Hope in the darkness
O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord.Isaiah 2:1–5
Most of us know what darkness feels like. When you are seriously ill or someone you love is sick or dying, when you feel let down, when you’ve let others down or slipped back into the same bad behaviour that always takes you down, when you’re not sure what the future holds and all seems bleak and overwhelming... It can feel like being in a dark pit (Psalm 40:1-3). Job described it as 'the land of darkness and deep shadow, the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order’ (Job 10:21-22).
We need hope to continue on, a reason to persevere, a path out of the darkness. This Advent, we remember God’s fulfilment of His promise to send Jesus, and we look forward to Christ coming again on the Last Day.
We learn in the gospel of St John that
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men (John 1:1-4).
The Fall cast us into the darkness, the prey of sin, death and the devil. But even at that moment, God did not abandon His people. He promised to crush the serpent’s head and restore His people (Genesis 3:15).
Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people still suffered because of their sins and because of the sins of others. Nature was still broken. There were countless catastrophes, wars, destruction. People succumbed to temptation. Over and over and over again, God’s people suffered, struggled, rebelled and repented. When we read about Job, Ruth, Joseph, David, Elijah, Moses and so many others, we see people who struggled with all the things of this world – grief, illness, poverty, betrayal, temptation, despair, shame.
And how did God respond? He turned their mourning into dancing, their despair into hope, their grief into new beginnings. Though His people rebelled and complained again and again, God rescued them, He sent judges and prophets, He spoke to them in dreams, delivered them from slavery, defeated strong enemies… because of His great love, not their goodness or worthiness. Even when the people turned away from him, God made sure a faithful remnant remained, nurtured by His Word (Isaiah 10:20-22).
And what a Word! So many prophecies of the Messiah – the light in the darkness. As Isaiah prophesied, '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). Like the bright morning star, each prophecy was like the first hint of daybreak. They were signs that all was not lost, that there was hope for another day.
The people of God waited and waited. Just as we wait for an end to our suffering, for hope in the hard times. God heard their lament. And he hears ours.
And so, Christ came. The fulfilment of the prophecies, the true Light of true Light (Luke 1:76-79). As He said himself, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
God became flesh and lived among us. Christ knew our pain and suffering. He took it all to the cross with Him. He was crucified for our sins. He defeated death and the devil and rose again so that we might have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The Light of the World came to remove our darkness.
We will have hardship while we live in this world. But we can take heart, we have hope, because God has overcome the world and all that the enemy can throw at us (John 16:33, 2 Corinthians 4:6-18).
We can live as children of the light, striving daily to live a holy life, even as Christ has made us holy (Ephesians 5:1-21, Romans 13:11-14). Through Christ we are free from sin and evil. We can live at peace with God and each other. We have the sure hope of the resurrection. And so we can give ‘thanks to the Father, who has qualified [us] to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins’ (Colossians 1:12-14). We are made part of ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light’ (1 Peter 2:9).
Christ will come again. We can look forward with great hope to Jesus’ return, when with all the saints we too will stand before the throne of God in constant worship
And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Revelation 22:3-5
Come, Lord Jesus, come!