1-2 The Word was first,
    the Word present to God,
    God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
    in readiness for God from day one.

3-5 Everything was created through him;
    nothing—not one thing!—
    came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
    and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
    the darkness couldn’t put it out. (The Message)

It is so good to know that ”the darkness” could not overcome the ”Light” that is Christ. His resurrection demonstrates this. All the hatred in the world could not extinguish the Light of Christ. But it wanted to. It tried to. It still tries…and tries…and it will until the end of time. But it tries and fails, and will until the end of time!

We should not be surprised that persecution (often violent in nature) is the lot of the church, the body of Christ, in this world. The darkness inevitably wants to blow out the Light. This is the age old hatred of Satan for God – the God who became man in Jesus; who is the true ‘Word’ all men need to hear, and see, and believe.

But one day this persecution will end, because the ‘big picture’ Bible story is that the Light wins. The older I get, the more I see that the Bible makes sense of everything. It helps me to understand the mess I see around me, and still have hope. Jesus, and His church, though bitterly hated, and violently opposed, cannot be defeated.

Meanwhile, believers, who see in Jesus the Creator God, can sing with an old hymn:


‘Heaven above is softer blue,
Earth around is sweeter green;
Something lives in every hue
Christless eyes have never seen:
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow,
Flow’rs with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know,
I am His, and He is mine.’ (George Wade Robinson)

Although the world, the universe, is deeply damaged by sin and evil, Jesus shines through every atom and molecule.

PRAYER: Lord, please penetrate the darkness of our lost souls with your blazing, indestructible Light