At just the right time, God sent His Light

My wife Jen and I are natural-light enthusiasts. We’ve already decided that if we build a house, it will just be one giant window facing south so that we get maximum exposure to natural light.

Every summer when late June comes around, we marvel and rejoice that it’s still light at 9 p.m. and that we get 15 hours of daylight every day; all of that light is life-giving. But when the days reach their longest length in late June, there’s this faint foreboding in the back of our minds that over the next weeks and months the daylight will slowly start to shrink.

At first, the beautiful weather of September and October along with the brilliant fall colors somewhat mask the dwindling daylight. And then comes the thud of the first Sunday in November—the time change. The redistribution of one hour of daylight results in it getting dark just after lunch. OK, it’s not quite that drastic. But by the time we reach December 21, we’re experiencing only nine hours of daylight compared to 15 hours in June—a 40 percent reduction in light!

No light? No life

Light brings forth life. It enables us to see. To walk without stumbling.

Without light, there is no life. We can’t see anything. And we are forever stumbling and lost in darkness.

It seems fitting that in the Northern Hemisphere, just as we’re experiencing the longest nights and the greatest amount of darkness, we celebrate the earthly arrival of the Light of the World. In John 8:12, Jesus says that not only is He the Light of the World, but that whoever follows Him will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Isaiah totally called this about 800 years earlier when he prophesied, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone” (Isaiah 9:2). Just in time.

At just the right time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem us who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters (Galatians 4:4-5). God, Who is Light and in Whom there is no darkness (1 John 1:5), reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, the Light of the World. Emmanuel. God with us (Isaiah 7:14).

Joy to the world, the Lord is come.

But He’s also still coming. The Light of the World is coming back. Christmas reminds us that we live in this tension of the already but not yet. We already possess every spiritual blessing in Christ, but we are not yet experiencing the fullness of these blessings.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, to disarm the rulers and authorities, and to destroy the one who has the power of death. Even though Jesus has already won the victory, and God has already delivered us from the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, the Kingdom of Light, still … we contend with the darkness. With sin. With disease. With death. With fractured relationships.

But the Light of the World is coming back. And when He does, His dwelling place will be among us, because we are His people! And He is Emmanuel, God with us.

He will wipe every tear from our eyes. And there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away. When Jesus, the Light of World returns, He will make everything new, and there will be no more night. There will be no need of sun or moon (Revelation 21:23) because the glory of God will give us light, and the Lamb, the Light of the World, will be our lamp.

Our Light

So is there any light to be found in our darkness, our suffering, our hopelessness?

Yes, friends, there is.

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2, Berean Standard Bible).

And that light is Jesus Christ. The One who made man becomes man. The Creator walks on His creation. The One Who has all the fullness of God, empties Himself and makes Himself nothing, by taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbles Himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has exalted Him to the highest place and has given Him the Name above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (see Philippians 2:5-11).

Emmanuel, the True and Only Light of the World, has come. And He’s coming again soon.

This is Christmas.