There is a kind of darkness that feels thick and heavy. I've only experienced it a few times. Once, my family visited one of those tourist spots that offer a tour of an underground cavern. They took us through lighted passages with stalactites and stalagmites until the way opened up into a massive chamber. Of course, they warned us they were about to do it, but at a certain point in the tour, they turned out the lights.
Considering that we were more than a hundred feet below ground, and since this was before the days when everyone carried a cell phone, there was no light of any kind. They asked us to remain quiet while the lights were out. Only a faint dripping sound could be heard in the inky blackness. The darkness was so complete that it felt as if it had swallowed me up.
Now, I can't imagine remaining in that darkness. There were apparently creatures that live out their entire existence in that oppressive dark. I didn't want to stay in it any longer and was ready to climb back toward the light. Our first eternal distinction looks at the same familiar aspects, but this time from the perspective of light and dark.
Chapter 12 of John’s Gospel is a turning point in the story of Jesus. It marks the end of His public teaching. He gave a kind of summary of His purpose in coming when He said:
I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. (John 12:46 ESV)
Considering that he's addressing a group of never-believers and mentioned their need for belief, we can see where this fits into our first eternal distinction. Those who have never believed in Jesus remain in darkness. Considering that Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12), all people need to believe in him for what he offers, namely everlasting life.
He explains very clearly what they must do to no longer remain in darkness:
While you have the light, believe in the light... (John 12:36)
It would be only a few minutes before Jesus disappeared from their midst and hid. This is a kind of last call, so to speak. It wasn't their last chance to believe, but certainly, it must have been easier to believe in Jesus while he was among them. Nonetheless, to believe in the light is an obvious call to believe in Jesus since Jesus is the light of the world. (John 1:9) To believe in the light, that is, to believe in Jesus for everlasting life, is the opposite of remaining in darkness. Those who remain in darkness will be separated into Hell and eventually the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15), and those who believe in the Light will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
As we saw in a previous chapter, fellowship with God has to do with the quality of our believer’s obedience, not eternal salvation. Keep that in mind as you read what John said here:
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (1 John 1:6)
It's possible to be a Christian and claim to have fellowship with God while walking in darkness. To walk in darkness is when a Christian lives an ungodly life despite being saved. John seems especially focused on those who refuse to love one another since he brings it up multiple times in this letter. Later he explains that the one who hates his brother is in darkness (1 John 2:9) and walks in darkness. (1 John 2:11) The fact that this is addressed to someone who is supposed to love a Christian brother shows that this is an instruction given to a believer.
Believers who hate other believers, or are living in any unconfessed sin for that matter, are walking in darkness. I bet you can guess, but what would the opposite of walking in darkness be?
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
Walking in the light is a stark contrast from walking in darkness. It’s associated with having fellowship and confessing sin (vs. 9). When we walk in the light, God promises to give us the relational forgiveness we need to also have fellowship with Him. So, walking in the light requires that we confess sin in prayer and fellowship with other believers, presumably in the context of the church.
The other day I took my kids on a walk, and my three-year-old said he was going to walk in daddy's shadow. He then proceeded to take steps only where my shadow fell. In a sense, he was walking in the darkness that I cast… yikes. It made me wonder, though, does Jesus cast a shadow? I mean literally, I'm sure he does, but figuratively speaking, there is no darkness in Him. Instead of walking in shadow, we are called to walk in the light that he cast. That is, to walk the way Jesus would lead us to walk, stepping only where his light leads. Of course, it's a figurative metaphor, but I love the image it gives me.
We are to walk in the light of Jesus. It seems that the walking orders that are highest on the list for Jesus are to love one another. If we have fellowship with one another and confess our sin in prayer, then we are walking in the light. Walking in the light will be a highly rewarded stroll.
Those who never believe in Jesus for salvation remain in darkness. Those who believe in the light, which means to believe in Jesus for everlasting life, will be in Heaven with Him forever. Saved people who choose to hate and leave sin unconfessed are choosing to walk in darkness, while those believers who have fellowship with one another and confess sin are the ones who are walking in the light.
