The dark side ∙∙
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. – Colossians 1:13
Act 26:18 Open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.
George Lucas introduced the concept of the Force as a major component of Star Wars (1977). According to Lucas, the concept of the Force hopefully would “awaken a certain kind of spirituality” in young audiences, suggesting a belief in God without endorsing any specific religion. He developed the Force as a nondenominational religious concept premised on the existence of God and distinct ideas of good and evil.
The Force of Star Wars has nothing to do with the Father God, as revealed in the Scriptures.
The Force of Star Wars is an impersonal supernatural reality analogous to the Hindu deity Brahman. Rather than a personal god, Brahman is an impersonal spiritual force. Brahman is present in all living things. The Force also reflects the dualistic nature of Zoroastrianism. In Zoroastrianism, the divine force is a duality of two supreme opposing powers: good and evil.
Obi-Wan Kenobi describes the Force as “an energy field created by all living things.” Yoda warns, “But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression…the dark side of the Force are they, easily they flow… If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you, it will . . ..”
2 Corinthians 11:14 Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
REFLECT & PRAY
Sometimes, our greatest strength can be our greatest weakness. If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).
Father I know too well how great the darkness is. Indeed, I was seduced by darkness and walked in it for years. Thank You for freeing me from the domain of darkness and the dark one himself. Enable me to walk in the light as You always intended.
INSIGHT
The God of the Bible is a person. The Father is righteous, holy, perfect, good, and loving. He is the sole creator of all that exists. All that He created was good. Evil is not part of His creation. He has no evil or dark side.
Genesis 1:31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.
Where did evil come from? Evil is not an addition. Evil is a subtraction. Evil is the byproduct of the loss of goodness.
Evil emerges from conscious acts of rebellion against the Father, His authority, and will. Creatures that rebel lose their goodness and innocence. They cease to be good in the ultimate sense of the term. In place of light, there is darkness. In place of good, there is evil. The Scriptures refer to this among humans as sin.
The allure of greater power, control, and enlightenment, to become more like the Father Himself, is highly seductive.
Even the enemy himself was created good and blameless. He was the highest and most beautiful of all of the Father’s created beings. But his greatness and splendor became the source of his downfall.
Ezekiel 28:15-17
15 “You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.”
17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.”
Isaiah 14:13-14
13 For you said to yourself, “I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north.”
14 “I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.”
All of the Father’s sentiment creations were creatures of light and existed in the domain of light. The fall of Satan and Adam and Eve changed all that. They became residents of the domain of darkness.
Satan, the highest of all created beings, was corrupted by the enchantment and faux scintillation of power. The enemy’s corruption and failure became the source of all evil. Eve was seduced by the desire for greater enlightenment. She was deceived by the lie that she would become like God if she disobeyed the Father’s command.
The Lord Jesus Christ came to reverse this. He has delivered the children of the King from the domain of darkness, that is, from the realm of Satan and the powers of evil. Any child of the King is a child of the light. As such, we are no longer doomed to walk in darkness.
John 8:12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light of life.”
Colossians 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.
The Greek word used for transfer or bring over is methistēmi. Methistēmi literally means to remove from one place to another, transfer; figuratively, it is causing someone to change sides mentally or spiritually and bring to a different view.
Methistēmi had a particular use. In the ancient world, when one empire triumphed over another, it was the norm to relocate the entire population of the vanquished nation to the victor’s territory. Thus, the people of the northern kingdom were relocated to Assyria, and those of the southern kingdom were relocated to Babylon.
When we became children of the King, the Father relocated us from Satan’s kingdom, the kingdom of darkness, to His own kingdom.
But there’s more. We were not only transferred, we were rescued.
We were transferred from darkness to light. “Without God, people hesitate and stumble as if walking in the dark. They do not know what to do; they do not know where they are going. Life is lived in the shadows of doubt and in the darkness of ignorance” (Barclay).
We experience redemption, a term often used for the release of a slave or the repurchase of something under someone else’s control. Without God, we were captives of our anxieties, transgressions, and our own helplessness. In Christ, we are set free (Barclay).
It signified a shift from condemnation to forgiveness. Because of our sins, we deserve nothing but God’s condemnation. But because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are no longer condemned criminals but rather sons and daughters of the King. We are rescued from the power of Satan. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we are freed from Satan’s dreadful icy grip and become members of the Father’s kingdom and Forever Family. “We do not have the power to escape our slavery in the eternally dark kingdom of Satan, but God does, and He exercised that power to bring us into the light and into the life of freedom provided by Jesus” (Stanley).
How should we then live?
When individuals practice playing a musical instrument or participating in a sport, the goal is to improve one’s performance. The same is true of sin. It is one thing to sin; it is another thing to practice sin.
1 John 3:8 The one who practices sin is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil.
It is time to give up our dark practices and walk as children of the light.
Ephesians 5:8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 11-1-1
© Dr. H 2024
Dr H Reflections 