Darkness, Gets Darker Still
Excerpt from: Revelation 9 Series, Study #
6#
By: Chris McCann
Revelation 9:2: And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
In telling us the sun is darkened, God is looking at the Gospel that He has sent forth into the world. When God spoke of the “third part” of the sun being darkened, in chapter 8, it was letting us know that the Gospel light had gone out in the churches of the world. But it so happens that when the Gospel light went out within the churches of the world, God was sending forth the latter rain; the latter rain was language indicating that the Gospel was going forth in a tremendous way outside of the churches and congregations.
What lies outside of the churches and congregations? It is the world – the world of which Satan is the prince. God had His people leave the churches and go into the world (which was typified when the Jews left Judea and went as captives into Babylon), so God’s people left the churches and went out into the world, while God was stretching forth His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people; He was sending forth a second Jubilee period; the latter rain was falling all over the earth outside of the churches in the world, saving a great multitude of people.
THE WORLD HAS ALWAYS BEEN A DARK PLACE
Now the world has always been a “dark” place because of man’s sin. As we saw in Colossians, it is likened to a “kingdom of darkness.” In Revelation 16, where we read of seven last vials full of the seven last plagues of the wrath of God, the pouring out of those vials pictures God pouring out the “cup of His wrath” that the nations of the world (the unsaved inhabitants of the earth) must drink of during this present time period. So all seven vials typify Judgment Day, this time after the Great Tribulation, and we read in Revelation 16:10:
And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Keep in mind that the beast is the name given to Satan exclusively for his rule during the Great Tribulation period and he reigned not only in the churches, but he reigned in the world in a special way that he was never previously able to do, as the world had been “given over” to iniquity and God had given up men to their sins, more and more, to prepare them for the final day of judgment. Yet, when the fifth angel, or messenger, “poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast,” (upon Satan’s place of rule in the churches and in the world) then Satan’s kingdom of darkness was now “full” of darkness “and they gnawed their tongues for pain.”
Since Satan’s kingdom was always a kingdom of darkness, why did God make it a point to say that it was “full of darkness?” How can we understand that? It is the same thing God is telling us when He says that the sun and the air were (both) darkened “by reason of the smoke of the pit;” that is, Satan’s domain, as he is the prince of the power of the air, and his rule over the kingdom of the world (which now included the churches) has become particularly dark.
The “world lieth in darkness,” but God at least had the Light of the Gospel shining into it in prior times. Wherever the Word of God was faithfully proclaimed and as long as it was still the day of salvation and God was still saving sinners, it was as though the light could still enter into the darkness of a city, a village or a town; and the light could enter into the darkness and shine upon individuals that were in that kingdom of darkness. There was the potential, from man’s perspective, for anyone to have been translated out of the darkness and into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.
DARKNESS MADE DARKER
A few chosen sinners were delivered by that light that had shined in the world, but now God has put out that light and God has made “darkness” darker; there is a “fullness” of darkness that has come upon the world. It is like the darkness that came upon Egypt – a darkness that could be felt. The world has been overcome by the “blackness of darkness” and it will continue for as long as this world continues. God will never again shine His light into the world.
Remember how God puts it, in speaking of Babylon being cast down, in Revelation 18:21:
And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast *it* into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee…
And musical instruments in the Bible point to proclaiming the Gospel. And then it goes on to say:
…and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee:
You see, once the light of the candle has gone out, it has gone out for ever. It is an eternal blackness and an everlasting blackness, because what God has done in putting out the light of the Gospel has eternal consequences. This is the light that has gone out in the world. Yes, the world had always been in darkness, but there was that “candlestick” that had shined in the darkness. So, if you have a world in darkness and you put out the only light that was shining in that darkness, then you can see how the “darkness” gets darker still. That is what God is revealing and it is an awful thing. It is a horrible thing that this light of the sun is put out and even the “air” was darkened. The domain of Satan and the place where he ruled became even darker, “by reason of the smoke of the pit.”