Daily Devotional
The Victory of Light

December 11, 2019

Today’s Reading

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” MATTHEW 2:13

And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. JOHN 1:5

The Victory of Light 

Here is another truth about the light of Christmas that will bless you this Christmas season. It’s found in John 1:5, where the apostle writes, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” I want to talk with you today about the victory of the light. What does John mean when he says that the darkness could not understand or “comprehend” the light? This word has also been rendered “overcome,” “put out,” or “extinguish.” What John is talking about is the victory of light over darkness. 

All of history is really a battle between light and darkness. We see it even at the birth of Jesus in the account of King Herod’s murderous rampage against the baby boys in Bethlehem. The darkness attempted to extinguish God’s light. But who must win this battle? As surely as day follows night, it is clear that darkness has no power against light! As the hymn says, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun / Does his successive journeys run.” 

If you’re in a dark room and you want to dispel the darkness, would you take the vacuum cleaner and vacuum the darkness out? Would you take a shovel and shovel it out? Of course not. All you have to do to conquer the darkness is turn on the light. When you do that, the darkness flees. It cannot stay. It is totally powerless against the light. 

The energy produced by our sun is beyond what we can imagine. On the brightest moonlit night, the light of the moon is only one-eight hundred thousandth as bright as the sunshine on an ordinary day. If you look directly into the sun, you will burn your eyes. Yet, for all of its incredible power, the sun is at best only a faint illustration of the Son of God in His brightness. No one can overcome or extinguish the Lord’s light! In Him there is victory, at Christmas and every other season of the year. Let’s release the light of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world this Christmas. Let’s bear witness to the Light!

Activity

Imagine what it must have been like to be a shepherd in Bethlehem on the night Jesus was born, when the light of God burst through the darkness. Pretend you are one of those shepherds; write a letter to one of your parents or siblings describing what happened that night. Let each family member take part in telling the story. Have each family member describe what they think it would have been like as a shepherd to experience seeing the angel appear.

Take advantage of the related activities and resources at ExperienceChristmas.org.