Isaiah begins this message by saying…The people walking in darkness have seen a Great Light. What darkness is Isaiah talking about? Is he talking about physical darkness?
Tonight, it is dark outside. Our external world is in darkness. I still don’t like darkness coming at 5 pm, especially in the winter months. However, we are here past the last fading light of dusk, embracing the darkness outside. Curiously, I looked up several places that are the darkest in our world. Interestingly, it is in the darkest places where the light, especially stars, shine brighter. Where are the darkest places in our world? Two of them are in the US.
Death Valley, USA: The largest Dark Sky designated area, offering vast, near-pristine skies.
Greater Big Bend, USA/Mexico: The world’s largest International Dark Sky Place.
If you want to get a greater look at the stars you might want to visit these places.
Some live and work in the darkest of places. My father was a coal miner who worked in darkness hundreds of feet underground. He worked in deep darkness with a miner’s light in a prime season of his life.
Even in our childhood stories of Christmas, Santa Claus needed Rudolf’s bright and shining nose to make it through that dark and foggy night!
But this imagery of darkness and light is not just about places and spaces where there is physical darkness. It seems evident that Isaiah is talking about spiritual darkness. And this spiritual darkness is a powerful symbolism of sin and evil. This epic battle of the forces of good and evil or sin and righteousness permeates our world. The battle of light and darkness has been going on since near the dawn of creation and it is still unfolding until the final consummation of all things and the coming again of Jesus.
But in the immediate context of Isaiah’s prophecy… the Northen Kingdom was overtaken by Assyria. This was one of the darkest times in Israel’s history. People were killed and survivors were exiled. Everything they knew was turned upside down. Hard to imagine a darker time. When everything you know is taken from you. We may face loss of houses and loved ones or jobs or earthly goods. But they were overtaken by an enemy that took everything away from them. Again, it is hard to imagine a darker time in their entire history.
In our time darkness is portrayed in epic movies like Star Wars and the newer Marvel characters that depict this battle of light versus darkness and good versus evil. Even the classic Disney films have good characters and villains like Ursula and Cruella Devil. And I’m thinking these are Children’s films, right? But these films bring to the forefront the reality of dark forces in our world and how menacing and threatening they can be.
I remember going to see a prior Marvel movie in the sequel with our family. The Infinity War. Very incredible special effects and the high drama of the forces of good and evil battling. Then came the end of the movie. Honestly, it was rather depressing. Many of the good characters just turned to dust right in front of your eyes. In my mind, I’m thinking… This is not right… What is the deal? The forces of light and goodness are supposed to come out of top here. Now I see them literally turning into dust! If you have not seen the movie, I apologize for this spoiler comment. So glad they made another movie and that was not the final ending. However, that represents a reality that exists in our world when good people die or tragic losses occur. This is a picture of deep darkness.
The bible depicts sin and darkness coming from the Evil One we call Satan. The brokenness in our world was created by what we call the Fall. Our original parents decided to make their own way and live by their own rules (does that sound familiar). We know their sin and rebellion created a separation from God and set forth consequences that have historic and worldwide implications. The ground was cursed. Adam and Eve were banished from the garden paradise. As the song “O Holy Night” puts it so simply and powerfully… Long lay the world in sin and error pining…til He appeared! The world was held in darkness and living in darkness…til Christ appeared. From the time Cain killed his brother Abel in Genesis 4 our recorded history is marked with works of darkness down to the present day as we see deep darkness in acts of terrorism and mass shootings that too often tragically impact our world. Even more currently with the news of the Brown University shootings and the shootings on the Beach in Australia. But we can point to so many other events of darkness in the past decade especially.
More personally, many of you have encountered dark places and experiences in your lives. Certainly, this year has been difficult for many people with loss of loved ones, for others loss of jobs or income and for others loss of health. But the prophecy and promise are as good today as when Isaiah first spoke it: Unto darkness has come Great Light! It is the story of redemption and how the Great Light of God will overcome the darkness.
The later fulfillment of this prophecy is reflected in the angelic birth announcement which brought good news or great joy to our world. Yes… Unto darkness has come great Light! I want you to notice that it reads…Great light! Now I want you to help me preach tonight. Right Side: Great! Left Side: Light! Again, together Great! Light! Folks, this is not a little light but a GREAT LIGHT!
A couple of years ago we took our granddaughter, now 4 years old, out looking at Christmas lights and decorations. This was not her first trip which I was about to quickly find out. Before we made it out of our street…She spoke out…Pops! I want to see a BIG snowman! We went down our street, and someone had put out a smaller snowman. She spoke up quickly and said…That is a little snow man Pops! I want to see a BIG Snowman. We heard about the big blow-up Christmas characters in a neighborhood. So, we went and what to our wondering eyes should appear…Massive, taller than the house decorations in front of every house on the street… And yes… there were 2 huge snowmen! Olaf and Frosty! Wow! Yes, they were impressive, bigger than the house! The biggest decorations I had ever seen!
Can I say Isaiah calls this a Great Light because is greater than the darkness. Matter of fact, it totally absorbs the darkness! Yes…This is a Great Light that is bigger than our house and bigger than the universe…It is greater than all the forces of evil in our world. Isaiah said so truly… Unto darkness has come GREAT LIGHT.
The imagery of light is particularly seen in John’s gospel. Interestingly, John does not give us the birth narratives of Jesus like Matthew and Luke. John gives us the story of the preexistence of Jesus…In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Jesus existed before Bethlehem. John is telling us that Jesus was before the creation and is greater than the creation or anything in the creation!
Then John’s Gospel gives this imagery of Jesus as light coming into darkness. Christ is bringing hope in the midst of our weary world. He’s bringing peace and meaning into our broken world. He is bringing Light and Life into the world. And the deepest darkness cannot overcome the great light of Christ.
John puts it like this… Light has come into the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it (John 1:5). The light will absorb the darkness. This GREAT light is bigger than the FALL. It is indeed bigger than the darkness of our world.
We know that our earth revolves around an axis and it takes 24 hours for it to rotate around the sun. As we know, one half the planet is in darkness while the other half is light. Interestingly, the planets are all spinning at different rates. One day of Jupiter takes 10 hours compared to earth. One day on Venus takes 243 days on earth. Wow! Sometimes our darkness is like we are living on Jupiter. When we are in the darkness, it is difficult for us to see or perceive this light overcoming darkness.
Note that Isaiah says, “Those living in the land of deep darkness and light has DAWNED”.
There is an amazing thing that happens which most of us miss every day…it’s called DAWN. Some of our children or grandchildren may be up at dawn tomorrow anxiously awaiting to open gifts. But Dawn is an incredible earth-changing event when light of day overcomes the darkness of night. It is a powerful act of nature that we take for granted every day and many miss seeing. Yet it is a picture of the greater reality that LIGHT will overcome. Light will prevail. No matter how dark the night or powerful the enemies of darkness. They will finally be overcome. As the Psalmist reminds us, mourning may last though the night, but joy comes in the morning… Psalm 30:5 The light is coming to overtake the darkness.
We see the greater fulfillment of this in the NT… where Jesus said… I am the Light of the World… Friends, this is the marvel of Christmas…and this is why we can celebrate. This is why the angels were singing. This is why Mary was rejoicing. This is why the shepherd were glorifying and praising God. Jesus has put in motion the Kingdom of God. He has brought heaven to earth. He is the Light of the World.
Where do we see this Light overcoming darkness? As you look through the gospels it is written across every event and story.
Blind eyes are open. Cripples are walking. The dead are raised to life. The darkest experiences in life are overcome. These are all signs of light of the kingdom of God breaking into our world. But they are only a foreshadowing of greater things to come when Jesus returns.
John Stott put it like this…”No life ever lived on this planet has been so influential in the affairs of men as that of Christ. From that brief life and its apparent frustration has flowed a more powerful force for the triumphal waging of man’s long battle than any other ever known by the human race.
But the last part of this relates to us being Christians. Christ, The Light of the World…calls us to be light in the world. Jesus says in Matthew 5:14-16
“You are the light of [Christ to] the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven.
In other scriptures Paul tells us that we have been called out of darkness into his marvelous light (I Peter 2) and we are to shine like stars in the night sky (Philippians 2:15).
Several years ago around Christmas time it was a cold, clear evening. It was about 20 degrees. I looked outside at our patio and saw our 15 year old daughter in a chair. I thought I hope she is ok. What is she doing out there in this bitter cold? I opened the sliding glass door and asked if she was ok. She looked over at me with here eyes wide open and whispered, “Dad, the stars, “Look up at the stars!” They are amazing!” So what did I do? I got a chair and went out and sat beside her! Tonight, when you go outside and look up and see the stars. I hope you can see the “Big Dipper, or “Orion’s Belt” or the “Little Dipper”. The formation of those stars is unmistakable. Paul is saying that we should have the same unmistakable light of Christ that is reflected in us.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, “We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). But here is the amazing thing, You cannot produce light. You can only reflect it.
When Handel wrote the “Hallelujah Chorus” his health and his fortunes had reached their lowest ebb in his life. All his money was gone. He was heavily in debt and threatened with even imprisonment. He was tempted to give up and quit his profession. The odds were too stacked against him. He was in a weary world and perhaps the darkest place in his life. But it was in that experience that he composed his greatest work,” The Messiah.” And the wonderful “Hallelujah Chorus.” Could we not say that the Holy Spirit moved Handel and set him upon his feet to write one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, causing him to rejoice in his weary world. But here is another important part. That music has impacted millions of other people. The Light of Christ was reflected through that music to influence others. And He shall reign forever and ever! Alleluia! Yes, Friends unto darkness has come GREAT LIGHT!
We may not be able to compose music like Handel. But God is calling us to be light amid darkness, actually calling us out of darkness into his marvelous light is what the Scripture says. But how do we do this as the people of God reflect the Light of Christ?
I’ve been praying the Prayer of Saint Francis this season more consistently. And I want to invite you to pray this prayer with me tonight. You can help me preach tonight as we pray this great prayer. It gives us some ways in which we can reflect the Great light of hope in our dark world. It even includes a line about darkness and light. These are the greatest Christmas presents we will ever give and receive.
The prayer is on the screen, and I invite you just to pray it with me tonight. So let us pray together,
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
If we live out that prayer, not just saying it, but if we live out that prayer, we become as Christ in the world and we bring the Great light of Christ to our world. Yes…unto darkness a GREAT LIGHT has dawned! Alleluia! Amen!
Let’s prepare our hearts for Holy Communion