O Dayspring
Isaiah 9:1-7; Malachi 4:2; Revelation 22:16
December 21
O Dayspring, splendor of light everlasting: Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death.
Today is the shortest day of the year in the northern
hemisphere. And the longest night. Though it is the darkest day, the Advent
candles burn brightly. The church calls
from the darkness to her Lord, the Dayspring from on high, who is ³the joyous
light of glory.²
God is light, and in Him there is no darkness. God spoke light into the darkness. Light means life. Without light there is no life. Darkness is death, the silence of God, the
absence of God.
Our sin plunged the creation into darkness and death. Sin loves the darkness and hates the
light. Sin loves the death and hates the
life. Man turned away from God hides in
the darkness. Adam hid in the darkness
of the trees. Judas betrayed his Lord at
night. Sin seeks shelter under the cover
of darkness. Darkness cannot produce
light. It is nothing, formless and void,
empty. Light must be spoken into
darkness from the outside.
God sent His Son, the light of the world thrown into darkness. He is the light no darkness can overcome, the
light of God¹s love, His promise of mercy.
³The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt
in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.² Jesus is the Morning Star, the Dayspring, the
signal of the coming morning. Day is at
hand. The Dayspring has risen. The sun of righteousness rises with healing
in His wings. He was born in darkness
that we might be reborn as children of the light. He died in darkness that we might live in the
light of His life. He rose at dawn to
usher in the new day of His resurrection.
He shines into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who works through the Word,
dispelling the darkness, killing the death, bringing light and life.
Advent calls us out of the darkness to live in the light of
Christ, to be the children of the Light that we are. ³If we walk in the light, as He is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses
us from all sin.² The night is over. The Day has dawned. Christ has risen from the dead. He has cast the bright beams of His light
upon you.
Flee the darkness.
Confess your sin. Expose the
darkness, the death, to His light. Cling
to the light of His Word. Live in the
warm brightness of His Light. ³You will
do well to pay attention to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until
the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.²
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