The Light Of Christmas Series

Advent 2019 (Pt. 2)

Text: Isaiah 9:2-7

Well, this is the second Sunday of Advent, and again I’m going to have you all open your Bibles to Isaiah 9:2-7, and we’re going to read this passage that we read last week… And as you’re turning there, let me just remind you that last time we talked about how the world is in darkness because of sin. And I said to you all that our only hope is Jesus Christ, the Light of the World. He is the only One who can drive out the darkness that’s in the world, and the darkness that’s in the heart of sinful man. So let’s look at Isaiah together, (READ Isaiah 9:2-7).

Now hold your place there in Isiah, and turn to John 8:12 (READ).

So what does the Bible mean when it says that the people have seen a great light, and on them a light has shone? What did Jesus mean when He said He is the Light of the world, and whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness? Well let’s just think about the nature and purpose of light for a second… In just the natural world, light brings life. Think about it… if planet earth had no sun, there would be no life here. Every living thing on this planet depends on the sun’s light… so light brings life. In-fact; that’s what John tells us in his Gospel account. In John 1:3-4 he says, “All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” And of course John is speaking about Jesus here. He’s saying that Jesus is the same God who created all things – all things were made by Him, and for Him. And in Him is light, which brings life to all that it shines on. So that’s saying that Jesus Christ, the same God who created all things, also brings light into darkness… in-fact; He is the light that shines into the darkness. And with that light, comes life.

Turn with me over to 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 and let me show you how the Apostle Paul puts it (READ 2 Cor. 4:3-6).

So you notice Paul starts off by saying “If the Gospel is veiled, it’s veiled to those who are perishing…” In other words, those who are dead… spiritually dead people don’t have the light of the Gospel… remember; we talked about this last week, how the world is walking around in darkness, unable, and unwilling to find their way out of that darkness. But… (verse 6), The same God who said “Let there be light”, or “Let light shine out of darkness” has now “shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

The only way to get out of the darkness… and to get the darkness out of us – is to have the light of Jesus Christ shine in our hearts, so that we can come to the knowledge of the glory of God in Christ Jesus our Lord! And if you don’t have that light, then you won’t have life, and you’ll never find your way out of the darkness on your own…

That’s why Jesus says, “I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE.”

And that brings us to another purpose of light… it reveals things, and there’s at least two ways it does that. It can show us what we can’t see, and it can show us what we don’t want to see. You know… there’s a strange phenomenon that takes place at our house. Every so often, the TV remote goes missing. And you know… now that I think about it, that hasn’t happened once since our girls have been off to college… but that’s beside the point. When it would go missing, one place that I’d often look for it would be under either our couch or one of our chairs. But the thing is, you can’t see under them very well unless you have a light. And so I’d get a flashlight, and shine it under the couch or chairs, and sure enough, there would be the remote… I couldn’t see it without the light. But at the same time, when I shine the light under the couch, I sometimes see things I didn’t want to see… things like dust bunnies, or lent, or candy wrappers that didn’t make it to the trash, and sometimes even the occasional spider. So light reveals things that are hidden… things that are hidden from us, because of the darkness that’s all around us, and things that are hidden BY US because of the darkness in man’s soul.