light shined

 

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,

on them has light shined.

Isaiah 9:2

Jesus is the light of the world. His light is the life of mankind. By the light of Jesus we see our great need, we find salvation in Him, and we find hope and peace as He clearly shows us the way to a joy-filled relationship with the Father. Jesus is the only light in our darkness. Only He can bring hope and healing over our sin.

How fitting it is to think through Isaiah's poetic prophecy on a dark winter's morning. The season is in full control now. It is dark. Days are short, and gray... cold, with very little sunshine. A numbing cold and darkness settles in and even creeps into my soul ever so slightly. And that is just a physical manifestation of the winter season that will lift in another 60 days or so. We shall see light again by God's good design.

This is just a picture of what is always true for our souls. Sin is a great darkness (really the worst darkness) and it grows unfathomably deep as it is multiplied by billions of sinners in cultures and a world that is far from God. It feels as oppressive as a sub-zero December ice-storm frozen morning. But the light of Jesus breaks through to shatter this deep darkness with a great light. And the warmth of the incredible good news of the gospel warms us so that sin's winter has no more frozen death grip on our hearts. A universe frozen in darkness is thawed and reborn by the warm light of God's grace.

At Christmas we celebrate that the light has shined. Jesus has come. And the gospel is a roaring flame that warms hearts and melts the cold darkness of sin and death around us. Live now, warmly, in the light of the Son!