Grace Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text tonight is the final two verses of the Advent Hymn we sang this year, Savior of the Nations Come. The text is as follows, From the manger new born light, shines in glory through the night. Darkness there no more resides, In this light faith now abides. Thus far our text.
Merry Christmas. The day has finally arrived, Christmas is now here. The Christ child has been born. The Christ child has come to die. And so tonight we have gathered together to sing hymns, to listen to God’s word, and as we turn down the lights in the sanctuary to light candles and sing.
If you stop to think about it, it is kind of a silly thing we do isn’t it? I mean, I remember thinking when I was younger that turning down the lights for the singing of Silent Night just made it more difficult to see the hymnal. And how many times have you burned yourself on hot wax falling from melting candles? But the thing we are doing reflects a larger reality. Just as a candle shines its light out into the darkness, so too does that little baby shine out into a world filled with the darkness of sin death and the devil.
Our world is dark. It is dark with the sin of billions of people including you and me wandering in their sin, unsure of where to turn or what to do. Scripture teaches in the book of Deuteronomy that if we break the commands of the Lord, “we will grope around like blind men in the dark” (Deut 28:15) Yes, not just blind men, but blind men in the pitch blackness of night. And that dear friends is where we are. In our sin we no longer are able to tell the difference between right and wrong. We are unable to see what we should do in a particular situation or how to even deal with things in this world.
Sometimes we become weary and tired, as we struggle in the darkness of our sin. We grope about, trying to find our way, and bumping into those who are around us. And even as we grope about, we know what ultimately awaits us in the darkness of our sin. Death. For we walk in the darkness of the valley of the shadow of death, and all we can see is death and punishment. For the punishment of sin is death, God told Adam and Eve in the garden. “IF you break my commands, you will surely die.” And so in the darkness of our sin, with all of God’s commands broken, we await death.
But hear again our hymn verses “From the manger new born light, shines in glory through the night. Darkness there no more resides, in this light faith now abides.” Just as we tonight will shortly light a candle, so too has God sent a light to our world, a light that shines in the darkness, a light that the darkness cannot understand. God has sent us a baby in a manger, whose light is so bright as to take all the darkness out of your life.
The light that flows from the manger flows because this little tiny baby is miraculously the Son of the Living God. He is the Son who was begotten before all worlds, God of God, light of light very God of Very God. He was there in the beginning when God said “Let there be light” and he will be there when God says, “It is Done, I am the Alpha and Omega.” This little baby, Jesus, has come.
And his light shines on you and on me, it shines on our sinful world, because the little baby born in the manger will one day die on a cross. He will one day be murdered and killed. He will one day pour out his blood from his body, and as he does, the light that shines from the manger, shines on you. By the shedding of the blood of Jesus, your way is lit, your path becomes brighter. With every wound on Christ’s body, with every drop of blood, it is if your world becomes brighter, until finally as Christ dies, you know the truth. Death is overcome. Because by shedding his blood, Jesus carries you into his heavenly kingdom.
In you darkness no more resides, instead faith now abides. Your sin is gone, Jesus has taken it. Your death is gone, Jesus has taken it. You no longer grope about, uncertain of where you are going, for Jesus has taken you home.
Tonight, in a short while, we will turn out all the lights here in the sanctuary, and as we do, remember on your own, you are in the darkness of sin. And as the lights go out, you will see one light still shines the light of the Christ candle, the light shining from the manger. That light will be passed along to each one of us, just as each of us has been brought to the light in holy baptism. That light shines forth in the promise that you will never die, that your sin is gone, and that you have life, and have it to the full. You are the light of the world, because you reflect the light that shines from the cross.
In the manger new born light. In the manger Jesus has been born for you. Amen.
