On August 14, 2003, a major power outage struck the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada. It was the largest power outage in history and affected an area of close to 9,300 square miles of some of the most populated areas in North America. People became trapped in elevators, traffic lights didn’t function at rush hour, and vendors watched helplessly as food perished from lack of refrigeration.
At night cities whose lights usually shone so brightly that they were visible from hundreds of miles away in outer space were blacked out by the loss of power. For city dwellers, many activities became extremely difficult or even impossible as they tried to manage in the dark.
For fifty million people, that night in the darkness was a time they can never forget.
Fifty million people were in physical darkness due to the power outage, but millions upon millions of souls are in spiritual darkness because either they have not heard the truth of the gospel or they have heard it and declined to receive its gracious offer of life. Refusing the good news of the gospel, they have refused the only message that could ever bring light into their lives. “I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:1212Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)).
It is only through the light that is in the Lord Jesus that we are able to see ourselves as we truly are before God. By it we can see ourselves as sinners under the just condemnation of a righteous God. Because we are sinners unable to help ourselves, we can see for the first time that we are in dire need of a Savior.
Also, in the light of the Lord Jesus, we can see clearly the wonderful grace of God. His grace led Him to send His Son into this world where He would eventually be nailed to the cross and die in the sinner’s place. In ancient times, when a king or a ruler showed one of his subjects favor and gave them a gift, it was considered “an act of grace.” At the cross, the supreme Ruler of the universe opened His heart to you and me and gave the greatest gift He could possibly give. He gave His Son. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
In contrast to the death we deserve for our sins, God made a way that we might have eternal life. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). God gives eternal life as a gift to everyone who believes on His Son. “He that hath the Son hath life.” Nothing in heaven or earth can ever dispossess them of that gift.
Has the light of the glorious gospel of God’s grace shone in your heart? Have you seen yourself as God sees you, and because of that sight sought refuge in the Savior? Until you do, you will be wandering about in spiritual darkness, for the Lord Jesus is the “light of the world,” and apart from Him there is nothing but darkness.
When the power grid in Northeastern America failed, it was a painful experience for millions of people. However, far worse is the calamity of a single soul that never comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. When this lifetime is over, that soul will have to spend eternity in the blackness of darkness forever.
How long is eternity? Make no mistake about it. Eternity is forever! According to Jude, lost souls are like “wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 1313Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. (Jude 13)). Oh, what a future awaits those who never come to Christ! The saddest fact by far is that no one needs to perish. “The Lord...is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:99The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)).
Lights and power supplies built by man may fail and leave us in the dark, but the light that shines in the Lord Jesus will never go out. He shines true for every sinner who wants to trust Him for salvation. His light illuminates everyone as they go about their lives in a world that rejected Him. His light will chase away the gloom when it comes time to die, so every believer can die full of hope and anticipation of soon seeing their Lord. And after they die they can enter the heavenly city where there is no need of the sun, for the Lord Jesus will be the light of the place. Lights and power supplies, stars and suns all may fail, but the light that is in Jesus will never go out.
Hasn’t the time you have spent in your life wandering in sin’s darkness been long enough to prove the dissatisfaction and emptiness of a life apart from God? Oh, won’t you come to Him who said, “I am the light of the world,” so that you might glory in His light for time and eternity?