Lightbulb Moment

What comes to mind when you think about darkness? As a child, did you ever find yourself in a friend’s home during the night, looking for the bathroom or maybe the promise of a midnight snack? In the darkness, all was unfamiliar - doors and rooms seemed to appear out of nowhere as you groped at the walls for a lightswitch. Finally, you felt the relief of a switch in your hand, and saw the house illuminated before you—all fears of monsters and clowns with shark teeth a thing of the past.

Jen Wilkin points out that darkness is actually the first problem solved in the Bible. Let’s take a look at this scene in Genesis:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and void, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day. (Genesis 1:1-5)

Look carefully. Our universe is described as “formless and void,” fully devoid of light. Darkness, its default state. But as with the rest of creation, that darkness obeyed the command of the Creator. And by the word of God the darkness received this light. The book of John deliberately picks up this strand, and begins like this:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5)

What do we feel in the presence of light? Is it safety? Comfort? Exposure? In the advent (or coming) of Jesus, we find that light has entered our world—and the darkness can’t tame it.

“The little lights, they aren’t twinkling…”

This has special significance in view of our tech fast: when we reach for a screen in the dark of our bedroom at night (or in the bathroom, or at the stoplight…etc), we’re really reaching for light. And while these little lights may give us a temporary sense of comfort and safety, they are only a fabrication—a cheap knock-off of the eternal light.

So why do we run to them? In the story of Israel, we find that it is convenient, even safer to turn to objects that have the likeness of God, but over which we maintain control. A golden calf will never speak to your heart to convict you of sin; Google Chrome will never ask if it’s time to stop scrolling. But moths eat, rust destroys, and every battery will eventually die, leaving us grasping in the darkness again. So this Christmas, look to the eternal light—whom we can’t control, who’s not safe—but good.

I did not see the temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates be shut, for there will be no night there. (Revelation 21:22-25)

Contributing Author: Hayley S.