Celebrating the Light - Christmas Eve message

You know, ever since we've been here on Thanksgiving Eve, we

begin our Christmas celebration and why you come that the

auditorium is dark on Sunday mornings.

Some people like that and others don't like it.

In fact, I received an e-mail this past week from a lady who

was so upset that it was dark in here that she refuses to come

back ever again. But you missed the the symbolism

of of why it is dark. It won't be dark on Sunday

because Christmas will have come and gone.

But the important thing is, is that it's symbolic of the world

that's engulfed in darkness ever since Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

The world is eclipsed with the shadow of sin, and all of

creation is steeped and entrapped in the snares of sin.

In fact, the the world is completely and totally dark

because of its spiritual blindness.

The world is unable to see the glorious gospel of the Christ

because they've been blinded by Satan himself, and therefore the

Bible describes sinners in this way.

In Proverbs chapter 2, Solomon says it this way, that sinners

Proverbs 2 · chapter mention

are those who leave the paths of righteousness to walk in the

ways of darkness. In chapter 4, Proverbs, Solomon

says these words. He says the way of the wicked is

like darkness. They do not know over what they

stumble. Man's mind is completely

darkened to that which is true, and that's because of sin.

And so the solution was to send the light.

And Christ himself, of course, is the light of the gospel.

He says that He is the light of the world, and He tells us that

He enlightens every man that comes into the world and

therefore our Lord is the solution to man's sinful state.

And you would think that that man in the the throes of

darkness would, would flock to the light, that they would

embrace the light. They would in the midst of all

their stumbling around in their immorality and in their iniquity

and in their idolatry, that they would look for a way out.

But man does not. In fact, man cherishes his

darkness. The Bible says in John chapter 3

John 3 · chapter mention

these words by our Lord. This is the judgment that the

light has come into the world and men loved the darkness

rather than the light, for their deeds were evil.

Man in his sinful state loves to remain there.

He loves the darkness even though the light has come, even

though the light has shone down upon us.

Man loves his sin, and yet there are those who have given their

lives to Christ. They've embraced the light they

enjoy The light of the gospel in the Bible says that we've been

rescued from the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of

God's dear Son. He says that we once were

children of the night, but now we're children of the light.

We were children of darkness. Now we're children of the day.

In fact, the Bible says in Ephesians 5 verse #8 we were

formerly darkness, but now we are light in the Lord.

Because of Christ, we are able to see the beauty of the gospel.

And so as Christians we we celebrate the light.

We use this time of the year to accentuate that celebration.

It's a celebration that's the last all throughout our lives,

not just during a seasonal celebration.

It's supposed to envelope us every single day of our lives.

And yet we take a a moment during the Christmas season to

focus in on Christ, who is the light.

So tonight by by way of a devotional, I, I want you to to

learn to celebrate the light with me and to be able to take

it with you all throughout your life and to understand what it

is that Christ wants us to celebrate.

And we're going to do that by looking at the characters in the

Christmas story. We're going to look at 9

specific characters that make up the Christmas narrative in

Scripture that all of them to some degree celebrated the

light. To give us the principles that

will help us learn how we are to celebrate the light of the

Gospel. We're going to begin where the

Gospel begins in Luke chapter one with the priest Zacharias.

Luke begins at the beginning simply because the world is

dark. For 400 years, there's been

nothing but silence. There's been no voice from

heaven. There's been no Angel that has

spoken. God has sent no prophet to

Israel. The last thing that the prophet

Malachi said was that the Sun of Righteousness will rise with

healing in his wings. And so for 400 years people

waited, but they waited in silence, until one day the Angel

Gabriel broke the silence. And so you have this priest

performing his priestly duties in Luke chapter one in the

temple in Jerusalem, doing what he always does.

And the Angel Gabriel comes to him and speaks to him and tells

him that his wife Elizabeth, in her old age, is going to

conceive Bear a son that will be a forerunner to the Messiah.

But the problem is Zacharias doesn't believe in the certainty

of the word that was spoken. He doesn't believe in the

reliability of the promises that have been given.

And yet he's a priest. So the Angel says you will not

be able to speak until after your son is born.

Some commentators will say that he was unable to speak and

unable to hear, and probably that would be true simply

because the word that is used is used of those in the scriptures

who are both deaf and dumb. So it's possible that Zacharias

was not just unable to speak as a priest, but he's unable to

hear as well. And so for nine months,

Zacharias sat in silence. And the Lord had a purpose

behind that. Because the very first principle

that helps you understand how you celebrate the light is that

you need to consider the prophecies of Christ.

Zacharias was a priest. He should know about the

prophecies concerning the coming to the Messiah, But the Lord

drove him to contemplate, drove him to concentrate on all the

things that were said in the Old Testament to get him to realize

the importance of his son's birth, the forerunner to the

Messiah. And so he would think about

things maybe from Numbers chapter 24, which talked about

Numbers 24 · chapter mention

how the star will rise out of Jacob with a scepter in his

hand. He begin to think about Isaiah

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

Chapter 9, Isaiah chapter 60, and and Malachi 4 verse #2 where

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

the son of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.

Now why do we say that? Simply because after the son is

born, what Zechariah says tells us what was on his mind when he

speaks. And so the Bible says in Luke

Luke 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 verse #77 that the Messiah, or the Son of that the

foreign of the Messiah, is to give to his people the knowledge

of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the

tender mercy of our God with which the sunrise from on high

will visit us. That's taken directly from

Malachi 4 verse #2 and then he says to shine upon those who sit

in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into

the way of peace. That's taken from Isaiah Chapter

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

9. And so we know that Isaiah would

begin to understand more of what the prophecies were given

because he doubted the certainty and the reliability of the

promises that were given. And he was a priest.

He should have known them. And so the Lord drove him to

consider the prophecies, to contemplate on those promises,

to be able to concentrate once again.

Because if you're going to celebrate the light, you must

know all there is about the coming of the star, the coming

of the sunrise. That's why Christ says that he

was the bright or is the bright morning star that That's why

Peter says that when the day star rises in your heart,

salvation has dawned. It's all about the rising of the

sun, the brightness of the Christ child, the light of the

world. So Zacharias teaches us that we

need to consider the prophecies. And then you go from from

Zacharias, you go to the angels. I'm sorry to the shepherds.

Let's go to the shepherds because the shepherds teach us

to embrace His deity. Embrace his deity.

Remember, it's over 12 months later from Luke chapter 1 to

Luke 1 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 2. John the Baptist is born.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

He comes. The Messiah is going to come

ever since Zacharias received the promise that his wife would

bear a son, and the Messiah would be born after that.

You have about a year between the two.

And so the glory of the Lord would shine all around the

shepherd fields in Bethlehem. And the Angel would say to them,

For unto you this day in the city of David has been born a

Savior, who is Christ the Lord. In other words, who was born is

important. He is the Messiah, He is the

Savior. And the shepherds would know

about the God of Israel, who was the only Savior, and this Savior

is the Lord. Now note, the glory of the Lord

would shine all around them, and they knew from the book of

Ezekiel that the glory of the Lord had departed from

Jerusalem. They knew that while they were

in captivity in Babylon, Ezekiel had this vision of the glory of

the Lord leaving the temple, moving out of the gates of

Jerusalem, passing up over the Mount of Olives, out into the

Judean wilderness because Ichabod had been written across

the nation. The glory of the Lord has

departed. That's what Ichabod means.

And so they they were waiting for, for the glory of the Lord

to come. At the very end of Ezekiel, the

very last phrase in Ezekiel is Yahweh, Shema.

The Lord is there. In other words, there is hope

for Israel because the Lord will be there once again.

And so now all of a sudden, the glory of the Lord signs all

around them. And now the shepherds know that

the Lord is here. They know that the Lord is among

them because the glory of the Lord is the is the presence of

God manifested it in brilliant light and he was shining all

around them. And they would begin to realize

that this, this Christ child is the Lord.

He is God in the flesh. This is the Messiah of Israel.

And they would embrace his deity.

And they would go with haste to to see Mary in Bethlehem, to see

Joseph in Bethlehem. And they would, they would go in

haste to make known this statement that had been given to

them because they wanted others to hear what they had heard.

They embrace the Christ child. They embraced him as the Son of

God, Son of Man, Son of David, Lord of the universe.

And when you want to celebrate the light, it begins because you

consider his prophecy, and then you embrace his deity, and then

#3 you long for his mercy. And that's where Anna the

prophetess comes in. Anna, the prophetess, she was

there when when Simeon would take the Christ child into his

arms in a Luke chapter 2. She was one who was looking for

Luke 2 · chapter mention

the consolation of Israel. And that word look means there's

a there's a longing in her heart.

Remember she had been a a widow for 84 years and she had spent

all of her time in the temple praying and fasting and talking

to people because she was a prophetess about the arrival of

the Messiah. And when Simeon would would take

take in his arms, the Christ child Anna was there and she

would begin to speak more and more about the mercy of God upon

them. Mary when she spoke, spoke about

how God's mercy was from generation to generation.

When Zacharias spoke, he talked about the tender mercies of God.

You see, God gives mercy to those who are miserable, and

those who are in darkness are an absolute misery.

But the light had come and sort of celebrate the light.

Once you consider the prophecy concerning the Messiah and you

embrace His deity, you realize who He is.

You long for His mercy because His mercies are new every

morning. And it's because of His mercies

that we are. We are not consumed.

And so you move to principle number four.

In the fourth principle is where Mary the mother, the Messiah

comes in and she exalts His Majesty.

And if you're with us on Sunday, we talked about how Mary would

with her soul and with her, all of her heart would rejoice in,

in God her Savior, because her whole song is a song of

exaltation, where she would exalt the, the majesty of the

Messiah, knowing in full well all that God had done for her.

And she would begin to consider all the promises that had been

given. And she would accentuate the,

the, the attributes of her God by talking about his mightiness

and talking about His Holiness and talking about his mercy.

And she would recognize that God had shown her mercy in her

humble state and she would exalt the Lord.

And when you celebrate the light, you want to lift up the

majesty of Christ. When you celebrate the light,

you want to lift him way above yourself, because that's what

believers do, that they want to They want to exalt the name of

Christ. They want to lift his name above

their name, above everyone else's name, above everything

else in their lives, because Christ is preeminent.

And those who celebrate the light, they consider the

prophecies and then they they embrace his deity, long for his

mercy. They exalt His Majesty and #4

those who celebrate the light, they bow to his authority.

And there's a, there's a, there's a silent character

pretty much throughout the Christmas story.

We don't talk much about him. His name is Joseph.

But Joseph is the classic example of one who bows to the

authority of God in his life. That's how he would celebrate

the light. The Bible tells us in Matthew

chapter one that he wanted to, he wanted to divorce Mary.

He wanted to put her away secretly.

Why? Because even Mary could not

convince Joseph that she had not been with another man.

And so the Angel Gabriel came to Joseph.

And the Bible says these words in the book of Matthew.

It says these words, Joseph son of David.

Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has

been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son, and you should call his name Jesus, for

he will save his people from their sins.

Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the

prophet through the spoken by the Lord through the prophet.

Behold, the Virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and

they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means

God with us. And Joseph awoke from his sleep,

and did as the Angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as

his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son.

And he called his name Jesus. As soon as he awoke from his

dream, he immediately bowed to the authority of God in his

life. And then as you read on in the

story, it says verse #13 it says now when they had gone, behold,

an Angel of the Lord, that is the Magi, appeared to Joseph in

a dream and said, get up, take the child and his mother, flee

to Egypt and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is going

to search for the child to destroy him.

So Joseph got up and took the child and his mother while it

was still night and left for Egypt again.

He bowed immediately to the authority of God in his life.

It wasn't like, you know what, I'll wait till the morning to

go. No, I'll wait till it stops

raining to go. No, he obeyed immediately.

He bowed to the authority of God in his life.

And then you read on in the story.

After Herod dies, it says, behold, an Angel of the Lord

appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, get up, take the

child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for

those who sought the child's life are dead.

So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and came into

the land of Israel. He didn't say, you know what, I

like it in Egypt. You move me here.

It's great here. It's warmer down South.

The sun is brighter down here. We just bought a house in Egypt.

We don't want to leave now. Nope.

He got up and went right back to the land of Israel.

Why? Because if you're going to

celebrate the light, you need to bow to the authority of God in

your life. You can't say you celebrate the

light and then argue with God. You can't say you celebrate the

light and debate with God. No, when God says move, you

move. When God says you do this, you

do that. When God says you are to be the

leader of your family, gentleman, you lead your family.

Think about Joseph. He was the leader of Mary, the

mother of the Messiah. She had to follow Joseph's lead.

So Joseph, in order to be the effective leader of his family,

had to bow to the authority of God in his life.

In the same is true for you and me.

If you want to celebrate the light, you need to first of all

consider, contemplate, concentrate on the prophecy

concerning the Messiah, and then you need to embrace His deity.

This is the enfleshment of God. This is the incarnation of the

sun God coming down to man. And then you long for his mercy

as Anna did, as she was longing for the for the redemption of

Jerusalem. You exalt His Majesty, you bow

to his authority. And next, in order to celebrate

the light, you need to radiate his glory.

When the angels came and the glory of the Lord would shine

all around, the heavenly host would say glory to God in the

highest peace on earth toward those whom God, who who truly

fear the Lord. And these were the people who

who gave glory to God. Angels never missed an

opportunity to put God on display.

Angels never miss the opportunity to glorify the name

of their God. And when you celebrate the

light, you always radiate with the glory of God.

That's why the Bible says the First Corinthians 10/31 that

whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, you do all to the

glory of God. First Corinthians chapter 6 says

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore God must be glorified in our bodies.

That's why Paul says in Ephesians chapter 3 verse #21

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

let there be glory in the church.

Why? Because we are the ones who are

to reflect the the radiant glory of our Redeemer in all that we

say, in all that we do. Why?

Because that's what the angels did and they were created

perfect and they always magnify and glorify the name of Christ.

And if you want to celebrate the light, then you radiate with His

glory. And then if you want to

celebrate the light, you must adore His identity.

And this is where the magi come in, because the magi were were

led by this * and the star really truly is not a normal

star. It was a supernatural star.

It was the Numbers 2417 star. It was the glory of the Lord.

It was the presence of God manifested in brilliant light

that took them from one place to another.

And they followed that star until they came, Matthew 2 says,

to a house. And there was the child, not a

baby, but there was the child, right?

And therefore they would fall down, they would worship him,

and they would give him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Why? Because they understood his

identity. They worshipped his identity.

They gave him gold because he was a king.

They celebrated his royalty. They gave him frankincense

because they celebrated his deity.

Why? Because frankincense was an

incense offered only to God. And then they gave him myrrh

because they celebrated his humanity.

Myrrh was that which is used to embalm bodies and wrap bodies

that were that were going to die.

That they understood the identity of the Messiah.

They knew he was the King. They knew he was God in the

flesh. They knew that he had come to

die. And in their worship of God,

they adored his identity. They adored him for who He was.

And if you want to celebrate the light, you adore the identity of

the Christ child, who is the light of the world, and then you

come to Simeon. And Simeon would celebrate the

light when he would trust in his sovereignty because Simeon was

told by the Lord that he would not die until he saw the Lord's

Messiah. Remember, it's the Lord's

Messiah. Christ is not Israel's Messiah.

He's not your Messiah, He's not my Messiah.

He is God's Messiah. And so the Bible tells us that

Simeon was given his promise that he would not die until he

saw the Lord's Messiah. Now how long it was before he

was told that and he actually embraced the Christ child, we

don't know. But he had to trust in God's

sovereign plan for his life. He had to rely upon what God was

going to do in his life, trusting the sovereign purposes

of God. So when he went to the temple,

he would wait and trust and depend upon God leading the

Christ child to him. So here comes Mary and Joseph

and they had the Christ child. How did Simeon know that Mary

and Joseph held the Christ child?

Did he have a Halo around his head so that when he came in

there was this glow about him? No.

Did Did Mary and Joseph had a glow about them?

No. How did Simeon know?

Every day he would go to the temple, Every day he would wait.

Every day he knew that he was going to live until he saw the

Lord's Christ, and then he could die after that.

And so he would tell everybody, I'm not dying until I see the

Messiah. And so people go to the temple.

Hey, Simeon's still here. He's still alive.

The Messiah has not come yet. But whenever Simeon would

eventually die, you would think that the people who heard and

saw him would know that the Messiah had arrived because he

lived and trusted in the sovereignty of God.

So the Bible tells us in Luke's Gospel these words, when he

takes the Christ child in his arms, he says, Now, Lord, you

are releasing your bondservant to depart in peace according to

your word. For my eyes have seen your

salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all

peoples, a light, a revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory

of your people, Israel. When you celebrate the light,

you truly consider, you truly contemplate the prophecies

surrounding the Messiah. When you do that, you embrace

His deity, you long for His His mercy.

You exalt His Majesty, and then you bow to His authority.

You radiate with His glory and you adore His identity.

You trust His sovereignty. And then the last thing you do

is you explain His story. And every one of them were

involved in explaining the story, whether it was Anna,

whether it was the the shepherds, whether it was the

angels, whether it was Simeon. All of them were involved in

some way in explaining to other people the excellencies, the

extraordinary acts of God. The Bible says in first Peter 2

verse #9 that we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood

designed to declare the excellencies of Him who called

us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

And when you've been called into the light, you celebrate the

light. And one of the ways you truly

celebrate the light is that you just explain the story you tell

others about the extraordinary acts, the excellencies of God,

the heroic acts of God. You want them to know that

Christmas is all about the light that came into the world and

that we truly celebrate the light of the gospel of Christ

because he is the author of the gospel.

He is the good news that brings great joy.

And that's why we as believers live in the realm of joy.

That's why we rejoice is because we understand the light has

dawned. We understand the sunrise from

on high has come down to us and we embrace the light tonight as

we as we close our time. What I want to do is have you

have you take the candle that you have in your possession this

evening. And what I'm going to do is I'm

going to light my candle with the the candle that's right

there. And as the men come down this

morning or this afternoon, excuse me, or this evening, I

guess it's night time now that they're going to come down here,

I'm going to light their candles.

And then they're going to walk down the aisles and light each

person on the end of the Pew. And then you will light the

person on the inside of you. And we're going to sing a song,

a very familiar song called Silent Night.

And as we light the candles, we're going to sing this song

together because it's going to be a reminder to everyone of us

that we are the light of the world.

Christ, who is the light, indwells us.

That makes us children of the light.

And we should shine bright for Christ, not just at Christmas,

but all throughout our lives. And may this be a symbolic

gesture in all of our lives to remind us that the light has

come. And if you've embraced that

light, if you've given your life to to Christ, you now become the

light of the world, and you shine so others might see your

good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.