Decorations of Lights Point Us to Christ's Two Advents based on Isaiah 9:2

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We see Christmas lights all over the place. There are lights on Christmas trees in homes. There are lights on Main Street in many cities and towns across America. Some people even have contests to see who has the best display of Christmas lights. Mary and I have visited a home near Le Mars with thousands and thousands of lights in the past. Sadly, that light display is no longer being put up due to health troubles for the man who did that for many years. There is a nice Christmas display of lights a few miles east of Sibley that was put up for little Margarett Travaille recently. I like the lights a block to the south of the parsonage that change from green to red in color.

We have special lights in the church sanctuaries of the three Lutheran churches of our tri-parish. We have lights on trees. Candles are a part of our decorations at each church, too.

Why do we have special lights during the Advent season leading up to Christmas day? Lights on Christmas trees started in Germany in the 1500s. According to one tradition, “one cold December night, as he traveled through the woods, Martin Luther (the German reformer) looked up to see the stars shining through the branches of the fir trees overhead. He decided to do something special in his home for his children by tying candles to the branches of a Christmas tree. This would be a reminder of the scene of stars shining over the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.” This tradition caught on and we continue to put lights on trees each Advent season.

One special tradition that is a good one is lighting candles on the Advent wreath as a kind of countdown to Christmas. Tonight we have two candles lit for the second week in Advent. We also have lights decorating the Christmas tree at each congregation.

Eventually, German immigrants in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries brought this tradition to America. Over time, the practice of decorating evergreen trees with lights was adopted by other ethnic communities in the United States.

Of course, Americans are known for innovation, and that includes the development of Christmas lights. After the invention of the electric light bulb by Thomas Edison in 1880, it wasn’t long until his company developed a string of incandescent lamps to be used for Christmas decorations. At first, one electrical string held eight bulbs, each the size of a walnut. But these lamps were expensive. By the 1930s, strings of lights became more affordable, and by the 1950s, they became standard decorations on the interior and exterior of American homes. Today, over 150 million sets of holiday lights are sold in the United States each year, lighting more than 80 million homes and consuming a whopping 6.6 billion kilowatt hours each December. In 2015, that was more than the country of El Salvador used the entire year, according to IGS Energy.

Christmas lights are beautiful. But for Christians, they hold a much deeper meaning. In the Bible, darkness is the symbol for sin and light is the symbol for righteousness. So, lights at Advent and Christmas point us to the purpose of Christ’s advent: to remove sin and restore us to righteousness.

The fall into sin brought spiritual darkness to all people. People lived in the darkness of evil and deception. But God promised a light to break the darkness of sin. That light would appear with the advent of the Messiah. The prophet Isaiah foretold the luminous impact the coming of Christ would have: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone” (Isaiah 9:2). The prophet went on to announce this light breaking in through the birth of a child, the Son of God: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9:6).

Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled in the coming of Christ into the world. Jesus’ birth was signaled by the light of a special star that guided the Wise Men (Matthew 2:1–2, 9–10); this brilliant light led them to the newborn King. His birth was also heralded by the glory of the Lord that shone around the shepherds (Luke 2:9).

John’s Gospel doesn’t narrate the events of Jesus’ birth, but John’s Gospel does describe the impact of that birth. John writes, “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1:9). Jesus came to enlighten everyone with His own righteousness and glory. Later, when He had become an adult, Jesus announced, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

By grace through faith, we who were once in the darkness of sin now receive Christ’s light of righteousness and glory. The apostle Paul declared, “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” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

The candles of the Advent wreath and the lights on the Christmas tree celebrate the first coming of Christ, “who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10).

These lights also point us to the second coming of Christ. Jesus’ return will bring about a new creation in which the darkness of sin ends and the light of righteousness endures forever. We who are made righteous through faith in Christ will live in that eternal righteous realm in heaven.

The final chapters of the Bible use the symbolism of light to reveal the brilliant future Christ will inaugurate for us with His second coming. Revelation 21:23–24 puts things this way: “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk.”

Today, we still see the darkness of sin in our fallen world and in our sinful nature. But we disavow that sin and repent of the darkness in us. Because the righteousness of Christ has been credited to our spiritual bank account by faith, we need not fear a dark future in eternity. Instead, we anticipate the final advent in which Jesus will disperse the darkness forever and bring us to dwell in His glorious light forever.

CONCLUSION

Light decorations are visible everywhere during this season, from candles to LEDs. They point us to a powerful message: the light of Christ’s righteousness has come to disperse the darkness of sin. That’s what Advent is all about—the eternal glory that Jesus won for us at His first coming and that we will experience fully at His second coming. On Christmas Eve, many churches hold a candlelight service in which the flame is spread from the Christ candle on the altar to the small candles held in the hands of all the gathered worshipers. This points out that the coming of Christ brings the light of righteousness to all who believe.

So, every time you look at Advent and Christmas decorations giving out light, remember their message: Jesus has come and will come again to bring you the light of His righteousness and glory! Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.