Today, folks, we’re going to be looking at the ideas of darkness and light—the difference each can make in our lives. And, I want to begin with this thought: darkness can have adverse affects on our lives, kind of like this…
Some have said that making decisions in the dark can lead to some regrettable consequences. Back in the days before electricity, a tightfisted old farmer was taking his hired man to task for carrying a lighted lantern when he went to call on his best girl. “Why,” he exclaimed, “when I went a-courtin’ I never carried one of them things. I always went in the dark.” “Yes,” the hired man said wryly,” and look what you got!”
Folks, we need God’s Wisdom today for every decision we make! As a good example of what darkness can do in our lives, if we don’t have the Light of Christ reflecting on every decision we make … there can be consequences. Listen now, as Isaiah speaks about the coming of a Great Light to our world—a message to those who lived in darkness in Isaiah’s day, in Jesus’ day, and also to those of us who may experience darkness in our lives in the 21st century…
In Isaiah 9:1-2 (NLT) the author tells us,
“Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory. 2 The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.”
So, what happened ‘beside the sea’ (of Galilee)? Well, just as Isaiah had prophesied many years before…
THE GREAT LIGHT CAME TO GALILEE (BY THE SEA)… So, the prophet Isaiah here talks about the coming of the Messiah or ‘Great Light’ in the scripture we just read (Isaiah 9:1-2)… What was he talking about? Well…
Jesus’ earthly ministry started in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali (tribal areas located in northern Israel). After Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he returned to his hometown of Nazareth (Galilee). Then, he went on over to Capernaum, by the Sea of Galilee—his ministry headquarters … for the rest of his short earthly life. This, folks, was known in Jesus’ day as the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, where those tribes of Israel had originally settled. This was the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, foretold by Isaiah several hundreds of years prior to Jesus’ time there…
Why was it so important that these prophecies came true JUST AS THEY WERE PROPHESIED? Again, prophecy for Christians is not just forthtelling for the day or foretelling for the future; indeed PROPHECIES ARE THE PROMISES OF GOD! It had everything to do with the character of God … AND IT MATTERS TO US, TOO!
- Is God a God we can trust?
- Is God a God that we can count on in time of need?
Well, time and time again … God has stayed true to his nature—never wavering—and his prophecies about the Messiah have all come true just exactly as he said (through the prophets) that they would… Now, what was going on here, again? Here it is…
Isaiah was letting his congregation know that freedom was coming— freedom from the captivity they were currently in, FREEDOM FROM THE DARKNESS THEY WERE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING!
1. Yes, they would be freed from their physical captivity … but what they didn’t realize in their time was Isaiah’s prophecy was about much more!
a. It wasn’t just about temporal freedom (this lifetime); Isaiah’s prophecy was about eternal freedom … to actually be reconciled to the One in charge of eternity!
So, THE GREAT LIGHT CAME TO GALILEE (BY THE SEA) … just as Isaiah had prophesied…
AND THE PEOPLE WHO WALK IN DARKNESS TODAY CAN HAVE THAT GREAT LIGHT, TOO! This is what the people of Jesus’ day found out; Matthew tied Jesus’ ministry to the OT by seeing a fulfillment of Isaiah’s words (Matt. 4:12-16):
“When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. 13 He went first to Nazareth, then left there and moved to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This fulfilled what God said through the prophet Isaiah: 15 ‘In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali, beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River, in Galilee where so many Gentiles live, 16 the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.’”
The people who sat in darkness … who is that? Well, that seems to be very descriptive of the world we live in—darkness meaning separation from God and God’s ways… That separation, folks, is caused by anything we bow down to—those things we allow to come before God in our lives!
I’m currently reading an incredible little book called Jesus Manifesto. It’s helped me realize what our greatest darkness is today—you know, things that we battle … that we’re held captive by … and we need release from. And I have to say that I really believe that that great philosopher Pogo got it right when he said: “We have met the enemy and he is us!” I’d change that up just a bit today and say the greatest darkness of our lives today—that we are all susceptible to, is: ME!
Folks, if anyone should know about the dangers of ‘ME,’ it would be those who’ve lived through the 70s (including myself): THOSE WERE THE YEARS OF ‘THE ME GENERATION’… and the self-centeredness in the west has only gotten worse since that time! Folks, frankly, any time we get our eyes off of Jesus, we’re in trouble in life … aren’t we? We begin to slip into what scripture would call the darkness of life… So, the people who sit in darkness, many times, are us! And, in a sense, we are our own worst enemy!
ME is addictive, isn’t it? We like having things our way…
- When I’ve attended sporting events, I’ve noticed that for many present, it’s not really about the game that’s being played or the players in the game, it’s about some form of ME…
- When we go to polls to vote (which is our right as citizens of this country), where are our utmost thoughts on that day? I dare say, for many who exercise this right, it’s not about ‘the good of all’ on that day; it’s really about what ME wants!
- And, how about when we go to church (now, this one I know about personally)? We want God … but we want God on our own terms, don’t we? As one woman told me after a sermon I preached, one time, “I don’t care what the Bible says; this is what I believe!” What she was suffering from that day … was the darkness of ‘ME!’ And the answer to her obvious bondage to ME … was Jesus; but on that particular day, she didn’t really care what he had to say! Here’s the bottom line…
There was once a French pastor who was called to serve in a small French community. At one of the first homes he visited, the wife was away, so he could only talk with the husband. When the wife returned, she probed her husband about the nature of the new pastor’s visit:
“What did he say?” she asked.
“He asked, ‘Does Christ live here?’” the husband replied. “He didn’t really ask anything else. Just, ‘Does Christ live here?’”
“Well, surely you told him that we are the church’s biggest supporters.”
“He didn’t ask that,” the husband repeated. “He only asked, ‘Does Christ live here?’”
“Well, you must have told him that we read our Bible and say our prayers every day.”
“He didn’t ask about that either. He only asked, ‘Does Christ live here?’”
“Well, did you tell him that we attend his services every Sunday and sit in the front?” the wife persisted.
“He didn’t ask about that. He only wanted to know, ‘Does Christ live here?’”
And, folks, that’s all God wants to know, too. There is only One Great Light that can free us from the darkness of our lives … and that is the Great Light whom Isaiah announced … and who Matthew confirmed in his Gospel…
How many of you have ever been to Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico)? There was once a couple who took their son, 11, and daughter, 7, to Carlsbad Caverns. As always, when the tour reached the deepest point in the cavern, the guide turned off all the lights to dramatize how completely dark and silent it is below the earth’s surface. The little girl, suddenly enveloped in utter darkness, was frightened and began to cry. Immediately was heard the voice of her brother: ‘Don’t cry. Somebody here knows how to turn on the lights.””
In a very real sense, folks, that’s the message of the gospel: light is available, even when darkness seems overwhelming… And several around this place know how to turn on the lights (they know the Source). But if we continue to refuse the Light, it’s because…
- We can’t seem to trust.
- We can’t seem to let go.
- We have to be in control of EVERYTHING … because, after all, life is all about ME!
- And, the more we hang onto every aspect of our lives (not allowing Christ to truly be LORD), the deeper into darkness we go…
The answer to life’s darkness, folks—those times where we’re consumed with the things of this life and seem to disconnect from God … is Jesus. The answer to our bondage to the big ‘ME’ … is Jesus. As Leonard Sweet would say, “Let go, break free of the self, the captivity of me.”
- Jesus is the Great Light that Isaiah came to announce to the world … and that Matthew connected for us in Jesus…
- Jesus is the Great Light that can help all of us to be totally free…
(V. 16) The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light! Allow God to do that for you, today! Jesus, folks, is the only One who can offer us true freedom—even freedom from ourselves… And that’s what happened … ‘beside the sea.’