“Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see.
For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you.
Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth,
but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you.
All nations will come to your light;
mighty kings will come to see your radiance” (Isaiah 60:1-3).
One of my early memories is standing in the Big Room in Carlsbad Caverns when the guide turned out the lights to let you see—or better said—not see what total darkness is really like. You can move your hand in front of your face and see not a hint of . . . anything. The darkness made me afraid! And it froze me! I couldn’t move—because you could not see—anything!
I wonder if they still do this or if some government entity has stopped this practice for safety reasons? It wasn’t safe, it wasn’t pleasant, it wasn’t good to be in total darkness.
The guide kept talking as the lights were off, and it seemed like forever, but he did not leave us in total darkness very long. Rather quickly he lit a normal kitchen match–and the transformation was amazing and complete.
That one little match threw enough light into this huge cavernous room to see! I could see other people; I could see a direction to walk if I needed to; I could see my hand now. Much I couldn’t see, but I could see enough to feel much better!
That match only burned for a few seconds. Then he switched on his flashlight, making a bigger and more sustained light, but nothing compared to that glorious moment when he turned on the big switch and lit up the whole cavern again. I remember a sense of relief: now I can move again!
“Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth.” You remember from Genesis 1 that God spoke a word and created light to overcome the darkness. But then something terrible happened: “God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil” (John 3:19). The world became dark again by its own choice this time. We turned off the light, but could not turn it on again.
As that small match in the caverns banished darkness—but not completely—so Noah and Moses and Isaiah—even the nation of Israel—were small matches of light in the darkness, all offering hope of the full light.
Then God turned the big light on. “The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone”(John 1:4). The Enemy thought he could blow out the Light on the cross. The Light was hidden three days in the tomb, but then the Light came back on in our world and will never be put out again: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it” (John 1:5).
Sure, there are corners of darkness still left in the world, corners where evil likes to live, but when God comes again, there will be no more darkness.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus apparently was born in the middle of the night? Or why a star led the way instead of a fiery cloud or something more spectacular? Have you ever wondered why the angels appeared in the night sky to the shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus to the world?
Jesus was born in the middle of the dark night to dispel the darkness! Jesus was born in the night to dispel your darkness and mine! He is the Light of the world!
That’s the Good News and why we can be so happy at Advent!
Mark's Blog 