The Darkness Couldn't Extinguish Him!
Scripture Reading — Isaiah 9:2-7
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:5
In the creation story in Genesis we do not read that God created darkness but that God created light. Light has always been understood to be needed for life to emerge and develop. Darkness, on the other hand, has long been a symbol for non-life and for a power that seeks to extinguish life.
In the book of John we learn that Jesus is the light that comes into our world of darkness. And the darkness cannot overcome this light. The power of darkness tried its hardest to extinguish the “light of the world” (see John 8:12). For example, when the religious leaders came to arrest Jesus, he said, “This is your hour—when darkness reigns” (Luke 22:53).
But John, writing after Jesus’ death and resurrection, celebrates the fact that “the light shines in the darkness.” And Jesus is still shining and will shine forever.
The darkness did not—and could not—extinguish him.
We need to be rescued from many things: ignorance, disease, bad decisions, and the like. But what we need most of all is deliverance from the power of darkness. Through sin and death, it seeks to destroy us.
The light of life has come and shines in the darkness! See him; move close to him; live in him today.
Jesus, we confess that you are the light of the world. You are my light today. Help me to walk in your light and to be your light for others. Amen.
About the author — Harvey Stob
Rev. Harvey Stob and his wife, Audrey, served as missionaries in Argentina for eleven years. They then served churches in Cincinnati, Ohio; Ridgewood, New Jersey; and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Harvey retired from full-time pastoral work in 2009. He and Audrey have three children and seven grandchildren.
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