Christmas Hope: A Journey from Darkness to Light with Jesus

As the holiday season engulfs us, it's easy to get lost in the merriment and miss the true essence of these times. We are discussing the profound concept of finding light amid the engulfing darkness. We share our personal tales about Christmas, the chaos around us, and how the holiday season can serve as a beacon of hope. Taking a cue from a powerful song, we reflect on the need to embrace the greatest light there ever was, to navigate through this darkness.

Delve we must into the mysterious prophecies foretelling a child that will bring light and salvation to the world. A child, whose rule will be marked by justice, joy, and peace, who will uphold the weight of the government with the titles of Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Respectively, we question society’s dependence on flawed humans for salvation and peace, and posit the birth of Jesus, prophesied 700 years prior by Isaiah, as the ultimate answer.

Closing this enlightening discourse, we look at the true significance of Christmas and the birth of Jesus. We caution against losing sight of the true meaning of Christmas amid the hustle and bustle of the season. We urge the need to keep Christ at the heart of our existence, not only during festive times but throughout the year. Above all, we remind all that the world needs Jesus and sharing His light with others is our collective responsibility.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:03

Just focus yourself, ask God to really just kind of help. You pay attention to the message this morning and, as always, it really is the spirit, the Holy Spirit, that teaches us. So we're just going to. We want to make sure we pray and lean on that. That it teaches us and shows us what it is that we need. We'll do that and then I'll pray. That is always.

Speaker 1: 1:51

We thank you so much for who you are. I pray this morning it's always you speaking less of me. Always I pray that you protect the words that are coming out of my mouth, those who are listening here, those who are online, those who might listen to the message later that, as we continue looking into this idea of these prophecies that were so far in advanced of their fruition, just how incredible it is that you've always had a plan, and I pray, as we go into this holiday season, that we take away and we understand, more than anything, that Jesus was always planning. He wasn't a backup, he wasn't. You know, you weren't concerned. You weren't worried. You didn't have to scramble to make a decision, but you always knew what we needed. You gave it to us one incredible night to the birth of your son that he would step down into the world. He would step down in the darkness and give us the light that we use to death. Really needed no-transcript.

Speaker 2: 4:17

The tragedies of time were no match for your love. From great heights of glory, you saw my story and God. You entered in and became one above. Sing Hallelujah, sing Hallelujah. Sing Hallelujah for the things he has done. Come and adore Him. Bow down before Him. Sing Hallelujah to the light of the world, the light of the world, light of the world, crowned in a manger, born for the cross To suffer to save. High King of Heaven. Death is the poorer and we are the richer by the price that he paid.

Speaker 2: 5:39

Sing Hallelujah, sing Hallelujah. Sing Hallelujah for the things he has done. Come and adore Him. Bow down before Him. Sing Hallelujah to the light of the world, the light of the world. You're lighting up the dark Light of the world. Some will be coming With fire in His eyes. He will ransom His own Through clouds. He will lead us Straight into glory, and there he shall reign Forevermore, forevermore. Sing Hallelujah, sing Hallelujah, sing Hallelujah for the things he has done. Come and adore Him. Bow down before Him. Sing Hallelujah to the light of the world. You're the light of the world.

Speaker 1: 7:35

I uh, growing up, christmas was not always my favorite holiday. It wasn't anything personal. My family was. We were always the one that had the most decorated house on the block and my mom and my brothers would decorate and I would sit on the porch and I'd watch them because I didn't want to do it and I, I mean, I appreciated it and we got together as family and you know, growing up I uh, when I started going to church, um, I wasn't always like a huge fan of christmas music. Once again, nothing personal. I think everyone has a preference and so a lot of the traditional songs that I've heard perform it is, you know, I listened to him and I would sing him and people would sing carols and I've gone caroling and you know my heart really wasn't in it and once again, it it's just some of that's just a preference. You know, a music style.

Speaker 1: 8:43

As I came across the song this week, actually, I googled light of the world. Uh, this is one of the very first videos that popped up and and I love, I love the sound of it, I love the feel of it, I love the, the words and, coming into this season, if there's one thing that I've seen in the last A couple months is there's just there's a lot of darkness in people's lives, there's a lot of confusion, there's a lot of chaos. I mean the the world you and I live in right now is has embraced the darkness In such a way that I know, for our generation, it feels like it's the worst ever. I don't think it is. And if you go back in history, I mean, the romans were pretty bad, you know, they did some crazy things, but but there's this. There's this darkness that exists and and lives of people, and and they try everything they can to fight it. They try everything they can to fill the void, and and the reality is and and the one thing that I've learned to be true is the only way to ever overcome that darkness is to Embrace the greatest light that's ever existed.

Speaker 1: 10:09

I remember Made a lot of candles in our house a couple years ago. I used to work for a candle factory and one night we came home and all the lights were out and and we just started lighting candles up around the house. And the more lights you lit, the more candles you let, the brighter it got, and the brighter it got, the more light that showed up, the more the dark disappeared. And so my kids were watching this and they were. They were afraid because it was so dark, but as it got lighter, they, they calmed themselves, and and all I could think about is is how beautiful is that, the, the idea that the the greatest way to embrace, the greatest way to overcome the darkness is to embrace the light, because when you have light, there is no darkness.

Speaker 1: 11:02

They cannot reside in the same place. It's physically impossible, and the only way that that light's going to go out is if I put it out, if I snuff it out, and and so when we're looking at isiah and last week we were looking at isiah, chapter seven we're looking at the nation of israel that is surrounded by darkness. They feel overwhelmed on every side. And and so isiah and we talked about this gives them a double prophecy. He speaks of a child that will be born during the time became ahaz, that they will see deliverance from the people, because ahaz was an awful ruler, definitely not a man following god. And then you get to the, the gospel of matthew, and matthew reflects back on that same prophecy and understands the bigger picture was the virgin birth, the son being born. Emanuel was designed to bring light to the entire world and to save the world from itself. And and then isiah goes on, and as he continues that we're going to be in isiah chapter nine, we're going to kind of jump ahead a little bit. Isiah starts to talk about the prophetic future Of this child and what it's going to hold and and what he's going To accomplish. And it's not, it's not just about the birth, but it's about everything that comes with the birth.

Speaker 1: 12:37

Isaiah, chapter 9, starting in verse 1, says nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who are in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulon and land of Natahton, of Tali, but in the future, who are honored galley of the nations? By the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, the people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of deep darkness, the light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy. They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For, as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burns them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, every warrior's boots used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor. Mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness. From that time on and forever, the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Speaker 1: 14:07

So Isaiah is. He's talking to a nation who has seen so much war, so much war, so much fighting. We were talking about this last night. My Danny and I were at a party and there's a couple older couples there and they were in their 60s and couples in their 70s and we were talking about their generation. Some of them had actually gone through multiple world wars and really just kind of the stress of that. And then the our generation. We've seen a couple different conflicts and we're seeing stuff going on overseas right now. I feel like there's this constant tension, this constant fear of what's going to happen.

Speaker 1: 15:02

And so Isaiah, when he's talking to his audience, he says there is coming a day when the warriors boots and the garments rolled in blood will be destined for burning. There'll be fuel for the fire. And when he makes this statement, he's saying there is coming a day when peace will reign in this world, that the armies will hang up their armor, the warrior will sit down his shield and the people will rejoice and they will look forward to being in the presence of the light always. And he says in verse six for us, to us the child is born, to us the son is given and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace, of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. I don't know about you, but I look forward to that. Can you imagine living in a world where there's no conflict, where there's no fighting, where we're at peace with each other? Always we're in agreement, together we're serving God with everything we have, that he's sitting and he is bringing justice to all, that he's bringing peace to all, where there's not going to be this fear of death or famine or fear of consequences, but there's going to be this eternal peace? You know, I don't think it was an accident that when Isaiah looks at this future kingdom and I don't think it was an accident when he says that the government will be on his shoulders Because I think about the world we live in today and everyone knows what's coming up right Selection year soon You're starting to see things.

Speaker 1: 17:23

You start to have those divisions between this side and that side and if you're paying attention to the news, they're all debating against each other. They all like to point out who's wrong and who's wrong and who's right and they try to do all of these comparisons and listen. I'm going to say this gracefully, I hope, but I think a lot of times we put a whole lot of stock and failed human beings to be good, moral people. We try to vote the right way and we try to vote on on correct issues and we're hoped that these people that end up in office are going to do the right thing and we hope that they love God and some of them do and some of them say they do because they know it's going to get a vote.

Speaker 1: 18:05

I'm just saying, when it comes to it, god never wanted us to rely on human beings for that kind of perfection. He never wanted us to rely on those things for peace. He never wanted us to put our hopes and our fears and everything we have into the will of men and women. He wanted us to understand that you could only find that through Jesus. That is it. A relationship with Christ will be the only thing that brings you that kind of peace, that kind of understanding that the government will sit on his shoulders. He will reign forever. Nothing will stop him. Everything outside of him is doomed to fail Because human nature, because of sin, because of corruption. If God thought we could save ourselves and Jesus would have never been born. There would have been no reason for him to come into our world. But he looked down into the darkness and he brought a light that would forever change the course of humanity. And he did it all in the form of a baby.

Speaker 1: 19:37

A baby, I mean, you guys had a baby, you had a baby. What does a baby do for me? They're so needy. They cry all the time. They can't even tell you why they're mad. They just genuinely are.

Speaker 1: 19:59

Scarlett in here, I was going to pick on her a little bit. Scarlett has like one of those little electronic babies. Have you guys ever seen one of those things? I did one when I was in school years ago and I failed miserably. It had 49 counts of neglect, because hold on, as with my current children, apparently babies crying don't wake me up. So this thing was severely neglected. So I told her. She came in Friday at the Brown Bag Diner with it and it started crying and I was like Scarlett, the baby's coming to church on Sunday, right, she's like it is. I'm like you're gonna be the only kid that I call out of a cry. Get out of this next year, get that fake baby out of here. No, but it's funny because when you think about a baby, what good can a baby do?

Speaker 1: 20:57

But the birth of Jesus? Especially if you were around the time you came around, you would have understood. Like I said, matthew reflects back on the prophecy and they see this child who was born and they realize that this is a God in the flesh. I wasn't gonna say this, but I'm going to the song. Mary did you know? Everyone loves that song. I think she knew. I really do. I think that she had a very good understanding of what this child was gonna be, not only through the visits to the angels, but the prophecies and and as this baby was born, isaiah.

Speaker 1: 21:50

As he gets into chapter 9, he helps us understand that it's more than just a birth right, the weight of what's happening in this moment. It's not just about sinful humanity and their salvation. That's part of it, that's a huge part of it. But the Jesus is going to set the world right, that the government will be on his shoulders, that peace will reign, that nothing will overthrow him. That we will not understand fully. But there is a time that is coming when you and I will rejoice for all eternity and what I like about once again talking about prophecies.

Speaker 1: 22:43

Isaiah talks about this prophecy and he's actually talking. So if you go to Matthew 4, 12 through 16, it says when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he would drew to Galilee. Of course you wonder why, why is that important? But as Isaiah 9-1, towards the end of it, it says when the future, he will honor Galilee, the nations by the way, the sea beyond the Jordan. And Isaiah is prophesying of where Jesus is coming from, that connection with the city of Galilee and how important that is. And if you look at the prophecy, this is one of the ones that I enjoy the most, because Jesus had no control over that. He didn't get to pick where he was going to grow up. He didn't get to pick where he was going to live. But Isaiah, in his prophecy 700 years before, understood and once again gives validity to not only the virgin birth, but that the Son of God would bring honor to Galilee.

Speaker 1: 23:49

By the way, galilee up until this time was kind of a nation, part of the nation, that was not doing very well. They had lost a lot. They've been through a lot of wars, they've seen a lot of trauma, but from them God was going to bring them the greatest gift they'd ever seen. He was going to change the world through Jesus. But I cannot stress enough what Isaiah says towards the end, chapter 6, or verse 6. He says For us too, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called a wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness. From that time on and forever, the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. The plan wasn't just to save us, but it was to redeem the world, to bring back the peace that once existed.

Speaker 1: 25:22

You go all the way back to the Garden of Eden and as they walked with God and they talked with God and they had everything they could ever need. That's what we look forward to. That is what we are so patiently and urgently waiting on and we talked about this last night or yesterday at our men's breakfast that I think the hardest part sometimes is a lot of us are tired of waiting. Listen, I want Jesus to come back tonight. I'd be okay with that. The world is crazy. There's enough going on. There's enough bad things going on. If he decides to show up tonight, I'm not going to be mad about it, because I know what's coming. There's that anticipation of how amazing that is going to be, and that's what we do when we offer people hope. Listen, I understand this world is tough, but there's a future coming where all of this is going to go away.

Speaker 1: 26:35

But the reality is he might not come back tonight, so so so what do we do? How do we? How do we keep moving forward? How do we make sure that our light Doesn't get burned out. How do we continue to be that light and and what I would consider More darkness than we've probably ever seen before? And and I think the answer is simple, as I think it's we've got to come together. We've got to get people to plug into the community of God. We've got to invite people into the church. We've got to be a community of believers who believe with everything in us that the promises of God will overcome the world every single time, that the promises that he, that he, has for our life, are bigger than our problems, that when Isaiah talks about this future government of peace and and and and hope, that that we go into the world and we do everything we can to try to speak to that truth.

Speaker 1: 27:37

Mary, tonight, christmas, I Think. Sometimes we get stuck around this time of year Because we're all about Jesus. We're all about, you know, keep Christ in Christmas, and those are not bad things, but, but we do that for like a month and then we hit January and somehow we forgot it. Church is no longer important to us, sharing our faith is no longer important to us, but but this light that God has given us is supposed to burn from now and so the end of my life and my goal is to take this light and to give it to someone else, to light Dan's light, and then Stacey's light, and Ed's light and sinning's light, and then take all of our lights and go into the world and continue to bring Light into the darkness, because darkness cannot overcome it. But we cannot do that if we don't actually believe in the significance of of Christ coming to earth, if we do not understand, believe that God's plan all the long has been to bring people to the knowledge of Christ, not only for the here and now but for the future and the hope that comes after. This world will do everything it can To fill whatever void it has. We see it Money, possessions, influence, fame. But the only thing that's ever gonna last is Jesus. The World needs Jesus.

Speaker 1: 29:48

See, as Lewis Wrote this and I love it this is the Christian story, is precisely the story of one grand miracle, the Christian assertion meaning that what is beyond all space and time, what has uncreated eternal, came into nature, into human nature, descended into his own universe and rose again, bringing nature up with him. It is precisely one great miracle. If you take that away, there's nothing specifically Christian left. He he wrote this, speaking of the the birth of Jesus. Without the birth, there is no death. Without the birth, there is no God with us. Without the birth, there is no perfection, there's no one to show or model for us what it means to live in harmony with God. Without the birth, there is no sacrifice for sin. Without the birth, there is no hope, there is no light, and Darkness will win. That's right.