Light

ADVENT
LIGHT
DR. JIM DIXON
DECEMBER 18, 2005
1 JOHN 1:1-9

Christmas is all about light. It’s about the light of the star of Bethlehem that led the wise men to the manger. It’s about the light of the heavenly host that heralded the birth of the Christ child. But most of all, Christmas is about the light of Jesus Himself. The Bible tells us He is the true light which enlightens every man. The true light was coming into the world, and this is the reason that we put up lights at Christmas time. It’s why we light Christmas candles. It’s why we put lights on our Christmas tree. It’s why we put lights on the outside of our houses and lights on our reindeer. It’s all about light.

Many of you have seen the movie Christmas Vacation. Well, the movie exaggerates the problems of putting up your Christmas lights, but I know we’ve all had some frustrating experiences. I know Barb and I have one of those imitation pre-lit Christmas trees, the fake Christmas trees, and every year there’s always a section or two where the lights just won’t come on. You try checking the fuses, seeing if any of the bulbs are out. Usually, I wind up just shaking the branch and it goes on like kicking the refrigerator. Maybe if you put lights up on the outside of your house, you know, have you ever just been so frustrated you said, “I’m never doing this again”? Or, maybe next year if you have any money, you’ll pay a kid down the block or maybe just not put the lights up.

But remember that when you’re putting those lights up, it’s really what Christmas is all about. It’s all about light. It’s about Jesus, who is the true light and enlightens every person. “The true light was coming into the world this morning.” I want us to take a look at what it means to say Jesus is true light. What does it mean to you? What does it mean to you that Jesus Christ, this child born in Bethlehem, is true light come into the world?

Well, I have two teachings, and the first teaching is this: Jesus Christ offers you nightlight. that’s what the Bible tells us. Jesus offers us nightlight. If you look at our passage of scripture from the gospel of John, the first chapter, we’re told that the light shines in the darkness. That’s the truth regarding this child born in Bethlehem.

His light shines in the darkness. He is nightlight. Now, the Bible tells us the whole world is in darkness. It’s nighttime; the whole world is in darkness, but Jesus Christ is nightlight and He offers that nightlight to you. This is important. I remember 10 years ago, Barb and I lived in Littleton in an area called Arapaho Ridge. At that time, we had no security system in our home. I remember, it was about two o’clock, in the middle of the night. I woke up and I could tell Barb was just in a panic and she was on the phone right by our bed, and she had dialed the police. She was talking to the police and she was telling them that somebody was breaking into our house. I was just startled and confused and the police told Barb, just lock the door to your bedroom. Stay where you are. We’re sending an officer over.

Of course, I just couldn’t do that. I couldn’t just sit there. So I went and( I had a metal baseball bat in our bedroom) and I grabbed the bat and I went downstairs. It’s dumb, I know. I think a bat beats paper, rock, and scissors, but I think a bat loses to gun. But anyway, so I head downstairs with a bat and there are three guys and they’re just coming into our house. We had an open window on the main floor, which was not too smart. they had pushed the screen out and the one guy had one foot in our house and one foot out of the house, and the other two guys were right behind him but still outside.

They looked up and they saw me and they saw the bat in my hand. I don’t know what they thought, and I don’t know what they had, but I thank God to this day that they turned and they ran and he jumped back out of the house and the three of them just took off and ran. It was about 10, maybe 15 minutes later that the cop arrived. He was a great guy. He took me around the house and he told me what we were doing wrong. He said, you know, on your main floor, you don’t leave windows open. You know, that’s easy access. Remember, you have to have nightlight. He said, people who perpetrate crime, people who rob houses, love the darkness.

They love the darkness. They hate the light. So you need to have nightlight all around your house because darkness is an invitation to criminals. Now, this is analogous to the world we live in and to the condition of our soul. You see, the Bible says we are engaged in a struggle against principalities and powers of darkness. There is spiritual warfare in this world. The powers of darkness afflict us. The powers of darkness deceive us. The powers of darkness tempt us. They come against us. But Jesus is nightlight. He’s nightlight. Then there’s a protection for your soul that that comes from embracing his light, embracing this one who has come into our world. He’s nightlight.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that bad things will never happen in your life, and John Patterson shared so beautifully last week about how hard life can be. I know John and Mary Allen and their children have had so many things they would have loved for Jesus to have kept from happening. But of course, Jesus is most concerned with our souls. He’s most concerned with our souls. I promise you, you receive Him, you embrace this one born in Bethlehem… powers of darkness will not be able to come against your soul if you embrace Christ. He is nightlight.

Of course, to say that He is night light is to say more than that He protects the soul. To say that Jesus Christ is nightlight is to say that He gives us sight. He enables us to see in the darkness by His nightlight. Of course, in John chapter nine, we’re told the beautiful story of how Jesus healed the man born blind. This man was blind from birth and Jesus healed Him by the power that was His. He anointed this blind man’s eyes with clay and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. The man did, and he came back seeing.

Have you ever wondered, well, why that guy? Historians tell us that there was a lot of blindness in Israel in the first century. It was epidemic because of a variety of health conditions and diseases that were prevalent and could not be treated. There was much blindness in Israel, many blind women and men. Why this guy? Jesus just walked right past other blind people. Why this guy? Well, we really can’t answer that with confidence this side of heaven. But we know this: every miracle of Christ had a purpose.

You see, miracles in the Bible are called wonders, the word “teras,” because they create awe. They’re called powers, “dunamis,” from which we get the word dynamite, because miracles involve the manifestation of power. But in miracles, every miracle of Christ is also called a “semeion,” a Greek word meaning a sign that which points to something else. Every miracle Christ did was pointing to a deeper truth. You read John chapter nine and it’s clear, Jesus wanted the world to know that He could give sight to the blind spiritually—not just physically, but spiritually He could give sight to the blind. He could help us see in the midst of the darkness. Of course, what the Bible’s talking about and what Jesus is talking about is moral sight. We can see moral truth when you come to Christ; you begin to see moral truth and the scales fall from your eyes and you begin to see.

I remember years ago a woman came to our church and she was a radical feminist. She was the editor of a radical feminist magazine, and she had radical views. She really did. She viewed pregnancy as a disease inflicted by men. She viewed motherhood as slavery, foisted upon women by a patriarchal society. She had a radical view of sex; she viewed sex as recreational. She was not herself promiscuous, but she had no problem with promiscuous people. She just viewed sex as recreational. “Make sure you have adequate protection and do whatever you want to do.” She viewed taboos against premarital sex as unenlightened. So she had these radical views. I don’t know why she came to our church. She was searching for something, something she didn’t have..

But she knew (she really did know) and she later told me she knew that we valued women and men equally. She knew that in our sight, God values men and women equally; they are equally precious to Him. That was important for her. But what happened in the course of time was God called her. Jesus called her, and the Holy Spirit just grabbed her soul. She came into the light. It was incredible. She embraced Christ. She gave her heart to Jesus. I remember she said to me, she said, I can’t believe it. She said, “Almost everything I believed before was wrong.” She said, “I was blind, but now I see.”

Today she goes to a church near the place where she lives and she teaches Sunday school. She teaches little kids about Jesus. She’s married. Her life is filled with joy. I ask you, what happened? The answer is she found nightlight. She found Jesus in the midst of the darkness. She found the light.

Of course, the world is in darkness. What the world tells us about money is basically darkness. What the world tells us about sex is basically darkness. What the world tells us about power is basically darkness. But Jesus is the nightlight, the light in the night. Of course, He wants us to understand that the essence of His moral light, the essence of His moral truth, is summed up in love—love of God and love of people. If we don’t love, we’re in the darkness still.

There’s a passage in the little book of 1 John, in the second chapter, starting with the seventh verse. John writes, “Beloved, I give you no new commandment but an old commandment. And yet I do give you a new commandment, which is new in him And in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light but hates his brother is in the darkness still. He who loves is in the light and abides in the light, and in it there is no cause for stumbling. But he who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

So we all view the light a as something we come into instantly and completely when we accept Christ and we think of the song Amazing Grace by John Newton “I once was lost, but now I’m found. I was blind, but now I see.” It’s as though it all happens at once, and it is true that there’s a coming into the light when we embrace Christ. But it is also true that we have to grow in the light. We grow in love. I think God would ask us today as we come to the table, are we doing that? Are we growing in the light? Are we growing in our understanding of moral truth and are we growing in love?

Well, there’s a second teaching, a last teaching this morning. It is this: Jesus not only offers us nightlight, but Jesus also offers us daylight. He offers us daylight. Now, there’s a passage in the Bible. It’s one of my favorite passages. It’s in the little book of 2 Peter, and it’s in the first chapter. Peter writes, “We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. For when He received glory and majesty and the voice was born to Him by the majestic glory, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I’m well pleased,’ we heard this voice born from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word made more sure. Therefore, you do well to pay attention to this as to a light shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

Now, the Bible speaks of the dawning of the day. The Bible speaks of the morning star. What is the Bible referring to? Well, that’s all about that child born in Bethlehem. You see, Jesus calls Himself the morning star. “I am the bright morning star.” The morning star signals the arrival of the day. It ushers in the day. That’s why it’s the morning star. It ushers in a new day. This child born in Bethlehem is not only nightlight—light in the night—but this child will usher in a new day.

You see, a day is going to come when the night will be no more. There’ll be no more darkness. It’ll all be daylight. Christ is going to usher in that new day. I think in the hearts of most people, even people who love the darkness, I think there’s a little corner in their heart at least that longs for daylight, longs for the night to end. I think we see it in all cultures of the world. You know, amongst the Aztec Empire, there were many gods, many divinities. There was a pantheon of gods, and virtually all of the gods required human sacrifice. Historians and archeologists have discovered that that human sacrifice actually involved the eating of human hearts. It’s just a tragic subculture in history, yet in the Aztec pantheon of gods there was one god that hated human sacrifice. This God, the Aztecs called Quetzalcoatl.

Quetzalcoatl means “feathered.” Of course, this God was worshiped throughout the Aztec Empire amongst all the peoples. He was portrayed in a variety of ways, and his myths were described in a variety of forms. He was viewed as the God of enlightenment, the God of civilization, the God of culture, the God of the arts, the God of peace. This God Quetzalcoatl, according to their beliefs, warred with the pantheon of gods. It was all over human sacrifice. Quetzalcoatl hated human sacrifice and went to battle with the whole pantheon of Aztec gods. He lost. He was defeated and he fled the world. But the Aztecs believed one day he would return and he would usher in the new day. He would usher in daylight and the night would end. human sacrifice would end. It would be over because Quetzalcoatl would return.

And of course, in their prophecies, it was said that Quetzalcoatl would return on a one-reed year. Montezuma II, ruler of the Aztec Empire, was born on a one-reed year, 1480. It was a one-reed year by their calendar. The next one-reed year was 1519. So Montezuma II believed that Quetzalcoatl would return in 1519. Their astrologer said he would return on April 22nd, 1519. If you know your history, you know what happened on April 22nd. Hernando Cortez arrived on the coast of Mexico and what is today called Vera Cruz. Of course, many mysteries surround Hernando Cortez. Did he burn his 11 ships? some historians say he did. Most say he didn’t. When he began his march towards Tenochtitlan, when he began his march towards Mexico City in August of 1519, was he joined by native peoples who hated Montezuma II and the Aztec Empire?

Some historians say yes, and they say his army grew. Other historians aren’t so sure, but they all agree on this. When Hernando Cortez and his conquistadors arrived at Mexico City, Montezuma II greeted him with open arms. He greeted him with open arms. Why? Because he believed that Hernando Cortez was Quetzalcoatl. That’s why. They portrayed Quetzalcoatl as having light skin with a dark beard. Of course, the Aztec people had never seen anybody with light skin. Of course, Hernando Cortez was not Quetzalcoatl, and he did not usher in a new day. He was just part of the darkness. He didn’t usher in daylight. But the Aztec people came to Jesus Christ in droves. They came to Jesus Christ in droves because they believed that Jesus Christ, when they heard His story, was Quetzalcoatl.

Even today in parts of Mexico and Guatemala, many people called Jesus Christ Quetzalcoatl and He is called the Mesoamerican Christ. I have no doubt that God’s Holy Spirit is always at work in the world. The Holy Spirit of God is at work all over the world in every culture. You should understand the Spirit of God has always been at work globally, in every culture, in every era, in every time in every place. The Spirit of God is at work and God’s Holy Spirit has placed within the heart of man this longing for daylight. It’s there in every culture, this longing for daylight, that the night might end. I also believe that the Holy Spirit of God is working in every culture and even most every world religion, so that there is some truth in every religious system in the world because the Holy Spirit of God is at work.

Of course, the evil one is also at work. But you understand that there’s some truth in every religious system in the world because God is at work. It’s not just Judaism that points to Christ. Most of the religions of the world have at least some component that points to Christ and what only Christ can provide. I promise you, He is the morning star and He will usher in the new day. He not only offers nightlight, He’s going to bring daylight. As Christians, we live in that hope. But we need to understand that in a sense the day has already dawned. If you’ve come to Christ and if you’ve embraced Him as your Lord and Savior, there’s a sense in which the day is dawned and the daylight brings life and sunlight. Daylight brings life. That’s why in the Bible light is so often a symbol of life. Without the daylight, without the sun’s light, there can’t be life.

So Jesus offers life. As we come to the communion table this morning, maybe you’ve never found that life. Maybe you’ve never come into the light. Maybe you’re not experiencing nightlight and you have no hope of daylight. Maybe you’ve never found life, but you can today by the power of God. You understand that we’re saved, the Bible tells us, by faith in that one born in Bethlehem. Faith can be combined with doubt. When I accepted Jesus, in those early years I had doubts. But I still made the commitment because faith can be mixed with doubt. But I’ll tell you, it cannot be mixed with apathy if it’s saving faith. You have to make a decision: whether you’ll come to the foot of the cross and if you’ll ask Jesus to forgive you of your sin—because He died in substitutionary atonement for you and for me, He died to pay the penalty for your sins and mine.

The incredible thing is that when you come to Him and you embrace Him as your Savior, your sin is forgiven you. You’re washed whiter than snow. All of your sin—past, present, and future—is all forgiven. If you come to the foot of the cross and embrace Him as savior, it’s incredible. But He’s light. Of course, you must also take Him as Lord, because that one born in Bethlehem is Lord of Lords. He is King of Kings. So you must make a commitment to live for Him. But if you do that, you begin to experience nightlight and the promise of daylight. And you receive eternal life that can never be taken away. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.