Advent 2020 - 3 - Light in trhe Darkness

20-12-06 - ADVENT 2 – Light in the Darkness

Intro

The battle was beginning, Sauron was sending his forces against the people of Rohan. Things seemed to be bleak if not for a certain fellowship of brave people who had revolted against Sauron and sought to destroy him. 

Amongst this fellowship was a wizard who was the leader of this group. The wizard Gandalf and his group brought the people of Rohan together and told them that they had to fight back against this foe. 

So they ran to a fortress in the mountains called Helm’s deep. It was a fortress that had never been taken by enemies before. 

There they prepared for the darkness to descend on them. It was not just figurative darkness but with the warriors of Sauron came a magical darkness that would forever cover the land in darkness of nothing was done about it. An evil darkness from which there would be no escape. 

On the way the wizard had to leave the army of Rohan and his friends to go do something. They where terribly sad at his leaving but he told them to look for Him, he would come even if it seemed all hope was lost he would return. 

The battle started, the darkness was thick and impenetrable. It seemed that as time wore on that they where doomed to the darkness. 

But then One of Gandalf’s friends remembered what He had said about returning and have hope, then as they where remembering this a great light appeared over the horizon and there appeared Gandalf. 

He was literally shining with a great light and with him was a small army of soldiers that had been scattered throughout the land. 

Gandalf’s great light-struck fear into the darkness and brought hope into the hearts of the warriors of Rohan. They went on to win the battle of Helm’s deep. 

This is a story out of one of my favorite series of books by a Christian man named John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. 

Gandalf represented in the stories a messiah type figure who was instrumental in saving the people of the land. A great figure of light in the midst of the darkness of evil. 

The Christmas season is a time where we are reminded of the promises of God and how they where fulfilled in Jesus. As we look at these promises we are reminded that God promised us a light in the darkness. 

The Prophecy

We go back to the darkness that was facing the Israelites back in the reign of Ahaz king of Judah. It was a time of darkness for the people of Israel. 

I put a map up on the screen to help people like me who learn better by seeing. It will show us how the kingdom of Israel was divided and where it is in the world. 

We have gone over already what was going on at the time when this was written so let us go to the passage of prophecy, we are going to look at today. 

Isaiah 9:1-2 1  Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times when He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the future, He will bring honor to the Way of the Sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations. 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness.

There are two cities named in this prophecy and they are two cities in the northern Kingdom (the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali). They are located just north of the sea of Galilee. 

The northern kingdom was taken captive by the Assyrians starting in around 750 BC. But the southern kingdom remained.

In chapter 8 it talks of what it was like during this time for the northern Kingdom. Isaiah 8: 18–20 18 Here I am with the children the LORD has given me to be signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of Armies who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 When they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 Go to God’s instruction and testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them. They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22 They will look toward the earth and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness. 

They where not relying on God and fell to darkness because of what they had done and how they had rejected the Lord God. 

But the darkness that was promised was not going to last forever, God sent it with another promise, the promise of a light that was going to come and light up the darkness of sin that they had fallen in to. 

There was not only one time where light in the darkness was promised but throughout what happened to the Israelites the promise was there that if they turned to the Lord God then salvation was going to be offered to them. 

He was called a sanctuary but to those that where living is sin a stumbling stone. They where told to go to God’s instructions and testimonies and of they did not then the darkness would be the only thing that they would see. 

This was pointing to something much greater that was coming, the fulfillment to the light in the darkness was going to come and offer a sacrifice once for all for our sin. 

The Fulfillment

We go again to where this was fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus went through His temptation in the desert and upon hearing that John was arrested withdrew into the land that we had been talking about, Zebulon and Naphtali in the region of Galilee. 

Matthew 4:14-16 14  This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 15 Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, along the road by the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. 16 The people who live in darkness have seen a great light, and for those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. 

Jesus took up the same message that John the Baptist had been teaching, Matthew 4:17  From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

This was the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, And it started in the same region that was prophesied about. The Israelites had come back by then, a long time before this happened. 

But it was promised that A light in the darkness would come to them after they where lead into captivity. That amidst the darkness a light would shine. 

Before we get into what his means I want to go a little further. Jesus Came to fulfill the prophecy to be a light in the darkness. The light that was promised to bring the people out of the darkness of captivity. 

So, what did Jesus do to start His ministry? He started to call young men to be His disciples. He started to teach a select group of people what He knew so they could continue His ministry when He was gone. 

He started out by finding some fisherman who where out doing their job. Two regular people, with a hard job. 

Fishing was not an easy job and the fisherman where not exactly high up in society at the time. But Jesus went to these fishermen and told them to drop what they where doing, drop their livelihood, drop all that they knew and to follow and learn from Him. 

So not only did Jesus come to bring people back into the light but he called people out of their comfort zone to follow Him, to learn from Him so that they could do the same thing. 

They where called instead of fishing for fish to go out and start fishing for people. To tell them what Jesus taught them to say and to do. 

The Application

First of all what is the light in the darkness? We look first to the message that Jesus and His disciples where preaching. 

The message that they where preaching was this Matthew 4:17 From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

People started to follow Jesus around because of what was going on. He was forgiving people of their sins; He was healing people and word started to spread of all this man was doing. 

The people that where lost in the darkness, had been taken by the Assyrians so long ago where finally being brought the message of hope. God always fulfills His promises. 

A little after this passage in Matthew Jesus starts what we call the sermon on the mount. A very well-known chunk of the gospels. People where following him, the group started to get bigger, so he taught them. 

One of the things that He taught was the metaphor of salt and light. We are told that we are the light of the world. 

The light that we are, the light in the darkness is Jesus. He is the hope that we have. The darkness is sin and despair that would take our focus off God and put it on ourselves and our own situation. 

The darkness is a life with Jesus not in it or a life that loses focus on Jesus and starts to focus on our surroundings. The cause of peoples distress is more often than not their own emptiness. Empty, sensing themselves in darkness, their natural response is anger, which vents itself on every object which crosses their path, but especially toward their God, who they may not look to ever in their life except to blame when the darkness begins to overwhelm them and they need to lash out at someone to blame other then themselves. 

They continue to look downward and outward towards other people but do not seem to find any help. How can those who are in gloom and anguish like themselves help anyone else? Those who depend upon earth for solutions to the earth’s problems only add to their darkness. Light for our darkness must come from outside ourselves if it is to come at all. Darkness can swallow up failing light, but it can never produce light.1

As followers of Jesus we are to shed the light of Jesus to those around us, the only way that people will find their way out of their darkness is through the light of Jesus in their lives. 

Like a city on a hill, Jesus is to shine out of us. I went camping once, just outside of Vegas. I know most people don’t pass through Vegas; they stop there. But we where just passing through. 

We found a campsite up on a hill just outside the city, overlooking the city. It was a sight to behold. There was no hiding the light of that city but was there for all to behold. Attracting people to it. 

We are to be like that, a great light on a hill. But instead of attracting people to worldly pleasures we are to shine the light of Jesus on their lives so that they can see the freedom that is only possible in Jesus. 

Jesus came as a baby to preach hope and the forgiveness of sins. He called people out of their lives and told them to preach this message to people. 

So that means that as we live our lives, we need to be shining the light of Jesus to those around us. We need to meet and join together as the body of Christ to point people to Jesus. 

How can you be a light on a hill? We are all called to follow Jesus, learn from Him through the scriptures. And then to take what we have learned and share the light of the gospel to those around us.

During this trying time, it is important now more then ever to remember that our command from God has not changed, we are still called to share the light of the messiah to the world around us.