Part III
But it is sin that causes you to be in the dark. It is sin that causes you to be caught by surprise.
Sin blinds. It leaves you in the dark.
“You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.”
Ex 23:8 WEB
“Yahweh will strike you with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart;”
Deut 28:28 WEB
“9 Stay you and wonder; take your pleasure and be blind: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. 10 For Yahweh has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets; and your heads, the seers, has he covered.”
Isa 29:9-10 WEB
“Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.”
Hos 4:11 WEB
“9 …
‘You hear indeed,
But don’t understand;
And you see indeed,
But don’t perceive.’
10 Make the heart of this people fat;
Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And turn again, and be healed.””
Isa 6:9 WEB
Those in the dark will be caught by surprise.
The church in Sardis in what is today Western Turkey, has a reputation of being alive, but is spiritually dead. Jesus warns them,
“Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If therefore you won’t watch, I will come as a thief, and you won’t know what hour I will come upon you.”
Rev 3:3 WEB
There are things to watch for!
“even so you also, when you seethese things coming to pass, knowthat it is near, at the doors.”
Mk 13:28-29 WEB
Not the day and the hour, but it is near. And Jesus is referring to what He has just said.
“23 But you watch. “Behold, I have told you all things beforehand. 24 But in those days, after that oppression, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, 25 the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. 26 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.” ”
Mk 13:23-26 WEB
And here Jesus is telling these things and going over things that have to happen first. Yes Jesus comes like a thief … to those in the dark.
“… He who walks in the darkness doesn’t know where he is going.”
Jn 12:35 WEB
“For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.”
1Thes 5:2 WEB
But not everyone is in the dark.
But you, brothers, aren’t in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief.”
1Thes 5:3 WEB
WEB is the World English Bible, is a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901