Light in the Darkness

“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.”  Isaiah 9:2

I always hated in school when we were asked to describe the theme of a book or a poem.  I love to read, but I’m just not good at seeing themes and symbols.  However, Isaiah is making some obvious to me, light and darkness being one of them.

The word used here for darkness means literal darkness, but can also mean misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorry or wickedness. The root word it is taken from means to darken as in withholding light.  Even more interesting to me is that the phrase ‘dark land’ means shade of death, the grave or shadow of death. 

I’ve felt like I’ve been in darkness. Darkness by definition means seeing is not possible, and there have been times I haven’t been able to see the way forward.  Depression has been my darkness.  Sin and anger have been my darkness.  Unforgiveness has been my darkness.

Darkness is overcome by light.  Light is the hope in the darkness, the cure of darkness.  Here the word for light means illumination, luminary in every sense, happiness, morning, sun. In Revelation Jesus refers to himself as the Bright Morning Star.  John calls Jesus the Light.  It sounds trite and cliché to say Jesus is the light in darkness, but it is also truth.

The darkness of wickedness (my unforgiveness for example) is overcome by the light of Christ who forgave ALL my sins and asks me to forgive others.  As I submit and repent, light shines in my darkness.

The darkness of hopelessness is lightened by the presence of Christ.  Even when or especially when physical death is immanent, Christ is the reminder of eternal life, that this world is just a shadow of eternity.

The people of Isaiah’s time faced a darkness of distress and anguish, a darkness of very real fears of a very real enemy, and a darkness of ignorance through rejecting God, His ways and His prophets and looking to man for solutions.  Isaiah prophesied that these people in darkness would see a great light.  We read with the knowledge that he is foretelling Christ, but to the people light symbolized hope, help, even deliverance.

When we say Jesus is the light, we are saying He is what overcomes darkness. Whatever the darkness we walk in, Christ has the answer.  Christ is the answer.  Not the answer that we have decided will fix everything, but the presence that changes everything.  “Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.”