Have you ever awakened in the early hours before dawn? Thick darkness covers the earth. Trees, rivers, and houses obscured. Silence reigns supreme. Chill, as cool as melting ice, fills the air. Then slowly a faint flush of gray begins to roll through the blackness, forms take shape. Hazy colors appear. Suddenly, as a rocket explodes into space, the sun rises on the horizon. There is a glow on the hills. The leaves on the tree sparkle as they flutter in the soft breeze. The birds greet the new day with their songs. The whole world has changed. Why? Because light has come.1
God’s effort to enlighten and redeem people has been a struggle to penetrate the thick, dense clouds of unfaithfulness, wickedness, and spiritual ignorance. Though a few rays penetrated and pierced the gloom through the efforts of the prophets, a day was coming when that light would burst forth with the brilliance of the sun. That light would be his one and only Son, Jesus. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given ...” (Isaiah 9:6a NIV).
The whole world has changed because of his entrance into the world!
The Light Has Come To Dispel The Darkness (Isaiah 9:2)
Darkness is the absence of light and is used as a sinister metaphor for light’s absence. It conceals reality. It represents evil, wickedness, hatred, gloom, and sin.
Light is one of the greatest benefits God has ever given people. These random verses on light may help us in our journey through this dark world we live in today.
* “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:3-4 NIV). Think how life would be if we only lived in darkness. How depressing and awful it would be all of the time. Consider the Egyptians who had to live in thick darkness (Exodus 10:22-23).
* Escaping Egyptian tyranny, the Israelites were led by a pillar of cloud by daylight and a pillar of fire to give them light by night (Exodus 13:21; 14:20; Psalm 78:14). Bruce Kendall Barnard (Lead Pastor, Warwick Valley Church of the Nazarene, New York) wrote: “There was a time when God just traveled with the people in full view as a pillar of fire. That was cool. No matter how incredible a temple is, people might look at it and say, ‘Maybe God is in there.’ But when you see a pillar of fire, whoa! If I had a pillar of fire behind me and said, ‘Believe in God,’ you’d say, ‘Okay, that’s cool.’ God wants to lead you in the light right now.”
* God is seen as light. An almost-forgotten term from the Old Testament, “Shekinah Glory,” appeared at the completion of both the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-38) and the temple (1 Kings 8:11; 2 Chronicles 5:13-14). Louis Bouck suggests that the term “Shekinah” is the visible manifestation of the presence of God ... it was used in Jewish paraphrases as a synonym for God or his glory. In the Old Testament the Shekinah pointed forward to Christ, the brightness of God’s glory. He continues his thought as he writes, “Identified by some with the Holy Spirit, the Shekinah (meaning to dwell) suggests the companionship, purity, and radiance of the comforter abiding in the sanctified heart.” It is the “awe” of one who stands in the presence of a holy God.
In Pulpit Digest, Bob Woods tells the story of a couple who took their eleven-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter to Carlsbad Caverns. As always, when the tour reached the deepest and darkest point in the cavern, the guide turned off the lights to dramatize how completely dark and silent it is below the surface of the earth.
The daughter became frightened at the suddenness of the darkness that enveloped her. She began to whimper and cry.
Immediately her brother whispered to her, “Don’t cry. Somebody here knows how to turn on the lights."2
In a real sense, the message of Christmas is that God knows how to turn on the lights!
The Light Has Come To Bring Us Joy (Isaiah 9:3)
Joy is an exhilarating emotion of happiness or pleasure. It is from a wellspring of emotion that is very human. Something good has happened to us and we have an excited feeling. It may occur with the discovery of a higher motivation or value. It happens when we find that kindness brings more satisfaction than selfishness.
When the light of God develops through an experience with Christ, a deep joy invades us. What moves us to joy?
- freedom from sin that has separated us from God
- reconciliation with God
- recovery from our lost state with God
- adoption into the family of God
- making spiritual progress in our relationship with God
- life’s blessings that come from God
All of these areas bring joy to the heart of the person who has discovered the joy of knowing and experiencing God. In God we have found our renewing and dependable resource when life seems shaken to its core.
Some scriptures to remind us of joy are:
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. — Isaiah 12:2-3 (NIV)
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! — Philippians 4:4 (NIV)
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. — John 15:11 (NIV)
Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. — Luke 2:10 (NIV)
Are you a person of joy? Don’t let the temporal afflictions destroy your joy. When we walk with God, “weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5b NIV).
The Light Has Come To Bring Us Liberation (Isaiah 9:4)
Oppression brings fear and bondage to human life, but God has come to shatter the yoke of oppression. The bondage that has held humankind is slavery to sin. “Sin brings one under its power and reduces its victim to abject helplessness by the tyranny of its guilt, the irresistibility of its pull, and the grip of its habit"3 wrote Richard S. Taylor.
As light streams into our lives, it dispels the bondage that has held us captive.
* Light dispels the sin of Pharisaic legalism. Legalism is an excessive bondage to the letter of the law that misses the intent of what the law is to do.
* Light dispels the sin of antinomianism or those who reject moral law as binding in terms of conduct.
* Light dispels the bondage to appetites and vices contrary to God’s morality for humans.
* Light dispels the bondage of attitude toward other individuals. We now see them in the light of Jesus.
* Light dispels the fear of Satan and hell. Not to imply that they are not real, but no longer do they have the hold on those who belong to Jesus.
When Christ comes into the heart, there is no more cosmetic cover up. No darkness can hide the light. When the searchlight of God comes into the heart, the awful truth of illicit relationships, uncaring attitudes, lies, cheating, anything unclean is revealed. Our confession has to be made and God’s light drives out all that sin from within the heart.