Light Up the Darkness
I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite things about Christmas is the Christmas lights.
Over the Thanksgiving break, our family started decorating the inside of our house for Christmas. Then, this past weekend, I started putting the lights on the outside of the house with the help of my kids.
“My father taught me everything I know about exterior illumination.”
Some of you might recognize that line from a Christmas movie. Growing up, our family watched the TV version of the movie, “Christmas Vacation,” every Christmas. I say the TV version because I didn’t know until years later when we finally bought a copy of the movie that there are certain parts that are a little bit inappropriate!
Nothing is more awkward than sitting with your parents to watch a movie you watched with them dozens of times before only to find out that there were certain scenes that were not on the VHS tape you recorded off tbs!
One of my favorite scenes in that movie is when Clark Griswold puts the lights on the exterior of his house. He’s made a mess of the cords all plugged into one outlet. It’s a certified fire hazard!
When he goes to plug the lights into the extension cord in the front yard, nothing happens. He’s really frustrated.
Finally, his wife realizes that he’s plugged everything into an outlet that requires the light switch to be turned on to work. When the lights finally do come on every inch of the exterior of his house is lit up!
It’s majestic!
What happens when the light doesn’t come on?
I think there’s a reason we love Christmas lights. They brighten up what is otherwise a dark time of year.
They illuminate the darkness.
But, what if they didn’t? What if Clark Griswold plugged in his Christmas lights & they never came on?
I don’t have to tell you that we live in a dark, dark world. There’s a lot of ways in which 2018 has been a really dark year. Just over the past 12 months, we’ve seen even more gun violence & loss of innocent life. We’ve seen the problem of racism & hate persist. We’ve seen the negative political climate continue to escalate.
We’ve seen the darkness rising.
Not only that, but the age-old problems of addiction, divorce, homelessness, abandoned children, pornography, drugs, alcohol, & more continue to grow.
Even for people who claim to follow Jesus, let’s be honest, many of us allow our guardrails to fall. We can point at Christian leaders who have fallen from grace, but truthfully… how many of our homes allow content on our screens & devices that have a “MA” (Mature) rating? How many of us compromise our values daily? How many of us take shortcuts? How many of us are trapped in lies, gossip, lust, unhealthy relationships & other things as we keep one foot in the darkness?
Our job, as people who claim to follow Jesus, is to be the light in the darkness! But what happens if we don’t illuminate the darkness?
Israel, Light & the problem of Darkness
This was precisely the problem in the days of Isaiah.
Isaiah chapters 7-12 are known as the “Book of Immanuel.” Here’s what happens…
At this point in Isaiah’s ministry, King Ahaz was on the throne as the king of Judah. And Ahaz was an evil king. He consistently led the people of God away from the LORD their God. Because of this, it was literally a dark time in the history of Israel. The people of God were living contrary to the will of God & the words of God, the Torah. They were breaking the covenant they had made with God.
In Isaiah 7, we find a turning point in the history of Israel.
It begins when Ahaz learns that Israel, the northern kingdom, has made an alliance with Syria to come & invade his kingdom, Judah. And this is a terrifying reality.
At this point, Ahaz has a decision to make. Will he turn to God for help? Or will he turn away from God & put his trust in another?
So God sends his prophet Isaiah to King Ahaz with a special message: Stop worrying. Do not be afraid. The very thing you’re afraid of will never happen. The kings of Israel & Syria won’t be successful against you if you turn to the LORD.
A sign
And just to show you how gracious the LORD is, just to give you reassurance that everything Isaiah just said is true, here’s what God does next…
Later, the Lord sent this message to King Ahaz: “Ask the Lord your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want—as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead.” – Isaiah 7.10-11
So God is giving Ahaz permission to ask for a sign so he won’t be afraid!
But the king refused. “No,” he said, “I will not test the Lord like that.” – v12
Just to be clear, Ahaz isn’t being righteous here. Ahaz has completely turned away from the LORD to idol worship.
Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well? All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. – v.13-14
And listen to the sign that is promised…
Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). By the time this child is old enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong, he will be eating yogurt and honey. For before the child is that old, the lands of the two kings you fear so much will both be deserted. – v.14-16
God promised that a son would be born that would be a sign of His abiding presence with His people. And that if Ahaz & the Kingdom of Judah put their hope in Yahweh, that he would deliver them & destroy the kingdoms of Israel & Syria!
BUT…
That’s not what King Ahaz does.
Because of his fear, because of his desire to fix the problem himself, because he was trapped in darkness & couldn’t even see the light, because he had failed over & over again to trust in God, he didn’t trust God at this moment either.
Instead, King Ahaz made the worst decision of his time as king. He sends word to another king. He turns to the king of Assyria, the most powerful king at the time, for help.
What Ahaz didn’t know is that once he invited Assyria into Israel, king Tiglath-pileser & his sons would take over the entire land. Just 12 years later, Israel would cease to exist & Judah would soon follow as everyone is carried away into Assyrian & later Babylonian captivity.
All because Ahaz refused the sign of Immanuel.
Darkness won’t last forever
But that’s not the end of the story or the prophecy. Here’s what Isaiah says next…
Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory.
The people who walk in darkness
will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,
a light will shine.
For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace
will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will make this happen!
– Isaiah 9.1-7
Quick question… Who, in all of human history, fits that description?
Only One person. There’s only one person who ever lived who fits the description of that prophecy. Jesus!
Jesus
In fact, Matthew, a once upon a time tax collector… someone who was completely living in DARKNESS… who then saw the Light, turned away from the darkness & became a disciple of Jesus, wrote these words when reflecting on this prophecy by Isaiah…
When Jesus got word that John had been arrested, he returned to Galilee. He moved from his hometown, Nazareth, to the lakeside village Capernaum, nestled at the base of the Zebulun and Naphtali hills. This move completed Isaiah’s sermon:
Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
road to the sea, over Jordan,
Galilee, crossroads for the nations.
People sitting out their lives in the dark
saw a huge light;
Sitting in that dark, dark country of death,
they watched the sun come up.
This Isaiah-prophesied sermon came to life in Galilee the moment Jesus started preaching. He picked up where John left off: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”
— Matthew 4.12-17, The Message
What about you?
So what about you? What present darkness are you living in?
What sin are you flirting with? Who are you turning to for help? Are you, like King Ahaz, turning away from the LORD & putting your hope in another?
How’s that working for you?
When King Ahaz turned to Assyria for help, it led to his ultimate downfall, the decimation of his life, his kingdom & his people. He lost everything because he turned away from God & put his hope in another.
A lot of people experience the same thing in their lives. They turn away from God & end up conquered & taken captive by the thing they turned to that was not God.
When you turn away from God, you will be conquered & taken captive by the thing you turn towards.
[Tweet “When you turn away from God, you will be conquered & taken captive by the thing you turn towards.”]BUT…
There is hope. Because a son has been given. Jesus has come. Light has stepped down into darkness.
As Isaiah said,
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,
a light will shine.
Step into LIGHT
What if the one thing that would make this Christmas the best Christmas ever is you making a decision today to step out of whatever darkness you’re in & step into the light of Christ?
You can live in the LIGHT or you can live in the darkness but you cannot, by definition, do both. You are either in the dark or you are in the light.
[Tweet “You can live in the LIGHT or you can live in the darkness but you cannot, by definition, do both.”]
Which one are you living in today?
Here’s the good news: The Light of Christ available to you is far greater than any darkness that may come against you.
[Tweet “The Light of Christ available to you is far greater than any darkness that may come against you.”]In the words of Jesus, maybe it’s time to “Change your life! God’s kingdom is here!”
Maybe today you need to take a literal step out of darkness & into Light.
Maybe you need to take practical steps to:
1// Confess your sin, your darkness, to a brother or sister in Christ.
2// Put up guardrails to protect you from whatever temptation you most often face.
3// Start the daily practice of spending time in the Light. Of reading God’s word every day. Of praying to God every day!
Flip the switch
It’s kind of like our friend Clark Griswold, you put all the lights on the outside of your house… and some of you have done that… You go to church every time the doors are open. You belong to a small group. You’re a difference maker in your church. And you’re serving others.
But the truth is, you haven’t really flipped the switch to turn on those lights!
What would it take today for you to flip that switch?
For you to not just turn on the lights, but to step into the LIGHT.
To step away from the darkness & into the Light of Christ.
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