A Light of Hope
God is always in the midst of great darkness and despair, and when God’s people forsake him, he brings hope through the light of Jesus.
Many people today, even Jesus-followers, have lost sight of the simplicity and serenity of the Christmas season. Jesus offers hope, joy, peace and love for the hurting and eternal life for those who are willing to accept the Father’s gift of light—the birth of his Son. This Advent message series will help remind us all that Christmas is not about us—Christmas is Jesus!
In
America today, when most people think of Christmas, they think of certain images. (Show slides of Christmas images.) We have a very glamorous, glittery, plastic, cheery, bright image of Christmas here in America.
It’s a holiday of parties, and gifts and shopping and decorations.
It’s a holiday loaded with nostalgia and memory.
It’s a holiday full of children singing and Rockwellian images of snow covered roofs and Christmas trees
It’s a holiday of joy in discovering just what lies entombed within the shiny red, white, gold and green paper covered boxes under the tree.
We don’t really have a solid grasp on this holiday. That’s largely due to the fact that we celebrate a holiday when the true celebration should be that of a HOLY DAY. It must be made clear that Christ actually never called for us to celebrate, commemorate or in any other way remember his birth. He did call us to celebrate and remember his death, but not his birth. However, if we’re going to celebrate his birth, we need to focus on the Holy Event that occurred and not on the entire glitzy, sparkly minutia that accompanies our current celebration of Christmas.
Typically, we get so caught up in the celebration, the business, the shopping, the decorations, the grand memories, that we forget that there is a dark side to Christmas. We often forget that it was because of despair, fear, anxiety, and suspicion that Christmas even occurred.
We’re so distracted by the bright lights of the holiday that we forget the darkness that brought us a Holy Day. That’s why, this Christmas season, we’re looking at a message series called “Christmas is Jesus!” The focus is not the darkness, but the light of Jesus. We don’t want to focus on the dark, negative, depressing aspects that are symptomatic of our need for Christmas, but we must understand the dark side so that we may have greater understanding of the amazing grace of God. So that we may have a greater understanding of just what it was God gave us through the gift of his Son on Christmas.
We will center our attention upon four key declarations concerning darkness and light:
In the darkness of DESPAIR Jesus is the light of HOPE
In the darkness of FEAR Jesus is the light of JOY
In the darkness of ANXIETY Jesus is the light of PEACE
In the darkness of SUSPICION Jesus is the light of LOVE
This first Advent message will focus on the fact that God brought us hope from despair through the Father’s gift of light—the birth of his Son. Traditionally Christmas is seen as a time of hope, but for so many people despair is the controlling emotion of their lives. And that despair can bring a suffocating darkness.
Despair = the lack of hope; to lose all hope;
to be overcome by a sense of futility or defeat.
Many people, of all walks of life, of all faiths, of all experiences find themselves buried in the darkness of despair so deeply that hope isn’t a glimmer in the distance; it’s barely a distant memory. Yet, out of the darkness of despair, God brings Jesus—the light of hope.
To understand this hope, let’s look at the contrast between the darkness of despair Israel found themselves in, and the light of hope when God chose to bring his Son into the world.
This contrast is illustrated in Isaiah 9:2-7…
2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as soldiers rejoice when dividing the plunder. 4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. 5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
We can observe in these verses a sharp contrast with the darkened condition found in Isaiah 8:22…
22Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.
This condition of darkness was one in which the whole nation with but a few had forsaken the Lord. It is also seen that when we forsake the Lord there is darkness and despair. But the God of all grace is always in the midst of great darkness and despair, in the midst of sin and when God’s people forsake him, he shows grace and promises.
Their new condition will be based upon the fact that the darkness, and all the destructiveness associated with it, will be replaced by the light which inaugurates a new era of hope, joy, peace and love.
This despair represented two important movements:
Movement 1: A growing darkness
There was a growing darkness. The Jewish people were called out of slavery in Egypt to represent God to the nations. God always hears the cry of the oppressed. However, God’s people failed to live up to their God given destiny and returned to slavery under the Babylonians. The Persians defeated the Babylonians, giving the Jews a small degree of self-rule. But the prophet Isaiah announced God’s promise of rescue through a child who would be born, a Son given. Concerning the increase of his government and peace of this promised deliverer, there would be no end. But the Old Testament period ends with a promise still awaiting fulfillment.
Movement 2: A ray of hope
The ray of hope, announced by the prophet Isaiah, begins approximately 700 years before Herod began his insidious reign over the Jewish people. Throughout those years of despair, bloodshed, disillusionment, betrayal, mistrust, anger and fear, there was a ray of hope. The Jews knew that God had promised a deliverer. They knew that God had promised them that a day was coming when there would be judgment for sin and when they would be set free from their oppression.
These two movements affirm the truth that sometimes hope comes from the most unlikely places. We expect hope to come into the darkness of despair like a beam of light through the skylight of a king’s palace. But God doesn’t always work that way. In fact, God rarely works that way. God sometimes chooses to come into the darkness like a shaft of sunlight through the broken ceiling of a dark and dusty barn. Here, in Israel’s darkest hour, God sends them a deliverer, a Messiah, but he doesn’t send a ray of light into the darkness…he brings the ray of light, the SUN of RIGHTEOUSNESS out of darkness. God brings HOPE OUT OF DESPAIR.
God takes what would appear to be a hopeless and dark situation and brings to Israel—and to us—the hope that was longed for, the light that would do more than illuminate the darkness, it would eventually eradicate the darkness. In the midst of Israel’s darkness and hopelessness God begins to work as only God can. Through a young, unmarried teenager and her fiancé, both of whom have been terrified, God’s redemptive plan begins to unfold.
Let’s imagine for a moment the deliverer of Israel, God’s “Treasured Possession” being born to a young Jewish girl through a situation that violated all the Jewish customs, norms and religious traditions. Let’s imagine the deliverer being born in a stable during a time when the power of Rome held the people down like a boot on their backs. Deliverers, Kings are not born in stables. That’s not what we think of when we think of the God shattering the darkness with his light. Surely God would use a powerful and royal Messiah. Surely God wouldn’t take the darkness of an illegitimate child, born in a barn, to bring light and hope.
But that is exactly what God did. He took the darkness that engulfed the people of Israel, he took the desperate situation of Mary and Joseph, he took the things that made no sense at all and out of that darkness and despair, he brought light and hope…not just for Israel, but for the entire world. It’s just like God to take what’s weak, worthless, hopeless and dark and use it to bring light and hope to the world.
Light Promised and Practiced
God is not afraid of the dark. Out of darkness God can bring light and hope where otherwise there would be none. So we return to Isaiah’s promise…
2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned… 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Nothing is more beneficial to any one whom darkness has so overtaken than to find light; to have light provided for them. There are a number of reasons for this.
Because light gives illumination
Because light gives understanding
Because light shows the clear path to take
Because light drives away despair
Because light reveals what is in the darkness
The dimensions of this promised light are also beneficial to any one whom darkness has so overtaken to find light. There are four dimensions.
“Wonderful Counselor” alongside to bring understanding
“Mighty God” above to provide protection
“Everlasting Father” underneath to offer care
“Prince of Peace” within to bring contentment
Just as the former things are spiritual realities, the Lord provides a remedy for this darkness of despair. It is experienced practically in his Son.
Jesus is the light that gives the great hope of our text in Luke 1:78-79…
78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
The claim of the Savior in John 8:12 and 12:46…
12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
This light in reality has come into the hearts of everyone that are saved in 2 Corinthians 4:6…
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
That we have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness…into his light in Colossians 1:13…
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.
When God is involved, out of darkness comes light. Out of despair comes hope. This truth is beautifully illustrated by the following testimony of a young woman who lost her husband to cancer.
This is my fourth holiday season without my husband at my side. His death in the spring of 2005 still rocks my recovering world especially in the holiday season. I can still replay our last Christmas together in my head. A new baby, our lovely 6 year old son and death loomed over our head. Dave’s diagnosis with stage four pancreas cancer had only come a few short months before in October. We were still in shock and still trying to comprehend. We were surrounded with support of our family, friends and faith community. There was light in the darkness, hope through our despair.
Advent has a way of pulling at me. Darkness, such deep seasonal darkness forces me to reflect on the darkness and despair I have walked through in the past few years. It also has such a strong force that makes me look at the light. The light always returns…how is that! Every fall, we walk into growing darkness and after sitting in the darkness for sometimes what seems like a lifetime…we are greeted by growing light and warmth. We all walk into despair and darkness in our lives. Advent gives us a moment to look at our growth or possibly lack of growth through these moments. It is this great moment where we are invited to still ourselves and look at our darkest moments with the light of hope growing and inviting us into warmth, growth and love.
This Advent, I can certainly see my family’s growth in this time of tragedy. My children are still growing of course. We have chosen to find hope in our lives again. It is definitely a conscious choice…time does not always heal. Holidays find so many of us blue and despairing, especially when times are tragic, but Advent reminds us that the light can grow. The seasons remind us that the light and warmth will grow with or without our consent. Our great Creator has built in this system, a cycle of hope for us to guide us through times of despair. It will always happen, God never gives up. Sometimes our loving God is just sitting in the darkness with us, still and present while building the light around us. Our Advent always culminates with the Light coming into our world. It is the gift that keeps on giving even when we feel weak and hopeless…the light will build. When we choose to turn toward the light, we open up a new time of love and growth that we may have never expected.
The Christmas story is a beautiful story from a growing darkness to a ray of hope. It’s the story of God reaching into the darkness and, out of that darkness, bringing light, hope, and life. It’s a story that we must never get tired of hearing. It’s a story that, as we learn more and more about it, becomes more meaningful to us. Every time we hear this story…the story of God bringing hope out of despair… we fall in love with it all over again. I fall in love with the story of Christmas because it is MY story. And if we really think about it and if we’re honest, it’s YOUR story too.
That first Christmas wasn’t all bright and cheery. It wasn’t decorated with plastic trees, bright lights, candy canes and gifts. The first Christmas came in a time of darkness and despair. It was a time that many believed to be hopeless. It was a time when people called out to God for deliverance, and God always hears the cry of the oppressed. There was a dark side to that first Christmas, but God wasn’t limited by the darkness. Instead, God used it to bring light and hope. In the darkness of DESPAIR Jesus is the light of HOPE.
And here is the good news for us today; here is how this story is our story. God still brings light out of darkness. God still brings hope out of despair. God didn’t limit his transforming power to the first Christmas. God’s hope wasn’t dangled in front of Israel and all of humankind as a limited one time offer. God makes it available to each and every one of us right here, right now.
I don’t know what despair you may be dealing with in your life this Christmas season. I don’t know if it’s just a shadow of darkness or if it’s all consuming. Debt, divorce, bad health, broken relationships, spiritual emptiness—whatever despair you are dealing with, whatever the situation you find to be hopeless, I know that God isn’t afraid of the dark. I know that, just as he did the first Christmas, God will take that darkness and despair and he will bring light and hope…it’s what God does best.
If you are in the darkness right now, if despair describes your emotional state, your life—then I want to encourage you with the Christmas story. It is a story of God taking despair…the despair of oppression, the despair of poverty, the despair of a hopeless pregnancy, the despair of a hopeless people and out of that despair bringing HOPE. God will do the same with your despair. That’s what God does best. In the darkness of DESPAIR Jesus is the light of HOPE! Amen.
