Do You See the Light?

Isaiah 9:1-4 (esp. v. 2)  ² The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined. 

One of the toughest things about winter is how dark it is in the morning.  For somebody like me who likes to be up early, it’s hard to like it when it’s not light out at 5:30 when I get up.  Which is why, at least for me, the occasional snowstorm is something to appreciate—how it brightens everything up, even in the darkest time of the night!

God didn’t originally design the world to be so cold and dark and dreary, but ever since the fall into sin—or at least the flood—that’s what we’ve had to live with.  And not just worldly darkness, but spiritual darkness.  Isaiah describes it as people “walking in darkness” and “dwelling in the land of the shadow of death” (v. 2).  In the darkness of winter we’re reminded of the of the darkness this world, the darkness of sin and death.  We’re reminded that most of the people here live in that dark reality; they don’t see that heaven and hell are real, don’t think about angels and demons, don’t know that there is a holy God waiting to judge them on the last day.     

But are we really all that different?  Have our eyes adjusted to living in the dark?  Do we live like the rest of the blind?  Worrying only about the next vacation, or whether or not the Packers are going to win?  Do we act like we don’t even see that God is there?  Do our friends see the way we talk and act—and fail to detect any of God’s light in us at all? 

We live in a world of darkness—but God doesn’t want us to be of the darkness; He wants us to live in the Light!  Isaiah speaks of “the light” often.  Jesus explains it best in John 8 when He says, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (Jn 8:12).  When we’ve seen the Light, it adds a whole different dimension to our existence.  Today we get to hear Isaiah’s description of what it’s like to see the Light.  As you hear what he says, ask yourself:  does this sound familiar?  Do you see the Light?

1.  It shines in the darkness.

The land of Zebulun and Naphtali was a dark, gloomy place.  It didn’t have a lot going for it.  Located at the northern end of Israel, between the Jordan River and the Via Maris—the “Way of the Sea”—the highway that ran along the Mediterranean coast, these two tribes had been run over again and again when foreign armies invaded.  Kind of like the way Germany ran over France in World War I and World War II.  In the 700s BC, King Tiglath-Pilesar of Assyria conquered that land; and then later on in the 500s BC, the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched right on through. 

There was a lot of spiritual darkness there too.  This was the place where King Jeroboam I had erected his golden calf, where the people would flock to come and “worship god.”  Because of all the resettled foreigners living there, the influence of foreign religions was strong too.  And their spiritual darkness was reflected in the way they lived.  Isaiah talks about how they’d rather go to see a medium or a fortune teller for advice than open their Bible up to see what God’s Word says.  And instead of accepting responsibility for their own dark and dreary lives, they cursed God and the king for all their problems and troubles.  Zebulun and Naphtali—later called Galilee—was a dark place.

And yet God changed all of that!  “The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light” (v. 2).  Matthew tells us that Jesus fulfilled this very passage of Scripture!  After Jesus battled Satan in the desert, and after John the Baptist was arrested, Jesus left Nazareth and began His public ministry of preaching, teaching, and healing.  Not in the biggest, most important cities of the world, but in Galilee—in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali!  He goes to the city of Capernaum on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and shines His Light in this place of spiritual darkness! 

Do you see the Light?  It’s not as though there isn’t plenty of darkness around.  The spiritual darkness that lives in people’s hearts is still reflected in their attitudes and actions.  According to the CDC there were over 600,000 abortions performed in 2013, the lives of over 600,000 little babies were brought to an end!  And yet most people don’t even bat an eye.  People will watch mediums on daytime television and call psychic hotlines for advice—but won’t even consider going to church or cracking open a Bible.

But there’s darkness in our own lives too, isn’t there?  When you think back to your teenage years, to all the times that self-centeredness reared its ugly head, to some of the awful things that were said and done, it’s embarrassing, isn’t it?  Think of all the failures—all the times we should’ve said “No,” but said, “Yes.”  All the times we didn’t stand up to sin. 

But do you see the Light?  The Light of Jesus has come to scatter the darkness!  He tells you how He’s erased your shameful past, how He’s washed you clean of all your sins in His own blood, shed for you!  At your baptism He shone the light of grace on you and made you God’s own dear and holy child.  As you sit and listen to His Word of free salvation through faith in Him, you get to see that Light shining for yourself!  And as you come to His altar and receive Jesus’ own body and blood, it just makes that Light of Christ shine all the more brightly for you as He comes to you and stays with you.    

And you know that you have seen the Light!  As you think about how unworthy you are to be saved and marvel at the grace of God in your life—you are seeing the Light!  As you recognize the great honor it is to come into God’s presence and listen to His Word—you are seeing the Light! 
 

That’s because when the Light of the World comes, it isn’t just for a quick stop-over on His way somewhere else.  He stays!  And He works!  When you and I get to see the Light,

2.  It brings true freedom’s joy.

Isaiah describes what the Light of the world does when He comes.  He says, “For You have broken the yoke of his burden And the staff of his shoulder, The rod of his oppressor, As in the day of Midian” (v. 4).  Isaiah brings up “the day of Midian”.  You have to go back to the book of Judges for this one, and re-read the story of Gideon. 

Every year at harvest time the Midianites would come down and encamp on Israel’s fields like a horde of locusts, eating up their crops and destroying what was left.  So God raised up Gideon to defeat the Midianites.  Do you remember how Gideon started with an army of over 30,000, only to have God whittle that number down to 300 men?  And then do you remember what they fought with?  They were armed with only trumpets, clay jars and torches!  And yet in only one night, they routed the Midianite army!  Their oppressors were done for; they were free—no more hiding in caves and losing the harvest!  But there could be no mistake about it who won that battle:  obviously not the Midianites, and not the Israelites either, but it was God Himself. 

In the same way, when this Light comes, Isaiah said, He wouldn’t just remove the yoke of oppression; it would be totally broken, “shattered” is the actual word used there in the Hebrew.  But what yoke?  What oppression?  Well, we’re really talking about that yoke of darkness—the burden of death itself and the sin that causes it.  The burden of guilt that’s hanging around all of our necks.  The reality of living in the darkness of the shadow of death—that it’s not just other people who die, but one day it’s me who’s going to die!  By His death and resurrection, Jesus shatters that burden the way you or I might shatter an old piece of Corelle-ware—into a hundred thousand pieces so it can never be put back together again!  We are free! 

And that freedom brings joy!  This world is still a dark place—darkened by trouble and evil.  We still sin and deal with guilt.  The shadow of death still stretches long over us.  Yet those who see the Light of Christ see things differently:  “Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed… You have multiplied the nation And increased its joy; They rejoice before You According to the joy of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil” (1, 3).  We rejoice!  We rejoice because we know that even though we sin, we’re free from sin’s guilt and punishment.  Even though Paul and Silas were locked up in jail, they sang songs of joy to the Lord.  Even though men were throwing large stones at his head, Stephen rejoiced at the sight of Jesus—because he knew he was going to heaven!  And at the loss of loved ones, we still gather and sing praises to Christ—because we know that the war is won, and the spoils of heaven are waiting!     

The Light of Christ shines in the darkness and brings true freedom’s joy.  Do you see it?  This life can be like a long dark tunnel, with only that Light of Christ lighting the way and leading us to the end.  Stay focused on that Light.  Don’t focus on your feelings or on what’s happening around you.  Don’t focus on the darkness.  Keep your eye on the Light—on the cross of Jesus, on His empty tomb.  With your eyes on Him, you will rejoice in His victory.  When you see the Light of Christ with the eyes of faith, no yoke of darkness will be able to hold you back from Him.  Amen.