A Sacred Promise about the Lighthouse

Today is the second Sunday of Advent, the time provided us by the Church to prepare ourselves for the celebration of Christ’s birth. As I said last week, although we celebrate Christ’s birth of December 25, Jesus did not become flesh on that Christmas day. He actually took on human flesh nine months earlier – in March of that year – when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin womb of Mary, His mother. It was at His conception that Jesus became fully human while always remaining fully God. This is not an insignificant point - especially in our culture when so many millions of maturing babies are destroyed by abortion in their mother’s womb.

A few weeks ago, as I began to prepare myself for the Advent messages, I thought this season would be a good time to remind us of some of the more than 300 Old Testament prophecies that promised humanity a deliverer from the spiritual darkness that has metastasized like a deadly cancer originating in the Garden of Eden and thoroughly infected the whole of Creation itself. Last week we looked at the first of those prophecies – the one in Genesis 3:15. Today we’ll examine a few more prophecies, these from the early chapters of Isaiah and directly linked to that promise in Genesis.  

 First, Isaiah 9:2 “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.”

 The human eye is drawn to light. But we know from experience that just because people see light doesn’t guarantee they’ll walk toward that light – especially when that light directs us to God.

I chose to ignore that ‘light’ 53 years ago. I’ve told the story before, and I do it again to make the point. I was a happy atheist in my late teens and early 20s. I did what I wanted, when I wanted, and with whom I wanted. I was all about ‘Me’ – doing what was right in my own eyes.

Now then, my attitude was not and is not unique to me. Every honest person in this sanctuary will testify that such things were also true of you.

I remember I was stopped at a traffic signal and a question suddenly swept across my thoughts: What if there IS a God? The light was still red, so I had time to ponder the idea. But then, as suddenly as the question crossed my mind, a realization roared back. If God exists, then He does not approve of my lifestyle, and I better change.

But I didn’t want to change. And so, when the light turned green, I told myself, “There is no God.”

You and I meet people like that all the time, people who make irrational decisions to turn away from God’s light, all the while their lives are shrouded in deep darkness. They struggle with addictions, loneliness, heartache, chronic illness, death of loved ones, and on and on it goes. And many of them crawl into bed at night, no longer expecting or even hoping tomorrow will be better. They know from long experience that it won’t.

Yes, they put on their happy face, they tell others that they’re okay. But when they’re alone in their apartments or homes, reality catches them off-guard, and they know they can’t escape the inescapable truth: They’re living a shadow existence. A hopeless existence. An empty existence.

Does that remind you of something in the 23rd Psalm? We studied that Psalm some time ago. Listen again to verse four: (Psalm 23:4) “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.”  You may remember the Hebrew word David used for the ‘valley of the shadow of death could be translated ‘the valley of deep shadows, deep darkness.’

But on the other hand, those who see the light AND walk in the light discover a wonder they could not have imagined. They discover their Creator, whom we call God – they discover that He loves them despite whatever they’ve done and for how long they’ve done it. That’s precisely why He promised us a Redeemer in that passage in Genesis 3:15; It is precisely why He sent His Son, Jesus, to receive in Himself the wrath of the Father that OUR sins deserve. You might remember God’s promise in Isaiah 53. Speaking of the Redeemer, the prophet tells us: “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” (Isaiah 53:5-6)

Yes, our well-deserved punishment for our sins fell on Him – Messiah Jesus. And as St Paul also reminds us: (Romans 5:8) “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Those who see the light and walk in the light discover a new life-direction, a totally new life-trajectory. They discover hope where they had none, peace of heart where they had only unrest. They discover a full future – a GOOD future – where only empty promises and a fearful destiny abounded.

What was the light that the people who walked in darkness would see? Isaiah reveals the answer a few verses later. (Isaiah 9:6)“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

And in case you’ve forgotten, the child of chapter nine is the same child of chapter seven: “Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

Yes, the context of chapters seven and nine applied to a local event the 8th century B.C. But that’s how biblical prophecy typically works – a two-fold (or even a three-fold) fulfillment. First there’s the immediate fulfillment, and then there is the fulfillment further out in time. A person can’t read the Old Testament quotes found in the New Testament without recognizing the undeniable truth of prophetic Biblical interpretation.

That’s also why the promise of light in darkness applies even to 2025. Whether in pulpits or pews, whether in the dining room or down the street – many think they’re on the dark periphery of God’s attention. Their concept of self-worth always defaults to interpret bad things that happen to them are because God is not paying attention to them; Or that He is perpetually angry with them; Or that God doesn’t even exist and bad things are nothing more than the so-called ‘Luck of the Draw.”

But those who believe the Scriptures such as Genesis 3:15 we keep referring to, and the passages in Isaiah 9:2 and 7:14 – those who trust God’s infallible word KNOW that they are always at the center of God’s attention, and they therefore interpret bad things that happen to them as God’s loving discipline, guidance, and/or instruction. They understand on a deeper level the words of the Psalmist: “Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep Your word” (Psalm 119:67), and “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.”  (Psalm 119:71)

In all Biblical history, God never inflicts ‘bad’ things on ANYONE capriciously, maliciously, or cruelly. “Bad things” as we might call them are ALWAYS divinely designed to bring good to those who suffer.

Listen to Hebrews 12:7-11 “It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

All things, even suffering, are ALWAYS divinely designed to bring good to those who suffer. That’s surely why St Paul wrote to the Christians at Ephesus and at Thessalonica – as I shared with us a few weeks ago – (1 Thessalonians 5:18) “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” . . . AND (Ephesians 5:20) “Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.” 

Let’s return for a moment to last week’s Scripture text in Genesis 3:15 - “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

That text, along with today’s Bible references is part of God’s many promises of a Rescuer who, at His first Advent shredded sin’s dark veil that shrouds much of humanity. And Christians can ask the reasonable question: “How do people miss the inseparable connection between Genesis 3, Isaiah 7 and Isaiah 9 with Christ’s first advent? The only way they can do that is to engage in Olympic-level theological contortions to ignore, avoid, or willfully misinterpret and obscure the clear truths of Biblical prophecies pointing to that first advent.

Remember, in the Gensis 3 passage, God promised a Redeemer who would crush the head of the supernatural and super powerful fallen angel known as Satan, the Devil, and Lucifer. No rational human could ever seriously hope to overpower that evil creature. Only God could do that.  Only God, who became Man and whose name is ‘Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace – only He could crush the Serpent’s head and bring overwhelming light into his darkness.

As the Holy Spirit tells us: “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, NIV)

And while we’re on the wondrous subject of the redemption and rescue linked with Christ’s first advent, let’s not forget that His first advent also guarantees the fulfillment of prophecies regarding His second advent. Listen to this promise in Isaiah 25 – God’s promise to all who not only believe in His first advent, but who also follow the Christ in obedience. I add that important qualifier because multiple millions of men and women – even in churches – ‘believe’ in Christ, but they do so only with their minds and not their hearts, otherwise their belief would result in a godly lifestyle.

Here is that passage from Isaiah 25: “The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, refined, aged wine. And on this mountain, He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” (Isaiah 25:6-9)

Today on this second Sunday of Advent we’ve looked briefly at three other prophecies of God – promises of God – that foretold Messiah’s first coming.

Ever since that catastrophic day in the Garden of Eden, Sin became an inseparable part of our human nature. Sin incited Cain to kill his brother, Abel. Sin led Lamech to boast of his murders (Genesis 4). Sin resulted in the event surrounding the Tower of Babel. Sin led to the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sin is why the people have walked and continue to walk in darkness.

And if not for God’s promise of a virgin-born Savior, a Child born to us, a Son given to us . . . if not for Jesus, you and I and everyone else on this planet would have no other choice but to walk in darkness.

God’s promises of a Savior are rooted in history. But as with all such promises, they are also APPLICABLE to our day-to-day lives.

I remember walking in darkness. I said at the beginning of today’s message, my life was all about me, and I didn’t care who I used to satisfy my selfishness. It was a terrible life, one that still fills me with remorse whenever I think about those years.

But I also remember when ‘light’ pierced my darkness and I saw myself as I was. I can tell you, it broke my heart. Suddenly, my comfortable ‘atheism’ was no longer comfortable, and my memories of childhood prayers brought me to my knees as an adult, and I prayed.

Of course, I didn’t know it at the time – I was completely ignorant of the New Testament – but my prayer modeled the publican’s prayer in Luke 18:13 – “‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ And oh! Was He merciful! Which is why I stand here today, the result of what was – and remains to me – His incomprehensible mercy.

But the point of application I want to make now is not about what God did for me, despite my dark history. My point now is about what God has done – and continues to do – in your lives, because you also remember when you walked in darkness and God’s light shone around you, and you prayed something similar to what I prayed. And here you are today – the result of God’s incomprehensible mercy toward you.

As I bring this message to a close, perhaps some of you now recognize your own spiritual darkness – a darkness that fills you with remorse over wasted years and lost relationships. If that’s the case, you know what you need to do: Ask God for His forgiveness. He will never cast aside any who humbly comes to Him in repentance.

Ronnie Hinson wrote these lyrics in 1967. The song describes my life. I pray that they also describe yours:

“There's a Lighthouse on the hillside that overlooks life's sea, When I'm tossed about, it sends out a light that I might see. And the light that shines in darkness now will safely lead us o'er. If it wasn't for the Lighthouse,
my ship would be no more.”

“I thank God for the Lighthouse, I owe my life to Him. Jesus is the Lighthouse and from the rocks of sin He has shown the light around me, that I might clearly see. If it wasn't for the Lighthouse, where would this ship be?”

Truly, if it wasn’t for the Lighthouse – where would our ships be?