THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED." Matthew 4:16
Christmas lights…they are everywhere. Streets normally dark and scary are now ablaze with lights of all colors adorning houses, bushes and trees. No one seems to worry about the cost of electricity when they plug them in; they just want to be one of the best on the block. Lights and Christmas just go together. From the lights on the tree to the candles in the windows, Christmas would not be Christmas without light.
That’s the truth, you know. For Christmas is about the “Light of the World” entering our darkened planet. You see, The Christmas story begins in darkness…
There was the darkness of oppression, for God's people were a conquered people. They were a beaten and a defeated people. There was the darkness of persecution. Indeed, it was a despised universal taxation that brought the participants in the story together on that fateful night. There was the darkness of disillusionment. There was an ever-increasing number who felt that violence, not faith, was the most effective path. Yes, on that first Christmas, the mood was one of despair and resignation.
And as it was then so it is now. We too live in a world of darkness. There are wars and rumors of wars, hunger and unemployment, racism, loneliness, and a sense of emptiness. People are groping about in the darkness of addiction, depression, anxiety and purposelessness.
Perhaps the poet Robert Frost worded it best when he wrote: “I have been acquainted with the night.
I have walked in the rain and out of the rain.
I have been acquainted with the night.”
I have walked in the rain and out of the rain.
I have been acquainted with the night.”
I don't have to tell any of you about the darkness, because in one form or another, at one time or another, it has touched the life of each person here. You have been acquainted with the night. We can’t naively deny the existence of the darkness. Nowhere in scripture do we receive a pep talk and an argument that things aren't really as bad as they seem. Rather, it affirms that the darkness is real, and it is present.
But, it also seems that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The prophet Isaiah wrote, people who walk in darkness have seen a great light. (Isaiah 9:2) John’s Gospel records: The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5) So, we come together to sing again the words: “Yet, in thy dark street shineth the everlasting light.”
The good news of Christmas is that in the midst of a deep darkness there came a light, and the darkness was not able to overcome that light. It was not just a temporary flicker. It was an eternal flame. We need to remember that. There are times, in the events of the world and in the events of our own personal lives, that we feel that the light will be snuffed out. But the Christmas story affirms that whatever happens, the light still shines.
Scripture to Claim:
In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. John 1:4 NASB
