"The Light of Christmas"

Announce about the Christman's Eve Service , this coming Thursday evening, December 24th, at 5:00 pm (Singing some traditional carols, communion and a reading from the Word). We will be respectful of everyone's time, so one hour in and out that night, to get everyone back home, or wherever you need to be for sharing time with your other family and friends.

Pray for our nation and for all of those who are sick right now!

Well, here we are, the Sunday before Christmas! I said it this past week and I will say it again, “I cannot believe that we are already standing at the door of Christmas and also the end of this year 2020!!!

And to say that this year has been unlike any other year we've ever dealt with, would be a drastic understatement, right?!!

This past Wednesday evening, we talked about some of the traditions that are linked to the night of Jesus’ birth and the scene that we commonly refer to as the “Nativity Scene”. We discussed briefly about the common things and people that are associated with that night and with that glorious moment in time!!

Things like the common portrayal of Jesus’ birth having taken place within a stable, or a barn, or a cave. And the reason that people think it happened that way, is simply due to a misunderstanding of the Greek word for “inn” that is used in Luke’s account of the Christ’s birth. ( Kataluma vs Pandocheion)

In reality, Jesus was most likely born in the home of some distant relatives of Jospeh, since they were in Bethlehem for the Roman census and thus he would have had family who would have gladly taken them in!

The usual portrayal of the “innkeeper” is another part of this false understanding.

The Bible never mentions any dialogue between Joseph and Mary and an innkeeper.

Then, there is the matter of the wise men arriving at the scene. People have been talking about and singing about the “Three Wisemen for decades. (You know, “We Three Kings”?) They even have names for the “three” wise men, (Casper, Balthazar, and Melchior). The simple truth is, we have absolutely no idea how many wise men showed up to see the Christ! One thing that we do know for sure, is that the wise men were NOT there the night that Jesus was born! All of the nativity scenes that we usually see, which depict them standing beside Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus, are incorrect.

The Bible tells us that they arrived to find the Christ-child, not the infant Jesus, according to Matthew’s gospel account.

And that Herod was looking for a male child from 0-2 years of age to cover all bases.

But it’s the other part of the story of the wise men that I wanted to really mention to you right now. Not the part about the gifts that they brought, or the part about their interaction with Herod, but rather, the detail about the great sign in the heavens that lead them to the Christ...........the Christmas Star. Or at least that’s what people have commonly come to know this great light in the heavens as, the “Christmas Star”, or the “Star of Bethlehem”.

And for those of you who may not know, or maybe you did hear and have forgotten, tomorrow evening, December 21, 2020, there is going to be another heavenly anomaly in the night sky, that many are again calling the Christmas Star.

This rare occurrence is going to happen as the planets, Jupiter and Saturn, will align with each other from our perspective, and appear to be one large star in the nighttime sky. If you step outside, about an hour after sunset tomorrow evening and look towards the southewest sky, you should have a clear view of this amazing ocurrence.

This alignment hasn't happened for about 400 years and it hasn't been visible above the skyline to us while aligned like this, for about 800 years! If you miss this one, the good news is that you can catch it again. The bad news is that you’ll have to wait around until the year 2080!

This same wonder in the heavens that we are looking forward to seeing tomorrow night, has happened in centuries past. In fact, with more intensity and brilliance! In December of 1603 Johannes Kepler (the German astronomer and mathematician), observed a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which was followed by a massing of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, when all three planets were close together in the sky. He calculated that a similar set of circumstances would have occurred at around 7 BC. In fact, the 7 BC conjunction is what is called a triple conjunction, meaning that at least 2 of those three planets passed in line with one another on 3 separate occasions, causing this bright star effect, off and on, for an extended period of time.

Some believe that this massive alignment in the sky, that happened over the course of a few months, produced the star that the magi followed to find the Christ child.

Now no one can say for sure what exactly they saw, but this does offer a plausible answer!

And for those of you who are thinking, well, that can’t be right, because Jesus was born at 0 AD, which is when the calendars changed and we moved from BC to AD, right?

Well, if you remember, the Bible us that and Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus stayed in Egypt after Jesus was born to protect Him from Herod , until Herod died and then they moved back to Israel, to the area of Nazareth.

Herod died in 4 BC, so Jesus had to have been born before 4 BC, right? Many people speculate that 6 BC was His birth year and so this alignment of Jupiter and Saturn and Mars in 7 BC, would be a good fit for a great sign in the night time sky that God would have used to lead the wise men on their jourent to find the Christ child!

The reason for my mentioning this great “star” in the sky taking place tomorrow evening and its resembling that of another great “star” in the sky some 2,000 years ago, is to focus on one main aspect dealing with the birth of our Lord and Savior.

Anod that one main thing is His glorious LIGHT!

You know, when you and I look up into the daytime sky, we observe a blinding, brilliant star in the sky, which we commonly refer to as the.........”SUN”, right?

The sun is our closest star that God placed into the heavens to give our planet warmth and light for protection and to enable life on this planet!

And its what the Bible calls the greater light.

And when we look into the nighttime sky, we can see the our close neighbor satellite, the moon, which serves to reflect the light of the sun and thus to illuminate our nighttime sky.

This the Bible calls the lesser light!

Genesis 1 tells us that God placed the greater and lesser lights in the heavens, to give light to the earth and to govern the day and the night and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good!

And so, to protect us with warmth and light for energy and growth as well as to keep a barrier bewteen us and the darkness, God placed heavenly “lights” around us!

I delivered a message four years ago at this same time, in which I mentioned this very subject, which was entitled, “The Birth of Light”. And in that message, I read two scripture passages and then spoke about the light of God.

This morning, I would like to read those same two passages again and re-visit the message about the Light of God. So, if you have your Bibles, would you turn with me to the beginning of the Bible, the book of Genesis 1:1-5, and then also to the book of John 1:1-9,

Genesis 1:1–5 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

John 1:1–9 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. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

From the opening of the OT, the beginning of all things, we see light bursting forth and forever holding darkness at bay. A line, a spoken boundary by God was drawn into the physics and the very fibers of the natural universe that stipulated where the darkness could exist.

Then, in the opening of the NT, we see a similar account. After 400 years of silence and spiritual darkness, THE LIGHT of the world burst forth into creation and with it, came a similar division. A supernatural physics law if you will, that told the spiritual darkness where it was to stay.

And today, some 2,000 years since the Light of God was born into the world, just as John stated in his gospel, “the darkness has not overcome it”!

As we stand at the doorway of another Christmas, a season that is supposed to be filled with joy and hope and peace, just like the songs that we sing about this time of the year, this year, for countless millions, had brought depression and anxiety and fear. This year has been unlike anything that this nation has seen before in its history.

I read yesterday, when preparing for today’s message, about how many people are dealing with and experiencing Christmas 2020, while going through the pandemic and the struggles and hardships that they are experiencing.

One such example was that of a young single mother:

This young lady shared of how she lost her job as a server, and was then evicted from her home at the end of October while she was giving birth to her third child. She said her landlord pushed through the eviction after denying rental assistance she was accepted for from the state because the landlord didn’t want to file it on his taxes. They are now moving back and forth between friends’ houses.

“I’m a single mom of three kids, I worked so hard to keep rent paid, and we were successful up until November,” she said. “My five year old is having a really rough time trying to understand why we don’t have our Christmas tree, why all of their toys are in storage and why she doesn’t have her space. She asks me at least once a day if we can just go ‘home.’ Normally this time of year is spent doing crafts, baking and preparing for Santa, I’ve done my best at trying to make sure Christmas isn’t completely ruined for them but I’ve lost all hope.”

You see, in the case of this young lady, and like countless of millions all over this country and all over the world, any sense of hope and joy has been removed.

Now the most obvious answer as to why all hope and joy is gone in this young woman’s case and for that of millions of others, would be the darkness that has come in by the pandemic and the damaging effects of the COVID-19 virus that is still raging on.

And as much as it’s true that this virus and the response of our nation to this virus has crippled many people financially and still ruined others financially, it brings to mind a thought.

It brings to mind a very familiar passage from the Psalmist David, where he wrote, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

David, who was very acquainted with misery and despair, stated that even in the darkest, loneliest places of our lives, God is there!

It was David who also wrote just a few psalms later, “The Lord is my LIGHT and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”

And again David said of the Lord when he was being pressed and in misery, “For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.”

And here is my point. When our hope and our expectations reside anywhere else, other than the Lord, then there will always be darkness.

And with the darkeness comes the other attributes of the enemy of our souls: fear, depression, strife, anger and a host of other problems.

The young woman that we just read of made the statement that she was trying to do her best to make sure that Christmas wasn’t completely ruined for her children, but that she had lost all hope!

As much as I get and understand the love of a parent for their children and wanting to be able to provide gifts for a child at Christmas time, there is something that needs to mentioned.

Christmas was not brought about to celebrate the giving and receiving of gifts with one another.

It was never supposed to be focused upon anything else, except the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ!

I know what it feels like to be without much money and want to be able to provide gifts for your children.

My wife and I have experienced this before in our own family.

I know that it hurts to think that they will go without such things!

But let us never neglect to give to our children the greatest gift that they will ever receive!

The gift of LIGHT!

When the focus of Christmas is only on gifts and decorations and all of the things that we have made it out to be, then we have missed the meaning of this day completely!

This day is supposed to be set aside to celebrate birth of the LIGHT of the world, which is Jesus, the Son of God!

I’m not trying to, nor would I ever downplay the stress and worry that comes from financial hardship on people. That is a very trying and worrisome situation and I completely get that.

But, you can never push back the darkness in your life with darkness.

You can only dispel the darkenss with LIGHT!

When the world comes against you and it will, you can only have peace and joy in the midst of the attack through your relationship with God.

When you walk in darkness, the only way to see where you are going is to have a source of light in front of you, right?

It’s the same for when we walk in spiritual darkness! You need a light in front of you to light your way!

Psalm 119:105 says,

Psalm 119:105 ESV

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

God and His Word becomes the light that shines through and dispels the darkness all around us!

It was the prophet Isaiah that said in Isaiah 9:2,

Isaiah 9:2 ESV

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.

God has always been and will always be, LIGHT! His glory illuminates everything around it and that comes in contact with it!

Moses stood in the presence of God’s glory while on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments and it lit his face up like a light bulb!

So much so, that it scared the rest of the Israelites and they asked him to cover his face until the glory and its light faded!

It was God’s glorious light which lit up all creation in Genesis 1:3, when God spoke, “Let there be light”.

This light that appeared and pushed back all darkness, was there on day 1. The sun and moon were not created until day 3!

God and His glory are LIGHT, period!

I John 1:5 says it this way,

1 John 1:5 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.

And with God sending His Son to this earth in the form of a human baby, the world witnessed the birth of the spiritual light of God!

As John stated in his gospel, “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.”

“ 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!”

It is in John’s gospel that we read of Jesus making His seven amazing “I AM” declarations. And in John 8:12, Jesus announces to everyone, openly without limit, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

When you encounter Jesus in your life, you stand face to face with the eternal LIGHT of the world. You can accept the TRUTH of who and what He is and allow Him to become Lord of your life and thus you being to walk in the LIGHT, or you can reject Him and continue walking in darkness!

In John 9:1-7 we read,

John 9:1–7 ESV

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

This man was born physically blind and had sat his whole life in utter darkness.

Jesus comes walking along and sees the blind man and proves that He is the light of God, by working a miracle for the man.

The man didn't ask for anything, but Jesus gave because He loved the man!

This man was just like you and I!

We were ALL born spiritually blind and living in the darkenss of sin!

Just like this man had never seen light before until the Christ, so too we never saw true spiritual light until Jesus found us and healed us!

Now the man could have rejected Jesus’ command to go and wash and he would have walked in his condition from then on.

But out of faith and desperation, he went did as Jesus told him and was immediately healed!

When you have been healed of the disease of sin, by the Christ, you are truly healed and set free from it and its grip of darkness on your life!

Ephesians 5:8 tells us, “for at one time you were darkness, but now you are LIGHT in the Lord. Walk as children of LIGHT!”

And again in I Thessalonians 5:5, Paul tells us, “For you are all children of LIGHT, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.”

Are you a child of the day and the LIGHT, or a child of the night and darkness?

Do your eyes see the LIGHT of kingdom of God, or are you still seeing the darkness of this world?

Jesus went on to say in John 12:35-36 and 46, “The LIGHT is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the LIGHT, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the LIGHT, believe in the LIGHT, that you may become sons of LIGHT. I have come into the world as LIGHT, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”

Jesus came for the soul purpose of delivering us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of LIGHT!

His mission was to come to this earth and bring down the glorious LIGHT of God into the lives of all who would believe and repent and be healed of sin and spiritual darkness!

Jesus is the LIGHT of God!!!!

And if you truly know Him as Lord and Savior of your life, then you have become the LIGHT to the world around you.

Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus says to His followers, “You are the LIGHT of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your LIGHT shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Jesus is saying to you and I, that in Him, we become the glorious LIGHT of His Father to the dark world around us!!! (I WISH THAT I HAD SOME FOLKS IN HERE WHO GOT EXCITED ABOUT THAT STATEMENT!)

Let me try and say it to you this way, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful LIGHT.”

(MAN, I NEED SOME PEOPLE WHO CAN TESTIFY ABOUT WHAT GOD HAS DONE IN THEIR LIVES!)

IS THERE ANYONE IN THIS HOUSE TODAY WHO CAN SAY, “THAT’S BE PASTOR.......I’M A PART OF THE ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, I’M A PART OF THE HOLY NATION, I’M GOD’S SPECIAL POSSESSION! AND I CAN DECLARE WITH BOLD ASSURANCE RIGHT NOW BEFORE GOD AND EVERYONE SITTING HERE, I HAVE BEEN CALLED OUT OF DARKNESS AND INTO HIS WONDERFUL LIGHT?”