Darkness: Handed Over to the Enemy
In Gethsemane, and now in the events leading to the cross, Jesus faced as never before the forces of evil. The struggle against satanic powers was to reach indescribable dimensions, testing the Savior to the very core of His being.
Among the indignities, He was being “ ‘betrayed into the hands of sinners’ ” (Matt. 26:45, NIV). The verb betrayed (Greek paradidomi, “to hand over”) is used several times to describe what would happen to Jesus. Here the context suggests that Judas is the one who betrays Him, but behind the wicked and voluntary decision of Judas the divine plan was being mysteriously fulfilled. It was God who “delivered [Christ] over to death for our sins” (Rom. 4:25, NIV). But Christ also gave Himself up for us, as seen in Galatians 2:20 and Ephesians 5:2—clear references to His sacrificial death on the cross.
According to Matthew 26:45, 46, Jesus was handed over into the hands of sinners. The verb expresses the idea of a transfer of a possession from one to another. Indeed, already “the light of God was receding from His vision, and He was passing into the hands of the powers of darkness.”—Ellen G. White, Bible Echo and Signs of the Times, August 1, 1892. Now He was going to be delivered totally into the hands of sinners; that is, into the hands of evil powers. For Him this was the hour “ ‘when darkness reigns’ ” (Luke 22:53, NIV), when He was to experience total separation from the Father’s love. Christ was going into the kingdom of darkness by Himself; and yet, it was there, in that kingdom, that He would defeat evil once and for all. As the incarnate God in human flesh, He overcame the kingdom of Satan.
How does Jesus describe His victory over the power of darkness? Luke 11:20–22.
Luke says that Jesus was facing the hour of the dominion of darkness (Luke 22:53), and Paul adds that God “has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13, 14, NIV). Christ went into the realm of darkness and experienced what we should have experienced, and He did it in order to deliver us from the power of Satan (Acts 26:18). While there He “disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col. 2:15, NIV).
| How should our knowledge of Christ’s victory over these evil forces encourage us in our daily struggles amid the great controversy? What does His victory mean for us? How can we avail ourselves of that victory in our lives? |
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