A Light Has Dawned
Matthew 4:12-17
When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.”From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
How long were you without power this past week? A few minutes? A few hours? Days? We were somewhere in the middle. Our power would go out for about six hours at a time and come on for an hour or two. During the day, it wasn’t as bad. The sun shined through the windows. We could go outside to play in the snow.
But at night, it was dark. Maybe the darkest it’s been in DFW since the invention of electric light. Thank goodness we had flashlights on our cell phones. It was so dark we couldn’t even see our hands in front of our faces. We lit candles, but the darkness surrounded us. What a relief it was every time the lights came on and shined in our darkness!
Long ago, Isaiah prophesied about the coming Messiah: “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.” The world without Christ is in complete blackout. Because of sin, people are separated from God, groping around in the darkness without even a flashlight to help them. In the darkness, people trip and fall further into sin and farther away from God. In the darkness, people risk falling to their death.
But rather than allow us to dwell in the darkness of sin so that he might satisfy his anger against sin, God sent his Son Jesus to bring light to the world. Jesus says about himself, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
In the Bible, darkness is synonymous with death. Light is synonymous with life. Just as many of us waited in the darkness, longing for light, hoping for heat, praying for power, this sinful world dwells in darkness and the shadow of death, waiting for the light of the world to dawn. Christ came and brought life with him, defeating darkness and its power by his triumphant death on the cross.
God is the creator of light. In the beginning, he said, “Let there be light.” And the same God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” still brings the light of Christ to this world. He has 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 (2 Corinthians 4:6). He calls out to souls living in darkness, “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Ephesians 5:14). You have the light of life in Christ, even as you still dwell in this dark world.
Do you know someone who is still living in darkness? Jesus calls you “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). You can bring his light to others. He says, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Because the light of Christ has shined on us, we can shine the light of his love on others with our deeds of service to them. By our good deeds, we point them to the Light of the world so that they too may glorify our Father in heaven. We share Christ’s light so that they too may feel relief from the darkness.