Gross Darkness

 

“For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.”

—Isaiah 60:2 KJV

Back in 1939, Robert L. May wrote the story, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. This story was first published by the department store, Montgomery Ward. Little did Robert May know how popular and longstanding this Christmas classic would become.

Everyone knows Rudolph saved Christmas by guiding Santa and his sleigh through a “pea-soup” fog on Christmas Eve. Rudolf used his brilliant red nose to lead the way. Yet, among Christmas stories, this one pales in comparison to the story of the birth of the Light of the World, the Messiah, Jesus, the Son of God.

The term “gross darkness” or “thick darkness” describes the fact that the world—morally and spiritually—had sunk into a lost condition out of which it could not find its way. Some 700 years before Jesus came as a babe to Bethlehem, the Prophet Isaiah predicted the dawn of a new day of light. This radiance would shine truth and love, healing and righteousness, into our sinful world and into the hearts and minds of each one whom God would call to this Light.

Jesus would reveal Himself as the only antidote for the sin that takes over and darkens the understanding and direction of human beings. 1 Peter 2:9 explains it this way:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

I, for one, am grateful that here, in North America, Christmas comes in the darkest and coldest part of the year. How much more intensely the lights show up. How much more we realize the degree to which we need light for vision and warmth.

From the dawn of creation’s light to the brilliance of a city who needs no other light than the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, in the Book of Revelation, the Bible tells the story of the Light of the World. When we sin, we can know the Light will shine on that disobedience to God’s perfect will for us. When we’re lost, we can know the Light will direct us. When we live in a culture nearly devoid of the true Light, we can know that the Light will reveal itself through us.

Jesus came to bring light, and to be the Light. This Christmas season, as you see the lights on the tree, or light a candle, or even see that popular figure, Rudolph, let those things remind you that we live in darkness and need the only Light that truly can take away the “gross darkness” of our sinful hearts and or our sinful world.