INTRODUCTION: Dedication of Solomon’s Temple

1. THE DIFFICULTY
1. The Typology of Darkness
2. The Nature of God
1. No darkness in Him (1 John 1:5This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
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2. No fellowship with darkness (1 John 1:6If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
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3. Christ delivers us from the darkness (John 12:46I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
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2. THE HISTORY
1. The Psalms of David (Psalm 18:11-13 [11] He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. [12] At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. [13] The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
   See All...; Psalm 97:1-2 [1] The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. [2] Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.
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2. The Lord on Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy 4:10-12 [10] Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. [11] And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. [12] And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.
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3. The Covenant with Abram (Genesis 15:12-13 [12] And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. [13] And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their's, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
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4. The Spirit in Creation (Genesis 1:1-3 [1] In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. [2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. [3] And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
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3. THE MYSTERY
1. The Hiddenness of His Nature
1. The presence of God in the darkness (Exodus 20:21And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.
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2. The limited revelation of the Lord (Deuteronomy 29:29The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
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2. The Brightness of His Glory
1. The brightness of His glory (Ezekiel 10:4Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD's glory.
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2. The lethal nature of His brightness (Exodus 33:20And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
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3. The Fearfulness of His Presence
1. An horror of great darkness (Genesis 15:12And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
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2. The horror of Mount Sinai (Hebrews 12:18-21 [18] For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, [19] And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: [20] (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: [21] And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
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3. The darkness of the day of the Lord (Amos 5:18-20 [18] Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. [19] As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. [20] Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
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4. THE GLORY
1. Our Presumption
1. Darkness is evil
2. There is not darkness in God (1 John 1:5This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
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3. Therefore our days of darkness (Ecclesiastes 11:8But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.
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2. His Promise
1. We will have days of darkness (Ecclesiastes 11:8But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.
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2. But God is in the thick darkness (2 Chronicles 6:1Then said Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
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3. Therefore God is with us when we are in darkness
3. Our Light in the Darkness
1. As the Israelites had light during the plague of darkness (Exodus 10:21-23 [21] And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. [22] And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: [23] They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.
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2. As Job walked by God’s light through the darkness (Job 29:1-3 [1] Moreover Job continued his parable, and said, [2] Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; [3] When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;
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3. So God will make the darkness light before us (Isaiah 42:16And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
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4. He will also give us treasures in the darkness (Isaiah 45:3And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
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• Darkness of a lost condition
• Darkness of understanding and direction
• Darkness of multiplied trials and disappointments
• Darkness of a lost way into sin and disobedience

Into the Hand of God – King George VI of England (reigned 1936-1952) never expected to be king of England but had the job and its duties thrust on him when his older brother, Edward VIII, abdicated the throne to marry an American divorcee, Mrs. Ernest Simpson. George VI did not have the commanding presence of his brother and struggled with stuttering. However, he faithfully led his country through the time of the Second World War and reached out to his people through regular radio broadcasts. “His most famous broadcast came at Christmas in 1939, when he made a great effect quoting a little-known poet who had written:

May the Almighty Hand guide and uphold us all.’ ” –from The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England by Antonia Fraser (page 354).