Under Gloomy Darkness - Jude 1;5-6

Jude 1:5-6 ESV 

Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—

Matthew 4:16

the people dwelling in darkness

have seen a great light,

and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,

on them a light has dawned.”

Where is the darkness, but apart from the light? Is it not the earth, without form and void?

What are the eternal chains, if not those from which Jesus Christ has set His people free? Are we not like stars hung in the sky that continue to shine and give witness to the darkness of that glorious light?

We are children of light that continue to shine in the world. We remain in the world, even as our feet touch the kingdom of heaven. We walk in the land of the shadow of death, but we dine at His table that He has prepared. 

Where is the gloomy darkness, but the dominion of Satan? Fallen angels move around us and demons prey on our weakness, but we follow and are cared for by the Great Shepherd who leads us to the pasture of our salvation. He will bring His people out of this land and into the promised land. He has prepared a place. eath,

on them a light has dawned.”