The Great Light
Isaiah 9: 2, 6 -7
As we know, after the Assyrians were used as the tool of judgement by God because their disobedience, the times and the spirits of the dispersed Jews was dark and dismal, they didn’t know where God had gone, why He wasn’t protecting them anymore and they didn’t know if He loved them anymore!
That is the dark and dismal condition in which we have found the Jews in the prophetic books that we have been reading during Advent. The prophets Jeremiah, Malachi, Zephaniah, Micah and now for the second time Isaiah. have told the Jews that it is their fault that they are in this condition, this situation is because of God’s judgement for their broken condition and disobedience to God and his expectations. This darkness was not a physical darkness, the Sun came up every day, rather it was the darkness of emotional anguish and spiritual death.
In our lesson this evening, the prophet Isaiah speaks of a “great light” which would illuminate the darkness of Galilee when the righteous reign of a coming King would begin. Now remember Isaiah is writing to these people 700 years prior to the coming of Jesus, while they were living a great spiritual and emotional darkness. But in God’s vision to Isaiah, the coming of a Great Light was so vivid, intense and enlightening in Isaiah’s mind that he describes it as if this light had already dawned.
Isaiah knows that there will come a great light that will shine upon them and change their lives forever. For the Jews eventually the prophecy is fulfilled by the arrival of Jesus as a baby indicated by a great light, the Star of David over Bethlehem, the event that we anticipate and celebrate here tonight. The question for us on this “holy night” is a simple one. Do we still see Isaiah’s great light illuminating in our lives and throughout a dark and frightened world?
As current day Christians who are still in the midst of the darkness of grief and questioning that has become an undeniable part of our lives and society, we should be reminded that the “light has come.” Like the people to whom Isaiah ministered, we can experience the renewed joy, which is glorious and spontaneous, as we sang Joy to the World, the Lord has come. This joy which we can know at this Christmas is a joy before our Lord which we have because God still showers his grace upon us.
On this night of light, we must remember that light permeates the whole of biblical revelation and truth to which we continue to hold dear. We see it in the creation account where light is described as victory over darkness. God himself is revealed as the “Light of light,” who is the source of all life.
The coming of Jesus Christ is connected with light because Jesus is revealed as the light of the world (John 1:4; 8:12; 12:35). Paul writes that as believers our walk must be in the light of Jesus Christ so that all who confess Christ as Lord become a light for the world (Ephesians 5:8; Philippians 2:15).
The significance of Isaiah’s light for us is that it has shined into our darkness and the greatness of this light has brought us “new life.” In the Gospel of John 1:3-4, “… the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
The light that the people of God have seen, is a light we can live in each day, whether a physical light is visible to our eyes or not. We can walk in that light, spiritual enlightenment, even on the cloudiest of days. We can bask in that glow, in the light of peace and comfort, even in our dreariest moments. Advent can be, and is, a reminder of what we already have, as well as a reminder of what once came and is promised again, the Great Light, the Light of the World.
But we must also acknowledge that there is still work to be done as we journey onward toward a second advent, a return if you will, of the Great Light, the light of redemption and salvation. Isaiah tells us that though the light has shined, the complete fulfillment of God’s plan is still in the future; the authority has to grow so that we can make our way to endless peace, comfort and reconciliation for all people. We don’t have to look hard to be reminded that we aren’t there yet.
And yet, there is hope, joy, peace and love within us; there can be hope, joy, peace and love peace among us. We just need to take the Great Light that we have received and share it with the needy world around us. On us the light has shined and through us the light can shine on the world around us!
Listen to these words of the song that will hear soon from Laura Daigle; The world waits for a miracle, The heart longs for a little bit of hope, A child prays for peace on Earth, and she’s calling out from a sea of hurt. The drought breaks with the tears of a mother, the baby’s cry is the sound of love. Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel. Can you hear the angels singing, Glory to the light of the world, Glory the light of the world is here? Glory to the light of the world! Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel.
Dear ones the Great Light has come to us, to be with us, to guide us, to comfort us and to save us! Amen.