God Sends His Light into the World
1. A light that shines out of the darkness
2. A light that shines out for us all
Dear Christian Friends:
Have you ever been in a place where there’s no light whatsoever? I remember on a couple of occasions when my wife and I went on tours through caves, and they get to that point in the tour where they turn out the lights. It’s so black in the bosom of the earth that you can’t even see your hand two inches in front of your face. There simply is no light. Before long the darkness presses in upon you like a heavy burden, surrounding you, closing in upon you, it is almost claustrophobic. It’s a great relief when they actually turn the lights back on and continue the tour. At the moment the lights are turned back on the darkness flees and you begin to feel more at ease.
This morning the Prophet Isaiah speaks to us about light and darkness. He speaks to us about living in the darkness of this sinful world. But in his words we have the words of God giving us encouragement. As we live and work in this dark sinful world we are not to be overwhelmed by the darkness because God sends his light into the world; a light that shines out of the darkness and a light that shines out for all.
The kingdoms of Judah and Israel at the time of Isaiah were living in darkness. A darkness that surrounded them spiritually and was darker than the deepest cave you would ever tour on this earth. To truly understand the darkness that Isaiah speaks about we have to go back to the time of the death of King Solomon. After Solomon’s death, the land of God’s people was dived into two kingdoms; the Kingdom of Israel to the north and the Kingdom of Judah to the south.
Now, God had given his people very explicit instructions about how and where they were to worship. He had commanded them to worship him only at the temple in Jerusalem. God didn’t want his people to be caught up in all the idol worship of the Canaanites who lived around them. The Canaanite religion was what we call a fertility cult. To worship their gods, the people engaged in sexual relations with shrine prostitutes. This pagan activity took place on the hilltops and sacred groves all around the land of Canaan. That’s why God specifically had commanded that the Israelites only worship in Jerusalem.
It didn’t take long for the people of the northern kingdom to become involved in the idol worship of the Canaanites around them. They prostituted themselves to the false gods, they may have even sacrificed children to some of the idols, and they forgot the Lord. They were plunged into a horrible spiritual darkness.
To punish the spiritually lost ten tribes, around the time of the prophet Isaiah, and during Isaiah’s ministry, the Lord used a nation from the north called the Assyrians to sweep down and carry them off, never to be heard from again. The Assyrians passed through the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali along the western side of the Sea of Galilee, and they slaughtered or deported the majority of the population in those areas. Now we can see why Isaiah refers to Zebulun and Naphtali as living in the land of the shadow of death when he says, “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan— The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
In spite of their idol worship and the way the people deserted the Lord, God was going to be true to his promise. In the land of darkness God sent his light into the world. To the people walking around in a great spiritual darkness, a light dawned. That light was none other than Jesus Christ.
Remember where Jesus carried out a significant portion of his earthly ministry? It was in Galilee! He performed his first miracle at Cana in Galilee. He resided at Capernaum in Galilee. He preached and taught and performed miracles in the regions around the Sea of Galilee. Jesus brought the light of the gospel to the people living in darkness. He opened their eyes to see the truth of their Savior Jesus. He gave them the confident hope of forgiveness for their idolatry and the promise of eternal life. Jesus was the light shining out of the darkness. He was the promised messiah that would save the people from their sins.
We can give thanks to God that the light he sent into the world was for us too. Like the children of Israel we also have fallen into the sin of idolatry. God commands us to put him first above all things and how often are we guilty of disobeying that commandment. You see anything that we give priority to over God is idolatry. We do not put God first and have trouble taking a stand for God. Some of us have to work with people who constantly curse and swear and too often we tolerate it instead of telling them what God has to say about it. We live in a world that condemns Christianity as a religion that promotes sexism and inequality, but we rarely speak out to correct these misunderstandings. Daily the false gods of our society surround us. The evils of an unchristian darkened world bombard us from every direction. The fertility gods of our society tell us it is ok to have sex before marriage. The gods of silver and gold tells us to forsake everything in search of the almighty dollar. We come before the Lord determined to follow him but we become distracted and quickly fall into the ways of this world of darkness.
But God has sent his light into the world to save us. Jesus tells us, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” God sent his light into the world to be our substitute. He sent Jesus to keep all of his commandments perfectly because we can not. Where we fail to put God first above all things Jesus succeeded. It was God’s will that Jesus suffer and die for the sins of the world and Jesus carried out his Father’s will. The night be he died on the cross for you and me Jesus prayed “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” He always put God first. He put God’s will before his own and he went to the cross suffer the punishment for our sins. Wiping out debt of sin to God and bringing us out of the darkness of sin.
This is the good news of the gospel. The news that God sent his light and it is a light that shines out of the darkness. Just as the shining of the sun chases away the darkness of night and brings light to us in the morning so also does God’s light shine out for us all.
In the history of the church there are times when the darkness of this world creeps in and tries to cover the light of the gospel. Luther wanted to reform the church because the gospel had become lost in the darkness of work righteousness. At Luther’s time the church was teaching that in order to enter heaven you had to please God by what you do and not by what Jesus has done. God’s people at the time of Jesus thought the same way. The Pharisees and leaders of the people believed that because of the way they lived their lives God would be gracious and reward them with the gift of heaven. But Isaiah reminded them that this is not the case. Isaiah writes, "As in the days of Midian’s defeat you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor."
In the days of the Judges, it was the judge named Gideon who defeated the Midianite hordes that had taken over the land. Do you remember how he did it? The Lord reduced the size his army from 32,000 men down to 300, and with these 300 Gideon surrounded the Midianite camp. When the signal was given, each man shouted, blew a trumpet and waved his torch and the Midianites killed each other in their confusion. God used Gideon to defeat the Midianites not with sword or spear, but with light! God reduced the size of Gideon’s army and caused the Midianites to kill each other to prove that the victory was God’s and his alone. He did it all.
God has done the same thing for you and me. We live in a world that believes that you can get to heaven by what you do, the way you live your life. People believe that the amount of good things you do cancels out the amount of bad things you do. We live in a world that teaches there are many paths to God. They say we all worship the same God we just have many different ways of getting there. This darkened world teaches that there is no absolute truth, what you believe is true and what I believe is true. But the Scriptures are very clear as to how we get to heaven. Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
There is only one way to heaven and God has done it all. This is the message, the only thing that can change the darkened heart of an unbelieving world and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The piercing, penetrating light of God’s grace drives out even the thickest darkness of sin and unbelief and replaces it with the glorious light of forgiveness, life and truth in Christ.
That’s what happened to you, isn’t it? At some point in your life you were lost in sin, wandering in unbelief, oppressed by the darkness of sin and guilt. Then the Holy Spirit enlightened you. He came to you with the amazing truth of his word. He showed you your sin and led you to repent of your sin. He pointed you to the cross where Jesus the Son of God and the Light of the World died to set you free from every sin you have ever committed. He showed you the awesome price of your salvation: the perfect life and innocent death of Jesus your substitute, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Brothers and sisters this is news we can rejoice in. We can rejoice that God has sent his light into this world to drive away the darkness of sin, guilt and death. Isaiah tells us that our rejoicing will be like the joy people have at harvest time; a joy that acknowledges not only the fruits of God’s labor but joy that give thanks for the abundance of God’s mercy in Christ Jesus. AMEN
