Exodus 10:21
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Exodus 10:21-29 and John 1:1-14
As we discovered yesterday, the first nine plagues are God undoing the events of Creation. He is showing both the Egyptians and Israelites that He has the power over Creation. He created it the first time and he can uncreate it if he chooses to. It reminds me of the Bill Cosby routine where he says that his father told him, “You know, I brought you in this world, and I can take you out.” We are only here by the grace of God and he’s letting the world know it.
Tomorrow we will begin our study of the most pivotal event in history prior to Jesus coming to earth. But the ninth plague stands out to me so I want to take a look at it today. It’s the Plague of Darkness. The first eight plagues brought death, sickness, hunger, storms, terrible smells and total devastation. Then in the ninth plague, God brings silence. But it’s not a calming silence. It’s a painful silence. It says “a darkness that can be felt.” Have you ever been somewhere that was so dark you could feel it? No light and no sense of direction. So dark you don’t want people to talk because you want to be able to hear if someone is sneaking up on you. It was a darkness that could be felt.
I think that is what hell is like. Hell is described as the “blackest darkness” (2 Peter 2:17 and Jude 1:13). Jesus told the parable of the wedding banquet where the king threw the man not wearing wedding clothes outside “into the darkness” (Matt 22:13). It’s also described as a place where its inhabitants are “shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thes 1:9). And since we know that Jesus is the light of the world, total darkness would be the absence of God’s light. So in a sense, during this plague of darkness, God withdrew from Egypt and was absent from them leaving them in total darkness.
But this plague also has me thinking about the crucifixion. Another time where we lost God’s light. While Jesus hung on the cross, “from noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land” (Matt 27:45) For three hours there was darkness. There was physical darkness as God withdrew from Jesus and also spiritual darkness as God placed the sins of the world on His son.
I find a couple of parallels of the ninth plague and the crucifixion hard to miss. The first is the number three. God left Egypt in darkness for three days. Scripture says, “No one could see anyone else or move about for three days” (Ex 10:23). I mean it was seriously dark! This is similar to Israel being in darkness during the crucifixion for three hours. And also similar to Jesus being in the grave for three days. That was also a very dark time full of mourning and hopelessness.
The other parallel I find interesting is that the ninth plague happened right before the tenth plague. Duh right? Darkness came over the land of Egypt during the ninth plague and then the firstborn sons died in the tenth plague. Just like darkness came over the land in Israel while Jesus was crucified and then God’s one and only son died. The timing of the darkness is in the same order of events. But while the darkness was a precursor to the death of the innocents, it was also a precursor to the light. Israel would be saved from their slavery through the events of the Passover and we would be saved from our sin through Jesus’ resurrection.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). I hope to never experience a darkness that can be felt. Jesus experienced that darkness for us so that we could walk in the light. I’m thankful for that today.
Christ in the Old Testament 
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