Piercing the Darkness

Good morning! Welcome to the Vineyard. If this is your first time, my name is Kevin and I’m the pastor here. Our vision at the Vineyard is simple - we want to embody Jesus to our neighbors. This happens by growing in three ways, through what we call our pillars.

First, is Presence. We want everyone to experience the presence of God. This is what transforms us to love him and others. God’s presence is where we become fully alive. We want you to know the Father.

Then, Formation. God doesn’t just love us; he is forming us to be his people who can carry his life and love to those around us. Formation is where we learn to embody the Jesus way of life. We want you to imitate the Son.

Finally, Mission. Being on mission is how we join God in the work he is doing to bring his reconciliation, justice, and mercy to earth. This is how he is bringing healing and renewal to the world. We want you to partner with the Spirit.

Presence. Formation. Mission. Be thinking about your next step. Where is God calling you to go deeper with him?

Pray...

Intro

We are in the season after Epiphany which celebrates the manifestation of Jesus to the world. Specifically, we are continuing to look at how Jesus is revealed to us in the Old Testament. The message this morning is called Piercing the Darkness, and this morning we hear the good news that The light of God’s kingdom penetrates our darkness.

As Good as It Gets...

Read Isaiah 9:1-4

“There will be no more gloom for those who were in anguish.”

A hopeful promise, yet there is still gloom for those this is written to. Zebulun and Naphtali are the two northernmost tribal lands of Israel, and they have already been attacked and taken into captivity. And this is only the beginning - eventually Assyria will conquer and exile all of the northern tribes.

But…there WILL BE no more gloom for those who were in anguish. In this passage, Isaiah calls the nation to fix their gaze on a prophetic future. To not see merely with their natural eyes, but see with their eyes of faith. Not faith that is mere wishful thinking, but faith that centered in God’s character and promises. The hopeful message he brings to the people is that darkness will not always prevail. A day is coming where light will pierce the darkness again.

On that day they will rejoice as those who bring in a large harvest, or like those who win a mighty battle. The day is coming when the cause of their anguish will be broken and light will shine again. But for now they can only look forward to that moment in hope and faith.

There will be no more gloom for those who were in anguish. But how? Because God himself would come as their light.

Read Matthew 4:12-17

Matthew records the first words of Jesus’ ministry as, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Here is how God will dispel the gloom.

When Jesus speaks of the kingdom of heaven, this is not a statement about going to heaven. It is a statement that now the rule and reign of God has come to earth. The hope of the gospel is that Jesus is king, coming to set the world right again.

We live in the time of the fulfillment of Isaiah’s vision. Jesus was the great light that Isaiah saw. And with his coming begins the restoration of all things. It is only right that those who were the first the experience the anguish of darkness would be the first to rejoice in his light. They were the first to hear his words, see his miracles, experience his healing.

But even though we live on this side of Jesus’ coming, we still experience times of gloom and anguish. We go through seasons that can only be described as “the dark night of the soul”. Here is where Isaiah also calls us to fis our gaze on a prophetic future. To see our situation, not only with the eyes of our body but with the eyes of our spirit. But the hopeful vision proclaimed by Isaiah and fulfilled by Jesus is that darkness won’t last forever. We will still go through dark seasons - maybe you’re in one now - but Jesus Christ is the promise that darkness won’t endure. His kingdom has broken into human history, and with it light has pierced the darkness.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near has important implications for us:

The kingdom of heaven calls us to repentance. This doesn’t mean to feel bad about wrong things we’ve done - though we ought to do that. It means to turn or change directions. Specifically, it means to have a change of mind regarding who Jesus is, not merely a good human teacher but as God in the flesh who has come to inaugurate his kingdom. It means to place one’s trust in him for salvation and to declare one’s loyalty to him as Lord. If you’ve never done this… (next steps slide).

The kingdom of heaven encourages us to perseverance. In faith and hope we trust that darkness - in our life and in the world - will not have the final say. Jesus is the guarantee that any anguish we may go through will not last forever. Sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes with the morning. There is a scene in the LOTR between Frodo and Sam that captures this hope and perseverance. Frodo is beginning the feel the weight and encroaching darkness of carrying the right. He remarks that it feels all wrong. And Sam, the greatest philosopher of Middle Earth, replies, “I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something.”

The kingdom of heaven invites us to participation. Jesus would later say to his followers, “you are the light of the world.” What he means is that the world will see the light of God’s kingdom through us his church. The early Christians understood, and we need to regain this understanding, that God’s kingdom was not just something for the future but was to be realized now. Not that his kingdom would fully come without Christ’s return, but that we were to live in the reality of the revealed kingdom that has come in Christ. The church is to be a beacon of hope to those who are being crushed by darkness by walking in the light as we point others to the light.

Friends, in Jesus Christ the light is already piercing the darkness. There will be no more gloom for those who were in anguish. Amen.