Darkness and light. The Bible constantly speaks of those two conditions. Genesis tells us that before God created the world, it was nothing but a stormy chaos engulfed in darkness. Exodus says that one of the plagues that God visited on the Egyptians was a plague of darkness, while all the Israelite slaves had light where they dwelt. Amos talks about the final day of judgment that will be a time of darkness and not light. At the crucifixion of Jesus, darkness covered the whole land from noon until the middle of the afternoon. And the author of Ephesians writes that those of faith are waging a war against sin that is a battle against the world rulers of this present darkness. Darkness is connected with evil and chaos and death in the Bible's metaphors, and say the scriptures, the only one who can dispel it is God.

So it is that our text from Isaiah is a promise that the people who walk in darkness will be given a great light by God. When the prophet Isaiah first pronounced that promise, it was directed to the Israelite regions of Zebulon and Naphtali, on the western side of the sea of Galilee in northern Israel (see v. 1). In 735 B.C., those tribes and in fact all of the region of northern Israel had been conquered by the Assyrian Empire. But, proclaimed Isaiah, God will raise up a new davidic king -- an anointed one, a mashiah in the Hebrew, which we translate as Messiah. And that king, that Messiah, would free northern Israel and restore the far-flung boundaries of the davidic empire.

That's why our text talks about the rod of the oppressor being broken and the battle equipment of warriors being burned. The new davidic Messiah will bring in a realm of everlasting peace and justice and righteousness. No longer will the people be subjected to a foreign conqueror, because the Messiah's reign will be established forever. That was just a future promise given to Israel.

The writer of the Gospel according to Matthew said that promise had been fulfilled, however. After the death of John the Baptist, when Jesus withdrew into Galilee and began his ministry there in the regions of Zebulon and Naphtali, Matthew said Jesus was the one from God who was bringing light to a people who were walking in darkness (Matthew 4:15-16), and not just to that people, but to all people. On this Christmas Eve, with its candles and lights illumining the darkness, Jesus Christ brings us light.

Can that be said of you, that Christ brings you light? Certainly we all have our dark times, don't we? When the dailiness of life has got us down, and we just slog along in the same routine, and when we stop to think about it, there seems to be no point to it all. Then the future seems very dark, a tunnel with no light at the end.

Or darkness surrounds us when the anguish of a broken relationship crowds in on us, when hurts and fears and wounded pride all get bound up in a bundle of misery. Darkness comes when our own wrongdoing gnaws away at our innards, and regret hangs heavy in our thoughts. Darkness dims every dawn when illness wastes us, and it hurts to get out of bed. Darkness can be our daily companion when a loved one has died, and there seems to be no one to fill the void. Indeed, darkness far too often is the condition of our humanity. As one woman put it, "Life is tough. You're born, you suffer, and then you die." And that's all there is -- the life, the pain and the suffering, and then the everlasting dark. But, says our text, to all of us who walk in darkness a great light is given. And, affirms the whole New Testament, his name is Jesus Christ -- the babe born in the city of David, our long awaited anointed King, our Messiah.

How is it that he brings light into our lives? Our text from Isaiah furnishes us the answer. He is the Wonderful Counselor, the one who listens to all of our fears and trouble, poured out in our prayers from the midst of darkness. Christ listens to us and knows our hearts and sees our afflictions. He is not one who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but rather one who has been tempted and troubled and has suffered in all the ways we have. And so he can guide us with his merciful directions in his teachings and point the way we are to walk. He told us once that he has given us all his commandments, that his joy may be in us, and that our joy may be full (John 15:11). Following his counsel is the way out of darkness into light.

Isaiah says our Messiah is also Mighty God -- God incarnate come to earth to save and deliver us from evil. Not that everything will come up roses if we trust his working in our lives. But Christ acts with the power of that God who conquered creation's chaos, that God who could command the darkness and light at the time of the exodus, that God who defeated the darkness of death with the glories of Easter morn. It takes a God of might to overcome the dark evil in our world. But Jesus Christ is that Mighty God, who shines in the dark, and whose light the darkness can never extinguish.

Then too our Messiah, Isaiah foretold, is an Everlasting Father, exercising the mercy, the tenderness, the love of his Father on this earth. No matter how insignificant we may be, no matter what our station and status in life, no matter whether we be rich or poor, this Messiah gathers us all into his loving arms and lavishes on us a love that excels all other loves. Tenderness, mercy, understanding, forgiveness -- our Messiah brings them all.

He also brings to us peace on earth, because he is the Prince of Peace; by such a title Isaiah characterized our Messiah. And do you remember his words? "Peace I leave with you," he said, "my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you" (John 14:17), but it is a peace passing all understanding. Indeed, friends, Christ brings a peace that will finally engulf this war-torn world, for his will be that universal reign, promised our text. There will come a day, say the scriptures, when every implement of war will be destroyed from the earth, God will be all in all, and we will know that blessed realm of which the Psalmist sings.

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground.
and righteousness will look down from the sky.

Psalm 85:10-11  The light has come, good Christian friends, to all of us who walk in darkness.