The following is a sermon preached at the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi. We are looking at the prologue to John's Gospel, this Advent here at First Presbyterian Church. And you'll see in the bulletin we've called the series of messages, Love's Pure Light, which is a phrase, as you know, borrowed from the carol Silent Night. Silent night, holy night, Son of God, love's pure light, radiant beams from thy holy face with the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus Lord at thy birth." And as I was thinking about that, it occurred to me, we actually saw this earlier in some of the carols that we've sung this morning, quite a few of our most beloved Christmas hymns deal with this theme of Jesus as the light God of God, light of light, lo, He abhors not the virgin's womb, very God, begotten, not created. O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Son of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings. And we could go on. Our Christmas carols are full of the theme of Jesus Christ as God's great light. Now, to be fair, I suspect Part of what endeared this particular metaphor to many of the authors of these carols is the fact that their experience of Christmas was of a northern European winter. I think I've told you before that in Scotland, where I grew up in mid-December, it doesn't start to get light until about 9 o'clock in the morning, and it starts to get properly dark again about 3.30 in the afternoon, so that as a child I'd often go to school and come home from school in near total darkness, which you're probably thinking explains a whole lot about my sunny disposition. But for me, and I expect like many of the authors of our festive hymns, Christmas interrupted all that winter gloom with bright light and something that chases the shadows away. And so it's not really difficult, is it, to see why this image of Jesus as the light shining into our darkness was so compelling for many of these authors. But as we're going to see this morning, the image of Jesus as the light coming into the dark world has its real origins not in the bleak midwinter of a gloomy British December, but right here in the prologue to John's gospel. Last week, you will remember, we considered verses 1 through the first part of verse 4, and John's initial metaphor for Jesus, Jesus, John said, is the Word. the eternal Word, the divine Word, the creative Word, and the living Word. But now we're going to go back to the second half of verse 4 and look at verses 4–9, where John changes the metaphor to speak of Jesus no longer now as the Word but as the light. And we're going to think about three things in particular as John develops this second metaphor. First, in verses 4 and 5, there is the theme of cosmic conflict. Cosmic conflict. The light shines, do you notice, in the context of a terrible darkness that seeks but fails to overcome it. cosmic conflict. Then secondly, verses 6 through 8, there is the theme of historic witness. John the Baptist was sent to be a witness to Jesus, the light And as we'll see, his example has much to teach us about our own response to that light as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Cosmic conflict, historical witness, and then finally in verse 9, there's the theme of universal hope. Universal hope. This life-giving, triumphant light was erupting into the sin-darkened world to give His light, John says, to everyone. He is available for everyone. Universal hope. There's hope for everyone, for you and for me in the light that is Jesus Christ. And so, there's our outline. I hope you can see it clearly in the passage. As we think about John's metaphor of Jesus the light, we're thinking about cosmic conflict, historical witness, and universal hope. Before we look at each of those, we'll pray together, and then we'll read the passage. So please bow your heads with me as we go to God in prayer. Let us all pray. Our God and Father, sin darkens our understanding. But Jesus, the true light who gives light to everyone who is coming into the world, has now come, and we pray that His light, by the Holy Spirit's ministry, would shine into our understanding and into our hearts to give us the light of life. for Jesus' sake. Amen. John chapter 1 at the fourth verse. This is the Word of God. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. Amen. Cosmic conflict. First of all, probably not the most Christmassy concept, I'll grant you. Cosmic conflict. You might prefer, I suppose, that I began this sermon reciting The Night Before Christmas or reminiscing about boyhood White Christmases in Scotland, but if we're going to understand the first coming of Jesus Christ properly, we need to face the fact, as John clearly tells us, that the world in which we live is a dark place. I don't think I really need to prove that to you. Terrible wars in Ukraine and Gaza, corruption among political leaders, sleaze on every screen and on and on and on. And we could pile up the evidence. We all get it, don't we? Despite the Christmas decorations and the cheesy holiday music in department stores, underneath the tinsel and the sentimentality, we all know the ugliness of the human condition continues on, unabated. Now, to be sure, for many people, Christmas is all about escapism. They have no interest in the Lord Jesus and no concern to understand the significance of His birth. And for them, Christmas really is merely a diversion from the cold, hard realities of life. And this approach to the holidays, of course, reduces Christmas to a tissue-thin veneer imperfectly pasted over the ugliness for a little while. But in the end, it is hopelessly unable, actually, to deal with the darkness of our hearts and our lives and our world. But these opening verses of John's Gospel take a very different view about the significance and meaning of Christmas, don't they? It's not the best a weak and uninvolved God can really do in the face of the dreadful reality of human sin and a dark, lost world is supply us with a flimsy fabric of Christmas myth with which to paper over the cracks. No, no, John says that's not what Christmas is. John says God goes to war with the darkness at Christmas. Christmas is a divine confrontation. a cosmic conflict. Look at the text again, the Son of God, the Word made flesh, in whom John says, was life, verses 4 and 5. Jesus Christ is the light of men, and this light, he says, shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The shadows are no match for the light. The darkness has not overcome it. Think about a little child, afraid of the dark. They wake up crying for mom in the middle of the night. And the first thing she does is she walks into the room to comfort her daughter, is to flick the switch and turn on the lights, and immediately it's clear. There's no place for the monsters to hide. the light chases all the shadows away. In that moment, even your four-year-old little girl knows the dark is no match for the light. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Yes, the world rejects the truth about God, suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, worshiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever, Romans 1.18 and 25. Yes, We love the darkness rather than the light because our deeds are evil," John 3, 19. Yes, the darkness all around us is malicious and antagonistic and predatory. It seeks constantly to extinguish the light, but try as it may, it can never achieve its goal. The light always dispels the darkness. In the cosmic conflict between the light of God and the darkness of sin and Satan, the coming of Jesus Christ strikes the decisive blow. It's my guess that when John says the darkness has not overcome the light, that John has in the back of his mind, especially the cross. At the cross, do you remember? Darkness covered the scene. Jesus, the light nailed to a Roman gibbet hanging between two criminals, left to die in agony and ignominy, his glory obscured under a shroud of human contempt and satanic malice. And in that moment, it looked to every observer to those who followed Him as well as to those who opposed Him, it looked like the darkness had finally triumphed. At the cross, it really looked like the light had failed. There in the ground His body lay, light of the world by darkness slain. The darkness slew Him. a tsunami of evil crashed down. on the apparently weak, fragile candle flame that was Jesus Christ. Think about it. There was the hatred of jealous rabbis who'd been so threatened by Jesus' mighty ministry, who were now pressing trumped-up charges against Him. There was the amoral political pragmatism of Pilate. who did what he thought would keep the peace, even if it meant a dreadful miscarriage of justice in the state-sponsored murder of the Son of God. There was the bloodlust of the mob, screaming for Jesus' crucifixion, and the hardened indifference of the soldiers, for whom driving the nails into His hands and feet was just another day at the office. There was the sneering contempt of the crowds as He hung in agony naked at the cross. The mockery of the thieves nailed on either side of Him. There was the betrayal of Judas, the abandonment of all his disciples, and above all of it, there was the deafening silence of heaven. When the Son of God cried, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? the Father turned his face away. The great tidal wave of satanic darkness engulfed him, seeking to snuff out the guttering candle that was Jesus Christ. What light could hope to withstand such an onslaught of evil? But John says in words that border on doxology, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. there in the ground his body lay, light of the world, by darkness slain, then bursting forth in glorious day. Up from the grave he rose again. Jesus defeats sin and death and hell at the cross and in His empty tomb. He triumphs over the darkness of satanic malice and human rebellion. God's controversy with the world was settled at Calvary. That's why Jesus was born that first Christmas. He is the light of the world, and there is no shadow, no darkness that could ever extinguish his light. And that means, by the way, that the darkness of the world has met its match. God has answered sin and death, sorrow and suffering, Satan, and all his schemes in Jesus Christ. And so when we decorate and sing our songs and enjoy the fun of the Christmas season. If we are Christians, for us it is emphatically not escapism. It is not make-belief. We are not burying our heads in the sand, pretending for a little while that the world isn't really still a cold, dark place. Not at all. Let the deluded world clutch desperately that silly Christmas fripperies and superstitions as it tries to hide from the inescapable darkness of its own brokenness and sin. That is not what we are doing. We are celebrating the victory of the light over the darkness. in the birth, life, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are declaring into the teeth of the evil one. And before all the awful darkness of a world spinning, as it seems at times, out of control, we are declaring there is hope, and there is life, and there is forgiveness, and there is a bright new world coming soon. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Cosmic conflict, the victory of the light of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. And secondly, look at verses 6–8, and notice the theme of historical witness—cosmic conflict, historical witness. Three times in these verses, John the Baptist is said to be or to bear witness to the light. So it matters to the author of John's we understand that Jesus' coming was not some abstract spiritual event. It's not a myth or a mere religious experience in the imaginations of the gospel authors. No, no, his coming was attested by witnesses. might at first actually seem a little out of place. If you read through these opening eighteen verses, they are soaring and majestic in their use of language. But this little section here about John the Baptist feels prosaic and odd and out of place. Why is it here? Well, it helps to notice that John's testimony is introduced at the beginning of the gospel, in order to provide the mirror image of the testimony of another John at the very end of the gospel, so that the two Johns bear witness to the coming of Christ like two witnesses establishing their testimony at both sides of the gospel, John 21-24. This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things and who has written these things, and we know his testimony is true, John speaking about himself. The testimony of the two Johns bracket the gospel account of the ministry of Jesus Christ so that on the basis of two or three witnesses, the truth might be established. It really matters to John that we understand Jesus Christ really came in the flesh. among real people, at a real point on history. He was seen and heard and touched. And so John will go on to say in 1 John 1, we have seen his glory. glory as of the only begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." The nativity of Jesus Christ does not belong among our various Christmas fables and traditions. It belongs on the 10 o'clock news. It belongs on the front page of the Times. It is history. And don't miss, by the way, the way that John reinforces the weight of the Baptist's testimony. John the Baptist has a sacred mandate, doesn't he? Do you see that in verse 6? There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He has the authority of God on whose behalf he was sent as spokesman. and he has a singular mission, a sacred mandate and a singular mission. Verse 7, he came as a witness. For what purpose? To bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. sacred mandate, singular mission. And thirdly, notice he has a sober—his ministry is marked by a sober modesty. Verse 8, he was not the light but came to bear witness about the light. Later in the chapter, we hear John's testimony to Jesus. This is the content of his witness. when he was asked by those who came out to hear him preach in the wilderness of the Jordan, who are you? In verse 20, he replied, he confessed and did not deny but confessed, I am not the Christ. And when they pressed him, who are you then? He finally answered in verse 23, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. This was his great chance. Here it is. His big opportunity, the possibility of stepping forward and making much of himself was here being handed to him on a plate. John, are you maybe the Messiah? You're such an impressive preacher, John. We would follow you, John. But he demurs, doesn't he? Instead, he points away from himself to the Lord Jesus. And so later on in chapter 3 at verse 30, John said about Jesus, he must increase and I must decrease. You want to know who I am? Well, I'll tell you. I'm just a voice. I'm just a voice crying in the wilderness, that's all. I'm just a witness. My mission is to lead you to believe in the light. Less of me, more of him." That was John. Now, let's be clear, we, none of us, stand in the same relation to Jesus Christ that John the Baptist did. He was a prophet of God, the last prophet of the old covenant, in fact, called to the unique office and role of presaging the first coming of the Messiah. But as followers of the Lord Jesus, in a secondary sense, we too, like John, are to be His witnesses. And as we think about how we should respond to the advent of Christ and the coming of the light that first Christmas, I don't think we can do any better than to follow the same pattern provided by John the Baptist. Like him, we too have a sacred mandate, don't we? Jesus told His disciples near the end of John's gospel, John 20, 21, as the Father has sent me, so I send you. And we, too, have a singular mission, Jesus told His disciples, Acts 1.18, you must be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And we too must display the same sober modesty that John the Baptist modeled for us, and learn to say about Jesus, he must increase and I must decrease. We all need to tell ourselves, doubtless, much more often than we do, hey, strain. Remember, you are not the Christ. I'm not Jesus, neither are you. We're not in charge. We're not our own saviors, let alone the savior of anyone else. You, we must not usurp the glory that belongs only to Him. He must increase. We must decrease. More of Him, less of me. More of Him, less of me." Cosmic conflict, historical witness. Now, finally, look at verse 9. universal hope. Universal hope. Verse 9, the true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. Jesus is the true light. That word true there has the sense of real or genuine or authentic. He is the real deal, John is saying. There are counterfeit lights out there, aren't there? And we're drawn to them, if we're honest. We're drawn to them like moths to a flame. Sex, power, riches, reputation. False gospels, false saviors. We want political saviors and medical salvation and financial deliverance. But Jesus is the true light, the real thing. He's the pole star, and you can navigate your way by Him. And He gives light, John says, to everyone. This true light gives light to everyone. John doesn't mean that everyone will always understand, or that everyone will certainly and inevitably believe, or that everyone will be saved in the end. That's not his point. He simply means that the light that shines in Jesus Christ, that chases the darkness away, that brings the light of life, that light shines out from Him equally to all. He is offered without condition or exception to all people everywhere. The light of Christ gives light to everyone. And so, it may be you feel today that you have wandered into a very dark place in your life. Your guilt. may have left you feeling all sense of the light of God's smile has been eclipsed for you. You might have begun to think that down here in the dark, there is no purpose, no point, no direction for your life. I want you to hear in John 1-9 really good news. The true light that gives light to everyone has come in Jesus Christ. The light of the world was born to give you light, light for everyone, light for you. He's light, light to bring you up out of the gloom of your sin and guilt into the bright sunshine of the Father's smile, light to scatter the shadows of doubt and fear that hold you in bondage, light to direct you in the way of hope and rest. The people who walked in darkness I've seen a great light, Isaiah says. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world, John says. I am the light of the world, Jesus said. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. There is universal hope, hope for all, hope for you. There's hope for you in Jesus the light. How should we respond to him. How do you step out of the darkness and into his light? What was it that John came to do? Look back at verse 7. He came as a bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. Here's how you step from the darkness into the light. John, remember, telling us his purpose for writing the gospel, said, these things were written that you might believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that believing you might have life in His name. You need to come and trust, entrust yourself. to the light of the world. Whoever follows Him, Jesus says, will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Just to be clear, I am not asking you to turn over a new leaf. Turn the page, try and start over. That's not what I'm talking about. It's not the turn of a page that you need, it's a whole new book that you need. I'm not asking you to turn the page. Do better, try harder, clean slate, fresh start. Forget that. No, no, I'm asking you today to stop running and hiding in the shadows, dodging the call of Jesus Christ to turn from life your way. And I'm asking you to step at last into His light. He came to secure forgiveness, cleansing, renewal for anybody who wants it, for anybody who wants it, even for you. I'm not asking you to turn over a new leaf. I'm asking you to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm asking you to call out to Him. to save you, to wash you, to bring you into His light. He will make you a new creature. He'll give you the light of life. He will make you new. That's what Christmas means. That's why Jesus came. That's what it's for. Cosmic conflict, the light of Christ, chases the darkness away. Historical witness, Jesus really came, He really was born of the Virgin and laid in a manger for us and for our salvation. And universal hope, Jesus, the true light, has light for your darkness. light for you if you'll trust Him and step into that light this morning. May God help you to do just that. Let's pray. Our Father, there are times when we forget that we are not Jesus. We are not the Messiah, not in our own private world, not in anyone else's life. And so, help us, those of us who are Christians, to pray and to preach to ourselves John's sermon, He must increase, I must decrease. More of Him, less of me. And for those of us who are not Christians, Lord Jesus, we pray, shine your light into their dark hearts and give them the light of life for your namesake. Amen.