The Secrecy of Evil

Act 26:16-18  But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you,  (17)  delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you  (18)  to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Satan’s kingdom is very often depicted in the Bible as “darkness.” A place where people are blind and lost. The realm of death. Satan is in the business of keeping people blind to the glory of Christ (see 2 Cor 4:3-4).

And with this darkness comes secrecy. The darkness covers up. It hides things. It lies and deceives to keep its secrets. And evil is highly successful at all this secrecy business. For now anyway:

Luk 8:17  For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.

A number of years ago I watched a TV miniseries called “Chiefs.” It was the story of a succession of police chiefs in a small town over several decades of time. All the while, there was a secret thread running through that community – there was a serial killer among them. One police chief almost caught the killer but ended up being killed by him before he could arrest him. Only after many, many years did the darkness come to light. There is a moving closing scene in which the FBI is excavating the killer’s property and you see many, many graves being unearthed as the camera backs away. All those years, all that time. Secrets.

And so it is with the evil that is all around us. How many people who we think we know have dark secrets we would not even believe if they told us? We know that domestic abusers live lives of multiple faces. What secret things are they hiding as they stand up in the pulpit to pray or when they stand at the church doors welcoming people in “Jesus’ name”?

I can promise you that every single evil hypocrite/abuser who is wearing a mask of holy religion has MANY secrets in his closet. How many children has he molested? What does he do to abuse his wife daily? What secrets lie in his background? In most cases, only the Lord knows.

But that is enough, that only the Lord knows.  Yes, we do what we can to expose evil but ultimately it will be the Lord who blows the lid off these secrets entirely for all to see. And He is going to do it. He has promised.

And He cannot lie.

Luk 12:2-3  Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.  (3)  Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.