“We’re Not Afraid of the Dark!

”
The Epiphany of our Lord – January 2nd and 3rd, 2010
Isaiah 60:1-6

How many of you are afraid of the dark? Notice that I didn’t ask you if you were afraid to sleep in your
bedroom in the dark. I asked if you were afraid of the dark in general. Are you ever afraid of darkness? I bet that
some of us would be at least a little bit uncomfortable and nervous walking in a dark alley in the inner city of
Detroit at 3 in the morning. I bet that some, if not all of us would be at least a little frightened if our car stalled on
an unfamiliar country road where there were it was pitch black outside - no street lights, no houses, nothing but
open fields all around and no one to help us.
Naturally, human beings have a certain level of uneasiness in the dark. It starts when we’re children, usually
around the age of 2 or 3, when we think we see things in the closet or on the wall, but really are just shadows of the
trees outside, images that are sometimes coupled with nightmares that make the darkness even more disturbing. But
this fear isn’t limited to toddlers and young children. There are even some adults who suffer from nyctophobia, or
scotophobia, a pathological disorder which is essentially a perpetual fear of darkness. For the nyctophobic, the dark
is always a source of fear and sometimes can lead to severe panic attacks, not so much because of the absence of
light, but because of the dangers and mysteries that the darkness might conceal.
There is a simple cure for nyctophobia, fear of darkness. Do you know what it is? Light! Light cures fear of
darkness. It’s so simple. Yet it is that very point that God wants us to know and believe this very day, on Epiphany
Sunday, the day on which we commemorate God making known the light of his salvation to the entire world. The
Light cures fear of darkness. And with the Light of world shining in all his glory and humility from that little town
of Bethlehem, all believers can declare with confidence as we will this day, “We’re not afraid of the dark,” first of all,
because the Light of the World has come to penetrate the thick darkness of the unbelieving world that leaves so
many afraid and hopeless, fearful of their eternal welfare. And secondly, the Light of the World has come to
illumine hearts and minds, as he summons the world’s populace to his warmth, to his safety, to his salvation.

I. The Light penetrates the world’s darkness

The concept of darkness is something that the Holy Spirit often speaks of the in the Scriptures. Before the
world was formed and God brought about light by his Word, we read in Genesis 1:2, “Darkness was over the face of
the deep.” When the Israelites were in the bondage of slavery in Egypt and the Lord was unleashing his fury upon
the Egyptians, the 9th plague was “Darkness...a darkness to be felt.” And of course, when Jesus was on the cross, from
the 6th hour to the 9th hour, “There was darkness over the whole land,” after which Jesus cried out in those famous
words of loneliness, judgment and sorrow, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
The concept of darkness is found throughout Scripture, and where it occurs, it is often representative of
negative things: incompleteness, sorrow, judgment, the absence of God, all states of spiritual despair which fit
appropriately with the way that Isaiah describes the world in verse 2: “For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and
thick darkness (penetrating darkness) the peoples.”
 How dark the world is! Oh, it thinks it is enlightened! Don’t you find that interesting that to be
“enlightened” according to the world’s definition is really to be in spiritual darkness according to God’s Word?
What it means to be “enlightened” today is that you define your own system of theology, that you be a free-thinker
that isn’t bound to a book, like the Bible, or to a group of people or subject to the leadership of another, like the
church, but that you find out who “God” is for you, you define what “heaven” is, and then you lay out for yourself
how you’re going to get to that place you’ve defined as “heaven,” which ultimately ends up being just one more
manifestation of the natural human religion of work-righteousness. That’s “enlightened” apparently. Living in
absolute uncertainty about one’s eternal well-being is “enlightened.”
Calling the world’s philosophies “enlightened” over and against the Light of the World, Jesus, and his
revelation to the world in the Scriptures, is like comparing your car’s headlights to the shining of the sun – it’s not
even a comparison. Which is safer, to drive at night with your headlights on, or to drive in the daylight? Which is
warmer, your car’s headlights or the sun? Which source of light can make you 100% confident of where you are,
where you’re headed and that you are on the right road? Only the sun can, which enlightens not just a portion of
the road directly in front of you, but illumines the whole world around you.
Isaiah declares in verse 1: “Arise, shine, for your (sun)light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon
you.” What is God’s cure for the darkness, for the dark hearts of mankind who are stumbling around in the
oblivion of their dim-witted “light”? What is God’s solution for the fear that the darkness of sin and unbelief
produces? Light! Sunlight!
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, that Sunlight dawned upon the earth, a penetrating, all-encompassing
Light which completely overcomes and conquers the darkness. Where the “enlightened” world stumbles around in
the pitch black darkness of unbelief, trying to find its own way, and is left with absolute uncertainty and fear about
its future, the Light of the World completely illuminates the only path to true peace, safety and eternal security –
faith, trust in his sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead, the only real solution to the penetrating
darkness of this world, which leads so many to fear. Only through faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior can we confess
with the voice of a conqueror, “We’re not afraid of the dark!” For where the Light of the World shines, there is no
darkness, there is no fear of the unknown, there is no fear of death, and most certainly, there is no fear of everlasting
judgment. There is only life, warmth, safety and security for all eternity, for all darkness of sin and its consequences
have been conquered and overcome by his life, death and resurrection.

II. The Light summons the world’s populace

Isaiah, by the inspiration of the Spirit, adds one more wonderful element to our meditation today, the fact
that the Light of the World has dawned not just upon the Jewish people, but indeed for everyone in the world, so
that no one needs to be left in the dark about the salvation that is theirs in the Savior, Jesus. Listen to the universal
tone of verses 3-6:
“3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 4 “Lift up your eyes and look about
you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm. 5 Then you will
look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the
riches of the nations will come. 6 Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from
Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.”
 I’m sure as I read for you verse 6, you heard echoes of our gospel lesson from Matthew 2. The celebration of
Epiphany has, as its gospel reading, the account of the Magi coming from the east, following a star to the place
where the child was, and offering as a gift to the King of kings gold, incense and myrrh. It’s a part of the Christmas
account that we treasure, because it shows that this Christ-child came into the world not for the salvation of Jews
only, but for the salvation of all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, and that God, in grace, is the one who leads
undeserving souls to the Light of the World to receive the salvation from sin that only he can provide.
Paul emphasizes that point in Romans 3 after declaring that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners: “For there is
no distinction: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and (all) are justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
It was by a miracle star that the wise men from the east were summoned to the place where Jesus was.
Today, God does not summon by miracle stars in the sky. He does not invite the nations of the world through
abnormal phenomena. He could, but he chooses not to. Instead, he summons the world’s populace to with the
light of his Word, which shines brightly in this dark world by revealing the central figure of human history, the
God-man, the Christ-child of Bethlehem.
And it is that same Word, which reveals the Light of the World to us, that the Holy Spirit works through to
produce in us an utter dependency which trusts only in the merits of Jesus for salvation. It is that same Word which
sounds throughout the world, to the ends of the earth, which invites all people, Jews and Gentiles, people of every
nation, tribe, people and language, making no distinctions, to set aside the fear of uncertainty that the world brings,
and to embrace, by faith, the absolute certainty of Christ’s abundant and plenary forgiveness, which brings with it
the 100% certainty of everlasting life in the New Jerusalem, a heavenly city where no darkness exists, and as St. John
describes in his Revelation: “...has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is
the lamb.” (Revelation 21:23)
Are you afraid of the dark? You don’t have to be ashamed to admit it, because everyone is, I think, a little
afraid of the dark at certain times and in certain circumstances. But when it comes to our spiritual well-being, we
can confidently say together, and with all the other saints in the Holy Christian Church, “We’re not afraid of the
dark!” Because our God has given us the ultimate cure for darkness – Light – Sunlight – The Light of the World!
Amen.