God Is: What Christmas Reveals About God (4)

“God Is Light”

Text: Isa. 9:2; Luk. 1:78-79; James 1:17 ; 1John 1:5

Key Text: “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5, KJV)

Christmas does not arrive in the brightness of summer—it comes in the darkest season of the year.

The nights are longer. The days are shorter. The world grows colder and quieter.

And yet, this is when lights appear everywhere.

We string them on houses, wrap them around trees, line them along streets, and place them in windows

—Most think they are doing it for decoration, but the lights we hang and wrap around our trees are more than just decorations

Every Christmas light is a silent sermon declaring this truth:

God did not leave the world in darkness.

Long before there were ornaments or carols, the world was wrapped in spiritual darkness— broken by fear, and shadowed by death.

Humanity was not just in darkness; Scripture says we were sitting in it. (Firm)

Then Christmas happened.

God did not send a philosophy. He did not send a system. He did not send a suggestion.

He sent light.

The birth of Christ reveals more than an event—it reveals the nature of God.

At His birth we see:

A God who is Faithful enough to shine the light he promised

A God who is Near enough to send Himself

A God who is Pure enough to overcome sin

A God whose everlasting, never fading and never changing

And the Bible sums it all up in one simple, powerful statement:

“God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

This is not just a Christmas message. This is a life-changing truth.

Tonight, lets look together at this truth: God is Light

I. His Light Was Promised

God Is Faithful to Send the Light

Text: Isaiah 9:2 (KJV)

This light was not accidental

—it was announced centuries in advance.

Isaiah spoke to a people surrounded by fear, oppression, and spiritual gloom.

They were not merely in darkness—they were walking in it and dwelling under its shadow.

Yet God declared that darkness would not have the final word.

The phrase “hath the light shined” is prophetic certainty—spoken as if already done.

God’s promise was so sure that He spoke of it as fulfilled before it ever appeared.

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Isaiah’s prophecy stepped out of history and into flesh.

Christmas proves that God speaks light before the darkness lifts.

God’s promises are not dependent on circumstances.

What God declares, He will accomplish.

God promised light long before the darkness of night was over.

The birth of Christ is heaven’s announcement:

“I told you light was coming—and here it is.”

The baby in the manger is the great light Isaiah foresaw.

This assures every believer:

Darkness may last for a season

Shadows may linger

But God’s light always arrives right on time

That night in Bethlehem is proof that God keeps His promises—even when the world feels darkest.

II. His Light Is Personal

God Is Near — Light Came to Us

Text: Luke 1:78–79 (KJV)

The glory of Christmas is not simply that light came—it is how it came.

Scripture says the dayspring from on high “visited us.”

That word means God did not send help remotely.

He did not offer illumination from a distance.

He came Himself.

This was not a divine announcement shouted from heaven, but a holy arrival into human weakness.

The text tells us where the light went:

To those sitting in darkness

To those living in the shadow of death

God’s light did not wait for people to stand up or clean up. It entered the places where people were weary, afraid, and still.

The Meaning of “Dayspring”

“Dayspring” means sunrise—the first light after a long night.

Night does not end all at once

Darkness does not vanish instantly

But when the sun rises, night fades

This light was not a concept or a philosophy. It was a Person wrapped in flesh.

Connection to Series: God Is Near

The Light that came to us at Christmas reveals that God is not distant or detached.

The light of Christmas:

Did not thunder from Mount Sinai

Did not flash in the temple courts

It cried in a manger

Emmanuel means God with us.

God’s light moved into our neighborhood, walked our roads, felt our pain, and shared our humanity.

The light was wrapped in flesh so it could:

Touch the untouchable

Walk with the broken

Sit with those in sorrow

God stepped into the shadows of human life not to condemn, but to guide us into peace.

This is the wonder of Christmas:

Light did not avoid our darkness—it entered it.

And because the light came near then, we can trust that God still comes near now.

III. His Light Is Pure

God Is Holy Light with No Darkness

Text: “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” — 1 John 1:5 (KJV)

The light of Christmas is not merely warm—it is holy.

Scripture does not say God has light. It says God is light. Light is not just what He gives—it is who He is.

And this light is absolutely pure:

“In him is no darkness at all.”

Not a trace. Not a shadow. Not a mixture.

The world often tolerates shades of gray, but God’s light is unmixed holiness.

The Nature of Holy Light

God’s light does two things at the same time:

It reveals sin

And it offers salvation

This is why the Christmas light is uncomfortable to some. Light exposes what darkness hides.

Yet this same light that reveals sin also provides the way out of it.

The child in the manger was:

Born without sin

Lived without sin

Died for sin

Connection to Series: God Is Joy

True joy does not come from ignoring darkness. It comes from darkness being defeated.

The world’s joy says, “Don’t think about the darkness.” God’s joy says, “Bring it into the light.”

That is why Christmas joy runs deeper than emotions:

It reaches the conscience

It cleanses the heart

It restores fellowship with God

From Manger to Cross

The purity of the manger points forward to the purpose of the cross.

The holy light that shone in Bethlehem would later shine through:

A sinless life

A sacrificial death

A victorious resurrection

The light did not just come to comfort us. It came to save us.

Christmas declares that God did not lower His standard to reach us. He brought His holy light into our darkness to lift us out.

The light that shines at Christmas is the same light that conquers sin.

And because God’s light is pure:

Forgiveness is real

Cleansing is complete

Joy is lasting

This is the glory of Christmas light: It does not merely glow—it transforms.

IV. His Light Is Permanent

God Is Unchanging Light We Can Trust

Text: James 1:17 (KJV)

One of the great contrasts of Christmas is the difference between temporary light and eternal light.

Earthly lights:

Flicker

Burn out

Get unplugged

Are packed away when the season ends

But Scripture calls God the Father of lights—plural, meaning every true light finds its source in Him.

Unlike created lights, God’s light:

Never fades

Never weakens

Never shifts

James declares that with God there is “no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” That language comes from astronomy—shadows caused by shifting lights.

God casts no shadow, because He never moves.

God does not change with:

Time

Culture

Circumstances

Human failure

The light that shone in Bethlehem is the same light that shines today.

Christmas is not a momentary display—it is part of God’s unchanging redemptive plan.

Because God does not change:

His promises remain sure

His presence remains near

His joy remains accessible

Human joy is seasonal. God’s joy is settled.

The joy of Christmas is not dependent on:

Decorations

Music

Weather

Emotions

It rests on an unchanging God.

When the decorations come down, God’s light stays on.

When the calendar turns, God remains the same.

The same God who came in a manger Is the God who walks with us through every season of life.

His light shines:

In joy and in sorrow

In abundance and in lack

In celebration and in suffering

Because His light is permanent:

We are never abandoned

We are never forgotten

We are never without hope

Christmas reminds us that God did not just visit—He remains.

His light shines in winter and summer, in midnight and morning, now and forever.

Conclusion:

Christmas does more than mark a moment in history—it reveals the heart of God.

In the coming of Christ, heaven declares who God is:

He is Faithful — He promised light, and He kept His word

He is Near — He came to us when we could not come to Him

He is Pure — His holy light exposes sin and provides salvation

He is Permanent — His light never fades, never shifts, never fails

The message of Christmas is not that the world became brighter on its own. It is that God stepped into our darkness.

Light did not avoid the night. Light entered the night.

And when light appears, darkness must make a decision.

You can decorate around the light. You can admire the light. You can talk about the light.

But Christmas demands more than admiration—it demands response.

The same light that shone in Bethlehem now shines into every heart. It shines to reveal. It shines to redeem. It shines to guide us into peace.

The question is not whether the light has come. The question is whether we will walk in it.

Will you remain in the shadows of fear, sin, or uncertainty? Or will you step into the light of grace, truth, and salvation?

Christmas declares this unchanging truth:

God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.

So come out of the shadows. Step into the light. And let the light of Christ not only shine around you—but shine within you.

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another…” — **1 John 1:7 (KJV)