A light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. —Isaiah 9:2
I’ve always found it noteworthy that God’s Son arrived on earth without much of a splash. The choir of angels was spectacular, yet God confined it to a few shepherds. To almost everyone else, Jesus slipped into the world unannounced. No fanfare. No light show. Simply a dawning.
We should think of Christmas like that—like a sunrise. Yes, the last traces of night remain, yet they’re clearly fading.
Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, used the same image. John, he said, would proclaim that “the dawn from on high will visit us” (Luke 1:78), that the world’s darkness would be exposed as limited, vulnerable, impermanent. The dawn would “shine on those who live in darkness and the shadow of death,” guiding “our feet into the way of peace” (v. 79).
We may feel desperation. Yet God has answered with the sunrise promise of Christ’s coming. We live as “children of light” (Eph. 5:8). Even when life takes us through darkness, we walk into the dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until midday (Prov. 4:18).
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Born a Child and Yet a King: The Gospel in the Carols
©2020 Revived Hearts Foundation
Scripture taken from The CSB
Make it Personal
Think of situations you may encounter this Christmas where your spirit could reflect Christ’s light in your life.