CHRISTMAS IN THE DARK
CCCAG — December 21, 2025
Scriptures
Isaiah 9:2
Luke 2:8–14
Supporting Texts
John 1:1–5; Isaiah 60:1–2; Psalm 119:105
INTRODUCTION —
Christmas is in a few days, and for many it comes with expectations.
We’re told it should feel warm and bright,
like a Hallmark movie: twinkling lights, cheerful scenes, families smiling, everything in its place. And when it looks like that, it’s wonderful.
But the truth is, for a lot of people, Christmas doesn’t feel bright at all.
Many enter into this season tired—not just “busy tired,” but soul tired.
Some are grieving.
Some are stretched thin by responsibilities, family strain, medical issues, financial pressure, or anxiety that sits on your chest when the house gets quiet.
Christmas has a way of magnifying what’s already inside us.
Joy feels louder, but so does sadness.
Good memories feel sweeter, but missing someone feels sharper.
If your life is peaceful, you feel it. If your life is heavy, you feel it too.
Let me ask a question- as you have gotten older, has the Christmas Holiday lost it’s luster? Are you quietly wondering, “What’s wrong with me that this season doesn’t feel like it’s supposed to?”
Well, there is some good news- Scripture doesn’t shame you for that. In fact, Scripture meets you right there.
The Prophet Isaiah lived in such a time. Although he lived in the southern kingdom of Judah, In Isaiah chapter 9 he is looking north as he prophesied. He sees the enemy, the Assyrian Empire about to swallow the northern Kingdom, and so the prophet reminds everybody that one is coming that will bring the light of God’s glory to the darkest places.
This is the world Isaiah is speaking to when he says this-
Isaiah 9:2 says: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”
Prayer
Let’s look at what Isaiah is speaking to this section of scripture.
Isaiah does not say, “The people walking in perfect peace have seen a great light.”
He doesn’t say, “The people walking in comfort, ease, and stability have seen a great light.”
He says, “The people walking in darkness.”
That means darkness is not the interruption of the Christmas story.
Darkness is the environment in which Christmas begins.
The first Christmas was not a sparkling scene of stability and comfort.
The first Christmas unfolded in a world thick with political oppression, spiritual silence, economic hardship, corrupt leadership, broken families, fear, violence, and uncertainty.
So if your heart is heavy this December, you are not failing Christmas.
You’re standing exactly where the first Christmas happened.
And our message today is this: no matter how dark life becomes, the birth of Jesus Christ breaks the darkness. Not with a motivational slogan, not with denial, not with temporary distraction, but with the arrival of God Himself—
Light entering our night.
Let’s walk through the text together.
I. THE CHRISTMAS STORY BEGINS IN DARKNESS (Isaiah 9:2; Luke 2:1–7)
A. Darkness in Israel (Isaiah’s context)
Isaiah is preaching into a bleak moment. The northern Kingdom of Israel is spiritually cold, morally confused, politically oppressed, economically crushed, and socially fractured. They are living with the consequences of generations of sin, and the fear of what comes next. And it isn’t just political darkness; it’s spiritual darkness. There is confusion about truth, compromise about morality, and an aching sense of distance from God.
Sound familiar?
And Isaiah responds to all of that by saying: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.”
In other words, God does not wait until the people are walking in sunshine to bring light. God brings light to people walking in the dark.
We often have this backwards. Too often we assume God only moves when we “get it together.”
We think God will show up after we become more faithful, more disciplined, more stable, more “together.”
But Isaiah’s prophecy flips that assumption: God shines in the very place where people are stumbling.
Israel also experienced something that makes darkness feel heavier: silence. Between the Old Testament prophets and the coming of Jesus, there were 400 years of prophetic silence. .
People wondered if God still remembered them. They wondered if the promises were real. They wondered if their prayers were bouncing off the ceiling.
Again, does this sound familiar?
Maybe Not the exact details, but the feeling: “God, where are You?” And Isaiah’s answer is hope: a light is coming.
B. Darkness in Bethlehem (Luke’s context)
Fast forward 730 years to a little town called Bethlehem-
Jesus is born, but, the darkness doesn’t suddenly lift.
Rome controls the land. Taxes are crushing. A tyrant—Herod—sits on the throne. The census that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem is not a cute detail; it is a reminder that their lives and even movements are being shaped by a distant power.
This is not a world full of bright lights and cheerful songs. It is a world full of fear.
If you want to understand the first Christmas, you have to understand this:
Jesus came into a world that looked like the light was losing. Darkness felt normal. Oppression felt permanent. Hope felt fragile.
And yet God chooses that moment.
God does not wait for Rome to collapse.
God does not wait for Herod to repent.
God does not wait for the economy to rebound.
God sends His Son anyway.
And look where Jesus landed-
C. Darkness of a stable (Luke 2:6–7)
We sanitize the nativity: clean straw, calm animals, peaceful Mary, smiling Joseph, a warm glow in the corner.
But reality was harsher. It smelled like animals. It was cold. It was loud. It was unsanitary. It was dark.
If anything, a maybe they had a candle to help them see. A single candle to greet the Savior when he was born.
And here’s the key: God chose this. Not because He couldn’t do better, but because He wanted to meet humanity at its lowest point.
Listen carefully to what I’m about to say-
Christmas is the announcement that God is not afraid of our mess.
He does not wait for us to clean the room before He enters. He comes into the stable.
He comes into our night.
He comes into the places we would never post online, the places we try to hide, the places where we whisper, “Lord, if You saw this part of me, would You still come?”
And Christmas answers: Yes. He came.
The second thing we see is that
II. GOD DOES HIS BEST WORK IN THE DARK (Luke 2:8–12)
Now Luke turns us away from the stable and toward the fields.
“The shepherds were living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.”
A. God intentionally revealed glory in the night
Night is not just a poetic setting. Night was when danger was highest.
Predators stalked.
Thieves took advantage.
Exhaustion tempted you to quit.
Visibility was lowest. If you were going to get hurt, it was more likely at night.
And that is where God chooses to reveal His glory.
“An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.”
The sky splits. The darkness is interrupted. Heaven lights up the field.
It’s not accidental that God’s glory shows up precisely there. God is teaching us something about how He works: He doesn’t wait until the light is easy.
He brings light when and where the light is needed.
Another thing we see about the dark-
B. Darkness is not a sign of God’s abandonment—it’s often His stage
We tend to think, “When things get brighter, then God will move. When my life calms down, then I’ll hear Him. When the crisis ends, then I’ll feel His presence.”
But Scripture tells a different story:
God created light out of darkness.
God spoke to Abraham in the dark.
Jacob wrestled God at night.
Israel’s deliverance from Egypt came in the night.
Samuel heard God’s voice before dawn.
And Jesus rose before the sun came up.
Your darkness is not proof something went wrong. Sometimes it is the place God has a habit of showing up. Not because He enjoys your pain, but because He is the only One who can truly break it.
Darkness is often a time of preparation-
C. Darkness prepares our eyes for the light
Some of the clearest revelations of God only come when everything else is stripped away: distractions gone, illusions gone, false supports gone, artificial light gone.
Pain has a way of sharpening spiritual sight. Suffering creates space for God’s voice. Darkness makes us look upward.
And in the field, the shepherds look up—and heaven answers.
Now notice what the angel says: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”
The good news is not that the night is over. The good news is not that Rome has fallen. The good news is not that Herod is gone.
The good news is that a Savior has been born.
“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”
That is not just a comforting thought. That is a declaration of spiritual reality.
A Savior.
A Messiah.
The Lord.
In other words: God has entered the darkness personally.
It also shows us that
III. THE LIGHT GOD SENDS IS NOT ALWAYS WHAT WE EXPECT (Isaiah 9:6; Luke 2:12)
Isaiah 9 doesn’t say, “A spotlight will shine.” It says, “A child is born.”
Light didn’t come as a political revolution, a military victory, a thunderous miracle, or a display of overwhelming power.
It came as a baby—fragile, vulnerable, small, quiet, unnoticed.
And that’s often how God works. When you pray for God to move, don’t be surprised when His answer comes in a form that requires faith to recognize.
It show us that-
A. God’s light often comes quietly
The angel gives the shepherds a sign: “You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Not on a throne. Not in a castle or a fortress.
Jesus came into the world in a cows cereal bowl, in probably the poorest barn in a backwater town.
Some of God’s greatest work comes in ways that are easy to miss if we only look for fireworks.
Sometimes the miracle is subtle: a Scripture that won’t leave your mind,
a friend who checks in at the right moment,
a peace you didn’t manufacture,
a strength you didn’t know you had,
a conversation that nudges your heart back toward hope.
All of these are easy to miss when we aren’t looking.
Just like a baby in a manger didn’t look like a rescue plan.
But it was.
Another thing it show us is that
B. God’s light doesn’t erase darkness immediately
Jesus didn’t suddenly stand up in his swaddling clothes and remove Herod.
He didn’t topple Rome.
He didn’t fix Israel’s economy.
He didn’t end suffering overnight.
No, Jesus came to walk with us through the darkness, not just to eliminate it.
Some of you have prayed, “God, make it go away,”
and God responded, “I’ll walk with you through it first.”
The presence of God is better than the absence of problems.
And that is the promise of Christmas- it’s the promise of presence: “Immanuel”—God with us.
Isaiah says the people walking in darkness have seen a great light. Luke shows us what that looks like: ordinary people in ordinary darkness, suddenly surrounded by the glory of the Lord. And then John’s Gospel explains why:
“In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Here is the truth-
Darkness cannot overcome light, because darkness is not a thing on its own.
Darkness is the absence of light.
Darkness has no creative power.
Darkness can only exist where light is not.
And when the Light of the World steps into the room, darkness doesn’t negotiate—it retreats.
That means the birth of Jesus is not merely sentimental.
It is the ultimate example of spiritual warfare.
It is the invasion of Heaven into a world held under the shadow of sin and death. Christmas is God declaring, “I am not leaving this world to its darkness.”
God doesn’t do that to us either-
So let me ask you-
IV. WHAT TO DO IF YOU FEEL THE DARKENSS TODAY?
A. Don’t confuse darkness with defeat
Darkness is a season, not a sentence.
The shepherds were doing their ordinary job—tired, cold, worn out—but they stayed faithful. And in the middle of their ordinary night, heaven opened.
Your darkest night might be the place heaven breaks through next.
God uses darkness to show what you cannot control so you will finally cling to: His character, His Word, His presence.
The second thing we should do if we feel darkness in our lives-
B. Look for God’s light, not your own
We try to create our own light.
We try to fix everything.
We try to pretend we’re okay.
We try to manufacture hope the way people manufacture holiday cheer—just add decorations and it will feel different.
But God says, “Stop manufacturing light. Let Me be your light.”
Isaiah 60:1 says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come.”
Not “Arise, shine, because you have it all together.”
God is assuring you that HIS light has come— Jesus brings what you cannot.
The third thing you should do if you feel darkness closing in is-
C. Follow the light you have
The shepherds didn’t understand everything. They didn’t get a full explanation.
They got one message: “Go and see.”
If you’re like me- you want God to give you a full map.
But God most often only gives the next step.
The shepherds followed the little light they had, and it led them to the Light of the World.
Take the step you can see. Trust God with the steps you can’t.
The Christmas story reveals to us that
V. LIGHT STILL SHINES IN DARK PLACES TODAY (John 1:5)
And the message of Christmas is not, “Pretend everything is fine.”
It’s, “Christ has entered the world as it really is.”
Jesus is the Light for those who can’t see a way out.
The Light for those who feel shattered.
The Light for those who feel forgotten.
The Light for those who feel unworthy.
The Light for those who feel hopeless.
John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
So what does that mean for you? It means the darkness you are facing is not stronger than the Christ you serve. It means the night you are walking through is not permanent. It means your pain is not wasted. It means your fear is not final.
It does not mean you will never have dark seasons. It means those seasons cannot ultimately defeat the light that has is in your life.
So this morning, if you feel like you’re walking through darkness, you’re exactly who Jesus came for.
You say, “I’m struggling.” Jesus says, “I know. That’s why I came.”
You say, “I feel lost.” Jesus says, “I am the way.”
You say, “I feel broken.” Jesus says, “I came to heal the brokenhearted.”
You say, “My world feels dark.” Jesus says, “I am the Light of the world.”
So how do we get there? How do we get to the place where the light of Jesus can enter our darkness?
VII. FINAL APPLICATION — HOW TO LET THE LIGHT IN
First, acknowledge your darkness honestly. God can’t heal what you pretend isn’t broken.
Some of us are great at hiding our pain.
We smile, we serve, we show up, we keep the routine—but we often are carrying shadows inside.
Jesus does not ask you to perform your way into healing. He invites you to come into the light.
The second way to apply this Christmas message is
invite Christ into the space where you struggle.
Not after you fix it—invite HIM into it. It isn’t like you’re catching Him by surprise- He already knows where you are and where you’ve been.
That is the difference between religion and relationship.
Religion says, “Clean up and come.”
Jesus says, “Come and I will cleanse.”
Third, let His Word illuminate your path. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Notice: a lamp for your feet, not a floodlight for the whole highway. God often gives enough light for the next step, requiring faith that He is leading you in the right direction.
Fourth- worship in the middle of your night.
The shepherds worshiped before sunrise.
They glorified and praised God while the world was still under Rome,
while Herod was still an evil ruler,
while the future was still uncertain.
Worship is not denial; worship is defiance. Worship is saying, “Darkness doesn’t get to be my God.”
CONCLUSION — THE NIGHT IS NOT YOUR END
Christmas is not about pretending everything is bright. It’s about proclaiming that light has come into the darkness—not after the darkness, but in it.
Your darkness is not hopeless.
Your night is not permanent.
Your pain is not wasted.
Your fears are not final.
The same God who split the night sky for shepherds can split the darkness in your life today.
ALTAR CALL — O Holy Night.
