A Great Light
Overview
A Great Light
Scripture begins with God speaking light into being: "Let there be light. And there was light" Genesis 1:3. From the opening verses of the Bible, light is associated with the very being and work of God. He is "clothed with honor and majesty, wrapped in light as a garment" Psalm 104:1-2, and His people pray, "Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord" Psalm 4:6. He led Israel from bondage by a pillar of fire Exodus 13:21, giving light for the journey toward the promised land.
But Scripture is also honest about darkness. When Adam and Eve grasped at being their own creators, they hid from God among the trees Genesis 3:8, and the darkness of sin entered creation. That darkness echoes through the rest of Scripture: minds become "futile" and "darkened" (Romans 1:21; Ephesians 4:17-18), and "death spread to all because all have sinned" Romans 5:12. This is not a distant problem; it touches every one of us.
Into that reality, Isaiah speaks more than seven centuries before Christ: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined" Isaiah 9:2. The Hebrew uses what is called the prophetic perfect—the event is so certain that it is spoken of as already accomplished. The light Isaiah sees is Jesus Christ, who declares, "I am the light of the world" John 8:12. John tells us that in Him "was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it" John 1:1-5.
The manger and the cross belong together. Christ took on flesh with purpose—to bear our darkness, to be the spotless Lamb on whom God's justice fell, and to cry from the cross, "It is finished" John 19:30. The sacrifices of Scripture—the ram caught in the thicket for Isaac, the red heifer of Leviticus, the two turtledoves of the poor—all point to Him. Because of His cross and empty tomb, you are forgiven, washed in His blood, and reconciled to God, who now looks upon you and sees the holiness of His Son. And so we who have been made children of the light go out into a world still gripped by darkness, bearing this good news: the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not—and cannot—overcome it.
Transcript
Would you open your Bible, please, this afternoon, to the ninth chapter of the Great Book of Isaiah? 0s
Beloved in the Lord the grace and peace of God Almighty be with you, Amen. 7s
In the beginning, God, those beginning words of Holy Scripture, 16s
frame the Scriptures for us. 25s
For you see the Bible is a book about God, about who He is and about what He has done. 30s
And that is declared with absolute simplicity in the opening words. In the beginning, 42s
God, and the Scripture tells us that God created. 51s
Bible tells us in Genesis 1 chapter that the earth was a formless void and darkness covered 59s
the face of the deep. And God said, let there be light. 67s
And I love the next phrase. And there was light. You see, when God speaks, when God thinks, 77s
when God simply wills it is. Whatever God wants it is, whatever He says will be. 87s
And out of the darkness of the nothingness, God simply said, let there be light. And there was light. 100s
And the Scripture tells us, in God's saw that the light was good. 117s
Light, light, glorious, glorious light. 129s
Why reference this to light abound in Holy Scripture? And in particular, 143s
the Bible tells us that God is bathed in light. 149s
Bible tells us, for example, in the fourth Psalm. There are many who say, 153s
oh, that we might see some good. Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord. 159s
Psalm 104 records. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O Lord, my God, you are very great. You are clothed 168s
with honor and majesty wrapped in light as a garment. God is bathed in light. And how beautiful 178s
is the light that God provides? Genesis 1 chapter. God made the two great lights. The greater light 189s
to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the stars. The Bible tells us that 199s
God used light to lead his people to the promised land. Exodus 13 chapter records. The Lord went in front 207s
of them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them along the way and in a pillar of fire by night 215s
to give them light so that they might travel by day and by night. Light, light, glorious, glorious, 223s
light. Oh, how we need light, how we need it. Look when they please it the first part of Isaiah 240s
the ninth chapter. We pick up in verse 2. There the scripture says, the people who walked 254s
in darkness. The people who walked in darkness. Isaiah was called to be a prophet of the Lord 265s
739 years before the birth of Christ. And God gave to this prophet of vision, a vision of not only 276s
the darkness of sin of the people, but also the darkness that had fallen upon the face of the earth. 284s
And that darkness goes a long, long way back. In Genesis 3 chapter we read, they 295s
speaking of Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the 305s
evening breeze. And the man in his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God 311s
among the trees of the garden. Not only did our first parents Adam and Eve not only were 318s
experiencing the darkness of the evening, but now they were experiencing the darkness of the reality 324s
of sin. God had placed them in the perfection of the garden. God had said, eat of any tree of the 331s
garden. Save one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God says, the day that you eat of that, 339s
you die. The day that you determine for yourself, God said, what is right and wrong, you will die. 345s
And Adam and Eve not wanting to be the created, but wanting to be the creator, 355s
pluck from the forbidden fruit. They sink their teeth into it. And the result was darkness. 361s
Darkness, the darkness of sin. And in the night, in the evening breeze, in the dark, 369s
now with the darkness of sin, their reality, they try and hide from God. 381s
Well, darkness goes a long way back. And this darkness echoes throughout Scripture. 391s
We read, for example, in Romans the first chapter. For though they knew God, they did not honor 399s
Him as God or give thanks to Him. But they became futile in their thinking. And their senseless minds were 406s
darkened. Ephesians 4. Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord. You must know 418s
longer live as the gentiles live in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding. 425s
This darkness goes a long way back. This darkness echoes throughout Scripture. And this darkness 437s
affects all of us. It affects all of us. The Bible tells us in Romans 5, 444s
therefore just as sin came into the world through one man, Adam, and death came through sin. 454s
So death spread to all because all have sin. Amit's the darkness. Isaiah sees a light. 462s
Look again with me, please, adverse too of Isaiah. The people who walked in darkness 482s
have seen a great light. Those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them, light has 490s
shined. In the Hebrew that's in what's called the prophetic perfect. In other words, 501s
it is communicating event because it's such a certainty that it will occur its communicated as if 508s
it already has occurred. Isaiah has given this vision of the darkness of sin that is falling 515s
upon the people, the darkness that is falling upon all of creation. And then he says, 522s
Amit's this darkness comes this light, this light, and God gives him to communicate as if it is 527s
already occurred the prophetic perfect with absolute certainty. That indeed this prophecy 536s
of this light would occur. So the question then is this. What is the light of which Isaiah speaks? 544s
What is the light of which Isaiah speaks? 558s
It was at a contemporary art festival called Art Prize. And Artist had a submission there. 567s
He had an exhibit. And one of the paintings that he had was the painting that's on the front of 576s
your bulletin. The artist graciously allowed us to print this on the bulletin. And I'd like to 583s
look at this with detail. First put yourself in the mindset of those that must have gone to this 590s
contemporary art festival. And what do they find? But they find this contemporary art that 597s
really is an expression of Orthodox biblical truth. I don't know about you, but if you've ever gone 607s
to an art festival, some of the things that you see there are well rather strange. And I'm 615s
at least I'm sure the strangeness, at least to my eyes. Their those that were there would see 621s
this beautiful, beautiful work. Centuries upon centuries, upon centuries, art has been used to 629s
communicate biblical truth. And that has carried into this day. Look at this painting with me, 640s
please. Of course you have Mary and Joseph there. But look just to the left of Mary. Do you see the 648s
Lily? Right to the left of Mary. When we see a Lily, we associate that rightly so with Easter. 655s
That Lily, that can form the trumpet sound that Harold sound is the beautiful, beautiful 663s
plant to use at the time of Easter. But historically through the centuries, the Lily has been used 670s
in art history to communicate that the person that is there, the woman that is there is none other 676s
than Mary herself. And so the Lily appears. And of course you see Joseph. Look to the 685s
right of Joseph a little bit up. They're hanging on the post is a little saw that reminds us that 695s
Joseph was a carpenter that he provided for his little family through the trade of carpenterie. 704s
And right underneath the little saw is a light. The light here refers to Joseph providing for his 713s
family and the baby is the light. Scripture records in John the 8th chapter. Again, Jesus spoke to them 724s
saying, I am the light of the world. Okay, that's the closer here. If you look off to the 735s
left of Mary, right above the Lily, there you see a ram. That reminds us of the story of Abraham 747s
and Isaac where the ram is caught in the thicket. And the ram is used as the sacrifice. 757s
Then to the right, just behind Joseph is the red heifer. The red heifer goes back to 766s
Leviticus. The red heifer was a sacrifice. It was part of a purification ritual. So you've got the 773s
sacrifice of the ram on the left. You've got the sacrifice of the red heifer. Then look up 780s
into the peak and nestled there into the shadows. You can hardly see it. Our two turtle dobs. 787s
That was also a sacrifice that if you were poor and you had a child, you would offer two turtle dobs. 795s
So you've got the sacrifice there with the turtle dobs. You've got the sacrifice with the ram. 805s
You've got the sacrifice with the red heifer. Then back up by the turtle dobs again, there's a 809s
reef there. And intertwined among the reef is the laurel. That reef is a crown of thorns. That 815s
laurel communicates the victory that Christ won on the cross. Behind the ram is Jesus Christ 825s
hanging on the cross. To the other side, looking in the distance, there's the empty tomb with 834s
the stone rolled away. And above the empty tomb is an unwelcoming in. Notice there's no smoke coming 842s
from the chimney. It's no room in this end. Then look above and you see the star. Look closely at the 849s
star. There's the cross. It's the main part of the radiation of the star. And it forms what is 860s
called a resurrection cross and it's also a passion cross. When you see a cross where there's no 869s
depiction of Jesus hanging on the cross, that's called a resurrection cross. Jesus isn't there. 877s
And when you see at the ends of a cross, when you see it pointed, that's a passion cross. 882s
That reminds that when Jesus went to the cross, he was nailed to it. So the star then forming the 890s
cross and there are eight points to the star. Eight points to the star. In church history, 900s
Easter, the resurrection of Christ has oftentimes been referred to as the eighth day. Remember, 909s
the old Sabbath used to be on Saturday, right? So the eighth day would be Sunday. The day that the 914s
Lord rose, the church then adopted that as the day of resurrection, the day of worship. And so there's 922s
eight points around the star. And it reminds us of the eighth day, the eighth day of the resurrection 930s
of Christ. Then look into the manger. Notice, the manger is made of stone. 941s
The artist records that at that art festival, there was a visitor from the Middle East. 957s
That visitor came up and that visitor from the Middle East knew exactly what the artist was 963s
communicating. And that visitor turned to the artist and said, tell me, sir, tell me. 972s
Why is this baby? Why did it have to die? Because in the Middle East, laid in the stone, 982s
it's the burial. And that Middle Eastern visitor knew exactly what the artist was communicating. 993s
Isaiah records, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, 1008s
those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them, the light has shined. 1018s
Who is the light of the world? Jesus. And why did Jesus have to die? What's the answer? 1030s
To that visitor at the exhibit. Let's see answer. Jesus Christ, the second member of the Trinity, 1046s
took on flesh. So what we celebrate today. He took on flesh and he was born with purpose 1059s
to go to the cross to die for you and me. And on the cross, the great sacrifice was made. 1067s
On the cross, he took all of our darkness, all of our darkness. The darkness of what we think, 1080s
the darkness of what we say, the darkness of what we do, the darkness of what we don't do, 1093s
but what we should have done. All of the darkness, and he took it upon him. 1104s
And the justice of God for sin fell upon the spotless, sinless lamb of God, his own sin, 1117s
his own son. It fell on his son instead of us. And Jesus cried from the cross, 1130s
it is finished. You see the birth of the baby that we celebrate tonight must be held with the 1142s
picture of good Friday and Easter, because he came for purpose to redeem us. 1154s
Through the cross of Jesus Christ, God says to you and to die tonight and every day, you are 1164s
forgiven. You are washed in the blood of Christ. The spotless lamb of God has taken your sin 1172s
and the separation with God because of sin has been reconciled. And God looks upon us 1186s
and he sees the perfection and the holiness of his son. 1199s
John tells us in the very first chapter he writes this, in the beginning, was the word, Jesus. 1214s
The word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God, all things came 1228s
into being through him and without him, not one thing came into being. What has come into being 1236s
in him was life. Everything that is, everything has the beating of heart, everything that has 1247s
life that comes and was created through the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's not just the physical 1255s
life that John talks about here. It is also eternal life. What has come into being in him was life 1262s
and the life eternal life was the, here it comes, the light of all people. The eternal life that is 1268s
ours through Jesus Christ is the light that beams amidst the darkness. The light shines in the darkness 1284s
and the darkness did not overcome it. The end of the service we will pick up the candles, 1300s
we will light them. And it is indeed a visual reminder of the light of the world Jesus Christ. 1321s
It is also a reminder indeed as we hold those candles and sing silent night 1332s
that baptized child of God, washed in the very promises and victory of the Lord Jesus Christ, 1340s
washed in His redemption, wand through the cross and the empty tomb, you have been made a child 1349s
of the light. And we then go from this place as children of the light with a message to a world 1360s
immersed in darkness and we proclaim the light shines in the darkness and the darkness 1373s
did not overcome it. The darkness did not overcome it. The darkness 1394s
can't overcome it. Light light glides glorious light 1418s
it comes in darkness. 1461s