Black Hole Destroying Hope in Jesus

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. (Isaiah 9:2) 

God, through the prophet Isaiah, declared that the children of Israel would suffer terribly for their sins. “And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness” (Isaiah 8:22). And in accordance with God’s Word, Israel was carried away into exile in Babylon. But despite the magnitude of their sins, God in his mercy promised his people light! Though our sins are black spots against his glory and we deserve to be kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the day of judgment, God promised hope and light to an undeserving people! 

But what is remarkable here is that the prophet does not just speak about hope and light, but that he does so in the past and not the future tense—as if tomorrow’s newspaper had already been printed. For God, the future is never uncertain. The future is but the coming fulfillment of his sovereign will. Therefore, God’s plan of salvation for the world cannot be thwarted or derailed. It is unchangeable, immutable, and fixed in a world that is everchanging, uncertain and full of darkness. God promised long ago, that the dark night of sin that has blinded every single human being on earth, would one day be dispelled by a light—a great light so bright that it would penetrate the land of deep darkness. How glorious it is to know that Jesus Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy. He is the great light of the world who banishes the horrors of the sin of night with his inescapable, brilliant rays of light and life! 

Death is like a black hole. Nothing that nears the horizon of a black hole can escape it. Not even a beam of light, traveling at the highest speed in the universe—can escape the gravitational pull of a black hole. And nothing that passes into a black hole ever returns. And from the inescapable black hole of death, none has ever returned—except one, Jesus Christ. At the command of God our Father, Christ rose to life. The laws of physics were violated and the black hole of death shuddered and exploded as the Son of God tore through the darkness and destroyed it’s inescapable power forever. And amidst the black ruins of death, Jesus Christ the Son stands triumphant and glorious, beckoning all who would be saved to come to him for the forgiveness of their sins. 

Christian, there is no land of deep darkness or impenetrable blackness anymore for those of us who are in Jesus Christ. Our sins have been removed from us and we have been transferred out of the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son! Whether we experience the darkness of famine, war, sickness, or poverty, the great light of Christ is brighter still. And even if our last days might feel dark as we walk through cold, clammy valley of the shadow of death—there is hope. For beyond the dark horizon is the glorious and ever-shining land of the King of kings and the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. He alone is our hope.  

There is only hope for a life of unending joy in an everlasting world, because hope came for us, and entered into our world as a little baby. Praise be to God who gives us this brilliant, glorious, unshakeable, black hole destroying hope! 

Written by: Samuel Chua