O gracious Light, pure brightness of the everlasting Father in heaven, O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed! You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices, O Son of God, O giver of life, and to be glorified through all the worlds. – Phos Hilaron

These words are a hymn believed to be one of the very first written by the Christian Church. It was sung in the dark as candles were lit. Pagans of the first and second centuries documented that they could hear Christians secretly hidden in shadow, “singing, as if to a god.”

Perhaps the dark hopelessness of trying to live a life of meaning has enshrouded you. It’s as if your reality is a casket with a lid that’s closing, and there’s just a small gap remaining from which to cling to a glimmer of light. I can remember what living in that darkness felt like when I didn’t know Jesus. The memory feels like a thick, palpable, black fog (Psalm 82:5, Ephesians 4:17-19).

One of the great things about reading a chronological Bible is that you experience the darkness, even of the people of God, when they’ve failed to walk in the light of His face. A friend reading the Bible chronologically sighed, “There’s no Jesus until September!” One enters the story of human existence and senses the agony of brokenness and despair that results from rejecting God’s ways. Our ridiculous choices lead to horror and futility. It’s important that we sense how intensely bleak our reality is without Jesus (Isaiah 59:1-15).

Even more powerful to consider is the fact that after the closing words of the Old Testament, there are 400 years of silent darkness. No word from Yahweh to the hard-hearted blind. They didn’t want to listen, so He didn’t speak.  

But they still had the revealed word of the prophets filled with outrageous hope and promise. “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; on the inhabitants of a country in shadow dark as death, a light has blazed forth” (Isaiah 9:2 NJB, also Isaiah 59:16-22; 61). Meanwhile, those in darkness who had turned their faces away from God cried out to Him for the Light of His Face (Psalm 4:6; 67:1; 80:7,19; 89:15).

What is this longed-for light? It’s fascinating to consider that before the sun or moon were created, light was already there (Genesis 1:1-5).

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all” (1 John 1:5 NLT).

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1-5, 14 NASB).

The entrance of God into the world by taking on our humanity blazed forth uncreated personal light into our world of seething, suffocating darkness. He will not tolerate our tomblike existence. Jesus, the eternal Son, creator of the universe, will shine upon us, lifting us out of hideous, overwhelming gloom. Jesus is the Face of God turned toward us in omnipotent mercy. 

“The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God … For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of the darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4,6 NASB).

“He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.  I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness” (John 12:45-46 NASB). No matter how foreboding the world’s condition or our own personal despair, during Christmas, we lift our eyes to Jesus. Even that gesture breaks the power of darkness by creating a chink through which the powerful love and light of the Triune God will fill our sight, encourage our hearts and enable our vision and voices to sing:

Dispel the shadows of the night, 

and turn our darkness into light. 

Rejoice, rejoice! 

Emmanuel shall come to thee! 

Questions to ponder

• For many, Christmas brings a mixture of feelings. Are there dark parts of your heart in need of light and encouragement?
• Meditate on John 12. Offer to God any dark places in your life and allow His light to enter in.