The hour the lights went out.

It is called “Earth Hour”, a global movement promoted by the World Wildlife Fund in Australia.

It began on March 31, 2007, in Sydney when over 2 million residents and 2,199 businesses there turned off their lights as a public reminder of global warming and environmental issues. The event saved electric consumption by an estimated 10.2% for the single hour. But on March 29 of this year, 24 global cities went dark to show their support by turning lights off from 8:00 to 9:00 PM. They are hoping the event will gain more recognition as the movement grows in the years to come.

Whether one believes the earth to have serious environmental trouble or not, conservation is still a generally good idea since it impacts the quality of life for every living creature. And while it is impractical, if not impossible, to mechanically darken the planet, there was a time when several hours of thick darkness covered the land because of an astounding event. Luke 23 speaks of arguably the darkest moment in history – the inconceivable crucifixion of the Son of God. Verse 44 reads, “Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, 'into Your hands I commit My spirit.'" Having said this, He breathed His last.”

As bleak as those few terrible hours were for the Lord Himself, and for those who loved Him, that unimaginable darkness would soon become the very source of an unparalleled light - a light that would pierce the darkness of human sin. In John 8, Jesus intervened in a dark moment for a woman who was about to be stoned to death for adultery. After miraculously neutralizing the bloodthirsty and hypocritical crowd, He spoke to her words of forgiveness followed by a revealing to a stunned crowd His status as the world’s only spiritual ‘light” in verse 12. “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

In his first letter, Peter revealed in chapter 2 and verses 9-10 the special status of those who have miraculously escaped the grip of sin’s darkness through Christ’s transforming light. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”

Then, upon becoming partakers of Christ’s nature, believers should likewise contrast and resist the darkness that typically surrounds them. They are to become literal extensions of Christ’s light in the midst of a spiritually blinded culture. Paul forcefully revealed this to a young church in Ephesians in chapter 5 and verse 8. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.”

Finally, the indwelling light of the living God should serve to keep His people’s motives right and their actions pure as they consider their Lord’s soon return. Paul spelled this pattern out in 1Thessalonians 5:2-8. “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.”

Colossians 1:13-14 speaks of the ability and infinite power of God’s light in Christ. “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” And while all attempts at conservation aimed at the material world may improve the quality of life on planet earth, only a spiritual transformation in Christ prepares the soul for what comes long after this fragile world is a distant memory.

Bill Breckenridge