What does the Bible say about darkness?
When Scripture talks about darkness usually it is referring to a sinful path. Jesus is the light and Satan is darkness. Spiritually blind people are living in darkness. They can’t understand the gospel or biblical things. They can’t see. They are blind and they can’t see that they’re on the path that leads to hell.
If they had light they would turn in the other direction. People who are consumed with their sin will not go near the light because their sins will be exposed.
We must all seek the light, which is only found in Christ. Jesus satisfied the wrath of God. He drank your sin in full. We must all repent and trust in the blood of Christ. In Christ we can truly see.
In Christ we can truly understand. In Christ the darkness can never overcome the light. The light leads to eternal life and the darkness leads to eternal damnation.
Christian quotes about darkness
“Where, except in uncreated light, can the darkness be drowned?” C.S. Lewis
“Satan has access to the domain of darkness, but he can only occupy those areas where mankind, through sin, has allowed him.” Francis Frangipane
“If the times are indeed as bad as we say they are… if the darkness in our world is growing heavier by the moment… if we are facing spiritual battles right in our own homes and churches… then we are foolish not to turn to the One who supplies unlimited grace and power. He is our only source. We are crazy to ignore him.”
“Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.” Desiderius Erasmus
What’s done in the dark will come to light.
“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
“A dark cloud is no sign that the sun has lost his light; and dark black convictions are no arguments that God has laid aside His mercy.” Charles Spurgeon
“To the one who delights in the sovereignty of God the clouds not only have a ‘silver lining’ but they are silvern all through, the darkness only serving to offset the light!” A.W. Pink
“The Christian religion made its way through Paganism, unassisted by the force of human power, and as gentle as the triumphs of light over darkness.”
“The more a nation gets into darkness, the more it’s going to hate the light. The more it’s going to run from the light. And we have a generation of people who have given themselves to darkness, and they’ve embraced atheism, because it gets them away from moral responsibility to God.” Ray Comfort
God created darkness
1. Isaiah 45:7-8 I create the light and make the darkness. I send good times and bad times. I, the LORD, am the one who does these things. “Open up, O heavens, and pour out your righteousness. Let the earth open wide so salvation and righteousness can sprout up together. I, the LORD, created them.
2. Psalm 104:19-20 You made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to set. You send the darkness, and it becomes night, when all the forest animals prowl about.
The Bible has a lot to say about darkness in the world.
3. John 1:4-5 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
4. John 3:19-20 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.
5. 1 John 1:5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.
6. Matthew 6:22-23 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
7. Isaiah 5:20 How horrible it will be for those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn what is bitter into something sweet and what is sweet into something bitter.
The sinful path is the dark path.
8. Proverbs 2:13-14 These men turn from the right way to walk down dark paths. They take pleasure in doing wrong, and they enjoy the twisted ways of evil.
9. Psalm 82:5 But these oppressors know nothing; they are so ignorant! They wander about in darkness, while the whole world is shaken to the core.
Living in darkness verses
No Christian lives in darkness. We have the light of Christ.
10. 1 John 1:6 If we claim that we have fellowship with him but keep living in darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.
11. John 12:35 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going.
12. 1 John 2:4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.
When you are in darkness you can’t see.
13. Proverbs 4:19 But the way of the wicked is like total darkness. They have no idea what they are stumbling over.
14. John 11:10 But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.”
15. 2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
16. 1 John 2:11 But anyone who hates another brother or sister is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.
Stay away from darkness
17. Ephesians 5:11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
18. Romans 13:12 The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living.
19. 2 Corinthians 6:14 Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?
Only fools would want to walk in darkness.
20. Ecclesiastes 2:13-14 I thought, “Wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness. For the wise can see where they are going, but fools walk in the dark.” Yet I saw that the wise and the foolish share the same fate.
Reminder
21. 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Salvation brings light to people who are in the dark.
Repent and trust in Christ alone for salvation.
22. Isaiah 9:2-3 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before You as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils.
23. Acts 26:16-18 Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. You are to tell the world what you have seen and what I will show you in the future. And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’
24. Colossians 1:12-15 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation.
Christians are the light of this dark world that we live in.
25. John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
26. Ephesians 5:8-9 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
27. 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5 But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night.
Darkness describes Hell.
28. Jude 1:13 They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds. They are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness.
29. Matthew 8:12 But many Israelites–those for whom the Kingdom was prepared–will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
30. 2 Peter 2:4-6 For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment. And God did not spare the ancient world–except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people.
Bonus
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
