Are you like me? Do you love the gift and lift of light that Christmas always seems to bring? I sure do! I need it. The extra bright emphasis of this season pushes back on the darkness that always wants to invade, occupying more space than it’s welcome to. 

The illumination surge for Christmas seen in our tree and house lightings, and all the decorations that accompany, begs for something intrinsically better and brighter. These longings to light up our darkened December world point to something more we need to see. 

Isaiah 9:2 shows us four truths. Let’s take a soulful look. 

WE WALK IN DARKNESS. If we’re honest with ourselves, we operate in more night than necessary. Feelings of fear and insecurity, helplessness and hopelessness, guilt and shame turn down our lights fast. They dim our soul’s lamp. 

Further, a broken world full of sin and suffering snuffs out our life candles. And we become more hesitant, unsure, reckless, clueless, under-confident and mistake-prone than we think. We really don’t live in the dark well. 

Unlighted, we are far more apt to stumble, fall, or lose our way. We need light. Light is our great need. 

WE LIVE IN A LAND OF DEEP DARKNESS. Everywhere we turn and at any given time we can find deep darkness that disappointment, disease, destruction, sin and death bring. It becomes so deeply dark that it feels almost bottomless, like living in the deepest well with no hope of escape. 

It becomes so deeply dark that the dark seems endless, like moving through a tunnel with no lights and no exit. It becomes so deeply dark that you have to look beyond sight, to see what’s real. And it becomes a land so deeply dark that almost any presence of light hurts the eye, making one question what is the way, the truth, and real life. 

O how we are in need of light. Only it will deliver us from our deep darkness. Light is our greatest need. 

A GREAT LIGHT HAS COME. And it won’t pass away. A promised, great, longed-for light has appeared. It’s been spotted, fully seen, revealed, no doubt about it. This means no more stumbles, falls, crashes and burns need come in the presence of this Light. 

Life confidence is here to stay. The light of life has come. Jesus said so (John 12:46 and 8:12).

A LIGHT HAS DAWNED. A breathtakingly big light has broken through. And it will only get brighter as time passes, no matter how dark everything else around it may want to get. Its light will extend farther and further like a noonday sun (Proverbs 4:18). 

This lamp will never go out. It’s lit for good (Revelation 21:22-25). It’s called the “light of life” (John 8:12). And it all began to first dawn for real on all of us at Christmas in Bethlehem. 

The point of Christmas, and all the lighting up we do, pivots on these prophetic lines stacked up in Isaiah 9:2:

-We walk in darkness. 

-We live in a land of deep darkness.

-A great Light has come.

-A Light has dawned.

And living in this Light makes all the difference in the world!

Reflect: Are you walking in any darkness? (Christmas tells us that it doesn’t have to be that way.) Have you seen a great Light? Has it dawned on you? Are you following it well, living in the confidence that this Light brings? What move can you make today to help someone else see and follow the Light?

A prayer to consider: LORD, Christmas marks the dawn of the best light. This is the most perfect gift that You, “the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows,“ (James 1:17) could ever give us. Thank You for the gift of Christ who has become for us the Light of the world and who has gifted us with the light of life (John 8:12). 

It all has dawned on me. Hallelujah for this! I can hardly thank you enough.

And LORD, I confess that I still need light badly. This world is darker than it needs to be and can dim me but good. May Your light dawn on me afresh and keep lighting me up for a lifetime. May it dawn on all my family and friends and oh so many who don’t know You as Savior and Lord yet. They need your light desperately too. 

Keep us all from walking in darkness, The darkness is deep. Help us to live in and follow the Light of life. In the power of Jesus’ name, and by Your Spirit, I pray this. Amen.