The Light Dawns

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;

for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,

to give his people the knowledge of salvation

through the forgiveness of their sins,

because of the tender mercy of our God,

by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven

to shine on those living in darkness

and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

Luke 1:76–79

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These verse give us a beautiful metaphor for thinking about Jesus. They present Him as the Sun dawning on those who live in darkness. The idea here is that apart from Jesus, all people live in darkness. 

Apart from Jesus, we are all enslaved, chained by sin. All of us can relate to Paul’s words in Romans 7. “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing...What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”(Romans 7:15, 19, 24)

‌That is the experience of every person apart from Christ. We are locked in dungeons of our own making… chained to sins we have chosen. And the sentence against us is death. We are condemned to not only die but to face His wrath for all eternity.

But into this dark condition shines the light and hope of Christmas. Jesus’ birth is like the dawn shining its light through the bars of our cell. More than that, because of Jesus we don’t have to be chained to sin anymore. We don’t have to be condemned to death or God’s wrath. We can be set free! 

Jesus came to save us from our sins and to offer pardon and forgiveness. In other words, the light of Jesus doesn’t just shine into our cells and give us hope, it becomes a beacon that lights the way out of our prison and guides us in the paths of peace. 

‌The question before you this Christmas is the same question that Zechariah implicitly put to his hearers in the first century. Will you receive this salvation? Will place your faith in God’s Messiah, in Jesus? Will you accept the tender mercy of God shown in the Christmas story? Or will you continue to rebel and go your own way.

Some of you know what it means to be chained to sin. You know what it means to feel trapped in a dungeon of your own making, and God is offering you a way out right now. He is offering you salvation. But you have to accept it. You have to confess of your sins. You have to place your faith in Jesus, and ask Him to forgive you. And you have to surrender yourself to Him to serve Him all the days of your life. Are you willing to do that right now?

Some of you have already done that, but you have left the paths of peace. You have wandered into the highways and byways of this world, and this Christmas Jesus is once again shining His light into your life and showing you the way you should go. Will you repent and return to the path of peace this morning?