Luke 22 v 52. “Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs?”
This was a dramatic moment in the history of salvation. This was the moment of darkness. Jesus was being hauled out of a garden of prayer. He had been betrayed by a friend and all the proceedings were illegal. In verses 52 and 53 Jesus challenges those who had come to arrest him.
Jesus had been arrested on the trumped up charge that he was some kind of subversive person seeking to stir up political trouble. How silly it is ever to think that all the problems of the world can be solved by political subversion or armed conflict. Jesus knew that, that is why he came on a much greater errand – to change human hearts. But to this day people insist on politics, or armed conflicts as ways of changing our world.
The fact is that daily he taught publicly in their temples and no one could find any fault with him. All this was done in broad daylight. Eventually, because his teaching was so flawless, they had to concoct a charge and pin it on him under the cloak of darkness. Their very tactics and the timing of the arrest, showed the source of their power. “This is your hour – when darkness reigns.”
Just think for a moment about the idea that darkness “reigns”. The word means “to rule”. So for this period of time, at this place and time in history, God allows “darkness” i.e. evil to reign. Does this mean that God gives up His Sovereign rule? NO. It simply means that God in His Great and Sovereign purposes makes way for even “darkness” to bring about his will i.e. even the wicked plans of evil men eventually work out to fulfil His purpose.
Let us all remember that even when things seem to be at their darkest God is working out his good purposes. Always remember Acts 2 v 36 and Acts 4 v 10. Read these verses regularly and remember God is always at work.