The True Christmas Light
Who does not enjoy Christmas lights? Even at my age, I love to see the bright lights shining through the cold, dark nights of winter. I find it comforting to see. But I also find it a little depressing when the temporary lights of Christmas shine no more and we are left with nothing but darkness in our neighborhoods.
There is plenty of imagery of light and darkness in the Bible. In the beginning the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep…Then God said let there be light and there was light. One of the first things God did was to introduce light into a dark and formless world. During their Egyptian captivity, God used darkness as a plague against Pharaoh, but He kept the dwellings of the Jews lighted. During their wilderness wanderings the children of Israel were led by a pillar of fire at night. These are Old Testament instances where God used physical light to help, aid, guide and protect His people in the midst of physical darkness. Furthermore, there are predictions of God bringing a Spiritual Light to save his children from Spiritual Darkness such as in Isaiah 4:5-7.
5 Thus says God the Lord,
Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it,
Who gives breath to the people on it,
And spirit to those who walk on it:
“I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness,
And will hold Your hand;
I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the Gentiles,
To open blind eyes,
To bring out prisoners from the prison,
Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.
In the New Testament, God continued to use the Light motif as He used a light to guide the wise men to the Baby Jesus. Then in John 1:3–5 and 9-11, the Apostle John reveals to us that Jesus is the Source of Spiritual Life and the True Light that entered into a spiritually dark world.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
The word for “comprehend” in the above passage is better translated “overcome.” You see, since the Fall of Mankind in the Garden, spiritual darkness has been trying to extinguish the True Spiritual Light, but the Light of Jesus cannot be overcome by the forces of darkness.
There are many religions that claim to provide spiritual Life and Light, but they are all temporary at best. No matter how dark our world gets, no matter how dark our circumstances become, the Light of Jesus is powerful enough to withstand the darkness that surrounds us. If we place our faith in Jesus, receive Him for who He is, and follow Him, we can become children of God. We can live in a Light that never stops shining. That Light will shine through us if we let it and we will never live in darkness again. That’s the true Christmas Light.