Throughout the Advent season, we light candles.  Candles are used to celebrate Christ because, as Jack read from John 1, He is the True light the gives light to all men.  Tomorrow morning we celebrate the arrival of True Light.

John’s Gospel gives us a slightly different take on Christmas.  Luke 2, which our kids reenacted last Sunday, gives us the traditional Christmas scene:  manger, stable, shepherds and all.  John’s gospel dispenses with the historic details in favor of explaining Christ’s birth by it place in human history.  Certainly the other gospels do likewise, but John (as inspired by the Spirit) gives us this rich picture of a light stepping into darkness.  This Christmas Eve, let’s try to understand Christmas as John presents it.  And to do so, let’s go back to Eden.

When mankind was created, God designed us to live in His light.  If you recall, the very first act of creation was the creation of light.  Also, as we turn to the end of the Bible, the New Heaven and new earth of revelation, we discover that once again God is His people’s light, there is no night—no sun, nor moon.  In the Garden of Eden, God’s people lived intimately with Him, in the Light of His presence.  We all know what happened next, our forebears rebelled.  Let’s picture that rebellion as a descent into darkness.

Adam and Eve lived in a lush garden, enlightened by God.  Their eyes could see all that was God and Holy, could see the beauty around them, could see themselves as they truly were (naked).  For a moment, instead of eating fruit, let us imagine that a cave lie in the middle of Eden.  A deep, dark cave that Adam and Eve were commanded not to enter.  After listening too long to the enemies’ temptations, Adam and Eve choose to walk into that cave.  As they step across the threshold they take a few furtive glances over their shoulders at Eden and then—DARK! [lights out]

Suddenly Adam and Eve find themselves in complete darkness.  As they look up they see light coming in from the entrance, but in the darkness around them they cannot find a way out, in fact there is no way out.  As generations are born, mankind moves further into the cave, until one day no one can even see the entrance anymore.  But, being the creatures we are, mankind begins to make up stories about the cave.  They begin to convince themselves that it is no cave it is in fact Eden.  Much the emperor with his new clothes, they manage to convince themselves that what they see isn’t really what they see.

And so generations are born believing they live in a beautiful paradise, that men are good and just and right, that whatever god may or may not be out there is immaterial, because we are in paradise.

Throughout those generations there is the occasional spark of light.  Those sparks briefly reveal to one person here, or a few there, that the paradise they find themselves in isn’t a paradise at all.  There are sparks to Adam and Eve as the God they abandoned promised a savior.  There are sparks as, through a man named Moses, God promises a prophet to lead His people.  Sparks fly as David is promised a son to rule forever.  Sparks shine forth through the prophets.  But those sparks are furtive and localized.  One day something amazing happens, however.  Something that changes mankind forever.

A child is born into this darkness, but when He is born something happens—light comes with Him.  This child shines forth with a light the illuminates all around Him—and everyone around suddenly can see that the paradise they believed in is no paradise at all.  Instead of living in heaven, they now see they are living in a dirty, deep dark, dank cave.  Further, as this child grows He shows all those who will listen that there is an exit to the cave we live in, that there is a way back to Eden.

Jesus Christ is that light born into darkness.  He is the light that shines forth from God.  While God had brought other sparks at other times, in Jesus He revealed the full radiance of His being (Hebrews 1).  As that Light, Christ came to fill two important roles.

The first is the revealing of our condition.  If you’ve ever been in a dark room—such as a blackout—you know that you need candle or a flashlight to really see what’s around you.  Even walked into a room in the middle of the night and tripped over a toy or a piece of furniture you were unaware of?  To truly see your surroundings, you need light.

Christ’s light is the light of holiness and righteousness.  As He walked the earth, living a perfect life, He revealed what perfection is—and showed just how deep in sin we are.  As we might not know how high a mountain is without seeing the valley (and vice versa) we could never know how sinful sin is without seeing perfection.  So Christ serves to illuminate mankind’s condition.  His light reveals that we are not inherently good folks with a few bad tendencies.  We don’t live in a paradise—by any stretch of the imagination.  Instead, we are totally fallen, our every action and thought we discover is sin.  Christ reveals it isn’t enough to not murder—but holiness means not even anger!  Of course, there are two ways to respond to the light, aren’t there?

One, of course, is to embrace what the light reveals, to accept that we are sinful—that our paradise is nothing more than a dark, dirty, dank, deep cave!  The other, however, is to continue to be deceived.  To look at the light and say, “No, it can’t be,” and continue believing the light is lying and our cave is truly paradise.

The second role Christ’s light fulfills is the role of beacon.  God didn’t send a son to just show us our predicament and then leave us to live in a cave and pass into damnation.  No, the revealing of our condition was only step one—step two was to show us the way out.  You see, before we can accept help out, we need to know we are in trouble.  As we sit in our cave, believing it is paradise; we must first see that it is truly a cave.  Otherwise we have no need to follow Christ out.  Once we see our condition—once we see we are in a cave, with no hope for finding our way out—we are prepared to accept Christ’s help.

So, He serves as a beacon.  He shines forth, leading all who follow Him out of the cave and back to Eden—back to the intimate relationship with God wherein God is our light!

As we celebrate Christmas, then, we are celebrating Christ’s birth.  More than just a child, He is God’s Light sent to reveal our sin to us, and then to save us from it.  And it doesn’t end there.

Christ expects all those who follow Him to serve in this same mission.  You see, His spirit takes up residence within us so that His light can shine forth in us.  In this way we kind of become mirrors.  As the light source reflects off of us, it illuminates others—showing them their predicament, and revealing to them the pathway out.  As we celebrate the coming of the true light that enlightens every man, is his light shining in you?  Are you an active reflector of that light to those around you?

This Christmas, let us endeavor to celebrate, not through the giving and receiving of mere gifts, but let us endeavor to celebrate it properly—by serving Christ as reflectors of His light to the world around us.  How do we do this?  By endeavoring to know the true light better, so that we might reflect it more clearly.  Maybe you are here and know you don’t reflect Him well, you know you are not shining forth with His light.  Tonight begin.  Tonight ask His forgiveness, and celebrate the arrival of true light by asking Him to make His light shine in your life.  Then each day repeat that request, continuously asking Him to shine forth in your life.

Maybe you’re still walking in the darkness—you’ve seen the life but aren’t sure what to make of it.  Tonight you can celebrate Christmas by allowing the light born in Bethlehem 2000 years ago to be born in your life.