When the Light Broke In

Sermon Title: When the Light Broke In

Scripture: John 1:1-5

Occasion: Christmas Eve

Date: December 24, 2025

Opening Prayer

Father in heaven,

We come to You tonight grateful, needy, and expectant.

We thank You that in our darkness, You did not leave us alone,

but sent Your eternal Son—the Light of Light—to dwell among us.

By Your Spirit, give us eyes to see Him, ears to hear His voice, and hearts ready to receive the truth of Your Word.

For those who are weary, bring comfort.

For those who are wandering, bring clarity.

For those who are still in darkness, bring saving light.

Open the Scriptures to us, and open us to the Scriptures, that we may behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We ask this for Your glory and for our joy,

in the name of our Savior and King,

Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Introduction — When Light Breaks In

I have entitled my sermon tonight:

“When the Light Broke in”

Light is never just light to human beings.

Ask anyone who has endured a long night of grief, a season of guilt,

or the heavy darkness of fear—

light is more than something we see.

It is something we long for.

Light means safety.

Light means truth.

Light means hope that the darkness will not last forever.

That is why, on Christmas Eve, candles are lit across the world.

And whether people realize it or not, they are making a confession:

We cannot generate the light we need.

Not a spark of our own effort.

Not the glow of human progress.

Not the illusion of self-improvement.

We need a Light that comes from outside of us— a Light that breaks in!

That is precisely what the church has confessed for centuries.

In the Nicene Creed—an ancient, orthodox confession we read every Lord’s Day— the church declares that Jesus Christ is not merely a moral teacher, not a religious reformer, not a spiritual guide among many.

He is “Light of Light, very God of very God.”

Not created.

Not derived.

Not developed.

But eternally begotten—the true Light from the true Light.

And Christmas Eve announces this staggering reality:

The eternal Light stepped into our darkness.

The eternal light invaded our darkness.

So tonight, we turn to Johns Gospel that introduces Jesus not with shepherds or wise men, but face to face with eternity itself.

Take your copy of God’s word and turn to John 1:1-5.

Text: John 1:1–5 (ESV)

John 1:1–5 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

(FOR ME) Sermon Outline

The Light Who Has Always Been (vv. 1–2)

The Light Who Gives Life (v. 3–4)

The Light Who Breaks the Darkness (v. 5)

Transition to Point One

Before John ever tells us what the Light does,

he is careful to tell us who the Light is.

Before the Light enters the darkness,

John takes us back to where the Light began.

And that is where our text starts—not in Bethlehem, but in eternity.

Let’s begin with verse 1 where we see The light who has always been.

1. The Light Who Has Always Been

John 1:11

“In the beginning was the Word…”

John does not begin at Bethlehem.

He does not begin with shepherds, angels, or a manger.

He begins where Genesis begins—but before Genesis can even unfold.

Before creation.

Before angels.

Before stars.

Before time itself.

John reaches back into eternity and makes a staggering declaration:

“In the beginning was the Word.”

Not came to be.

Not was created.

Not began to exist.

The verb John uses insists on continuous, eternal existence.

There was never a moment—no matter how far back you push your imagination—when the Word was not.

This is why Arius (an early church father 256-336 AD) was gravely mistaken on this matter .

This is why the church had to speak clearly.

This is why the Nicene Creed draws a firm line in the sand.

As the early church fathers came together and agreed about Jesus that..

“There was never a time when He was not.”

Christmas is therefore NOT the beginning of Christ.

It is the arrival of the eternal Christ.

John continues:

“The Word was with God.”

This is not mere proximity.

The word John uses implies face-to-face relationship—intimate fellowship, eternal delight, personal communion.

The Son is not an impersonal force.

He is not an attribute.

He is not an abstraction.

From all eternity, the Father and the Son existed in perfect love, joy, and communion.

This is why God did not need to create.

Creation flows not from loneliness, but from fullness.

And notice this carefully:

The Word is distinct from God, yet inseparable from God.

Already, John is preparing us for Trinitarian theology— without ever using the word “Trinity.”

Then John says what many today stumble over:

“And the Word was God.”

Not a god.

Not godlike.

Not divine in some lesser sense.

The Word shares the very nature and being of God.

John is precise.

He does not say the Word is the Father—but he does say the Word is fully God.

As C. H. Dodd put it,

“What God was, the Word was.”

This is why the Nicene Fathers confessed:

“Light of Light, true God of true God.”

That phrase matters.

It means:

The Son shares the Father’s eternal nature

The Son is of the same divine essence

The Son shines with the very radiance of God Himself

Here’s the picture:

The sun and its radiance are distinct, but inseparable.

You cannot have the sun without its light.

You cannot divide the brightness from its source.

So it is with the Father and the Son.

Jesus is not a created light—like the sun, moon, or stars.

He is the uncreated Light, from whom all created light derives its existence.

John calls Jesus “the Word” (logos) for a reason.

In the Old Testament, the Word of the LORD is God in action:

God speaks—and creation comes into being

God sends His word—and healing comes

God speaks—and deliverance follows

“By the word of the LORD the heavens were made.”-Psalm 33:6

“God said… and it was so.”-Genesis 1, 1:3

“My word shall not return to me empty.” - Isaiah 55:11

John is saying:

That Word—the active, powerful, saving Word of God—has a name.

And His name is Jesus.

One helpful way to think about this is:

Jesus is God’s Word with skin on.

Everything God has to say—

everything God wants to reveal—

everything God wants to do to save sinners—

is spoken finally and fully in His Son.

Practical Weight: Why This Matters

John wants you to know all of this before he ever mentions a manger.

Why?

Because if Jesus is not eternal God, then Christmas is sentimental nonsense.

BUT if Jesus is eternal God, then Christmas is the most earth-shaking event in history.

The Creator entered His creation

The Eternal stepped into time

The Infinite became finite

The Light entered the darkness

This means:

Jesus is not optional

Jesus is not one teacher among many

Jesus does not merely show the way—He is the way

Friend, we don’t get to reduce Jesus to something manageable .

John wants everything you read in this Gospel to be interpreted through this lens.

The baby in the manger is the eternal God.

The Son is co-equal, co-eternal, consubstantial with the Father— and in the fullness of time, He took on real flesh for our salvation.

Transition:

And if this eternal Word truly is God,

then everything that exists must owe its existence to Him—which is

exactly where John takes us next.

2. The Light Who Gives Life

John 1:3

“All things were made through Him…”

John now moves us from eternity into creation.

He does not allow us to admire Christ from a distance.

He insists we reckon with Him as the source of everything that exists.

John says it once positively—and then again negatively—so that we do not miss it:

John 1:3 ESV

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Every atom.

Every galaxy.

Every mountain.

Every cell in your body.

Every breath in your lungs.

Nothing exists independently of the Word!!

Jesus is not part of creation.

He stands behind creation.

This is why the Nicene Creed confesses with careful precision:

“By Him all things were made.”

That single line dismantles every attempt to make Jesus smaller than He is.

He is not merely the Savior who appears late in the story.

He is the Creator who wrote the story.

This language deliberately echoes Genesis 1.

“God said… and it was so.”

Creation happens not by struggle, not by effort, not by trial and error, but by the Word of God.

John is saying:

The same Word that said, “Let there be light,”

is the Word who later said, “I am the Light of the world.” (John 8:12, John 9:5)

The hands that formed Adam from the dust are the hands that were later nailed to a cross.

The voice that called galaxies into existence is the voice that later cried, “It is finished.” (John 19:30)

John now presses deeper:

“In Him was life…” (v.4)

This is not borrowed life.

Not dependent life.

Not derived life.

This is self-existent life.

The Son shares the very life of God Himself.

As Jesus will later say in John 5:26:

John 5:26 ESV

For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

This is why Christ can give life to others.

John’s point is not simply that Jesus has life, but that life resides in Him.

This means:

Life originates in Him He is not the result of life; He is its source.

Life is sustained by Him Every moment of existence is upheld by His will.

Life is interpreted through Him Apart from Christ, life makes no ultimate sense.

Life finds its purpose in Him To live without Christ is to exist without meaning.

This is why St. Augustine famously said:

“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

John adds one crucial phrase:

“And the life was the light of men.” (v.4b)

This life is not merely biological—it is spiritual illumination.

Human beings are not merely sick.

They are not merely misguided.

They are dead in sin and darkened in understanding.

Light is what allows us to see reality as it truly is.

I was watching the movie brave heart a couple a weeks ago, and I was taken back by William Wallace’s quote as he was approaching his death. He says,

“Every man dies. Not every man really lives.”

— William Wallace, Braveheart (1995)

That is exactly what God is communicating here through John’s gospel.

Without Christ:

We exist, but we do not truly live

We reason, but we do not truly understand

We choose, but our wills are enslaved

The Light does not just show us the way— it gives us eyes to see the way.

During Christmas, you will hear and see on signs that seeing is believing, but what John is saying here is that believing is seeing.

Illustration

Think about Christmas lights wrapped perfectly around a tree or a house.

They can be beautiful.

They can be carefully arranged.

They can even be in the right place.

But if they are not plugged in, no matter how pretty they look, without power, they are useless.

So it is with humanity apart from Christ.

You can decorate life with success, morality, religion, or purpose—but if you are disconnected from the Source, you are still in darkness.

Jesus does not merely improve life—He is life.

This is why Christmas Eve is not sentimental nostalgia.

It is theological reality.

The One who created life entered creation to redeem life.

The Creator became a creature

—not by ceasing to be God,

—but by taking on flesh.

Why?

So that creatures broken by sin might be restored to their Creator.

This is the miracle of the incarnation:

The Giver of life entered death

The Light entered darkness

The Holy One entered a fallen world

And because life is in Him, separation from Him is death.

No human heart can find true life apart from Christ.

No soul can find rest apart from Christ.

No sinner can find forgiveness apart from Christ.

This is not narrow-minded theology— this is reality.

As John will later say in 1 John 5:12:

1 John 5:12 ESV

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Practical Application

This confronts us with a simple but searching question:

Are you connected to the Source of life—or merely existing?

Morality without Christ is not life

Religion without Christ is not life

Success without Christ is not life

Life is found in Christ alone.

Transition:

And when this Life enters a world dominated by darkness, the question becomes—what happens to the darkness?

John answers that next.

3. The Light Who Breaks the Darkness

John 1:5 ESV

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John now moves from identity and creation to conflict.

Light does not enter a neutral world.

It enters a hostile one.

In John’s Gospel, darkness is never merely the absence of light.

It is active rebellion.

Darkness represents:

Spiritual evil (Ephesians 6:12)

Moral blindness (2 Corinthians 4:4, John 12:40)

Willful resistance to God (Acts 7:51, Romans 8:7)

A world suppressing the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:8)

This darkness is not confused—it is defiant.

It does not want light.

It resents light.

It fears light.

As Jesus will later say:

John 3:19 ESV

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Darkness is not passive.

It fights.

It resists.

It pretends to rule.

And into that world, John says:

“The light shines…” (V.5a)

That verb is crucial.

John does not say,

“The light flickered.”

“The light tried.”

“The light hoped.”

“The light shines.”

Present tense.

Active.

Unstoppable.

Christmas is not God making a polite appearance.

It is divine invasion.

Heaven did not send a committee.

God did not negotiate terms.

The Light entered—uninvited, unopposed, unconquerable!!

Just as in the first creation—

when darkness covered the face of the deep—

God spoke light into existence.

So now, in the new creation, the eternal Word enters a darkened world and shines.

John continues:

“…and the darkness has not overcome it.” (v.5b)

That word overcome means to seize, master, overpower, or extinguish.

John is saying something absolutely decisive:

Darkness is real—but it is not equal.

Light and darkness are not two evenly matched forces locked in eternal struggle.

This is not spiritual dualism.

Darkness has power—but light has authority.

A single candle can fill a dark room, but no amount of darkness can extinguish the flame.

So it was with Christ.

Herod tried to kill Him—failed.

Religious leaders tried to silence Him—failed.

Rome tried to crush Him—failed.

Satan tried to destroy Him—failed.

Death tried to hold Him—failed.

The tomb tried to keep Him—failed.

Not then.

Not now.

Not ever.

Why?

Because this Light is not a symbol.

He is not an idea.

He is not a metaphor.

He is God of God, Light of Light.

And darkness cannot overcome God.

Here is where Christmas and the cross meet.

For a moment—

a terrifying moment—

it looked like darkness had won.

The Light was arrested.

The Light was beaten.

The Light was nailed to a cross.

The Light was buried in a tomb.

But the cross was not the victory of darkness.

It was the exposure of darkness.

What looked like defeat was actually triumph.

What looked like loss was actually salvation.

What looked like extinction was actually redemption.

The Light went into the darkness of death so that those in darkness could be brought into life.

And on the third day, the Light burst forth from the grave—not dimmed, not diminished, not delayed.

As John later writes:

1 John 2:8 ESV

… the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

Practical Courage for God’s People

This is why Christmas Eve should not be sentimental comfort alone— it should produce spiritual boldness.

Yes, the world is dark.

Yes, sin is real.

Yes, suffering is heavy.

Yes, evil is present.

But the Light has come!

Darkness does not get the final word

Sin does not get the final victory

Death does not get the final say

Christ does.

And if you are in Christ—you walk in His light.

That means:

You are never truly alone in the darkness

You are never without hope

You are never abandoned to despair

The Light that conquered the grave now shines in those who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus.

Transition to Conclusion

So the Light has come.

The darkness has been confronted.

And the verdict has already been rendered.

Which means this truth is not meant to be merely heard— it is meant to be seen.

Conclusion — The Final Candle

In just a moment, candles will be passed through this room.

One small flame will move from person to person, and gradually the darkness will give way to light.

But hear me carefully.

What you are about to hold in your hand is not the Light we have preached tonight.

It is only a sign.

A reminder.

A witness.

Every candle in this room is borrowed light.

It depends on another flame.

It flickers.

It can be blown out with a breath.

But the Light we have proclaimed tonight depends on nothing and no one.

Jesus Christ is unborrowed Light.

Uncreated Light.

Eternal Light.

On this night, you hold a candle in your hands— but the true Light holds you in His.

He held the universe together before you were born.

He held the nails that pierced His hands.

He held the grave that could not keep Him.

And He holds His people still.

Christmas Eve is not the celebration of a memory.

It is the declaration of a reality:

The eternal Light has broken into our darkness.

Not to admire it.

Not to negotiate with it.

BUT to conquer it!

Some of you came here tonight carrying heavy darkness—

grief that still aches,

guilt that still accuses,

fear that still whispers,

sin you thought no one could see.

Hear this good news:

The Light did not wait for you to clean yourself up.

The Light came for you.

He lived the life you could not live.

He died the death you deserved to die.

He rose victorious over the darkness that enslaves you.

And tonight, the invitation of Christmas is simple and urgent:

Come into the Light by faith.

Leave the darkness behind.

Trust the One who shines still.

In a moment, as we sing Silent Night,

and the light spreads through this room, let it mark you.

Years from now, when you see a candle lit on Christmas Eve, may you remember this truth:

The darkness did not win.

The darkness does not win.

The darkness will never win.

How can we be sure of that?

Because Light of Light, very God of very God, has come.

And the Light shines still.

Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Father of lights,

We thank You for sending the true Light into our darkness—

Your eternal Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Seal Your Word to our hearts.

For those who believe, strengthen our faith and deepen our joy.

For those still in the shadows, draw them into Your saving light.

Teach us to walk as children of the light, bearing witness to Christ in a dark world.

As we now lift our candles and sing together,

fix our eyes on Jesus—

the Light who has come,

the Light who still shines,

and the Light who will one day fill all things with glory.

We ask this in Christ’s precious name,

Amen.