FollowThis week’s Last Word is best appreciated through its video, where you’ll find Jason reading the text along with a peek at Elim’s Christmas decorations. Click here to watch.
One of the most enduring memories of my childhood is staring at Christmas lights in the dark: lit-up trees, colorful houses, twinkling landscapes seen from the hills of Whittier. There’s always been something captivating and magical, not merely about Christmas lights, but about lights seen in the dark.
Light in the midst of darkness is one of the Bible’s many metaphors for God, or more specifically, for Jesus. In one of his many Messianic prophesies, Isaiah says, “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” (Isaiah 9:2). You can even see it in the words of Jesus Himself, when he says, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). The biblical tradition is rich with these kinds of illustrations.
Much can be gleaned from those phrases and the contexts in which they’re used, but my hope today is to get you to see something a bit simpler.
How easy is it to just gloss over these phrases? In our modern western culture, we’re very big on systematic approaches to theology. We unwrap metaphors and euphemisms for the meaning inside and toss them away as useless wrappers. We tend not to stop, appreciate, and feel the implications of the illustrative and vivid symbols that Scripture works with.
There’s a reason that Scripture isn’t really written as a theological dissertation. God wants us to gain something more from His word than just simple summary statements.
When we read that our God is the Light of the World, that His coming to us is a great light dawning in the dark, we’re meant to feel something visceral.
Consider this Christmas season sitting in the dark and looking at some lights. Find some beautiful tree or one of the area’s many beautiful lighting displays and sit and look. Sit in the dark and feel the warmth of the lights and look at how they radiate in a world that’s utterly dark around them. Sit quiet and still, and watch.
Scripture is rife with examples of how creation is designed to proclaim the glory of God, to pour forth speech and tell us about Him (Psalm 19). Know then that these lovely displays, ultimately, are shining not for their own sake, but that we may know just a little bit better the God of our rescue, the Light of the World Himself.
Merry Christmas, friends.
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