Light Versus Darkness.
Updated: Apr 7, 2019
The eternal battle for the souls of the children of God.
We are constantly surrounded by light, even in the darkest night. This is why Paul writes, "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." (Ephesians 6:12)
The battle between light and darkness is not just symbolic. It is literal.
"We are engaged in a battle between the forces of light and darkness. If it were not for the Light of Jesus Christ and His gospel, we would be doomed to the destruction of darkness. But the Savior said, ‘I am come a light into the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’”
– Robert D. Hales, April 2002.
Our eyes see only a sliver of the light that exists in the known universe. On the ultraviolet side, X-rays, gamma rays, ultra-violet rays, all streak around us, carrying energy and light too fine for our natural senses. On the infrared side, radar, radio and cell phone frequencies bounce around us, shivering with messages, data, and vibrations of light, sensed by our machines, but too crude to feel with our own faculties.
In the early 1970s (almost 40 years ago!), NASA scientists sent two separate satellites into deep space. These "Pioneer" satellites were the first to escape the solar system. After extensive calculation to determine how much fuel was necessary to escape the pull of the universe, the satellites were shot off into the darkness at different angles, in different years.
The first was Pioneer 10, and was rocketed into space in 1972, to be the first satellite to reach escape velocity and breach the solar system. Even though the scientist had spent years calculating with painstaking precision, the amount matter in the solar system that would pull on the satellite to keep it in orbit, and the amount of thrust necessary to escape it, Pioneer 10 slowed down more quickly than it should have. Pioneer 11 was rocketed into space in 1973 and met the same fate.
Why?
Because the solar system has more mass than we can see, a whole lot more mass. Even though Pioneer 10 and Pioneer escaped the solar system, their paths were slowed by forces we have yet to identify. Forces that pulled it back to the solar system. Something we cannot see, or measure, other than through galactic gravity, exists in our solar system.
Enter "dark matter." The name scientists have given the mass and weight and forces in the universe we cannot see.
Paul was right. There are kingdoms, principalities, dominions, we cannot see.
Brighter than noonday sun.
Every major cannon of scripture has a predominant them of light. In fact, every cannon starts with light. The Old Testament starts with the creation, and God's word's of existence, "let there be light." (Genesis 1) And in the New Testament, John adds "In [Christ] was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1) Christ's birth was heralded by the creation of new light, a star that would shine in the heavens guiding wisemen, shepherds, and disciples for years after his birth to the Savior.
Additional ancient scripture reveals that Christ appeared to prophets in ancient Israel, as a being of light "brighter than sun at noon-day" (1st Nephi 1:9) and recounts events where angels of light, and celestial fruit that makes one happy can be found by earnest seekers of Christ.
Darkness seems intent on smothering what it cannot understand. But we are here to hold high his light, like a city on a hill, that men may see our good works and glorify our father in heaven. To this end, we battle, we struggle, we fight.
I have prepared an educational powerpoint on this topic that gathers hundreds of scriptures, images and quotes regarding this topic. I hope you get as much enjoyment out of reviewing it as I had in compiling it. The central truth is that our actions literally affect the amount of light we radiate.
I hope "Here to Choose" will help you remember your purpose in the battle of light versus darkness.