The People Who Walked in Darkness Have Seen a Great Light

Let us turn to the word of the Lord in the Gospel according to Isaiah, and I say the Gospel according to Isaiah because the book of Isaiah is an extremely messianic and evangelistic book; it is a book that, hundreds of years before Jesus was born, was already prophesying the coming of Christ into the world. So we can definitely say that it is another Gospel, almost one of the five Gospels, we might say. And there in the book of Isaiah, chapter 9, let us go to the opening verses. My brother and colleague Gregory is going to translate, beginning with the opening verses, and as I read, notice here the theme of darkness and gloom on the one hand, and light and glory on the other. And that is the message of Christmas. The darkness is invaded by the light of God.

“…But there will not always be darkness for her who is now in anguish, as there was affliction in the time when they first lightly touched the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, for in the end he will fill with glory the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles... —and here comes one of the most important parts of this passage— …The people who walked in darkness saw a great light…”

In reality, all of Christmas is contained right there, because in place of “the people” you can put your country, you can put your society; we can put different periods of history, different nations throughout history. That humanity oppressed by darkness saw an explosion of light when Christ came into the world. It says:

“…those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, light shone upon them. You multiplied the nation, you increased the joy; they will rejoice before you as they rejoice at harvest, as they exult when dividing the spoils. For you broke their heavy yoke, and the rod upon their shoulder, and the scepter of their oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every boot worn by the warrior in the tumult of battle and every garment rolled in blood will be burned, fuel for the fire…”

Notice all these expressions of victory, light, blessing, joy, and life. And the question is, what makes all that blessing possible? What gives rise to that hope for such a radical change in the condition of the people to whom this passage refers? What is the source of the triumph of light over darkness, of life over death? Verse 6 gives us the answer.

“…For a child…”—one wonders, one is surprised when, after all that, one reads “a child”—for a child is born to us. Where does that come from? The source of that grand and glorious transformation is a child.

“…For a child is born to us, a son is given to us, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…”

It is as though things begin to change a little, right? That humble, tiny, defenseless, powerless child. Because here we are told that his name will be called—that is, his nature will be recognized as what follows: Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

We see here that this tiny child contains within himself deity itself and an almost indescribable power. And is that not the mystery of the incarnation? That God stripped himself, emptied himself of his infinitude, and placed himself in the tiniest container of a baby, and perhaps of a fetus, of a tiny cell that became the Son of Man, the Son of God.

And in him existed those two natures, incomprehensibly opposed to each other, yet united in a single being: the smallness and frailty of a child and the infinite power and wisdom of God himself. That is the mystery of Christmas, and it is the mystery we celebrate every time we say, “Christ has come into the world.”

“…Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no limit, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, establishing and confirming it with judgment and justice from now on and forever…”

What, stated another way, makes all that possible? Where does the child come from; where does the transformation come from? Where does the hope of glory, redemption, and life come from?

“…The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts will do this…”

Brothers and sisters, that is what Christmas tells us: that the love of God, God’s zeal for his creation, has made the miracle of Christmas possible. This is one of the clearest passages one could ever imagine validating the messianic character of Jesus.

We who speak of Christ’s deity, of his coming into the world, and who see the Gospels speak of a child born of a woman, can understand, by going back to Isaiah, how this passage applies perfectly to what was to happen hundreds of years later.

How is it possible that someone wrote these things with such clarity hundreds of years beforehand, and then we see these things happen hundreds of years later? And we know that they are historically true because there are so many things that support them; we do not have time to describe all the things confirming that what happened at Christmas is history and not merely a myth.

This text tells us that the coming of that mysterious being will deliver Israel from its historical sufferings and from the pressure it has historically endured. That is the first level of this passage: it is a passage that speaks to Israel and tells it, “Your oppression, your suffering beneath the boot of your conquerors—a day will come when all that will end, and a time of peace and victory will come.”

But we also understand that this application is not only for Israel, but for us and for all humanity throughout all of history.

It is a prophecy with universal application, for all who wish to enter into its effect. And it is also a promise and a description of the reality of those of us who know Jesus now, and in whose lives he has also come to dwell and live.

The predominant element we see in this passage is the element of light. Verse 1 also says that the glory of the Lord will be manifested.

Brothers and sisters, that is the clearest thing about the coming of Jesus: the coming of the Messiah is associated with glory and light. That glory, that light, stands in terrible contrast to humanity’s condition before the coming of Christ, which is a condition of darkness, death, affliction, and poverty.

It tells us that the people who walked in darkness saw a great light; upon the people who walked in the valley of the shadow of death, light has now shone.

Brothers and sisters, that was and is the condition not only of Israel, but of all humanity before Christ becomes real: it is a reality of darkness, death, oppression, and despair.

If we look, for example, at Colossians, chapter 1, verse 9.

What that passage says is that the Lord has delivered us from darkness and brought us into the light.

And First Peter, chapter 2, verse 9, says that the Lord has brought us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

So what we see, brothers and sisters, is this: man, woman, and creation without Christ are under the oppression of the darkness of death. But when Christ enters that reality, it is suddenly illuminated and redeemed and turned into light, into hope, into life.

Without Christ, the human being is in darkness, no matter how sophisticated, advanced, or enlightened he may appear. Without Christ, we are under the dominion of a kingdom of darkness and death, of violence and despair. To be even more direct, what we are talking about is the dominion, the environment, of the reign of darkness, which is Satan himself. The natural state of humanity and of the universe apart from Christ is one of darkness under the influence of the enemy, Satan himself. From this we see the difference between the rationalist and Christian conceptions of the state of the human condition.

The rational man says that man is essentially good but is corrupted by his experiences in the world, by bad governments, and by bad circumstances, and that is why he has become corrupt and beset with problems. And the rationalist mindset believes that human beings are advancing through their own intelligence, their own technological advances, and the progress of society, and that we are gradually improving.

But the Christian perspective is different. It believes that the natural state of the human being, apart from God, apart from Christ, is one of darkness, death, and sin, and not goodness. And the reason for all of that is that human sin has yielded certain rights to the prince of this world, Satan, allowing him to do with us as he pleases and to cause problems for humanity, because our own sin has opened the door to that.

So apart from Christ, the natural movement of the human being is not toward good, not upward; it is downward, toward more and more corruption. But thanks be to God, the good news of the Gospel is that Christ has come into the world to interrupt that downward process of deterioration, to lift up humanity, and to begin a new process of life and hope.

And that is what the message of Christmas tells us; that is what Isaiah tells us. In First John 3:8 we are told:

“…For this purpose the Son of God appeared, to undo the works of the devil…”

So then we can understand what Isaiah says: the people who walked in darkness saw a great light. Upon those who walked in the shadow of death, light shone. Why? Because God has sent Christ into the world, and that changes our natural situation.

Luke 2, verses 8 through 11—and I am going to be wiser; I am not even going to look it up. You read it and I will translate it, just in case. It is the story of the shepherds, the story of the coming of Jesus. Listen and see how, in a vivid way and in a specific circumstance, what Isaiah predicts is fulfilled in the lives of these shepherds.

Look here at how all the elements Isaiah describes become a reality in this Christmas scene. Shepherds in the middle of the pitch-black night, in the total darkness of a Palestinian setting. And these shepherds are people rejected by respectable people and by religious people because they are impure, they tend animals, and they are not people with whom God would normally deal, in a sense, according to the religious understanding of that time.

And on that night, in the midst of that dark night, the night of Isaiah, the people who walked in darkness, the people covered by shadows of death, are said to have seen a great light. Those men, living a monotonous life of ignorance and without hope, suddenly receive news that is literally accompanied by a great explosion of light and glory, as Isaiah’s narrative says.

And news comes that is said to be a great blessing for all humanity. And what is the news? What is the source of that great hope? It says, “For a child is born to you.”

What convinces me most about this is that it says, “For a child is born to you.” He has been born to you. And here in the pastoral narrative the same thing is said: that this child has been born to you as well. And there we see the basis of hope: a child is born, but not merely in a generic way; rather, he is born to you, he has been born for you.

And suddenly it says that there was an explosion of glory, and the angels of God began to sing and celebrate the birth of this precious child. The lives of those shepherds were never the same again, just as our lives, after Christ is born in our hearts, are never the same again.

And the reason that is not possible is that it is God himself who is being born in our hearts. The nature of that child is that he is Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

When Christ enters your heart and mine, he enters to change everything. Things will never be the same again.

I am going to ask the musicians and singers to come up here right away, but I just want to say this, brothers and sisters: in a sense, there are still large segments of humanity living in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Even in this nation, after knowing the light of Christ, we see that, as Meche was saying at the beginning, this nation is, in a sense, trying to gravitate backward; it wants to return to darkness, return to oppression, return to the dominion of the demonic powers that seek to destroy our lives.

And there are still entire nations that are utterly submerged in darkness, death, and hopelessness. I think of North Korea, for which I ask you to pray this year and in future years, because North Korea is a country that is as Isaiah describes: it seems completely covered by darkness, ignorant of Christ, oppressed by dictators who pass control from one to another as though they were the owners, from father to son, as though they owned millions of intelligent, brilliant human beings, capable even of having nuclear reactors and scientifically inventing incredible things, yet oppressed, with others owning them.

And a nation like that, with its great scientific inventions, its great culture, its beautiful culture, its beautiful people—a nation so scientific, so accomplished in so many ways—still remains under the oppression of darkness. Even from space the satellites can see: there is light in South Korea and in China, but in North Korea you can see nothing but darkness from the satellites. Photographs can be taken: darkness in North Korea.

And Christ wants to enter into those realities. Christ wants to change those nations. And Christ wants to invade Roxbury and Boston’s South End, with all their culture as well. Christ wants to invade; he wants to be born. The light of God, the light of Christ, wants to enter those streets and those apartments, some of them very luxurious, yet oppressed by the devil and by death.

And God wants us to remember every day that Christ must remain within us. We must continually invite him to remain within us; we must affirm our faith again and again and remember that we are children of light, not of darkness.

If Christ is in our lives, the light must reign. And if Christ has not yet been born in your heart, today is a day for you to say to him, “Lord, enter my life and invade my spirit, invade my life, and fill it with light, hope, and salvation.”

I want all of us to bow our heads for a moment. Right now, I want us to take a moment to reaffirm in our hearts the life of Christ, the light of Christ, the transforming power of Jesus in our lives, and to say to Christ, if we already know him, “Lord, thank you for your life within me.”

If you have Christ in your heart right now, your life is no longer the same, because even though you may be struggling—perhaps at this time there are people here struggling with an illness, difficult financial situations, or family difficulties—we are in the world, and not everything is completely light yet. But I want to tell you one thing: the direction of your life has changed radically. You are no longer moving toward darkness or death; you are moving toward increasing light, toward greater and greater light. Every day you are becoming a more enlightened, more powerful being, more filled with light, and one day that light will penetrate you completely and you will be a being made entirely of light. And while you struggle here, the Lord is with you; the Lord has changed the inevitability of darkness. Christ reigns in your heart.

But I also want to say that if you know Jesus, if you still have not given your life to the Lord, you can invite him to be born within you and to make Christmas real in your life. So, if you have not done so, let us simply, for a moment, open those doors in the story of your life and tell you: Christ can be born; the Christmas story and Isaiah’s prophecies can become a reality in your life as well, simply by receiving Jesus into your heart as Lord and Savior.

Invite Christ right now to enter your heart and your life and to become the Lord, the Savior of your life. If you want to raise your hand and do it, or if you simply want to do it there in your heart—but it is good to give public testimony to what God has done in one’s life. I invite you to raise your hand and say to him, “Lord, I invite you to enter my heart. I invite you to enter my life.”

If you have not done it before—if you have done it before, you are covered. Hands are being raised. We bless your lives. If anyone else wants to do it—I am speaking in Spanish now—if anyone else wants to do it. Amen, this brother here to my left as well. God bless you, my brother. Anyone else?

We bless those lives. Stand up for a moment, brother. I bless you in the name of Jesus. Let us all stand up with them. Let us extend our hands toward one of them. We bless you, Lord; we thank you. We thank you; we worship you.

We also raise our hands, Lord, and ask you to reign in our hearts and fill us with light and life, and may the life of Christ, may the mission of Christ—which changes lives, changes hearts, changes natures, and changes destinies—become a reality in the lives of my brothers and my sisters this afternoon, Lord. We love you, we worship you, we bless you, we thank you, Jesus, and we exalt your name, Lord. We exalt your name.

Thank you, Lord Jesus. In your name, amen and amen.

You know what, brothers and sisters? Before… I have been wrestling with this because I know we have a program here, but there is a Christmas hymn that says, “You left your throne and crown for me.” I would like—there is a hymn, and I do not know whether it is there—but even if it is only one verse, we are going to sing it.

When you came to Bethlehem to be born, come into my heart, O Christ, come, for there is room in it for you.

I want us to confess this. Amen, that he left his throne and came for us to reign in our lives.