man — it has permeated every fiber of his being. On the other hand, the prince of darkness, the demonic spirit who presides over the evil world system, relentlessly carries on in the realm of man a diabolic enterprise. By his activity, Satan further darkens man’s understanding and blinds his eyes. The heart of man and his realm used to be a place of no darkness, a place where there was no wickedness at all, until the coming of the prince of darkness. In the beginning, when the LORD made man, He gave man “dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). Moreover, the LORD Himself planted a garden in Eden and placed the man there to work it and to keep it; and He commanded the man, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).
Man walked obediently and perfectly ruled over the earth, being submissive to God’s rules and authority, until the coming of the prince of darkness, the destroyer. Before the prince of darkness’ intrusion into the abode of man, man was a son of Light: he belonged to the Light, loved the Light, walked in the Light, was controlled by the Light and delighted in the Light. In other words, man was a child of God and God was his only object of love and joy; man lived in perfect obedience to God, he lived for the glory of the LORD and enjoyed His blessings. But darkness struck man and overtook his realm when the prince of darkness made his way into the garden of Paradise, after he and his demons had been thrown down to earth as a result of their rebellion against God.
The prince of darkness failed in his attempt to exalt himself above the stars of God; he failed to make himself like the Most High (cf. Isaiah 14:13-15). His rebellion against the Most High cost him his original divinely assigned position of authority (cf. Ezekiel 28:16-17 & Isaiah 14:12), and he “has come down to [earth] in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short” (Revelation 12:12). He went from being a covering cherub to being the most cursed of all fallen beings – for he was cast down to the ground (cf. Genesis 3:14-15). Then he set in his heart to pit man – God’s image bearer, against his Creator, in order to destroy him. So when he came to the woman in the garden of Eden, he disguised himself as an angel of light and seduced her by raising into question the goodness of God. He also denied the truthfulness of God’s threat of death in case of man’s disobedience and distorted the meaning of God’s prohibition, saying to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5).
Man Forsook Light and Became Darkness
God made man the jewel of His creation, vesting him with the unique prerogative of being God’s deputy regent on earth and bestowing upon him unfathomable blessings. But the prince of darkness came to man in the garden of Eden and made him believe otherwise. Nothing was further from the truth than what Satan said to Eve concerning man’s forbidden enjoyment of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan’s assertion was just a heinous idea intended to cast a shadow over the goodness of God. He claimed that the reason God would not let her and Adam eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was to keep their eyes closed, so they would not be like God. In other words, Satan insinuated that God was selfishly keeping Adam and Eve in the dark while He Himself was in the light. But the true intention of the heart of this malicious being was to pull the man and his wife away from God, the Father of lights; he desired to suck them into darkness so as to hold them captive. He craftily disguised himself as an angel of light and tricked the woman into believing that she and her husband were living in darkness and that it was time for them to break free from it.
From the day God created them to the moment of their encounter with the devil, Adam and Eve had a blissful life – because the light of the LORD shone in and through them. But the devil came and made them believe that what they thought was light was actually darkness and that darkness was light. Through his false claim, the devil caused the woman and her husband to doubt God’s goodness and to have a distorted view of God and a misunderstanding of God’s designed purpose for mankind. The LORD, the Holy One, the One who is perfect in all His ways, whose deeds are righteous and in Whom is no darkness at all, was now seen by the man and his wife as an enemy and oppressor, unworthy of trust. They were brainwashed by Satan’s lies and they resolved in their hearts to rebel against the LORD their light and life. They resolved to “break free” from His control. They raised themselves against the LORD, desiring to live independently of Him, outside of His rules and authority; for God’s perfect rules seemed unjust to them. They viewed God’s prohibition as a trammel, that is, something that the LORD designed to prevent their deification – as the devil claimed. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:6).
Hence through lies, the devil drew man into darkness. As God’s deputy regent on earth, man used to exercise his dominion as God Himself would and God’s glory shone in him; for his conduct was holy and he was without blemish. But the prince of darkness ensnared and captured man to do his will. Therefore man – he who once was a son of Light, lost his moral purity and beauty; for the evil of sin gained control over his heart. Enticed by the prince of darkness, man desired to be like God and to know good and evil the way God does. But once he disobeyed God’s command and ate the forbidden fruit, his heart instead grew dull and his understanding darkened. His sin caused him to forfeit the light of the knowledge of the glory of the LORD. Although man's eyes were opened after he ate the forbidden fruit – as the devil had said, yet they were blind; they had no light. Genesis 3:7 tells us, “The eyes of both [Adam and Eve] were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”
Thus man lost his sight the very moment his eyes were opened; he became spiritually blind. Darkness now fills him inside and out. Man has no light; he no longer has discernment but continues to be drawn by evil. He despises what is good, hates the Light and loves darkness; for he has become a son of disobedience, a child of darkness. Therefore he arrogates to himself the right to define what is good and what is evil, according to the lusts of his flesh, trampling underfoot the standard of goodness, which is God’s own character. He calls evil good, and good evil – following in the footsteps of the prince of darkness whose son he has become.
Moreover, God’s threat of death in the event of man's disobedience – which the devil claimed was only an empty threat intended to prevent man from becoming like God, came to pass. The devil lied to the woman, telling her that eating the forbidden fruit would not lead to death but would make her and Adam become like God. But God’s word came true when the man listened to Satan’s lie. Adam died and condemned to death the entire human race, for his sin was imputed to all men, since he was the representative head of mankind. Therefore all those born of man are also held captive by death. As it is written, “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).
The man and his wife betrayed the LORD their God and sided with the devil. They rallied to the prince of darkness in his hatred and rebellion against God and, from that moment, severed themselves and their posterity, that is, the entire human race, from God the Light. They gave themselves over to the prince of darkness, and the same corruption that characterizes him now defines all sons of men. In fact, since the fall of Adam and Eve, the sons of men have become sons of the devil. For by nature they love what the devil loves (evil) and hate what he hates (God and the things of God). Men used to be more like God; they were holy as the Lord Himself is holy. But men’s deference to the prince of darkness has utterly transformed them. “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity” (Ephesians 4:18-19). To borrow the words of Deuteronomy 32:5, “[Men] have dealt corruptly with [God]; they are no longer His children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation.”
Men are no longer children of Light because they now have a corrupt nature. They hate God and the things of God but delight in darkness; for the prince of darkness has captured them to do his will – he “now works in [them]” (Ephesians 2:2). Since the fall of Adam and Eve, there is no longer light in the heart of man but darkness, and his realm is besieged by the spiritual forces of evil. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us, “the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 1 John 5:19, “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” 2 Corinthians 4:4, “the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” So the hearts of the children of men are ruled by sin and they live under the blinding influence of the prince of darkness, the ruler of the evil world system, who has captured them to do his will.
Man’s own sin nature and the blinding influence of the devil conjointly bring about man’s ruin and destruction by hardening his heart against the LORD. By nature, man desires to do evil. He freely gives himself as a slave to sin, being charmed by its pleasures. Satan, the king of darkness, seizes the opportunity to carry on his dirty work: he constantly flaunts before man’s eyes the glory of worldly wealth. Since he hates God and desires to destroy man (God’s image bearer), the devil takes advantage of the fact that man’s own heart is not inclined to the LORD but hates Him. He uses lies and deceptions to ensnare man and tempts him to sin against God. By his activity, Satan widens the gulf between God and man, deepens the darkness that overwhelms man and heightens the hardness of man’s heart against God, in order to bring about the destruction of man.
Thus, the sons of men are in the grip of darkness because of the wickedness of their heart and the activity of Satan and his demons. On the inside they are filled with sin; their “heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9a). And on the outside, they are hemmed in by the forces of evil – purveyors of lies and deceptions and emissaries of death. Therefore, children of men are without light; they are sons of darkness, who love darkness, walk in darkness and are overcome by darkness. They are all under the grip of wickedness, slaves to sin and Satan – “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:10-18).
These verses depict with unparalleled precision and stunning imagery the evil nature of mankind; they expose the darkness, the wickedness that characterizes the heart of every human being. None is conceived in the Light, none is born a child of Light, none is born who essentially loves the Light, none is born who fears God. We are by nature sons of disobedience, children of darkness; there is no light in us. Therefore, we hate God and the things of God; we hate righteousness and love wickedness. Simply put, we hate the Light and love darkness. Because of our moral corruption, by nature we despise God’s rules and spurn His authority. We constantly raise ourselves against God and violate His commands. As the Lord Himself puts it in Genesis 8:21, “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” Human history and the current state of affairs in our days bear witness to this divine truth. For we constantly turn away from God’s commands and commit evil against God and against one another.
Man was made for God: to bring God glory and to rejoice in Him forever. In the beginning, God chose him as His deputy regent, to rule over the earth. But man forfeited his own position of authority in his desire to be like God. The Lord gave him “dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). But he listened to the evil one and disobeyed God his Creator and Master. Therefore his mind has become dull and his heart is hardened against the Lord; his ears are stopped and his eyes blinded. He is darkened in his understanding. Now instead of worshipping God, man worships the creatures over whom he has been given dominion; he worships himself and the works of his own hand. Man has “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” (Romans 1:23).
Although man was chosen by God to reveal God’s glory on earth, darkness has taken hold of him and he now falls short of the glory of God; for he has strayed from the path of righteousness. He has abandoned the Light and embraced wickedness – to the peril of his own soul. Man has become God’s enemy and the penalty for his rebelliousness is death. He willfully threw himself into the arms of the prince of darkness and forfeited his freedom in the LORD. He is therefore under the yoke of slavery, held captive by darkness. He cannot resist any of his captors and slayers – namely sin, the flesh, the world and Satan, for they always seduce him with what his sinful heart desires. Having become a slave to his own flesh, to sin, to the world and to the prince of darkness, man is now unable to free himself from the control of these fierce destroyers who concomitantly bring about his death. He is taken “captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8), and ruled over by the evil one. He indulges in the sinful passions of his flesh, for he is a slave of sin. As the Lord Jesus Himself says in John 8:34, “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” Such then, from conception, is the condition of everyone born of Adam: it is dark, debased, empty, and all he deserves is death.
‘The People who Walked in Darkness Have Seen a Great Light’
The Distinctive Nature and Works of the Light
Christ the Light is the Singular Source of Life and Light
The Price of Rejecting the Light