Pastor Melinda Song
7 & 8 October 2023
Isaiah 9:1-4, ESV
“But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2 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.
3 You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
4 For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
THE BACKGROUND
Around 745 BC, the Assyrian Empire, under the rule of Tiglath-Pileser III, grew stronger and stronger, posing a great threat to the surrounding kingdoms. The 10 tribes forming the Kingdom of Israel decided to join forces with Syria to resist the Assyrian Empire.
The Kingdom of Judah had also been invited to join the coalition but refused. In response, Israel and Syria decided to go up against Judah by besieging Jerusalem and replacing its king (Isa. 7:6).
Judah’s King, Ahaz, needed help, but instead of heeding the counsel of the prophet Isaiah and looking towards God for help, he turned towards the pagan superpower of Assyria. The King of Assyria accepted Ahaz’s plea; and invaded parts of the Kingdom of Israel, including the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali (cf. Isa. 9:1).
King Ahaz didn’t know at the time, however, that the King of Assyria himself would come against him to oppress him. Under the foolish and idolatrous leadership of Ahaz, the people of Judah could “see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness” (Isaiah 8:22, NIV).
Today’s scripture reading is a part of the prophet Isaiah’s vision of hope (Isa. 7:1–9:7) for the people of God living in the days of darkness and gloom.
Isaiah’s appeal to the people has been “O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord” (Isa 2:5). In the midst of darkness, Isaiah stood firm in faith, stating, “I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him” (8:17).
In today’s passage, Isaiah said that those who remained faithful to God would see a great light shine upon them. God would break the yoke of their burden, the bar across their shoulders, and the rod of their oppressor. God would deliver them as God had done before through Gideon and his tiny army of men with trumpets and torches when they were under the Midianite oppression (cf. Judg. 7–8). This light will extend even to the Gentiles (Galilee of the Nations in v. 1) and we see this fulfilled in the book of Acts.
Today we shall be using this passage as a launching pad to look into the metaphor of light and darkness in the Bible.
DARKNESS
Sometimes darkness is preferred over and above the bright light of day. Having a candlelight dinner in a darkened room has a special appeal and romance. Going to see a movie at the theatre only works if the theatre is dark. Some people can’t sleep unless curtains block out all light and their bedroom is completely dark.
The phrase “in the dark” might also be used to indicate that we are confused, don’t understand, unclear, or uninformed.
The Bible tells us that in the beginning, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.” On top of the empty formlessness, there was darkness, often symbolising disorder and uncertainty. The “deep” refers to the heaving abyss of the primeval ocean as it roared and raged. One commentator describes the earth at that time “as shapeless as liquid water.” Then, God said, “Let there be light”; and God saw that the light was good (Gen. 1:3–4).
Darkness, thus, is the absence of light. And Evil is the absence of goodness.
On the flip side, God is the only source of goodness—the only source of light.
Therefore, the separation from God results in the absence of goodness as well as the absence of light.
In the Bible and in literature generally, darkness is associated with things that are evil and with death. Under the cover of darkness, many crimes are committed. We think of many acts of cruelty and violence as coming from our dark side. Death is described as something dark and sinister. And it is always the bad guys in movies who wear black to symbolise their dark deeds.
Darkness can be identified at three different levels.
1. There is darkness at the personal level.
Make no mistake, there is darkness inside us. It is the darkness of sin that began in the Garden of Eden. The desire of our fallen human nature is to give birth to sin. How does darkness manifest itself in your life? What outward words and actions do you know are not what God wants from his people, yet they keep cropping up?
Apostle Paul puts this desire in words: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Rom. 7:19).
In fact, sometimes the darkness can become so thick that we have difficulty seeing the mess that sin has made of our lives. There are so many people in our community who live in darkness and don’t even realise it. Just like norturnal animals, who adapt to living in the dark.
Some times people prefer the darkness because, in the light, they see too much. They continue in their old ways because they don’t like having a light shine on them that will show that their relationship with God is in a terrible state and they are in serious trouble. John’s gospel says, “This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil” (John 3:19).
There is an old story about a desert nomad who woke up in the middle of the night feeling very hungry. He lit a candle and began eating dates from a bowl beside his bed. He took a bite from one and saw a worm in it, so he threw it out of the tent. He bit into the second date, found another worm, and threw it away also. Reasoning that he wouldn’t have any dates left to eat if he continued, he blew out the candle and quickly ate the rest of the dates.
2. There is darkness at the societal level.
Societies are built to serve human desires. Thus, social policies and structures designed by humans are often susceptible to being corrupted, perverted, and twisted, even if they are created with good intentions. Thus, societies often end up serving the desires of the people, and especially of the designers—the ones with power and privilege. Some of the most obvious examples would be wars, slavery, sex trafficking, and child labour.
John Wesley writes in one of his sermons that God frequently punishes a people for the sins of their rulers because they are generally partakers of their sins, in one kind or other.
Social policies and structures often cover the eyes of the people, protecting it from the rays of the light, so that what is true may not be exposed by the light.
In such societies, all members partake in darkness, whether it is through voluntarily participating in darkness, involuntarily suffering from darkness, or indifferently witnessing others deal with darkness. The most obvious example is the Holocaust. No matter what, we are partakers of the darkness of our rulers and authorities, in one kind or other.
3. There is darkness at the cosmic level.
Satan — who separated from and rebelled against the Creator — is an active force that seeks to tempt us, deceive us, and devour us. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians (6:12),
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Such darkness we can neither explain nor comprehend, but PTL! There is a light in the darkness.
LIGHT
“There has been light from the beginning…in all its forms—visible and invisible—it saturates the universe…no one is exactly sure how to describe it…it is a measure of light’s importance in our daily lives that we hardly pay any attention to it. Light is almost like air. It’s a given. A human would no more linger over the concept of light than a fish would ponder the notion of water. There are exceptions, certain moments of sudden appreciation when a particular manifestation of light, a transitory glory, appears—a rainbow, a sunset, a pulse of heat lightning in a dark sky, the shimmering surface of the sea at twilight…usually, though, we don’t see light, we merely see with it.”
God is light (1 John 1:5). Without God we cannot see spiritually. That is called spiritual blindness. Accordingly, all of us are born spiritually blind; only by grace and through faith, are we able to see the light.
2 Corinthians 4:3–4 (NIV84)
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Many years ago, National Geographic ran an article called “The Power of Light.” The introduction goes like this:
“Light reveals the world to us. Body and soul crave it. Light sets our biological clocks. It triggers in our brains the sensations of color. Light feeds us, supplying the energy of plants to grow. It inspires us with special effects like rainbows and sunsets. Light gives us life-changing tools, from incandescent bulbs to lasers and fiber optics. Scientists don’t fully understand what light is or what it can do. They just know that it will illuminate our future.”
Without light, there would be no life. Likewise, we need God’s light in order to thrive spiritually. We need to seek the light, follow the light, and bear the light.
SEEK THE LIGHT
Some people suffer from a Vitamin D deficiency. Sunlight is our best source of Vitamin D. To get Vitamin D, our bodies must go outside and be exposed to the sun. There is a significant difference between acknowledging the existence of the sun and being exposed to the sun. Acknowledging the sun does not make our body absorb the needed vitamin. Rather, it is only by being fully exposed to the sun that we get the so-called sunshine vitamin.
In a similar way, simply acknowledging Jesus as the light does not make us people of the light. Simply acknowledging God as the source of light does not deliver us from the present darkness.
Whether at personal, social, or cosmic levels, as described above, we remain in darkness unless we seek to be fully exposed to the light. We remain in darkness unless we let the light shine upon us and penetrate our soul.
Through grace and by faith, we are able to acknowledge the light. And it is our human responsibility to see the light and to follow the light, and to be exposed to the light. Jesus says to his disciples in John (8:12),
I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.
FOLLOW THE LIGHT
“To follow” is an action verb, which requires movement.
One of our favourite stories of Christmas is of the magi who not only acknowledged the light of the star but also followed it; and as they did so, they were overwhelmed with joy (Matt. 2:1–12; cf. Isa. 9:3).
We Christians are people on the move. As people who walked out of Egypt and as people who walked towards the Promised Land, we too are to walk towards the light.
Walking towards the light means resisting the present darkness. Walking towards the light means acknowledging that we have a God’s-light deficiency. Walking towards the light means standing firm in faith and following Jesus Christ. No turning back.
In the context of Christian discipleship, this then means, you either follow Christ whole-heartedly or not. Just as the Lord God says to King Ahaz in Isaiah (7:9), If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all.
There is no middle ground on this. If we do not walk towards the light, if we do not pro-actively follow Christ, we simply remain in our natural — neutral — state.
In the context of Christian discipleship, ‘I am not a sinner’ has little to no substance (cf. Luke 18:11). So does the phrase ‘I am not an evil-doer.’ In a way, these phrases indicate that, ‘I am not a person of darkness.’ Unfortunately, negation of darkness does not lead to light. The absence of darkness does not produce light; it remains as darkness.
In the same way, phrases such as ‘I am not a hater,’ ‘I am not a racist,’ and ‘I am not a misogynist’ have little to no substance. The absence of hate does not produce love; it only produces apathy at its best. In the context of Christian discipleship, it means absolutely nothing.
We are to confess, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13) and humbly acknowledge that we have a God’s-light deficiency. We ought to take heed of Jesus’ words: “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me” (Matt. 14:24).
We make a wholehearted commitment to follow the light, to be exposed to the light, and to be illuminated by the light (cf. Eph. 5:13–14). This entails action — a movement.
We, Christians, are people on the move — who walk willingly out of the darkness and who walk tirelessly towards the light and in the light.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness”(John 8:12). Jesus is saying, those who follow me will have me – the Light of life, inside them! To be a Christian is to have Christ within us and He dispels the darkness!
Jesus is the light that exposes those dark, private corners of our lives that we prefer to keep hidden. Even though we have tried to hide the mess in the darkest and most private corner of our lives, the light of Jesus has shown us that there is dirt piled up there that needs cleaning out.
The Light, Jesus, has come into the world and this light is freely yours. Bask in the beauty and warmth of the sun – the Son of God.
Jesus is the real light, the genuine light who changes things. He is light to every person who needs to see through the darkness of trouble and sickness. He is the light who guides us along life’s journey when we have more questions than answers. He is the light that dispels the darkness of guilt with his forgiveness and the darkness of fear when we take our last breath. He is the light of life, eternal life.
In whatever way the darkness shows itself in our lives, Christ has come to be a light for us.
BE LIGHT
Wherever there is darkness in our families, communities, nations, or the world at large, Christ has commanded us to let our light shine before men and to use whatever means we have at our disposal to relieve the suffering of others and drive out the darkness that shrouds the lives of so many. We are to let the light of Christ shine through us so that the darkness of despair and hopelessness might be dispelled.
Most often, the problem is that we are blocking the light. We are not transparent enough. Jesus says to us,
Matthew 5:14–16 (NIV84)
14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Share light with loved ones. Are you showing that light to your family?
Share light with lost ones. Or maybe you’re generous with your money and your time. But is your heart not broken over those around you who are in darkness?
CONCLUSION
Jesus says to his disciples in John (8:12),
I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.
Without light there is no life. Without Jesus there is no life.
Jesus is the one who will meet you in your deepest darkness, whatever that darkness is for you. His love never changes. In his light, we find the strength to carry on. In his light, the darkness around us and in the lives of others is replaced with hope, love, and forgiveness.
No matter what kind of darkness we are in, God is with us. So trust in the Lord, who is the great light in the darkness. Rejoice, for on us and many others, light will shine. And, therefore, seek the light, follow the light, and be the light.
LOGOS 