To Give Light to Those Who Sit in Darkness
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One of the themes of our cantata this morning was the idea of darkness and light.
All out of darkness we have light,
which made the angels sing this night;
God and Father, we adore Thee
For the Son, Thine image bright,
In whom all Thy holy nature
Dawned on our once hopeless night.
Far from Thee our foot-steps wandered
On dark paths of sin and shame;
But our midnight turned to morning
When the Lord of Glory came.
This last stanza perhaps encapsulates most effectively the message of Christmas. And if I can get you to ponder these themes of darkness and light, of midnight and morning, and why Christmas is about the Lord of Glory coming to earth, then we will have accomplished our purpose for this cantata this morning.
This morning I want to show you that this theme of light and darkness comes right out of our Bibles.
And to show you this important theme I want to read several verses from the gospel of Luke. I am going to begin reading at the end of a prophecy that was given by Zechariah. Zechariah was the father of John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of Jesus Christ. If you remember the narrative account, God sent the angel Gabriel to Zechariah to tell him that he and his wife Elizabeth would have a son who would serve as a prophet in the land of Israel. Zechariah doubted the message of the angel because he and his wife were very old, well beyond their childbearing years. Because of Zechariah’s unbelief his ability to speak was taken away until the time of the birth of his son. And after nine months of being mute, the moment his tongue was loosed Zechariah, being filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied this about the coming of Jesus Christ.
Luke 1:76–79 (ESV)
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Zechariah, in this prophecy, tells us that when Jesus Christ was born into this earth, in that manger bed, it was like a sunrise. The moment Jesus entered this world was like the moment that the sun peaks above the horizon. Jesus’ coming gave light to those who sit in darkness.
Now if we are to understand what Zechariah was talking about we have to think carefully about darkness and about light.
What does Zechariah mean when he talks about darkness? He is not talking about literal darkness, but spiritual darkness.
We can see that quite plainly here in v. 79 because he parallels the idea of darkness with the idea of the shadow of death. What is this darkness, and what exactly is this shadow of death?
We don’t have to wonder or guess what the darkness is referring to. We can let the Scripture define this idea of darkness for us.
1 John 1:5–8 (ESV)
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
It is obvious from this text that the idea of darkness, spiritual darkness, is the idea of sin. Sin is darkness.
Coming back to our key text in Luke:
Luke 1:79 (ESV)
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Jesus’ birth was like a sunrise, in that it gives light to those who sit in darkness — to those who sit in sin.
Now, who are the ones that sit in darkness? Who are the ones that sit in sin?
Here is the Bible’s answer to that question:
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The Bible teaches that God created this world and everything in it. What God made started out very good, without sin of any kind. Then sin entered into the world and corrupted everything. And that sin is so infectious that every single person has been touched by it. And God tells us that everyone has a problem, and that problem is sin.
The biggest problem with sin is that sin separates. Sin separates.
but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
This is what Zechariah was talking about when he talked about you and I sitting in darkness. The idea of darkness is sin. And we were sitting in darkness because our sin had separated us from God. So we had no hope and we were without God. This is the idea of sitting in darkness.
But the picture that Zechariah paints for us gets even worse!
Luke 1:79 (ESV)
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
What does he mean when he talks about the shadow of death? That is even worse than darkness. Zechariah poetically pictures for us the ultimate consequence of sin.
Not only does sin bring separation between us and God, but ultimately sin leads to death.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This death that the Bible talks about is not a merely physical death, but a second death, and eternal death.
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
This sin that we all have, this darkness, if it is not dealt with will result in second death. Eternal separation from God in a literal lake of fire.
while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
This is what Zechariah is talking about in his prophecy!
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Because of our sin and our separation from God and our fear of dying and being eternally separated from God in a place of darkness, in the lake of fire, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, Zechariah says we are like one who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death! And if that was all the prophet said it would be terrible news indeed!
But Zechariah’s prophecy is not one of doom and gloom, but of joy! It is of light and not darkness! It is of peace and not judgment!
Something happened that was like a sunrise! Something happened that caused us to have have hope!
because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
What was this sunrise? What is it that can give us light and hope and peace?
the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”
This sunrise, this great light, is the person of Jesus Christ! When Jesus came into this world of darkness and death it was like the sunrise! It was like a light shinning in a very dark place! When Jesus came into our world as a babe in a manger it was like the sun dawned on our once hopeless night!
Far from Thee our foot-steps wandered
On dark paths of sin and shame;
But our midnight turned to morning
When the Lord of Glory came.
Why was the coming of Jesus to earth as a baby like the sunrise? Why was that act so significant?
Before Jesus, we were lost in darkness. We were separated from God. We were hopeless. We were unable to save ourselves. We need someone else to save us! And the only person who can save us is God Himself. God is the one we need to save us from our darkness from our sin. Without God we were sitting in hopeless, helpless darkness. But,
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Jesus is that light! He is the only one who can save you from the darkness of your sin. He is the only one who can save you from the shadow death.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
You need Jesus! You need his light! You need to have your sins forgiven! You cannot save yourself. Jesus had to come and do that for you! If you have never received the forgiveness of your sins then the bible says you are still sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.
But here is the good news of the gospel. God offers you a free gift of salvation.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is the best Christmas present you could ever receive! It is a free gift! You cannot earn it and provide it for yourself. You need God to save you! And He has made a way for your sins to be forgiven. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to be born in a manger. Jesus, the Son of God, lived a human life. He became one of us. He lived a perfect life, a sinless life, like we never could.
And then Jesus Christ, died on a cross. He shed His blood for our sins. He paid the penalty of our sins for us so we wouldn’t have to. Jesus died for all of our sins. Then He was buried and on the third day, He rose from the dead. And Jesus did all of that so that God could offer you a free gift of salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And all you need to do to have your sins forgiven, to have eternal life, is to receive God’s free gift by faith.
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
You call upon the name of the Lord for salvation by means of faith or trust. You must put your trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. You must rely on Jesus by faith to save you! And you can do that right now. You can do that this morning! You can experience the sunrise!
This is why Jesus came to earth...
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Will you receive Jesus Christ today?
Gift bags: talk to the person who invited you.