Read Isaiah 9:2-7.
This past summer our family vacationed to the beach. Each morning there was the same ritual: I would take my chair and pull it right up to the place where the water meets the sand and watch the morning light of the sunrise dim out the darkness of night for another day.
The prophet Isaiah lived in a time that was heavy with darkness, despair and injustice. God’s people were suffering. It felt like the darkness had won. They were desperate for a savior. Isaiah’s prophecy could not have come at a better time. Through his words, God was offering hope: darkness would not last forever.
God’s pursuing grace and love for His people was going to come in the form of a child. He was sending His son as a gift to us. So, while Isaiah gives us a picture of the world as it was before Christ, it was not without the hope and promise of what was coming next.: A messiah who would be a “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.”
Today, there may be something in your life which makes you keenly aware that we still live in a world dimmed by darkness. Everywhere we look we can see the effects of physical and spiritual darkness even though the light has come. This journey of Advent reminds us that whatever darkness may surround us; the promise of Isaiah is still true. And because of this great gift of love found in Jesus, we can have full assurance that God will finish what He started. The One on whom the whole government rests, who will reign forever, and is actively upholding this world with justice and righteousness, is the Light that has dawned on all of us who were once living in the land of darkness.
Written by Jenny Schafer
